Come, let us return to the LORD.
He has torn us to pieces
but he will heal us;
he has injured us
but he will bind up our wounds.
2 After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will restore us,
that we may live in his presence.
3 Let us acknowledge the LORD;
let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises,
he will appear;
he will come to us like the winter rains,
like the spring rains that water the earth. Hosea6:1-3
Chapters 6-10 are a description of the judgement that will fall on Israel because of her stubborn disobedience.
What is striking is that this tough section starts with the prophet's passionate cry: "Let us return to the Lord, because He will heal and restore us."
We may struggle with the idea of "He has torn us to pieces" and "He has injured us", but let's remember the imagery we started with: Gomer running away from Hosea and getting herself into trouble and slavery. If Hosea had restrained her from running away then she would not have got into trouble, so, in a way Hosea is responsible for her being in slavery.
It is in this sense that Hosea "blames" God for Israel's wounds.
They brought judgement on themselves, but only because of the freedom that God gave them.
What is hard to ignore are the parallels we encounter here:
- The three days that Jesus was in the tomb
- The prophecies of the wounded healer in Isaiah 53
- The way Jesus was "torn to pieces" when He was whipped
- The torn temple curtain that enables us to "live in His presence"
- And the promise of winter and spring rains and streams of living water.
Although we can't strictly call this a Messianic prophecy, I am certainly comfortable to see a Messianic pre-echo...
What a gracious God - that even judgement is preceded with mercy.
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
