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The Scriptorium

A Charge against Judah

Judah will not escape the judgment of God.

Hosea 12

Week 7, Friday: Judah will not escape

The people of Judah, the Southern Kingdom, will also come under the Lord’s displeasure. Judah should learn from her ancestor to seek the Lord and thus to prevail with Him, but they will not.

Read Hosea 12

Meditate on Hosea 12.1-6

1.  In verse 1 God summarizes His charge against Israel (Ephraim). How would you explain the two references to the wind? What does it mean to feed on and pursue the wind?

2.  Israel’s “covenant” with Assyria led to her being taken captive by the Assyrians. What did this entail? Why do you suppose this happened? As believers, are we in danger of making covenants with the surrounding world? What would that look like?

3.  Judah also is in the sights of God’s judgment. God recalls Israel’s past as a “struggler” who sought the Lord with tears (vv. 2-4). Why does God move Hosea to recall this for Judah?

4.  How can God’s wayward people return to Him (vv. 4-6)? What would that look like in our day?

5.  Meditate on Psalm 27. What’s involved in waiting on the Lord?

Summary
The prophet issues a warning to Judah and calls the nation to repent and seek the Lord. They will not, of course; however, these words, spoken before God’s judgment fell, would still be available to guide the people of Judah back to the Lord of hosts. This is an important function of the prophetic literature. It served the people to whom it was originally addressed, and it continues to serve us today.

Closing Prayer
Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion!
When God brings back the captivity of His people,
Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.

Psalm 53.6

T. M. Moore

The Week, T. M.’s daily print and audio offering of worldview insights, musings, and reflections, is now available for a free subscription. You can subscribe to The Weekby going to www.ailbe.org and, when the pop-up appears, put in your email, click on The Week, then click to update your subscriptions. You’ll be sent an email allowing you to add The Week to your list of subscriptions.

Each week’s studies in our
Scriptorium column are available in a free PDF form, suitable for personal or group use. For all available studies in Hosea, click here.

A primary theme of the book of Hosea is Israel’s failure to keep covenant with the Lord. God’s covenant is a central theme and provides the organizing motif for all of Scripture. Learn more about God’s covenant by ordering a copy of T. M.’s book,
I Will Be Your God, from our online store (click here).

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
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