Oh When Israel Was a Child

Thursday of Week 14 in Ordinary Time

Hosea 11:1-4, 8-9

We are at the end of Hosea’s second prophetic speech…6 chapters long!  It has a rhythmic, long and very descriptive list of Israel’s sins.  Have they forgotten everything God has taught them? God remembers...you  used to be such a nice kid until you started hanging out with the wrong crowd (foreign Gods et al).

The tender language of the remembrance: 

Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk;

Who took them in my arms;

I drew them with human cords,

With bands of love;

I fostered them like one

                  who raises an infant to his cheeks;

Yet, though I stooped to feed my child,

They did not know that I was their healer.

In today’s text, God gets to the end of his rant and realizes that he just can’t do it.  He can’t destroy Israel.  He must try to bring him back.  (Haven’t I had this same emotional experience with my teenagers from time to time?  “the more I called them the farther they went from me.”)

Bottom line: 

My heart is overwhelmed,

My pity is stirred.

I will not give vent to my blazing anger;

I will not destroy Ephraim again;

For I am God and not man,

The Holy One present among you;

I will not let the flames consume you.

I love this language.  These rich prophetic texts of the Bible feel so real to me.  Not the projected image of a God of revenge (we didn’t read the revenge verses;)…but the honest confession of guilt that ended on these pages.  A confession that knows pain and yet can’t let go of hope.  God and God’s people…it isn’t smooth sailing unless we are lying to ourselves.