Beloved,
We have a lot of questions these days. And very few answers. But in the midst of our questions, two rhetorical questions from Hosea 13:14 offer hope.
I will ransom them from the power of Sheol / I will redeem them from death. / Death, where are your barbs? / Sheol, where is your sting? / Compassion is hidden from my eyes.
Read in isolation, this is a verse to carry us through difficult days (especially if we conveniently ignore the final clause). But Hosea didn't write this in isolation, and when we read it in context, God's promise of rescue and taunt of death raises more questions. Questions like, "Where did that come from?" It seems like a non sequitur from the previous verses which promised merciless judgment. And, "What's up with the last line?" Afterall, it seems contrary to the rest of the verse.
The answer to both questions comes in the footnote of the CSB and several other translations. Those first two statements, "I will ransom…/ I will redeem … " could just as easily be translated "Should I ransom…/ Should I redeem… ?" There is ambiguity, not in the words, but in the grammar and syntax. When the first two lines are taken as rhetorical questions, the second two lines are not rhetorical taunts, but divine summons for death to come and do its terrible work. The final line is no longer a confusing contradiction of what came before, but a devastating conclusion. There will be no compassion for Israel, no rescue from the Lord. Samaria will fall; exile, death and devastation will come.
It's hard to remove the one bright spot of hope from the dark prophecy of judgment that is Hosea 12-13. But perhaps that's the point. There is no hope, no mercy, no compassion, if all we have to offer is our own repentance. Even if we were to change completely going forward, our present obedience cannot make up for our past disobedience. Today's faith is no excuse for yesterday's unbelief.
We need more than our repentance, more than our own efforts. We can't clean ourselves up enough to avoid judgment or earn our way back into God's favor. We need the perfect righteousness of a perfect sacrifice and mediator. We need Jesus Christ. His obedience was not deficient in any point. His faith was not lacking even once. His death, therefore, is fully substitutionary. His mediation is sufficient and acceptable. Nothing less will do. Nothing more is needed.
The apostle Paul understood this. And so, in 1 Cor 15:54-55, Paul recognized that Jesus changed the syntax (not the words) of Hosea 13:14. The question had been answered once and for all in the affirmative. Jesus is God's "Yes" to the questions "Should I ransom them? Should I redeem them?" In fact, they were no longer questions at all, but emphatic declarations in Christ. And therefore the rhetorical summons to death and Sheol had been transformed into mocking taunts. "Where death is your victory? Where, death, is your sting?" Nowhere. Death's apparent victory had been overturned, death's sting removed.
In this one example, we have the entire relationship between the Old and New Testaments. At the end of the OT, all we have are questions, and the apparent answers are grim. But in the NT, Jesus provides the definitive answer to all of those questions, and the answers in him and through him are Yes and Amen! (2 Cor. 1:20)
These days there are lots of questions swirling around. When will things get back to normal? Will anyone I know get sick? Will I lose my job? When will I get paid again? What's going to change and what will be the same after the pandemic ends? The fact is, we don't know the answers to those questions. But we know the answer to the most important questions. Will God redeem? Will he ransom? Will he show compassion to people like us? Yes, yes, and a thousand times yes. Jesus has answered that question once and for all, and knowing that question is answered, we can trust him with our unanswered questions. In fact we can answer our questioning hearts with better questions.
If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Rom 8:31-32, ESV)
Resting with you in the better questions,
your pastor,
Michael