Thoughts on Wrath {Part 2}

{Note: I apologize for the spacing towards the end- I can’t get the lines to space out, even editing in HTML. Hopefully they wonky spacing won’t take away from the content.}

An A-ha! Moment From Hosea

A few months ago I was reading my way through the book of Hosea. I have read the first part numerous times, but this was the first time I had actually read through and meditated on the latter part of the book in which Hosea is prophesying to the Israelites. There is really a ton of good stuff in Hosea, and much like other Old Testament books, there is much discussion of the Israelites failure to obey God and the subsequent consequences.

As I began slogging my way through this book (and honestly, I was already tuning it out since it’s OT prophecy and what does that have to do with me anyway?) I was fairly knocked over by the realization that it brought me about God’s wrath.

Let’s read for a minute, just to get some background…
Hosea 8 really sets the stage; he is recounting Israel’s evil deeds and the ways in which she disobeyed God:

But Israel has rejected what is good;
an enemy will pursue him.
They set up kings without my consent;
they choose princes without my approval.
With their silver and gold
they make idols for themselves
to their own destruction.

They sow the wind 
   and reap the whirlwind. 
The stalk has no head; 
   it will produce no flour. 
Were it to yield grain,
foreigners would swallow it up.
Israel is swallowed up;
now she is among the nations
like a worthless thing.

Though Ephraim built many altars for sin offerings,
these have become altars for sinning.
I wrote for them the many things of my law,
but they regarded them as something alien.
They offer sacrifices given to me
and they eat the meat,
but the LORD is not pleased with them.
Now he will remember their wickedness
and punish their sins:
They will return to Egypt.
Israel has forgotten his Maker
and built palaces;
Judah has fortified many towns.

This brings us in to chapter 9 of Hosea, which I found very difficult to read; it’s hard for me to hear this kind of language coming from God, the one who saved me and has given me grace at every failing. But this is what he says to Israel:

The days of punishment are coming,
the days of reckoning are at hand.
Let Israel know this.
Because your sins are so many
and your hostility so great,
the prophet is considered a fool,
the inspired man a maniac.

Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird—
no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.
Even if they rear children, 
   I will bereave them of every one. 
Woe to them
when I turn away from them!
I have seen Ephraim, like Tyre,
planted in a pleasant place.
But Ephraim will bring out
their children to the slayer.

Give them, O LORD—
what will you give them?
Give them wombs that miscarry
and breasts that are dry.

Because of all their wickedness in Gilgal,
I hated them there.
Because of their sinful deeds,
I will drive them out of my house.
I will no longer love them;
all their leaders are rebellious.
Ephraim is blighted,
their root is withered,
they yield no fruit.
Even if they bear children,
I will slay their cherished offspring.

My God will reject them
because they have not obeyed him;
they will be wanderers among the nations.

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 righteousness on you.

And in Hosea 11:

My heart is changed within me;
all my compassion is aroused.
I will not carry out my fierce anger,
nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim.
For I am God, and not man—
the Holy One among you.
 I will not come in wrath.

So what does all this mean for us?