The Lord God
and Hosea the prophet
O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips. Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hand, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.-Hosea 14:1-3
I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.-Hosea 14:4-5
Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found.-Hosea 14:8
Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.-Hosea 14:9/the complete chapter
Background Information:
Hosea, and Jehoash (Joash) and Jehoash's son Jeroboam were Israelites, descendants of Abraham (Abram the Hebrew) and Sarah (Sarai), Isaac and Rebekah, and Isaac and Rebekah's youngest fraternal twin son Jacob (Israel). In Padan Aram, Haran, Jacob was married to Leah and Rachel, the daughters of Rebekah's brother Laban the Syrian (Aramean). Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and daughter Dinah were born to Jacob and Leah. Dan and Naphtali were born to Jacob and Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant. Gad and Asher were born to Jacob and Zilpah, Leah's maidservant. Joseph was the 1st son born to Jacob and Rachel, and Rachel and Joseph were Jacob's favorites. During Jacob's 20th year in Haran, he began journeying home to Canaan with his family, servants, animals, and possessions. Near Bethlehem, Benjamin was born to Jacob and Rachel, and Rachel died. Joseph was 17 years old when his brothers sold him to merchants traveling to Egypt and led Jacob to believe that Joseph was killed by a wild beast, and Joseph was 30 years old when Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, proclaimed him second-in-command. Jacob was 130 years old when he moved with his family from Canaan to Egypt. In Egypt, Jacob proclaimed Manasseh and Ephraim, the sons born to Joseph and his wife Asenath, to be his own sons, and the tribe of Joseph became the tribe of Manasseh and the tribe of Ephraim. Sometime after 147-year-old Jacob died in Egypt, and Jacob's family buried his body in Canaan, and 110-year-old Joseph and his siblings were dead, the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt. Miriam and her younger brothers Aaron and Moses were born into the tribe of Levi to Amram and Jochebed. Moses was 80 years old and Aaron was 83 when the Lord God sent them to speak to the Israelite elders and Pharaoh. The elders believed the words of the Lord God spoken by Aaron. Pharaoh did not believe, and he made work for the Israelites more difficult. After the Lord God brought the 10th and final plague upon Pharaoh and Egypt, Pharaoh told Moses and Aaron to get the Israelites and their animals and go worship the Lord God. Moreover, Pharaoh told Moses and Aaron to bless him. Before Moses and Aaron led the Israelites, and those with them, away from Egypt, across the divinely parted Red Sea, into the desert wilderness of Shur, and the desert wilderness of Sin, the Israelites asked for and were given an abundance of valuable goods, fulfilling the words that the Lord God spoke to Abraham. In the desert wilderness of Sinai, in the region of Mount Sinai, the Israelites heard the voice of the Lord God proclaim the Ten Commandments to them, and the Lord God began giving Moses judgments, statutes and laws for the Israelites, and the Lord God made a covenant with the Israelites, and the Israelites said they would obey the words of the Lord God. When Moses was upon Mount Sinai 40 days and nights with the Lord God, the Lord God gave Moses commands about the offering willing Israelites were to bring, and the Lord God described to Moses and showed Moses the likeness of the tabernacle, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and the other sacred items the Israelites were commanded to make, and the Lord God told Moses that only Aaron, and Aaron's sons and the sons born to their descendants were to serve the Lord God as priests. Meanwhile, the Israelites thought they were abandoned and told Aaron to make gods to lead them. Aaron told the Israelites to bring him their gold earrings, and Aaron made a golden calf that the Israelites sacrificed to and worshiped. Before Moses returned to the Israelites, the Lord God spoke to Moses about the Sabbath day and Sabbath day laws and punishments, and the Lord God gave Moses 2 stone tablets whereupon were written, with the finger of God, and the Lord God told Moses about the golden calf. When Moses saw the golden calf and the actions of the Israelites, he burned and ground the golden calf, and questioned Aaron, and asked the congregation a question. The Levites, the Israelites in the tribe of Levi, gathered alongside Moses and killed approximately 3,000 of their idol worshiping brethren, according to the command that the Lord God gave Moses. During the 40-year journey to Canaan, the Promised Land, Miriam the prophetess died and was buried in Kadesh, in the desert wilderness of Zin. Upon Mount Hor, 123-year-old Aaron the high priest died. Near Canaan, Moses proclaimed his last messages to the Israelites and described the blessings that would come upon and overtake them if they listened to the voice of the Lord God and obeyed his commandments, and the curses that would come upon and overtake them if they did not listen to the voice of the Lord God and did not obey his commandments and statutes. When Moses went upon Mount Nebo, the Lord God showed Moses the Promised Land, and 120-year-old Moses the prophet died, and was divinely buried. Joshua, Moses' aide and successor from the tribe of Ephraim, led the Israelites across the divinely parted Jordan River and onto the land that the Lord God promised to give to Abraham, and Isaac, and to Jacob, and their descendants. Over 300 years after 110-year-old Joshua died, and was buried in his tribe's portion of the Promised Land, Saul, from the tribe of Benjamin, became the 1st king to reign. David, from the tribe of Judah, was the 2nd king to rule over all of the Israelites. Solomon, a son born to David and Bathsheba, was the 3rd king. During the 4th year of his 40-year reign, Solomon began building the temple of the Lord, and in the 11th year, workers finished building the temple in Jerusalem. Rehoboam, the son born to Solomon and Naamah, was the 4th king to rule over all of the Isralites. After Rehoboam gave a specific answer, the Israelites split into 2 kingdoms, according to the will of the Lord God, due to the idolatry and other wickedness of Solomon. Judah was the nation in the south and consisted of the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin. Jerusalem was the royal city and Rehoboam was the 1st king to reign. Israel was the northern nation and consisted of the other Israelite tribes. Samaria was the final royal city and Jeroboam, the son born to Nebat and Zeruah, was the 1st king to reign. Jeroboam established idolatry throughout the kingdom, and put a golden calf in Dan, a city in the northern region, and a golden calf in Bethel, a city in the southern region, and instituted a random system of priests. The tribe of Ephraim was a large and prominent tribe full of warriors, and the northern nation of Israel was sometimes identified as Ephraim. Lebanon was at the northern border of the Promised Land and was known for its trees and aromatic spices. Jehoash was the 12th king to rule over all of the Israelites in the northern nation of Israel, and Jehoash's son Jeroboam was the 13th king. During Jeroboam's 41-year reign, Hosea proclaimed the words of the Lord God to the Israelites. King Menahem was the 16th king to rule over all of the Israelites in the northern nation of Israel. When King Tiglath-pileser (Pul), ruler of Assyria, came against the northern nation, Menahem paid Tiglath-pileser over 300 pounds of silver to be his ally. During the 20-year reign of King Pekah, the 18th king to rule the northern nation, Tiglath-pileser invaded the kingdom and began taking Israelites captive. When Pekah's successor King Hoshea was ruling the northern nation of Israel, he paid Shalmaneser tribute money. During the 9th year of Hoshea's reign, the Assyrians conquered Samaria, according to the will of the Lord God, due to the idolatry and other wickedness of the Israelites. Rehoboam's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson Ahaz was the 11th king to rule Judah. At least twice while reigning, Ahaz sought help from Tiglath-pileser, and sent Tiglath-pileser gold and silver from the palace and the temple of the Lord. Hezekiah, the son born to Ahaz and Abi (Abijah) was the 12th king to rule Judah. Hezekiah did not make any payment to the Assyrians until after King Sennacherib, Assyria's reigning ruler, captured fortified cities in Judah. Hezekiah took the silver from the palace and temple and cut the gold off the doors and pillars of the temple and gave them to Sennacherib. When Sennacherib sent delegates and an army to Jerusalem on a mission with a message, Hezekiah sent Shebna the scribe, and Eliakim, and Joah, and some elders among the priests to Isaiah the prophet, and Hezekiah went to the temple of the Lord and prayed. Isaiah prayed to the Lord God and revealed the words of the Lord God to Shebna and those with him. The angel of the Lord struck 185,000 in the Assyrian camp, and Sennacherib was killed in Assyria by Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons. Manasseh, the son born to Hezekiah and Hephzibah, was the 13th king to rule Judah. The Assyrians took Manasseh captive to Babylon, according to the will of the Lord God, and Manasseh humbled himself before the Lord God, and prayed to the Lord God, and the Lord God brought Manasseh back to Jerusalem. Manasseh's great-grandson Jehoikaim (Eliakim) was the 17th king to rule Judah. During Jehoiakim's 11-year reign, the Babylonians (Chaldeans) invaded Judah and Jerusalem and King Nebuchadnezzar, ruler of Babylon, began looting the temple of the Lord. Jehoiachin (Jeconiah/Coniah), the son born to Jehoiakim and Nehushta, was the 18th king to rule Judah. During Jehoiachin's 3-month reign, the Babylonians took more prominent Israelites, including Jehoiachin, his wives and mother, to Babylon. During the 11th year of the reign of Jehoiakim's brother Zedekiah (Mattaniah), the 19th king to rule Judah, the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem, according to the will of the Lord God, due to the idolatry and other wickedness of the Israelites. Over 500 years after Israelites began returning to Judah and Jerusalem, Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, was born. Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary, a virgin, and Jesus was born in Bethlehem into the tribe of Judah, the tribe of Judah's kings, to Mary and her husband Joseph when Mary was a virgin. Before Jesus was born to Joseph and Mary, and after Jesus was betrayed, arrested, crucified, buried in a tomb, resurrected, seen by over 500 people, and returned to heaven less than 33 1/2 years after he was born, the Roman Empire was ruling the land whereupon the kingdoms of the Israelites previously stood.-Genesis 11:26-50:26, Exodus, Numbers 13:1-14:45, 20:1-29, 26:1-12:23, Deuteronomy 31:1-34:12, Joshua 1:1-4:24, 23:1-24:33, Judges 1:1-2:23, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Song of Soolomon, Isaiah 36:1-39:8, Jeremiah 39:1-18, 52:1-34, Hosea, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts 1:1-26
Reference Information
Asshur = Assur = Ashshuwr/ashur = Assyria
calves = sepatenu = saphah = lips, speech
Reference Scriptures
And Solomon determined to build an house for the name of the LORD, and an house for his kingdom.-2 Chronicles 2:1...And the house which I build is great: for great is our God above all gods.-2 Chronicles 2:5...Send me also also cedar trees, fir trees, and algum trees, out of Lebanon: for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon; and, behold, my servants shall be with thy servants,-2 Chronicles 2:8
Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.-Song of Solomon 4:11...Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard, Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices: A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.-Song of Solomon 4:15
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