#DailyDevotion Jesus Is A Plague To Death & A Pestilence To The Grave
Hos. 13 7Then I will be like a lion to them, like a leopard I will watch by the road for them. 8I will attack them like a bear robbed of her cubs, tear open their hearts, and devour them like a lion. I will tear them apart like a wild animal.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God especially when you are the object of His wrath. The Israelites may have forgotten the LORD but the LORD did not forget them, or the oaths He took nor the oaths the ancestors of the Israelites took. The curses they pronounced at Mt. Ebal when they crossed the Jordan river are now coming to pass for the Israelites. One may wonder why it takes so long for God to act in anger. Of course it always seems pretty rapid to us when it does take place. The LORD though has been giving them centuries to repent because He wants them to live so He may see them repent and then bless them. At some point the LORD says enough. Don’t trample on the patience of the LORD or His long-suffering towards you.
9You are destroying yourself, Israel: but your help is from Me. 10Where is your king now to save you in all your cities? And your rulers, of whom you said, ‘Give me a king and princes!’ 11I gave you a king when I was angry and took him away when I was furious.
Israel is the only one to blame for their fall to the Assyrians. The LORD had sent them prophet after prophet to call them to repentance but they would not. Nevertheless, the LORD extends His hands again to them. He reminds them their help is from Him. Where do we turn to for help. Early in the history of Israel they begged for a king like the nations and rejected the LORD as king. The LORD gave them Saul, then David, then when the kingdom was split, the Davidic line continued and the LORD lifted up Jeroboam to be their king. But where were their kings now? Who they trusted in cannot save them from the Assyrian hoards. The LORD gave them kings and then took them away in His anger. We would do well in our own day to heed the word of the LORD, “trust not in princes or the strength of the legs of horses.”
12Ephraim’s wrong is carefully kept; his sin is well preserved. 13The time comes for him to be born; he’s a foolish baby — when it’s his time, he doesn’t come out of the womb. 14I want to free them from the grave and redeem them from death. I want to be a plague to you, death, and a pestilence to you, grave, and I will not think of changing My mind.
So Israel keeps her wrong and preserves her sin. Nothing seems to move them from their state, neither the threats of God’s wrath nor the promise of forgiveness. Their time is running out. There is a day set for their destruction just as there is a day set for the LORD to judge the earth.
In the midst of the threats against Israel because of their sin, the LORD pleads with them again with good news which applies to us as well. While our translation uses an optative I think it is better translated as a promise. It is fulfilled in Jesus Christ as Paul notes in 1 Cor. 15:55. Jesus’ resurrection from the grave and the dead is our fulfillment of this promise. He has redeemed us from death and the grave. He will empty all the graves at the resurrection. This is the plague to death and the grave. God will not change His mind. As much as Jesus is risen from the dead, you and I will also be raised from the dead on the last day and our graves will be left empty.
Merciful God and Father, take death from our hearts and put Your life in them so on the Last Day, we may see Your promise fulfilled and the graves emptied. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.