Hosea 14

Week 8, Saturday: Israel will live again
Hosea piles up vibrant images of life and fruitfulness to encourage the people to look forward to the Lord’s restoring grace.

Read Hosea 14

Meditate on Hosea 14.4-7
1.  How many different images of life can you identify in these verses? List them below:

2.  Each of these images says something a little bit different about life. For example, the lily suggests beauty, while the root suggests nourishment and stability. What do the other images suggest?

3.  Four verbs describe God’s disposition toward Israel, leading to this “rebirth.” What are they? Why are these good ways of thinking about the grace of God?

4.  Ultimately, God is pointing toward the kind of life that exists where death is no threat and the grave has no power. How do these images of life help us in thinking about the nature of eternal life?

5.  In what ways do these verses supply a kind of outline of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

Summary
God will bring healing and life to His people, so that they dwell in Him without the fear of death hanging over them any more. Hosea’s hearers would have been left to ponder this mystery as they trooped off to Assyria in captivity.

Closing Prayer
O God, You are my God;
Early will I seek You;
My soul thirsts for You;
My flesh longs for You
In a dry and thirsty land
Where there is no water.
So I have looked for You in the sanctuary,
To see Your power and Your glory.
Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,
My lips shall praise You.
Thus I will bless You while I live;
I will lift up my hands in Your name.
My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.

Psalm 63.1-5

T. M. Moore

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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.