devotional post # 2126

Hosea 9:16-17

Hos 9:16 Ephraim has been struck down; their root is dried up; they will produce no fruit. Even if they give birth, I will put their beloved children to death.
Hos 9:17 My God will trash them because they have not listened to him; they will be wanderers among the nations.

trashed treasure

Hosea’s description of God’s judgment of Israel keeps getting more intense. He says now that they have been struck down, and rendered fruitless (just like the fig tree that Jesus cursed). Then he says that they have been trashed because they had refused to listen to his rebuke from the prophets. He would throw them in the trash can of the nations. And that is where they went — until he decided to pick them out and restore them to their land by his grace.

LORD, we want to listen to you. You did not give up on your treasure, which you had to trash. We trust you not to give up on us.