Today's reading: Hosea 3-4; 2 Timothy 3-4
Hosea paints such a clear, visceral picture of Israel's spiritual apostasy through his marriage to Gomer, and that dovetails perfectly with what we talked about yesterday in terms of "bible study."
Honestly, I don't think I could have asked for a better Old Testament book to be reading alongside the post I wrote yesterday on the shortcomings of today's version of "bible study." There is a lot going on in Hosea, but you don't have to dig into the original Hebrew or do an inductive study to understand it. As a picture of His own relationship with Israel, God has Hosea marry Gomer, a faithless prostitute. It painted a strong picture to start with that He told him to take a wife of whoredom, but then in chapter 3 we learn that she ran off from him, back into prostitution again, and God sends Hosea to buy his wife back again! How appalling is that at every level??
In terms of yesterday's post, on the one hand, I pointed out that you shouldn't be trying to do a deep dive study of one passage of Scripture if you aren't at least familiar with the rest of it, and how many Christians have never read Hosea to begin with? And yet, like we saw in Ezekiel as well, we get such a strong, helpful picture of the spiritual state of Israel and the faithful, unfailing love of God, even for such a rebellious people. But also in terms of yesterday's post, on the other hand, Hosea is a great example of the flip side of that broader understanding/familiarity as well. Yes, he gives us a powerful picture that helps us understand a lot that is happening in Israel's history and informs New Testament writing, but that picture is rooted in so much that has come before it. When we have read Hosea and have that picture in mind, we see it in the wilderness wandering rebellions, we see it in the book of Judges, we see it in the the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, and it builds on itself. Having been given that way of thinking about Israel's spiritual rebellion, we consider their rebellion in that light, and the next time we come back to Hosea we have a deeper understanding of the love God has for Israel and the betrayal perpetrated against Him by His people. Then you combine that with the picture Ezekiel paints of God having picked Israel up out of the dirt and protected and raised her, only to have her run off in this level of unfaithfulness, and suddenly you find that so many teachings of Jesus, and so many sections of New Testament letters have a whole different significance than maybe you had realized before. And once again, as you go back and read those Old Testament histories, prophets, and writings again with the added context and understanding brought by Jesus and the New Testament authors, you see and understand even more.
The Scriptures are an incredible, interwoven story. You don't have to know every detail to understand, learn, and grow from them, but the more you learn, the more you will understand, the more you will see the connections, the more exciting the Word will become, and the clearer you will see the work of God in human history, building toward it's ultimate expression at the cross.
But that understanding isn't going to come from learning to parse Greek verbs, or knowing which commentary series will give you the best answers for a particular book. It will come from familiarity with the story. It will come from time spent reading the Word, seeing those points of connection, and letting the authors of Scripture, alongside the Holy Spirit, lead you down one rabbit hole after another into the incredible revelation of our loving Heavenly Father.
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