“Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteous on you.”
~ Hosea 10:12
Hi James and Ellen,
What do you do when you are told by your dad and/or ma to do or not to do something? Has your dad and/or ma ever punished you? Have you ever been punished by your dad and/or ma for something that you were told not to do but you did it anyway. Have you ever been punished by your dad and/or ma for not doing something that your dad and/or ma specifically had asked you to do. If your dad and/or ma have punished you, how did your dad and/or ma punish you? Did your dad and/or ma spank you? Did your dad and/or ma send you to your room? Did your dad and/or ma make you take a timeout? Do you enjoy being punished? One day when your grandpaa was about your age James, your grandpaa’s dad found your grandpaa and your grandpaa’s sis in the backyard chicken coop breaking eggs so that they could watch the chickens in the chicken coop fight over eating the broken eggs. Because your grandpaa’s dad was not happy with your grandpaa and your grandpaa’s sis for doing what they were doing, your grandpaa and your grandpaa’s sis got a spanking that day from their dad. Your grandpaa never got another spanking from his dad after that day. Why do you think that it was wrong for your grandpaa and your grandpaa’s sis to do what they were doing? The reason is that once chickens experience the taste of eggs, chickens will begin to break their eggs to eat them. If the chickens on the farm where your grandpaa grew up as a kid started to eat their eggs, your grandpaa’s ma would not have the eggs that she needed to have to bake the different cookies that she liked to bake for your grandpaa’s dad and your grandpaa’s bros and sisters to eat. The spanking that your grandpaa’s dad gave to your grandpaa – when your grandpaa’s dad caught your grandpaa and your grandpaa’s sis breaking eggs in the backyard chicken coop so that they could watch chickens in the chicken coop fight over eating the eggs, taught your grandpaa a lesson as to what would happen to him again if he got his dad angry with him again. What have you learned from having been punished by your dad and/or ma for doing something that they told you not to do?
God through Moses told His specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people group’s guys and gals, to not make Him angry or . . . God expected His specially chosen guys and gals to wholeheartedly obey Him. God was ready to give His specially chosen guys and gals all kinds of blessings if they would faithfully obey Him by only worshipping Him. God through Moses gave His specially chosen guys and gals the list of blessings that He would give them if they would unreservedly obey Him by only worshipping Him. God also through Moses gave His specially chosen guys and gals a long list of curses or punishments that He would cause them to suffer if they did not completely obey Him by only worshipping Him. God’s specially chosen guys and gals started out worshipping only God but . . . it did not take long and God’s specially chosen guys and gals were doing exactly what God had specifically told them not to do. God’s specially chosen guys and gals began worshipping the manmade wood, stone and metal idols or false gods that the guys and gals who were living in countries boarding their country – which was Israel, were worshipping. God called prophet spokesmen to over and over again tell His specially chosen guys and gals that they needed to stop doing what they were doing or . . . God was very patient with His specially chosen guys and gals. God about 3400 years ago divinely dammed up River Jordon so that His specially chosen guys, gals and kids could walk on a dry riverbed into the land that He had told them that they would always have to live in as their very own land. About 650 years later – or about 2750 years ago, God sent a prophet to His special chosen guys and gals who were living in northern kingdom of the land that He had given to His special chosen guys and gals to always to have to live in as their very own land. The northern kingdom of Israel was called Israel while the southern kingdom of Israel was called Judah. Hosea was the prophet spokesman who God sent to the guys and gals who were living in Israel’s northern kingdom. God tasked Hosea with the responsibility of telling His specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people group’s guys and gals, who were living in Israel’s northern kingdom that He had enough of their constant evilness and rampant disobedience to Him. God tasked Hosea the responsibility of telling His specially chosen guys and gals who were living in Israel’s northern kingdom that He had enabled the Assyrian army to capture them and to take them to their country to be slaves.
Hosea 10 has God through Hosea really railing on His specially chosen guys and gals. God was not happy that the guys and gals who He had chosen to be His specially chosen guys and gals were doing exactly what He had asked them specifically not to do – which was to worship such things as wooden idols, the Beth Aven calf-idol and sacred stones. Because God knows what is in the heart of every guy, gal and kid, God knew that His specially chosen guys and gals who were living in Israel’s northern kingdom had hearts that were filled with deceit and evil. God used Hosea to tell His specially chosen guys and gals that the time had arrived for Him to punish them just like He had said that He would if . . . God at the same time told His specially chosen guys and gals in verse 12, to “Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteous on you.” A punishment may be a blessing. A punishment is to help a kid to know to do what is right. Have you learned anything from the punishments that you have gotten so far?
Hosea 10 (347)