Longsuffering Love for a Rebellious People

The deepest level of loneliness is the anguish of unrelatedness, the disturbing realization of separation and estrangement. It is the pathos of longing to love a person and having your love resisted or rejected.

Broken or estranged relationships cause the most distressing loneliness. It is being with a person but out of communication, the ache of separateness, the yearning for intimacy again. Our hearts overflow with caring and concern for someone, but he or she refuses to accept what we desire to express. Our loneliness becomes especially acute in those times when others are in trouble, have failed, or are on a crash course with self-destructive patterns. We want to step in and reverse their course, but our efforts are rebuffed. There is no loneliness as painful as enduring unrequited love.

I. Proof Of Israel’s Rebelliousness, 11:1-4.

As a youth, loved by the LORD

Called out of Egypt, The LORD calls Israel “My son” --- familial, adopted, loved. Yet

They turned from The LORD, their Father to sacrifice to foreign gods.

When the LORD sent them the prophets to warn them to return to the LORD or there would be consequences, they rejected their message and turned further from their Father, continuing to sacrifice to the Baals, the gods of foreigners, and burning incense to man-made idols.

The LORD had demonstrated His love for Israel, not the Baals nor the idols.

He taught Ephraim how to walk.

He took them in His arms

Yet they did not know (or they refused to know) the LORD healed them. The LORD continues to express how He has demonstrated His love for Israel,

He led them with cords of a man

He led them with bonds of love

He was the one who lifted their yokes

He was the one who came to them and fed them, not another.

II. Punishment for Israel’s Rebelliousness, 11:5-7.

The Lord continues, promising they will not return to the land of Egypt, but they will be under another’s rule, the Assyrians will be their king now because they refused to return to the LORD, refusing the pleas of the LORD’s prophets and making light of His promised consequences for disobedience.

It will be a vicious judgment, with swords swirling in battle, the bars that secure the gates will not just be removed but destroyed so they cannot bar the gates from the enemy. They will be consumed by the enemy because of the counsels that the listened to and acted upon.

The people have gone so far that everything they do demonstrates their disdain for the LORD. Their very character is determined to turn from Him, even though the prophets have called them to the True God on high. Their response is to refuse to exalt the LORD.

III. God’s Compassion for Israel will not let them go, 11:8-11.

The LORD has demonstrated His lovingkindness to Israel, and His longsuffering with their rebellious ways, warning them through His prophets to return to Him. Yet they were intent on turning from the worship of the LORD to worship of false gods and idols, ignoring the call of the prophets.

They deserve what they are going to get because of their rebelliousness. Yet the compassion of the LORD for Israel is evident in these last verses.

The LORD asks four rhetorical questions:

How can I give you up, O Ephraim?

How can I surrender you, O Israel?

The LORD cannot give them up nor surrender them to another. In spite of their obstinate ways, Israel will not be totally destroyed as a people.

How can I make (give) you like Admah?

How can I treat you like Zeboiim?

The LORD judged these two cities of the plain along with Sodom and Gomorrah because of the exceeding wickedness of the people. They were made inhabitable and unable to sustain life. In spite of their wickedness, Israel will not be destroyed as Admah and Zeboiim.

It is the LORD’s compassion for Israel that will spare Israel from the same fate as Admah and Zeboiim. Though they were overturned, Israel will not be; rather there will be an “overturning” of the LORD’s heart. His heart of judgment was turned upside down into a heart of compassion.

But the LORD did not change His mind about bringing judgment on Israel. He did promise to not apply the full measure of His wrath our to destroy Ephraim again in the future. He is not like a man who forgets his promises, is arbitrary in his passions, and might be vindictive in his anger. He is God! He defines His otherness, his divine uniqueness, not in terms of power, wisdom, or sovereignty but in terms of love; a love that is constant, sure, and steadfast.

1 Samuel 15:29 NASB95

“Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.”

He is the Holy One in the midst of the Israelites, so He would be completely fair with His people. He would not descend upon them with unbridled wrath, in spite of their disloyalty.

Holy love, loving holiness—these are the phrases that give us the clearest insight that we possess into the divine nature. No-one except Jesus the Christ has taught us more about this than Hosea.

[Hubbard, D. A.]

Chisholm states in his Handbook on the Prophets, “Some theologians argue that God does not possess emotions. Of course, to make such an assertion they must dismiss as anthropopathic the many biblical texts that attribute emotions to God. Hosea 11:9 demonstrates that this view of God’s nature is erroneous and unbiblical. God, like human beings whom he made in his image, is capable of a wide range of emotions, but God, unlike human beings, expresses his emotions in perfect balance. The distinction between God and human beings does not lie in some supposed absence of divine emotion, but in God’s ability to control his emotions and express them appropriately.” (pg. 362)

There will be a future time when Israel will follow the LORD. His intentions will be announced like a roaring lion, leading its cubs to safety. The Israelites will hear His call and follow Him, “trembling (with humility) from the west.” cf. Hosea 3:5

Hosea 3:5 NASB95

Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king; and they will come trembling to the Lord and to His goodness in the last days.

and Exodus 19:16

Exodus 19:16 NASB95

So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.

The reference “from the west” probably refers to the streaming of Israel back into the land following Jesus Christ’s return to the earth, Isaiah 11:11-12

Isaiah 11:11–12 NASB95

Then it will happen on that day that the Lord Will again recover the second time with His hand The remnant of His people, who will remain, From Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, And from the islands of the sea. And He will lift up a standard for the nations And assemble the banished ones of Israel, And will gather the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth.

The universal return finds support here in the references to return from Egypt (the symbolic place of Exile) and Assyria (the literal place), cf. Zech 10:10-11

Zechariah 10:10–11 NASB95

“I will bring them back from the land of Egypt And gather them from Assyria; And I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon Until no room can be found for them. “And they will pass through the sea of distress And He will strike the waves in the sea, So that all the depths of the Nile will dry up; And the pride of Assyria will be brought down And the scepter of Egypt will depart.

The LORD promises to settle the Israelites in their houses (where the used to dwell) in the land of Israel. Earlier Israel had been seen as silly as doves seeking foreign alliances; now they would return as swiftly as doves to the land.

This is the promise of longsuffering love for a rebellious people; the promise of the LORD to the Israelites.