GOD, OUR SHEPHERD Israel boasts about their reference to great fathers, so here God presents to them their father “Jacob” as a typical example of strife with God, and the enjoyment of His care. God compares Jacob to them, showing them that they have deceitful scales in their hands, did not realize God’s care for them and did not return to Him as well. 1. They forsook the good Shepherd 1 – 2. 2. A need for a serious return to God 3 – 6. 3. Forsaking the deceitful measures 7 – 11. 4. Jacob’s service for the sake of a wife 12 – 13. 1. THEY FORSOOK THE GOOD SHEPHERD: God says in bitter admonition: “Ephraim is a shepherd whose flock is but wind, a hunter chasing the east wind all day; he makes a treaty with Assyria and carries tribute of oil to Egypt” (Hosea 12: 1). Ephraim forsook his good shepherd, the grantor of true welfare, went out feeding on the wind and acquired nothing in return. How miserable is Ephraim, as he labored for no benefit… Moreover, it is not just any wind, but “the east wind”, about which St. Hypoletes the Roman says, that it refers to the “anti-Christ”, who appears in the east as an opponent of the Lord Christ in His church. Specifically, he said: “What could be the burning wind coming from the east, except the anti-Christ, who destroys and dries the springs of water, and the fruits of the trees in his days (Hosea 13: 15), as people put their hearts on his works! While he destroys them because of the truth, they serve him by their cruelty1”. Therefore, Ephraim turned from the kingdom of Christ to that of the anti- Christ, carrying the features of his new master; namely, telling lies, desolation, and making covenants with the world, instead of with God… 2. A NEED FOR A SERIOUS RETURN TO GOD: As the Israelis were proud in particular because of their reference to their father Jacob, God presented him to them as an example of strife, with both God and people. By his strife, he encountered with God, who loves those who strive. “Even in the womb Jacob overreached his brother” (Hosea 12: 3). While still in his mother’s womb, and before getting out to the world, he took his twin brother by the heel, drew him backwards, and took from him by force the birthright and the blessing. “In manhood he strove with God. The divine angel stood firm and held his own; Jacob wept and begged favor for himself.” (Hosea 12: 3, 4) Jacob demonstrated a magnificent example of strife, as he struggled with God until dawn, to be taught the strife and the spirit of conquest. Finally, when he realized that conquest was a gift from God, and not by the strength of his arms, he wept and cried, so God had mercy on him and proclaimed Himself to Jacob: “Then God met him at Bethel and there spoke with him. The Lord the God of Hosts, the Lord is his name.” (Hosea 12: 4, 5) 3. FORSAKING THE DECEITFUL MEASURES: Israel did not have the spirit of discernment, by which it could discern between the true shepherd and grantor of goods, and the other deceitful shepherds. That is why 1 The End of the World 4. 93 God demands from the Israelis to forsake their deceitful measures, and contemplate in the true care of God. “False scales are in merchants’ hands, and they love to cheat” (Hosea 12: 7). He lost his nature as a son of God, and became like a gentile, who has no wisdom, loves to oppress and deceives God and even himself. Having deceitful scales in his hand is a sign of believing that he is rich and in no need for God: “So Ephraim says, ‘Surely I have become a rich man, I have made my fortune’; but all his gains will not pay for the guilt of his sins.” (Hosea 12: 8). He forgot that it was God, who released him from the land of bondage, sent him prophets, and talked to him in every way to teach and train him: “Yet I have been the Lord your God since your days in Egypt; I will make you live in tents yet again, as in the old days. I spoke to the prophets, it was I who gave vision after vision; I spoke through the prophets in parables.” (Hosea 12: 10). 4. JACOB’S SERVICE FOR THE SAKE OF A WIFE: If Jacob, their father, spent many years in the desert of Aram serving for the sake of a woman, would it not be fitting for his children to serve in the wilderness of this world for the sake of their true Shepherd, the groom of their souls?! “Jacob fled to the land of Aram; Israel did service to win a wife; to win a wife he tended sheep” (Hosea 12: 12).
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