The readings
Hosea 11:1-9
When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
2 The more I called them,
the more they went from me;
they kept sacrificing to the Baals,
and offering incense to idols.
3 Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
I took them up in my arms;
but they did not know that I healed them.
4 I led them with cords of human kindness,
with bands of love.
I was to them like those
who lift infants to their cheeks.
I bent down to them and fed them.
5 They shall return to the land of Egypt,
and Assyria shall be their king,
because they have refused to return to me.
6 The sword rages in their cities,
it consumes their oracle-priests,
and devours because of their schemes.
7 My people are bent on turning away from me.
To the Most High they call,
but he does not raise them up at all.
8 How can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, O Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I treat you like Zeboiim?
My heart recoils within me;
my compassion grows warm and tender.
9 I will not execute my fierce anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim;
for I am God and no mortal,
the Holy One in your midst,
and I will not come in wrath.
Mark 10:13-14 13 People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. 14 But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belong,
The message
As we begin our time with the prophets, I wanted to do something a little different, a bit of 1st person narrative to tell the story of Hosea and how today’s reading fits into its historical context as well as the good news of Christmas, that God’s promises are kept, that Christ our savior is born.
My name is Hosea. History has remembered me as the prophet of doom. Its not the name of a death metal band, it’s a title I was given because of my work, because I was entrusted by the Lord to prophesy, to share God’s word at a very faithless and difficult time, I had to tell people, powerful, important people who thought they were invincible, that a time of reckoning was coming. In the decades leading up to the Northern Kingdom of Israel being destroyed by the Assyrian Empire, we watched them grow stronger and stronger each year, conquering the cities and people around us. We also watched as our kings and leaders freely, openly, publicly worshipped other gods and sought their salvation from alliances with other empires.
I was the only prophet of that time (around 760 bc to 720 bc) whose words were written and saved for history. I was relentless in my work, constantly trying to call people back to faith in the Lord God, the one who made the covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the one who gave a child to Sarah and Abraham, the one who set the people free from slavery in Egypt, the one who brings them to the promised land, gives them the law, appoints their kings and brings victory. I used lots of examples from daily life to try and show people how far they had fallen from the Lord, how badly they were keeping their end of the covenant, how that would have severe consequences. I told kings, I told priests, I told political leaders, I told everyone again and again. They thought I was joking, they did not care. I told them how they were acting like an unfaithful spouse, who breaks their marriage promises, one of the most important parts of how people lived and society was organized. They thought I was joking, they did not care. I told them how they were acting like a rebellious, misbehaving, ungrateful child, who turns on their parents, the ones who supported, loved, forgave and cared for them. Again, they thought I was joking, they did not care.
I never said much about my childhood, genealogy, education or early life but most of my life has centered on the work of prophesy. People today, would call me a workaholic, a man obsessed with his job. In fact, where I went, who I married, even how I named my children, were all part of my work.. My home and family life were pretty bad, As I first heard God’s call to prophesy, I was told, “Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord”. That is exactly what I did. I married a woman named Gomer, we had 3 children and she was unfaithful to me. Now a lot of people in the bible have meaningful, powerful names: Jesus will be named Emmanuel, meaning God with us, Joshua means “God is salvation”, Samuel means God has heard our prayers, Abigail means “my father is joy”.
Well my kids, they have different sorts of names, the ones that a concerned court or government would ban. First, there is my son Jezerel, named after the place where King Jehu begins his violent revolt and takeover of the kingdom. It will be where that dynasty falls as well. My second child is a daughter named Lo-ruhamah, indicating that the Lord will no longer have pity on, help or protect the northern kingdom of Israel (Judah will survive a little longer). Perhaps the worst name is my third child, a son, Then the Lord said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people and I am not your God. This means God is withdrawing from the covenant, there has been enough disobedience, too much really, enough worship of other gods, enough seeking salvation from other states. This means the fall of the Northern Kingdom. Assyria will be the unworthy tool that the Lord uses to end the northern kingdom. Their ruin will be a sign for all history.
In the beginning I mentioned I was known as the prophet of doom but sometimes I wonder why. This punishment is drastic, overwhelming, but like all the others, is temporary. My children will be renamed, I will forgive Gomer for her infidelity, the Lord will say: yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered; and in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God
I ended my little first person view of the world according to Hosea with a promise and today, as we start with the books of the prophets, promises will be very important. The prophets are the last major section of our long Advent, the wait for Christmas, for the birth of Jesus, for something people have waited almost 800 years for, the fulfillment of God’s great promises of restoration, forgiveness and freedom from that cycle of sin, punishment and repentance.
The prophets, people who brought the world a message from God, They worked 2 sets, the northern and southern kingdom, in the years around before, during and after the destruction of the northern kingdom by the assyrians and the temple in Jerusalem in Judah, the southern kingdom (by the Babloyioans around 586 bc). Since they were such a diverse group, It can be hard to define or classify the prophets in any way. Some receive a calling directly from God, Some prophets came from long lines of religious leaders with established backgrounds and histories, others just appear out of nowhere. Some had positions of great influence in the royal courts, others were outsiders that no one payed attention to. Some spoke good news, others shared a message of dire warning about the things to come.
Each prophet gets real, they speak truth to power (and to all). Through Hosea the Lord God says, The more I called the people of Israel, the more they went from me; we have seen it several times since September, We saw the people rescued from 400 years of slavery in Egypt, only to complain they were better off there, protest life in the wilderness and eventually worship and give credit for their freedom to a golden calf. We saw King Ahab follow his wife Jezebel and lead the people into the worship of Baal, a deity worshipped by many of the people surrounding them (the people that God was protecting Israel from and leading to victory over). In the Southern kingdom, we see and the prophets condemn King David sends Uzziah the Hittite, a loyal and faithful solider to die in battle so David can have his wife Bathsheba. We saw King Solomon build the great temple in Jerusalem, along with all sorts of temples for the foreign gods of his wives. We saw their obsession with wealth and greed and their lack of concern for the people
In each case, there are consequences. There is a cycle of God’s call, people’s initial excitement and obedience, people falling away, being punished, repenting and being restored. In response to the worship of the golden calf, the priests go out and kill all of those who continue to worship this idol (about 3000 people). King David is confronted by Samuel and stopped from building the temple. His name will not be associated with it. Solomon’s behavior leads to the division of the kingdom into the northern and southern kingdoms, the brief time of a united people will be no more. In response to the widespread, king approved worship of Baal in Israel, the Lord sends a 3 year drought. Things get worse. Overall, the prophets share a few messages, they call people to repentance, back to faith, they insist that God is real, God matters, their words are often bad news, condemning the realties of the people’s lives (in particular the worship of other gods, inequality, disobedience). At the same time, there are promises, that God has not forgotten the people, God’s promises are still good, they will be fulfilled, in new, unexpected and wider ways.
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