unfaithful, ungraceful, unloving.

It would seem that i can't get away from this theme.

"I will betroth you to Me forever;
Yes, I will betroth you to Me
In righteousness and justice,
In lovingkindess and mercy;
I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness,
And you shall know the LORD" Hosea 2:19-20

A couple things. First, I can't handle the book of Hosea. I can't handle God telling his people over and over that yes there is punishment for unfaithfulness but He'll still love them. For instance, at the very moment I don't feel very spiritual. It's probably because i didn't listen to Hillsongs today or something like that. Bless the LORD though...my feeling unspiritual doesn't change the fact that I have been betrothed. It's a good thing that God isn't like our family court system. God knows people are getting divorced for things less than the sins that I've committed. I guess that's what a it means to be betrothed in faithfulness. By its very nature, the relationship is one of faithfulness- forever.

By no means am I a Hebrew scholar but i went to what we Dr. Bodner students like to call 'the masoretic text' to discover a couple of things of value (props to Darryl Silvestri as i left my Hebrew Bible at school). First, let me point out that the word Hesed is used. This is a special word used only to describe this thing about God that we don't really know how to describe. It means something like lovingkindess or loyalty, devotion, steadfastness or something like that but we don't really know what it means... kind of like Yahweh, it means something bigger than we can comprehend. And so, we've got this thing that God has betrothed us to him in...hesed...something that transcends 'i do' into something with a value like 'i am and i always will', your feelings might change but my faithfulness will not. I think that (in the west at least) society doesn't know how to be faithful. We aren't loyal to anything, let alone covenantally faithful. If I went downtown, said to the most vile prostitute that I chose you to be my wife and i will remain faithful to you forever, how hard would that be? That is what God is saying. You have been filth but I will marry you.

This brings me to my next interesting find, which may be a stretch but i think it fits. A lot of times in the book of Ezekiel and the OT in general, God says "and you will know that I am the LORD", here the author says, "and you shall know the LORD". The hebrew word used her is yada. It's pretty common in the OT. However, this phrase sticks out for the very reason that the bride does not know about the LORD, but knows the LORD. I'm going to suggest that this phrase, in the context of this entire passage is similar to Gen. 4:1 when Adam knew Eve...same word. Of course I don't fully comprehend the magnitude of this, but i think the point is not sexual but experiential. In a way that Adam experienced all of Eve- physically, emotionally, spiritually- we experience God. The relationship is bound in intimacy and involves two parties- one that has betrothed and one who plays the harlot, yet God says, "How can I give you up...My heart churns within Me...I will not again destroy Ephraim for I am God and not man. The Holy One in your midst...They shall come trembling like a bird from Egypt...like a dove from the land of Assyria".-- the unfaithful will look at Him with tears in her eyes, ashamed of where she's been, of what she's done- trembling- like a helpless creature with no where to go and nothing of value...to hear God say something like...

Hey unfaithful I will teach you
To be stronger
To be stronger
Hey unloving
I will love you
I will love you
I will love you

And Jesus, I’m ready to come home
Jesus, I’m ready
I’m ready to come
oh home oh
I'm ready to come home
Hey unfaithful
Hey ungraceful
Hey unloving
I will love you
Hey unloving
I will love you