Hosea 13:1-16 Heavy Guilt
Israel is HEAVY with guilt from her sins that she refuses to give up. They have rejected God and rejected His salvation.
I was curious why God kept referring to Ephraim with Israel’s troubles. I discovered that the main golden calf was located in Bethel, which is in the territory of Ephraim. There was a second one located in the territory of Dan. I’m thinking that the one in Bethel was the main one because it was also closest to Jerusalem. I would bet it was also the first one erected. Jeroboam wanted the people to stay with him instead of going back to Jerusalem to worship God. So, he gave them a ‘close enough’ second.
Bethel was located 10 miles north of Jerusalem. Jerusalem was on a mountain top so; I would expect that you could see the golden calf and its worshipers on a clear day. I don’t know if Bethel was on a hill but the scenario reminds me of when Moses read the blessings and curses on the two mountains. Mt. Gerizim received the blessings and Mt. Ebal received the curses. In our story’s case, Jerusalem received the blessings and Bethel received the curse. The blessings flowed where God was and the curses where idols were.
Too many of us think we can ride the valley in between. Receiving the blessings and dealing with weak curses. The problem is that the blessings in the valley are POOR substitutes for the ones on the mountain top. And I don’t want ANY of the curses; weak or otherwise!
Israel pretended she was going up the right mountain top but she refused to turn loose of what was on Mt Ebal. When times got tough, she called out to God, along with all her other gods. God WON’T SHARE. You can’t have two gods. You wind up hating one and loving the other. Not a problem if the one you wind up hating is the false god. But you cannot hold fast to God’s hand while still holding onto your idols.
You have to LET GO. If you don’t, the weight of the guilt of unrepentant sins WILL drag you under. You can’t climb a mountain while wearing an anchor or tied to something else. Your feet will drag or you will fall under the pull.
Father God, today has pulled me in SO MANY directions! This is the third time we have sat down together. The needs of others pulled me away and the need for quiet was NOT on the menu today. But you arranged it for me anyway. You also allowed me time to ‘play’. But most of all, You spoke to my heart and gave me something I can relate to for my life. I was lost but You found me!
Help me to live on the right mountain Father. I don NOT want to live on Mt. Ebal. Make my home on Mt. Gerizim; where Your blessings dwell.
