August 16, Hosea 7
Ephraim mixes himself with the peoples; Ephraim is a cake not turned. Strangers devour his strength, and he knows it not; gray hairs are sprinkled upon him, and he knows it not. - Hosea 7:8-9
I remember the first time I saw a gray-haired stranger in a photo that turned out to be me. I do look in the mirror, as you probably do every day. But I guess I hadn't noticed how gray-headed I must appear to others until I saw that photo.
When Ephraim (Israel) disregarded God's law and began to intermarry with the pagans around them, the influence flowed the wrong way. The idol-worshiping wives compromised their Hebrew husbands' faith, and turned their hearts away from the Lord. King Solomon's foreign wives turned his heart away from God, and a man did not have to live in a palace with a princess for the same thing to happen to him. The nation grew weak and farther away from what God had called them to be. The people back in Samuel's day told the old judge that they wanted a king so they could be like the nations around them. God allowed them to have a king, although it was never his intention for Israel to have any king but God himself. Sure enough, all Samuel warned them about having a king came true, and they did become like all the nations around them. By the time of Hosea, the alleged people of God were as idolatrous and immoral as their neighbors. Israel was even more guilty than the neighboring nations, because Israel had a covenant with God and should have known better.
God described Israel's sins as a wall around them, a wall that separated them from their God. They were like an overheated oven of sin. Like Samson after Delilah cut his hair, their strength was gone. Their alliances and marriages with the pagans had drained them of their resources. They were like a tottering old man who did not realize that his youthful vitality was gone. They bore the universal sign of old folks — their hair had turned gray, and they didn't realize it. God assured them that he was neither blind nor unaware of their sinful lives.
Northern kingdom Israel never had a good king. Their kings led the people farther and farther away from God. They encouraged the people to ignore God and his will, and to indulge their lusts. Israel was a tough place to be king. At least ten of their kings and their families were killed in coups. The lawlessness that their kings encouraged instead of restrained destroyed them.
Even as God announced their impending doom, he reminded them that he would have healed them, but they persisted in sin instead of turning to him. They continued along their self-destructive path of rebellion, when God was still willing to redeem and rescue them. They were hard-hearted as they abandoned the One who had been their strength. They were delusional, unaware that their strength was gone. They didn't realize that their time was running out, oblivious to the signs of decline and approaching death.
Let's circle back to those undetected gray hairs. Mirrors were not common in ancient times. The very wealthy might have had some highly polished piece of metal to catch a glimpse of their likeness. A common person might sometimes see his or her reflection in a pool of still water. That's hard to imagine when most of us have multiple mirrors in our homes, and we spend a fair amount of time looking at ourselves. The ancients never saw a photograph of themselves. So in a literal sense, they didn't know their own hair had turned gray even if they saw the sign of diminishing strength in their peers. But they did have the"mirror" of God's covenant law for his people. God had called them to be a holy nation to him, and they did not resemble the holy people God called them to be.
Could we suffer from the same self-blindness? If we spent as much time looking into our Bibles as we do in front of our mirrors, we might be more aware of our shortcomings and failures and more humble before the Lord. If we're dissatisfied with the physical appearance we see in our mirrors, would God's mirror for our souls remind us of how much we need his grace to become what he wants us to be? We do not want to repeat the sad mistake of ancient Israel. God was still willing to strengthen and redeem them, but they were not aware of their need, and not listening to God. He's still willing to do the same for us. Are we willing?
Copyright © 2024 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Today in God's Word—August 2024
East Tallassee Church of Christ
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