12.12.2016 Old Testament: Hos 12.12–14

To read the Bible in a year, read Hosea 12–14 on December 12, In the year of our Lord 2016

By Don Ruhl

Israel started small with one man working and serving to acquire the woman he wanted for a wife. The Lord used other men to help the nation that grew from that one man, but then the nation sinned against the Lord,

Jacob fled to the country of Syria;
Israel served for a spouse,
And for a wife he tended sheep.
By a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt,
And by a prophet he was preserved.
Ephraim provoked Him to anger most bitterly;
Therefore his Lord will leave the guilt of his bloodshed upon him,
And return his reproach upon him.
(Hosea 12.12–14) 

The Lord would do whatever it took to preserve His nation, but when they insisted on their sin, He had to let them experience the consequence of it.