1 Come, let us return to the LORD.For He has torn us to pieces,but He will heal us;He has wounded us,but He will bind up our wounds.2 After two days He will revive us;on the third day He will raise us up,that we may live in His presence.3 So let us know—let us press on to know the LORD.As surely as the sun rises,He will appear;He will come to us like the rain,like the spring showers that water the earth.4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?What shall I do with you, O Judah?For your loyalty is like a morning mist,like the early dew that vanishes.5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;I have slain them by the words of My mouth,and My judgments go forth like lightning.6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,and the knowledge of Godrather than burnt offerings.7 But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant;there they were unfaithful to Me.8 Gilead is a city of evildoers,tracked with footprints of blood.9 Like raiders who lie in ambush,so does a band of priests;they murder on the way to Shechem;surely they have committed atrocities.10 In the house of IsraelI have seen a horrible thing:Ephraim practices prostitution there,and Israel is defiled.11 Also for you, O Judah,a harvest is appointed,when I restoreMy people from captivity.REFLECTIONSWritten by Susan DucThe problem presented in this passage reminds me of the saying in Proverbs 26:11: “As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.”  For while Hosea urges the Israelites to return to the LORD, he knows that his call will be ignored. Like the dog and the fool, the people fail to learn from past mistakes and will return – time and again – to their sinful ways, despite knowing better. We hear God’s frustrated despair in his question ‘what shall I do with you?’ (v 4). For even as God is constant and faithful, his people are fickle and faithless. From the very beginning, Israel’s history has been marked by rejection of God, experiences of divine judgment and moments of fleeting sorrow. The toxic cycle can’t be broken by acts of fasting, the wearing of sackcloth, or even the making sin offerings. God’s desire has been always for “mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings” (v 6). God longs for real relationship, for his people to know him deeply, to genuinely repent and to truly worship him.Like the Israelites, we tend to forget what God requires of us and repeat our follies. After all, it’s much easier to keep to rules – like not swearing, giving 10% of our income and coming to church every Sunday – than to properly acknowledge God and pursue a rich and deep relationship with him.But in view of God’s mercies toward us – in the love he has shown us in Christ, in giving us his Holy Spirit and the promise of everlasting joy and peace – let us answer the call to repent and to offer ourselves wholly to God as ‘living sacrifices’ pouring forth praise and worship to the God who is worthy (Rom 12:1).





























ABOUT THE AUTHORSusan is one of our Assistant Ministers.

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