devotional post # 2090

Hos 1:6 She conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. And Yahveh said to him, “Name her No Tender Affection, because I will no more have tender affection on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all.
Hos 1:7 But I will have tender affection on the house of Judah, and I will save them by Yahveh their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”

tender affection

Of all the possible translations of the verb racham, and the noun ruchamah, the phrase tender affection seems closest because the idea is not pity or mercy on an underling, but the kind of love and affection one would show his young bride. Israel had been unfaithful to her husband, and her husband has chosen not to forgive them. This is not the whole story, so we should not rush to judgment. But at least we can understand at this point that when those who claim to belong to God betray him, God feels it.

LORD, we confess that we have failed you, and our sins have hurt you. Forgive us LORD.