double violation

Posted on September 4, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

20160216-04

devotional post # 2129

Hosea 10:8-10

Hos 10:8 The high places of Aven, the mistake of Israel, will be made useless. Thorn bush and thistle will grow up on their altars, and they will say to the mountains, “Cover us,” and to the hills, “Fall on us.”
Hos 10:9 From the days of Gibeah, you have failed, O Israel; there they have continued. Should not the war against the unjust overtake them in Gibeah?
Hos 10:10 When I want to, I will discipline them, and nations will be gathered against them when they are tied up because of their double violation.

double violation

The Gibeonites were almost destroyed after their horrible crime of raping and murdering a Levite’s concubine. But those tribes who carried out that punishment continued in the same crimes of lust and violence, and added betrayal and idolatry to their rap sheets. So, now the LORD is going to punish them, with a war against them that will overtake them at Gibeah. Just like a group of tribes zeroed in on Gibeah, so now a group of nations will zero in on Israel.

LORD, purge us of the evil we accomplish even when we are trying to do what is right.

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king and calf

Posted on September 3, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

20160216-03

devotional post # 2128

Hosea 10:5-7

Hos 10:5 The residents of Samaria are afraid for the calf of Beth-aven. Its people mourn for it, and so do its idolatrous priests– those who had partied over it and over its glory– because it has departed from them.
Hos 10:6 The thing itself will be carried to Assyria as tribute to the great king. Ephraim will be put to shame, and Israel will be ashamed of his idol.
Hos 10:7 Samaria’s king will perish like a twig on the face of the waters.

king and calf

The party’s over. The king who thought he was great is now wiped away like a twig over a waterfall. The great foreign king now reigns over the land, and he has taken their precious calf idol. The great king has replaced it with his own idol, and the residents of Samaria are ashamed of it. They should be ashamed of themselves, because they brought this judgment upon themselves by betraying the LORD.

LORD, build in us a strong loyalty to you and your word. Destroy our idols.

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weeds that choke the vine

Posted on September 2, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

20160216-02

devotional post # 2127

Hosea 10:1-4

Hos 10:1 Israel is a growing climbing vine that produces fruit for him. The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built; as his country improved, he improved his memorial stones.
Hos 10:2 Their heart is false; now they must bear their guilt. The LORD will break down their altars and destroy their memorial stones.
Hos 10:3 Because now they will say: “We have no king, because we do not fear Yahveh; and a king– what could he do for us?”
Hos 10:4 They utter only words; with empty oaths they make covenants; so judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.

weeds that choke the vine

Hosea uses the word Israel here for the land, and is still talking about Ephraim as the people. They have used the growing climbing vine to improve the country economically, but they have responded to this blessing by making their nation more idolatrous. So, God will send weeds to choke the vine. Such is the case for anyone who responds to God’s blessings by turning them against him.

LORD, thank you for your blessings. Show us how to respond with gratitude, not to do our own thing with them.

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trashed treasure

Posted on September 1, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

20160216-01

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.

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evil on display

Posted on August 31, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

marmsky devotions pics (of Hamilton NZ) August 2017 (31)

devotional post # 2125

Hosea 9:13-15

Hos 9:13 Ephraim, as I remember seeing him, was like a young palm transplanted in a meadow; but Ephraim now has to lead his children out to slaughter.
Hos 9:14 Give them, O LORD– what will you give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
Hos 9:15 Every evil of theirs is displayed in Gilgal; there I began to hate them. Because of the wickedness of their actions I will drive them out of my house. I will not love them any more; all their princes are rebels.

evil on display

God described his judgment upon Israel as displaying the evil of their own rejection back upon the land. He still remembers the Ephraim of the past. But now he also sees the calamity they will face in the future, at his own hand. The evil on display is God’s work of judgment and reprisal. Such is the case for everyone who betrays the LORD and does not repent.

LORD, restore us to the beauty that you saw when you first drew us to yourself.

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sour grapes

Posted on August 30, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

marmsky devotions pics (of Hamilton NZ) August 2017 (30)

devotional post # 2124

Hosea 9:9-12

Hos 9:9 They have deeply corrupted themselves like in the days of Gibeah: he will remember their violation; he will punish their mistakes.
Hos 9:10 Like grapes in the wilderness, that is how I found Israel. Like the first fruit on the fig tree in its first season, that is how I saw your fathers. But then they came to Baal-peor and consecrated themselves to that dishonorable thing, and became vulgar like the thing they loved.
Hos 9:11 Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird– no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!
Hos 9:12 Even if they bring up children, I will deprive them till no man is left. Tragedy will also come to them when I back away from them!

sour grapes

The image of the rejected fruit tree or grave vine is used by several prophets in the Old Testament (Jeremiah 8:13; Micah 7:1). Jesus cursed a fig tree for a similar reason (Matthew 21; Mark 11). In Hosea’s description, the LORD talks about his initial love of Israel, as if he came upon them as a fruitful grapevine and fig tree in the wilderness. But then he saw that their idolatry turned them into something vulgar and disgusting, just like the other nations. The result: God chooses to back away and make them unfruitful.

LORD, remove from us the vulgarity that we have sought. Restore us to the refreshing fruitfulness that pleases you.

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turning against the divine

Posted on August 29, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

marmsky devotions pics (of Hamilton NZ) August 2017 (29)

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.

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church is canceled

Posted on August 28, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

marmsky devotions pics (of Hamilton NZ) August 2017 (28)

devotional post # 2122

Hosea 9:1-4

Hos 9:1 Do not plan to celebrate, O Israel! Do not keep rejoicing like the other people; because you have cheated, betraying your God. You have loved a prostitute’s pay on all threshing floors.
Hos 9:2 Threshing floor and wine vat will not feed them, and the new wine will fail them.
Hos 9:3 They will not stay in the land of Yahveh, but Ephraim will return to Egypt, and they will eat impure food in Assyria.
Hos 9:4 They will not pour drink offerings of wine to Yahveh, and their sacrifices will not please him. It will be like mourners’ bread to them; all who eat it will be defiled; because their bread will be for their hunger only; it will not come to the house of Yahveh.

church is canceled

The Israelite’s worship was a celebration of God’s grace and rescue from slavery and sin. But Hosea told them that church is canceled. The people had cheated on God, and he was kicking them out of paradise. They need not put on any outward shows of worship any more. They should save their sacrifices for their own hunger, because there was not going to be a temple where they are going.

LORD, restore us. We want to worship you in Spirit and truth.

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sin, sacrifice, repeat

Posted on August 27, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

marmsky devotions pics (of Hamilton NZ) August 2017 (27)

devotional post # 2121

Hosea 8:11-14

Hos 8:11 Since Ephraim has made more altars because of sinning, they have become to him altars to promote sinning.
Hos 8:12 If I had written my law for him ten thousand times, they would be regarded as a foreign thing.
Hos 8:13 As for my sacrificial offerings, they sacrifice meat and eat it, but Yahveh does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins; they will return to Egypt.
Hos 8:14 Because Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces, and Judah has made more fortified cities; so I will send a fire upon his cities, and it will consume her fortresses.

sin, sacrifice, repeat

The sacrificial system had been designed as a demonstration of God’s grace, and a promise of his forgiveness of a repentant people. But in Hosea’s time, it had become an empty religious practice that promoted sinning. The Israelites did not trust God; they trusted in their own power to defend themselves. God’s law was a foreign thing to them. As a result, God will not consume the sacrifices. He will consume their fortress cities instead, and send them back to captivity in Egypt.

LORD, destroy our empty altars and deceptive fortresses and teach us to trust you again.

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the cheap stuff

Posted on August 26, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

marmsky devotions pics (of Hamilton NZ) August 2017 (26)

devotional post # 2120

Hosea 8:8-10

Hos 8:8 Israel is consumed; already they are distributed among the nations like cheap pottery that noone wants.
Hos 8:9 Because they have gone up to Assyria, a wild donkey going off on its own; Ephraim has been paying for lovers.
Hos 8:10 Even though they are hiring allies among the nations, I will soon start collecting them. And they will soon feel the burden of their loyalty to the king of princes.

the cheap stuff

In a little strip mall near where I lived in New Zealand, many of the traditional stores went out of business. In their place, several stores that sold the same kind of merchandise appeared. The stores are almost identical, in spite of the fact that they are not connected by ownership or franchise. They are similar because they offer the cheap stuff. Items imported from a foreign country with cheap labor and known for poor quality products.

That is what Hosea said the Isrealites had become. They had sold themselves cheap. But the LORD was going to get them back.

LORD, we have sold ourselves cheap. Restore us by your power and grace.

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