Old Testament # 34
“I Will Betroth Thee unto Me in Righteousness”
Hosea 1–3; 11; 13–14
Introduction
Hosea was prophet to an apostate Israel (Northern Kingdom) about 750-725 BC. His contemporaries were Isaiah and Micah. Jeroboam was the king in the Northern Kingdom and Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah (Southern Kingdom). The Assyrian captivity of the Northern Kingdom took place around 740 BC.[1]
There are many references in the scriptures to the Lord being the bridegroom. The New Testament especially with the parable of the marriage feast and the parable of the Ten Virgins. There are also mentions in the Doctrine and Covenants. However, perhaps the rich symbolism and similitude in Hosea most poignantly portray the Savior as the ever-faithful, ever-willing to forgive spouse of the Church collectively and, therefore, his relationship with each one of us.
I went for a walk in the mall yesterday, taking a break from working with the missionaries in my Church Service mission (a task that is daunting and excruciatingly humbling). I usually avoid the mall on a Saturday, but as I saw the manner of dress of the shoppers, young and old, non-traditional couples hand-in-hand, and later on some images in my Facebook feed, which I usually control pretty strongly, I wondered how we were doing in our relationship with the Lord, collectively. More important, how was I doing? Because it starts with me. I think it has to do with compromise: we are experts in compromising with ourselves, but does that mean, introspectively, that I am also compromising with the Lord?
We are through the easy parts of the Old Testament (if any of it is easy), now we are looking at the Prophets. Now we have to liken the scriptures unto us in exacting detail. Shortly before he died, Elder Maxwell gave a devotional at BYU. Here is an excerpt which deals with a topic he taught so much on: agency:
Once more, therefore, the act of choosing is more than nodding assent or passive shoulder shrugging. It reflects real choices made over time that form definite patterns. Even our prayers are much affected by our choices. If we have made good choices, we are much less likely to ask “amiss” (2 Nephi 4:35) in our prayers but instead can ask according to that “which is right” (3 Nephi 18:20). And then the promise is there for us to begin to claim more and more. The choices and prayers can be such that we canask, and what we ask for can be “done even as [we] asketh” (D&C 46:30). Again, there can be no agency avoidance. Nodecision isa decision. Delay is a delusion, and that delay always discards the holy present. It simply throws it away. Again, choosing to be obedient is a choice. Jesus chose to let His will be “swallowed up in the will of the Father” (Mosiah 15:7). It was a deliberate choice—a choice, of course, that blessed all mortals mightily and everlastingly. Being obedient is a way of life, but it is also the way to eternal life.[2]
1. Using the similitude of a faithful husband and an adulterous wife, Hosea describes the relationship between the Lord and Israel. Hosea 1–3.
As is often the case, and it has happened now for three weeks running, we do not know how much of Hosea (and Jonah and Job) is a framework for a teaching or an actual event. But the lesson is there: if you turn away from Christ—in the case of Israel to idolatry—then it is the equivalent of the phonetically similar word, adultery. Elder Ronald Poelman couched the story depicted in Hosea in modern terms, coming to this conclusion:
By disobeying the laws of God and breaking his commandments, we do offend him, we do estrange ourselves from him, and we don’t deserve his help and inspiration and strength. But God’s love for us transcends our transgressions. . . . Out of his divine love for us, our Father has provided a plan and a Savior, Jesus Christ, whose redeeming sacrifice satisfies the demands of justice for us and makes possible repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation with our Father. . . .
We may accept this great gift through faith in Jesus Christ and repentance, followed by a covenant made with him through baptism of the water and of the Spirit. Then, each week, as we receive the sacrament, we renew our covenant that we will “always remember him and keep his commandments.” The promise attached to that covenant is that we “may always have his Spirit to be with [us].” (D&C 20:77.)[3]
Further,
Elder Henry B. Eyringexplained: “This was a love story. This was a story of a marriage covenant bound by love, by steadfast love. … The Lord, with whom I am blessed to have made covenants, loves me, and you, … with a steadfastness about which I continually marvel and which I want with all my heart to emulate” (Covenants and Sacrifice[address delivered at the Church Educational System Symposium, 15 Aug. 1995], 2).
2. Because of his love for his people, the Lord continues to invite Israel to repent and return to him.Hosea 11; 13–14.
Gaining trust, once lost, is so much harder than being awarded it in the first place. And yet with the Lord that is different. Even though we might stray to the extent that we break our covenants and therefore the trust He has in us, repentance allows that all to be wiped away, a clean slate, so that His trust is restored in us, without the lingering reservations that we would have in similar circumstances. Elder Maynes tells us:
One thing is for certain: earning the Lord’s trust is a blessing that comes through great effort on our part. Trust is a blessing based on obedience to God’s laws. Earning the Lord’s trust comes as a result of being true to the covenants we have made in the waters of baptism and in the holy temple. When we keep our promises to the Lord, His trust in us grows.[4]
President Eyring assures us:
The promise is sure. The power of the Holy Ghost is real. It will come, again and again. And one overriding truth it will always testify to is that Jesus is the Christ.
That testimony will draw us to the Savior and to accepting the help He offers to all who are being tested in the crucible of mortality. More than once He has said that He would gather us to Him as a hen would gather her chickens under her wings. He says that we must choose to come to Him in meekness and with enough faith in Him to repent “with full purpose of heart.”[5]
It is never too late to repent.
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