God’s Love Song to Israel (Hosea 11:1-4)

“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. But the more they were called, the more they went away from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images. ³ It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. ⁴ I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them.

Once again, in Hosea, after a particularly gloomy passage, there is one of full of hope and love, although it contains ominous overtones. This is a love song by God to his people, and it is one of the most moving parts of the entire book. Hosea describes for us how God has taken care of his people from the beginning until the time of his writing. They are his child, and he has lavished love on them. Hosea describes God as teaching Israel how to walk and holding them in his arms as a loving father would do. As Paula Gooder points out, the image is of a toddler learning to walk and being carefully watched by his father. As toddlers will, the child falls and then the father swoops down, picks him up and hugs him. God healed them of any ills they might have.

The passage begins by referring to the Exodus. Because God loved them, he called them out of slavery. Note that in Exodus 4:22-23, God tells Moses “Israel is my firstborn son… Let my people go.” So, this reference links to that of Israel as God’s child. With Abraham, God chose his people but with Moses and the Exodus, he made them a nation. In their early days, he watched over them, and as the image of the toddler shows, he was there to help them out during their early troubles. Note that Israel is never described as showing a corresponding love for God. Indeed, the description here may remind us a bit of Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son. Verse four may be another image, that of someone taking care of an animal, leading it by a cord and lifting its yoke.

This is probably the greatest expression in the Old Testament of the idea of God as loving parent. We can see the link with the New Testament. Obviously, Jesus is God’s son which is a unique relationship, but he calls us all to be God’s children (as Paul put it) by adoption. He taught us to call God “our Father”. However, even in this soaring passage, Hosea is clear that Israel has repeatedly rejected God’s love. Returning to the image of a growing child, Israel was not just the toddler but the rebellious teenager. Its people continually worshiped other gods in spite of God sending the prophets to them to warn them about the consequences of their behavior. They refused the love God offered.