Hosea 11:1-11

Lamenting a Living Son

This is God’s own lament: a brokenhearted father mourning the loss of a still-living son.  Throughout the book, God has led Hosea to draw from moments of Israel’s past.  Here, while the text says “Israel,” it is also appropriate to personalize this as “Jacob,” especially since the Northern Kingdom is referred to as “Ephraim” in this passage.  In this context, with the North being “Ephraim” and the South being “Judah” (v.12, not in the lectionary) the reference to Jacob’s God-given name of “Israel” connotes a lament for the whole of God’s people and the journey on which He has led them.  As such, we can see these laments not simply as those for a nation, but for God’s own wrestling with His deeply personal love.

The sign-act of…