Hosea

Full speed ahead into the so-called minor prophets. Some impressions from Hosea:

1. Forget Jeremiah, Hosea is the object lesson guy! So let me get this straight...our God, my God, invites, no commands, his prophet to marry a prostitute as a living allegory for the nation of how they have prostituted themselves to other gods and in the process spurned their husband Yahweh?!? Is that right? Jeez. Next time someone tells you that you follow a weenie of a God, or that the Bible is devoid of intrigue or that it's somehow boring, have 'em read Hosea. To be sure, the Lord is willing to go to extremes to get His peoples' attention!

2. God longs for reconciliation. Other than the shock of the Hosea/Gomer storyline, I think this was the strongest takeaway from me. The Lord really is the spurned lover in this text. He wants to be with Israel, and He aches in having to deliver punishment. In 7:13, we read about how God "longs to redeem," in 11:8 we get almost a real-time look at His compassion and then the last chapters of Hosea are peppered with imagery about the future reconciliation of Israel with God. To borrow from a New Testament image, God really is the father anxiously waiting on the porch for his son to return!

3. The Lord is a lion. All of that said, Hosea gives us the image of the Lord as a lion. He's powerful, regal and potent. Israel (we) should fear him! You can find the image in 5:14, 11:10 and 13:7.

4. Is that the first time we get the "Savior" language? In 13:4? Not sure. Can't remember. Maybe?

5. There's a strong warning in Hosea against "false religion." I know I'll see this again in Amos for sure, and I've seen it before in the Old Testament, but God does not appreciate religion for the sake of religion. In fact, he abhors it. Don't do the trappings of religion without the heart of faith! 6:6 is pretty clear warning on the topic.