#DailyDevotion The LORD’s Judgment Is Just

Hos. 5 He has withdrawn from them. ⁷They have been unfaithful to the LORD and given birth to illegitimate children. Now He will devour them with their lands at their New Moon festivals. ⁸“Blow the horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah, and sound the alarm against Beth-aven: We will follow you, Benjamin! ⁹When the time for punishment comes, Ephraim will be turned to ruins. What I announce about the tribes of Israel will certainly happen. ¹⁰The leaders of Judah are like those who change the border of their land — I will pour on them My fury like water. ¹¹Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because he is determined to go after filth. ¹²So I will be like a moth to Ephraim and like a rotting to the people of Judah. ¹³When Ephraim sees his sickness and Judah his festering sore, Ephraim goes to Assyria and sends to the great king, but he can’t heal you, or cure you of your sore ¹⁴because I will be a lion to Ephraim and a young lion to the people of Judah. I, I will tear them in pieces and leave. I will carry them off, and no one will rescue them.

Many lump verse 7 with the previous section. I do think it is part of the larger context. I believe it sets up the following verses. The LORD has withdrawn from Israel because of their sins. In their unfaithfulness they have led their children to fall away and worship other gods as well. The LORD does not claim them. They have become like the people they had replaced centuries ago. So the LORD is going to turn against them and destroy them at their New Moon festivals.

Now the LORD describes how he will do this. As the LORD speaks this prophecy through Hosea, the Assyrians are as good as victors over the land. By alerting Benjamin, a tribe in Judah, He is telling them the Assyrians are also going to swarm the kingdom of Judah also. So Israel and Judah, who also is neglecting the LORD, will experience the wrath of the LORD through the Assyrians. When the LORD speaks, it is as good as done. We know from history it did happen exactly as the LORD foretold.

Just as the sins of Israel and Judah are ruining them from within, the LORD will be as a moth to Israel and rot to Judah who follows after them. What the LORD is calling down upon them will be horrific, much like what the Israelites had done centuries earlier to the Canaanites in the land. Apparently, at some point Ephraim may sue for peace with Assyrian but it isn’t going to happen. Instead of turning to the LORD, they are turning to the LORD’s wrath. How stupid is that? But are we any smarter? When evil things happen to us or our country do we repent of our sins? Does our country repent of its sins and turn to the LORD God Almighty? No, we generally pull out our pride and patriotic card and maybe at best say God wouldn’t do this to us or only ask for His help in defeating those He sent to punish us for our sins.

The LORD had become a lion to Ephraim and Judah. He is planning on carrying them off and no one can rescue them. He did it to Israel first through Assyria and later He will use the Babylonians to do His will. To the Jews who rejected Jesus and His rule and reign, He would send the Romans to punish them.

So let us learn our lesson from the Old Testament Church. Let us daily repent of our sins and our nations’ sins. Let us turn to God the Father through our LORD Jesus Christ for grace, mercy, peace, kindness, forgiveness and steadfast love, lest we become a ruin like Israel.

Gracious God, continually grant us repentance and faith to turn to You always in Christ our Savior. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.