Loyalty like a morning cloud

In today’s passage, the sins of Israel and Judah are exposed. (1) Their faithfulness is like the morning mist or like the early dew. These words describe something that quickly disappears, something that does not last. In the same way, the faithfulness that Israel and Judah showed toward the Lord vanished quickly. (2) Therefore, the Lord, through the prophets, declared the need for true repentance and warned that severe judgment was about to come. (3) Their fundamental problem was “ignorance of the word of the Lord.” This is the issue Hosea has pointed out repeatedly. The Lord’s desire is: “For I desire loyalty rather than sacrifice, And the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” But this knowledge was lacking among the people of Israel. As a result, their faithfulness became something unstable and short-lived.

Like Adam

(1) They broke the covenant with the Lord as Adam did. The covenant Adam broke is what we call the Edenic Covenant, whereas the covenant the people of Israel broke is the Sinai Covenant (the Mosaic Covenant). (2) As a result, lawlessness and violence spread throughout various regions of the land of Canaan. Gilead, a town east of the Jordan River, had become a place where blood was being shed. (3) Shechem is a town west of the Jordan River. This town was originally a Levite (priestly) city (Josh. 21:21). The priests were responsible for teaching the people the ways of the Lord, but instead, in that town they formed gangs like robbers and murdered travelers. They also indulged in acts of immorality. (4) Furthermore, Shechem was one of the six cities of refuge (Josh. 20:7). A city of refuge was a city where someone who had killed another person unintentionally can flee to and be protected. Yet, in that very place, intentional murder was being committed. (5) Samaria (the northern kingdom) was guilty of adultery (idolatry). (6) Judah (the southern kingdom) also was committing the same sin. Therefore, a time of harvest, a time of judgment, was also appointed for Judah. Let us remember that the fundamental problem of the people of Israel was ignorance. What is it that the Lord seeks from us? The Lord Jesus says: “Now go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, rather than sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matt. 9:13). Blessed are those who respond to the Lord’s call with repentance.