devotional post # 2123

Hosea 9:5-8

Hos 9:5 What will you do on the day of the appointed meeting, and on the day of the feast of Yahveh?
Hos 9:6 Because notice, they are trying to escape destruction; but Egypt will gather them; Memphis will bury them. Nettles will possess their precious silver things; thorns will invade their tents.
Hos 9:7 The days of punishment have come; the days of recompense have come; Israel will know it. The prophet is thought a fool; the man of the spirit is mad, because of your great iniquity and great animosity.
Hos 9:8 The prophet is the watchman of Ephraim on behalf of my God; yet he faces a fowler’s snare on all his roads, and animosity in the house of his God.

turning against the divine

Hosea describes the degradation of his society as a result of the people’s betrayal and sin. The focal points of religion have been hit by the betrayal as well. There are no priests left for the assembly, and no prophets left to proclaim the word. The days of punishment have come because the society has turned against its God.

LORD, turn us back, before it is too late. Restore in us a respect for your holy times, holy places, and dedicated servants.