Hosea 12 Commentary
Hosea digs deeper into the history of the nation. The foundations are shaky. Jacob is a trickster from the womb. Sin is acquired but also inborn. Jacob is sinful even before he can consciously make decisions!
As a grown man, Jacob tries to get the best of God. But God would not be bested. God bests him. Sinful Jacob is on the losing end! It is always a losing end until one realizes so. Is Hosea preaching about the future hope of restoration?
Several key moments in Jacob’s physical life are highlighted with the thought that Israel is never different. It is an age-old problem.
Jacob believed in solving his own problems. He got the blessing using his own methods. Lies and more lies. His complicated marriage is yet another moment of trickery. He cheated his way through and received deception in return. Laban paid him for it.
Israel’s relationship with Assyria and Egypt is nothing but deception and faithlessness. It runs in Israel’s veins.
But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always. Verse 6.
Hosea wants the saint to ponder his or her ways and see pop-up sins for what they really are. They are often tightly connected to the hole of sinfulness deep within the individual. See it as a battle frontier. The LORD stations troops there to defend His holiness. Let it not be an immigration entry point at which sin negotiates entry.
Let the saint know what it takes to tackle history-long sinful tendencies. A small lie here and there isn’t small at all. Hosea wants Israel to know deception is an ‘ancestor’ problem.
“The LORD used a prophet to bring Israel out of Egypt.” Is the scripture provoking the thought that it will take another Prophet to restore Israel? And could this Prophet have the same identity as the Son or Immanuel – one with the government on His shoulders?
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