"'How can I give you up, Ephraim? [Israel]
How can I hand you over, Israel?
How can I treat you like Admah?
How can I make you like Zeboyim?
My heart is changed within me;
all my compassion is aroused.
I will not carry out my fierce anger,
nor will I devastate Ephraim again.
For I am God, and not a man—
the Holy One among you.
I will not come against their cities.
They will follow the Lord;
he will roar like a lion.
When he roars,
his children will come trembling from the west.
They will come from Egypt,
trembling like sparrows,
from Assyria, fluttering like doves.
I will settle them in their homes,'
declares the Lord" (11:8-11).
Wow. That challenges the argument that the God of the Old Testament is a judgmental God and the God of the New Testament is a loving God.
The God of the Old Testament is Jesus' Father and He never made that kind of distinction between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant's depiction of His Father. The Old Covenant was the only covenant Jesus knew, and while He fulfilled its deepest promises, He did not set aside the Old Testament as some now antiquated, now irrelevant document.
He said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them" (Matt. 5:17). In a Jewish context, He meant was that He came to interpret the Law correctly. The Pharisees had veered away from the Torah's intent of Micah's words,
"He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?" (6:8)
They had made the Torah an unsufferable burden.
"He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?" (6:8)
They had made the Torah an unsufferable burden.
Another way to interpret Jesus' words, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Matt. 11:28-30) is His approach to "the yoke of Torah." He brought Himself. By following Him, we find rest for our souls, not more rules that burden and weary us.
God is clear in His expectations of His people. As Jesus taught, a love for God will lead us to be obedient to God. Lose the love, lose the relationship.
Let's look at Admah and Zeboyim. These were cities near Sodom and Gomorrah, and they were destroyed when God finally let His judgement fall on the inhabitants. Lot and his kin got out of Dodge (so to speak) and down came the fire and the brimstone.
For the Israelites, these cities' names were part of their heritage. The story tells of when God offered mercy and it was rebuked because then people were deeply immersed in sin. He then brought judgment.
It's easy for us to simply boil down Sodom and Gomorrah's sin to be one of sexual depravity, and yes, while this is true, Ezekiel expands the list:
Let's look at Admah and Zeboyim. These were cities near Sodom and Gomorrah, and they were destroyed when God finally let His judgement fall on the inhabitants. Lot and his kin got out of Dodge (so to speak) and down came the fire and the brimstone.
For the Israelites, these cities' names were part of their heritage. The story tells of when God offered mercy and it was rebuked because then people were deeply immersed in sin. He then brought judgment.
It's easy for us to simply boil down Sodom and Gomorrah's sin to be one of sexual depravity, and yes, while this is true, Ezekiel expands the list:
"Now this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters had pride, plenty of food, and comfortable security, but didn’t support the poor and needy" (16:49).
Sin reaches into all areas of our lives. Sexual sin is a door to more sin, to be sure, but other sins can provide that opening as well. The core of Sodom's sin was greed: for money, flesh and abundance. The consequences of such greed? Evidently, no one cared.
Sound familiar?
Deuteronomy also holds up Sodom as an example:
Deuteronomy also holds up Sodom as an example:
“Then the generation to come—your descendants after you and the foreigners who come from afar—will see plagues and illnesses infecting the land that the Lord will inflict on it. The whole land will be covered with salt pits and burning sulfur, with nothing planted, nothing sprouting, and producing no vegetation—overthrown like Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, when the Lord overthrew them in his raging fury. All the nations will ask, ‘Why did the Lord do this to this land? What is the meaning of this fierce and great anger?’" (29:22-24).
So, when Hosea cites these two cities, the people get it. God is agonizing over doing to Israel what He did in the past with these sin-soaked cities.
So, when Hosea cites these two cities, the people get it. God is agonizing over doing to Israel what He did in the past with these sin-soaked cities.
Abraham prays an interesting prayer in seeking to save Sodom. He pleads that God should spare the city if some number of righteous people can be found. He bases his plea on God's righteousness and justice, that He will not bring destruction on the innocent:
"Then Abraham approached him and said: 'Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?'” (Gen. 18:23-25).
He keeps bargaining with God as the hypothetical number grows smaller and smaller. Does Abraham realize, as he is talking, that there may be no one righteous in these cities?
The dialogue between God and Abraham ends this way:
"Then he said, 'May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?'
He answered, 'For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.'
When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home" (18:32-33).
The fact that God did end up destroying the cities of the plain shows that no one was righteous in those cities. The fact that God refers to them in these verses from Hosea shows a similar plea: God does not want to destroy Israel. He wants them to repent and be saved from destruction.
He answered, 'For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.'
When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home" (18:32-33).
The fact that God did end up destroying the cities of the plain shows that no one was righteous in those cities. The fact that God refers to them in these verses from Hosea shows a similar plea: God does not want to destroy Israel. He wants them to repent and be saved from destruction.
The dialogue between Abraham and God ended with a sad recognition that judgment was coming.
So too do these verses in Hosea:
"Ephraim has surrounded me with lies,
Israel with deceit.
And Judah is unruly against God,
even against the faithful Holy One." (11:12)
God wants the best for His children, but when they act in defiance, He cannot just ignore it. He allows the fire and brimstone to fall.
It is no different today.
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