Good evening. There we go. For once, it was not my fault that the sound wasn't working. My mic was on. We won't mention which son of mine didn't have the other one on, but anyway, welcome everybody. Those of you online, welcome. It's a snowy night in towels, so we've only got 300 here in the building and the rest of you online, but we did have supper. Just wanted you to know we had sirloin tip steak, which we all determined was better than we thought it would be. How's that for a glowing recommendation? It was actually pretty good. And then we had these like spiralized baked potato things that were sort of like french fries. That was really good, and some coleslaw. And I didn't show you a picture of the apple pie or the Rice Krispie treats or all that kind of stuff, so we had a good meal. I just like to show that every Wednesday night for those of you who don't get to be here in town, just to remind you that there are benefits to being local. Now we come back tonight to Hosea. Rightly, divided verse by verse. It has been a month. I think we took three weeks off. So a month ago today, we were on I was two weeks in Israel last week. We were supposed to have a youth group that we were hosting here and we were going to have a service with them. And we're not going to be online. But then it snowed last Wednesday night and they ended up canceling because of the big storm in the weather there. And so guess what? They're coming next week. So here we have this one time I wasn't going to miss. Tonight we have this one time that we've got it. So tonight we come into Joseh, chapter twelve, verses one through 15. And we're glad to have Trent from Green Bay, Wisconsin as our guest tonight. Thanks for being here, Trent. And let me lead us in the word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we are grateful for the snow that we've gotten today, the precipitation. We're grateful for these joining us for supper. We're grateful for these joining us online and for your watch, care and your blessings over us that are such an encouragement for bringing Trent our way and allowing us to get to know him as well as we study. We pray it would be insightful and give us some knowledge of the word we ask in Jesus name. Amen. Jose, tonight the 12th chapter, we're going to look at all of chapter twelve. What are they? I think there are 14 chapters of Hosea left. I mean 14 chapters altogether, not left. And so that means that the rate we've been going, which is about a chapter a week, probably in a couple of weeks we'll be done with Hosea and we shall see what comes next. But anyway, we've been going through Hosea again, rightly divided and verse by verse, rightly? Divided means we recognize that hosea needs to be divided out from the church and our experience or the body of Christ. And so it's not really a book about us, especially in the first part of the book that makes a big difference because that's when you get the people who are not my people will be my people. LOAME, and it's very easy to read ourselves into that. But something I've noticed kind of interesting, whereas a ton of evangelicals will read themselves into those who are not my people will be my people. Oh, that's me. They don't seem to read themselves into the rest of the book, which is filled with judgment. That's about Israel, you know, that's got to be Israel, that's not about me. Well, as I said this morning in our evangelical garbage segment, you can have your cake or you can eat your cake, but you can't have your cake and eat it too. So here we come. It is in chapter twelve, a continuation of the incriminations that have been given last time we were together in session 13, you might remember we used the word incorrigible and we're going to be incorrigible tonight as well, just in case you forgot from session 13, what incorrigible means. It means herding cats. It means impossible to be disciplined. It means no matter what you do, they are not going to cooperate. Israel is incorrigible. And so we continue in that regard. And chapter eleven really was I did this wonderful thing for you and you rejected me. I brought you back and you rejected me again and this good thing and that bad thing and this good thing and that bad thing and this good thing and that bad thing, and God kind of saying, look, I'm about ready to punish you or to give up on you because you are incorrigible. Now we come to some continued incorrigibility of Israel, the Northern Kingdom, and it uses the term Ephraim. You may remember as we've been talking about this, that I think, and I think I built a pretty good case for it, that Ephraim is not the tribe, nor the individual, but it's representative of all of Israel and especially the northern ten tribes of Israel. So Ephraim, the guy who's standing as the representative, it says, Ephraim, the Northern kingdom, Israel, feed us on the wind and follow us after the east wind. He daily increases, lies and desolation. And they do make a covenant with the Assyrians and oil is carried away unto Egypt. Now, let me stop really quickly and give an announcement. But it's an announcement that relates those of you, especially online or those watching on Biblify or Worship I of course, you got your notes that are available right then, but what happens if you walk away from your notes? Well, now on Biblify, which is what I'm using right here, if you will go to the what is it? Friends section and follow Randy White and friends that says find someone interesting. May I set myself forward as good possibility there? Type in Randy White, it'll come up and follow Randy White. Then when you are on Jose at twelve one, you can't see it here, but there's a little line under that number one. That means I have a note. Now on your end, the line is going to be above number one saying one of your friends has a note. You can take your notes, I can take my notes, and you will be able to see my notes that are right there. By the way, it's the same notes that are right here. But you could always go to Jose, chapter twelve, verse one, and find that note right there. Now back to it. So Ephraim fetus on the wind and follow us after the east wind. What in the world is that? Obviously it's poetic talk here just a little bit. And I think this is a bad thing to feed on the wind and chase after the east wind. A bad thing. Okay, but what does it mean? I think if we go back to Hosea, chapter eight, verse seven, it talks about Ephraim again. Sows the wind and reaps the whirlwind. You got it. He sows the wind and reaps the whirlwind. Now that is to say, he pays the consequences. Sow the wind reap the whirlwind. The problem is the consequences didn't affect him. He sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. And what does he do? He feeds on it. He feed us on the wind. He followeth after the east wind. He's in love with the whirlwind. This is his punishment that he's supposed to be getting. And he glories in his punishment, I guess you might say. Maybe if you wanted a big word for it, we could use the word incorrigible. It's impossible to bring him to any point of discipline. The whirlwind should have cut him down, so to speak, brought him to humility and repentance, but instead he's just feasting on it. So Ephraim feedeth on the wind and followeth after the east wind. And then something that we can more easily understand, he daily increases lies and desolation. So liar, liar, pants on fire. This is ephraim. And then it says, they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oils is carried on to Egypt. Now again, and I mentioned this several times when we're talking about Ephraim, to prove that we're not talking about a person, it uses the plural pronoun for Ephraim as they ephraim the nation, ephraim representative of the, of the nation of Israel. So the nation of Israel can't doesn't matter how much you punish them, they still daily increase in lies and desolation. They do make a covenant with the Assyrians and oil is carried unto Egypt. Now what they are supposed to be is in covenant with God, and being in covenant with God, they are not supposed to be bound to any other nation. But they're making a covenant with the Assyrians. Basically, they're going and saying from time to time, we have a hard time in our country, and when we do, could you help us out? And so they're in an alliance with the Assyrians, and it's that alliance, by the way, that's ultimately going to be their death. So they make the alliance with the Assyrians and then it says, and oil is carried unto Egypt. Now, what is that? I think that obviously in Hosea's day, which is about, I don't know, let's call it 735 BC. Give or take a few years. We're not talking about what is it on the Beverly Hillbillies, black gold, Texas tea, bubble and crude. Can't remember that line. But we're not talking about petroleum. They take oil to Egypt. We are talking about in one sense, olive oil. But olive oil both today and then is expensive stuff. And I'm sure even more then that was a rich man's commodity to have oil. That's something that you can save for a long time. That's something that has multiple purposes of it, whether it's for fuel for your lamps or it's for fine dining or whatever it is. This is the good stuff here is the oil. And they take that olive oil and they take it down to Egypt. Now, the thing there, I think, is just like it parallels the Assyrians. You go into covenant with the Assyrians, you take oil to the Egyptians. I think it's a way of saying you go down to the Egyptians bearing all these good gifts here, you take the best of what you've got and lay it at the feeding of the Egyptians, basically, again saying, hey, when we need help, will you help us? So it's a line covenant with the Assyrians, oil to the Egyptians. Basically, they are instead of bringing something and offering it to God, or instead of being in covenant with God, they're going to the Assyrians and the Egyptians instead. That's kind of a cheap substitute when you say and so God is getting on to them for that. And so he comes then in verse two and says, the Lord also has a controversy with Judah. Now, let's jump down. Remember, if Ephraim is representative of the northern kingdom, judah is not only representative, but it's the name of the southern kingdom. And so the Lord kind of kind of wants to say it's not just the northern kingdom. That's kind of who's in the crosshairs here of the Lord's wrath. But I have a controversy with Judah as well. Controversy there is used in the sense of a dispute or an argument. I looked it up, it's on the notes. You can see what the Oxford English Dictionary has to say about controversy. So it's not like, I guess even with the controversy, if we use controversy today, we're talking about we have an argument with one another, controversy as it's used here is a little more in the Latin sense that I have something against you. I've got an argument with you. I am going to bring it. So he's got a controversy with Judah and will punish Jacob. Now we're getting all these names Ephraim, Judah. Now, Jacob, Ephraim and Judah were sons of Jacob. I think Ephraim representative of the North, Judah representative of the south. But Jacob here is representative of the whole thing, because, of course, Jacob's name was later changed to Israel, the father of the country, if you will. And so I have a controversy with Judah. Let me paraphrase here. I got a problem with the Northern Kingdom, but I also have a problem with the Southern Kingdom. As a matter of fact, I got a problem with all of you. That's what the Lord's saying right here. And so I'm going to punish the whole lot of you. Jacob, I am going to punish Jacob. Let's catch this. Since we're doing Hosea rightly divided, it says, I'm going to punish Jacob according to his ways, according to his doings. He will recompense him. I would remind you that, as now we're in the 12th chapter of Hosea, it is not a chapter of grace and not a chapter of hey, who would like to be saved. It's by grace through faith, not of yourselves, lest anyone should boast. It's a book of works, and here is some of the works displayed. I'm going to punish according to his ways. Now, you think of this here today and put, say, two Corinthians 519, where God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them. So that's the wonderful good news that we have today. But they didn't have that in that day. The Lord hadn't sent his only begotten Son so that whosoever would believe in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life, but rather according to his own ways. That's the standard, that you are going to be judged according to your ways versus the ways of the law of the Torah. According to his doings, he will recompense him. This is where a lot of bad theology comes from in bad works, theology, that you are going to be judged according to your works. All of us, I know, have run into the case somewhere where someone was teaching in a Christian circle, someone was teaching or even in a secular but kind of Western culture circle, was teaching. You have all the bad things in your life, and you have all the good things in your life, and the good things have to outweigh the bad things. And we get that because we mix this in with our lives today, that we are going to be judged according to our ways, according to our doings, we are going to be recompensed. Well, that would be true if it had not been for the Gospel that was revealed unto Paul that we live under today. So different dispensation is what that tells us there. Okay, so the Lord again comes. I got a problem with the north. I got a problem with the south. All of you are going to stand before me in judgment, and you're going to be recompensed before his ways. Now, in verse three, verses three and four, really, it comes and it talks about Jacob specifically. It gives a little bit of a history lesson in three and four. So Jacob, remember Jacob, he took his brother by the heel in the womb. There's two things in verse three I want to point out and remind you of in your Sunday school lessons from the fourth grade. This is not third grade stuff. This is fourth grade stuff. But you remember and the references on the outline in the notes that when Jacob was before Jacob was born, that his brother Esau was kind of first, and Jacob grabbing him by the heel, wrestling his brother before they were even born. That ought to say something, too, about well, not only the child's attitude, but says a little something about life before birth, that Jacob was not a fetus reaching to the other fetus that was in there. There's a little bit of a sanctity of life application that's given there. And I say that because our Governor just yesterday I heard on the news that the Wicked Governor and I don't mind calling her Wicked because that's what she is. The Wicked Governor is in alliance with a bunch of other governors to promote the killing of babies and try to get New Mexico to be a leader in baby killing. Baby killing and other crimes in which were in bad education, those things which were a leader of. So I'm not really for that at all. But he took his brother by the heel, the word heel in Hebrew. I'll teach you a Hebrew lesson tonight. The word heel is yakov. Yakov is that half ring a bell? Probably because you don't watch Fiddler on the Roof enough or travel enough to Israel. Yakov is a Hebrew way of saying we would say we got this from the French. Basically, we would say Jacob. Yakov is heel. Now, the name Jacob is a little bit it's just a tiny variance from heel, but he was named after grabbing that heel, yakov, the heel. Here he goes back and says, I got a problem with the nation, and then says, but it's really no surprise the namesake of the nation was a heel. Grabber sometimes we'll use the word supplanter, that is, trying to get something that wasn't yours. Scoundrel we might use this is him, yakov. So he took his brother by the heel in the womb. That is episode number one in verse three. Then we come to episode number two in verse three. And that is, and by his strength he had power with God. Now, these are both in Jacob's life, but at two very different times before he was born, he grabbed his brother by the heel. Later in his strength he had power with God. That is the thing that took place when Jacob wrestled with God. Remember that incident at Pena l? I think it's Pinuel is the name of the place. Anyway, so episode one, he grabbed his brother's heel. Episode two, by his strength he had power with God. By his strength, by the way, I think can be taken. And you get this from Hebrew more than English, it can be taken. It certainly is an accurate translation, but I think kind of the reference is as a baby he grabbed the heel. As a man he had power with God, or he struggled with God. By the way, you may remember that his name being changed to Israel took place when he wrestled ishriel, is to wrestle with God or to have power with God? It comes from the deal here. So interestingly, in Hebrews twelve, verse three, you have both of his names. You have Jacob, you have Israel. And God is using this then in the book of Hosea to say, well, it's no wonder I have problems with you. Every time I see you, you're fighting and it's kind of in your nature is what he's bringing about. So by his strength or in his adulthood, he had power with God. And then it brings that together in verse four to speak about that, that a little bit more when it says, yea, he had power over the angel and prevailed, he wept and made supplication unto him. He found him in Bethel and there he spake with us. Now, again, this verse, just like the last one, went from his birth to the struggle with God. Now, this verse is going to go from the struggle with God to the dream that Jacob had of Jacob's ladder. You remember that dream with the song written about it? So he had power with God, and then verse four, yea, he had power over the angel. Over the angel. Now you might say, well, did he have power with God or did he have power with the angel? What? Who was Jacob wrestling with? Well, if you take verse three, it's God. If you take verse four, it's an angel. But remember, I've mentioned this several times in the last few days. Really even remember the series, we had words that make you pause, or words that must make you pause. You got to stop when you see those words. Angel is one of those words because angel doesn't always mean angelic being here. Angel. Again, we have God in verse three and then we have angel in verse four. And then in verse five, it clarifies. It even the Lord god of hosts. Okay? So the angel was God, the angel was the Lord God of hosts. Now, hosts doesn't have anything to do with twinkies and it doesn't have anything to do with the eucharist at the Catholic Church host is armies, the Lord God of armies. And the Lord God of Armies, I think, is the preincarnate Christ. Jacob was wrestling with the one that later would be called Jesus of Nazareth, the messenger of God, who was God, even the Lord of hosts. He also appeared, by the way, to Joshua. And when he appeared to Joshua, he said, I'm the captain of the Lord's army. So here is Jacob wrestling with the captain of the Lord's army. I don't know about you, but I don't think the captain of the Lord's army is a weakling. So that puts Jacob very much in a position of strength to wrestle all night and prevail, in a sense. Obviously, he didn't bring the Lord down, but he ended up with a hip limp and all that kind of stuff that ended in that story that we'll have to study another day. But it brings to this. So he had power of the angel, prevailed, he wept. I'm assuming this is Jacob wept and made supplication to him. Remember, he said, don't go until you bless me. He wept and made supplication to him. Then he I think this is the Lord. Let me get my pronouns right here. Yay. Jacob had power of the angel and prevailed. Jacob wept and made supplication some think here, by the way, like my friend Dr. Bullinger, he thinks that it is jacob had power over the angel, and God prevailed, and Jacob wept. I can understand who prevailed is a little bit of a mystery right here. I think the natural reading looks to be more Jacob. So I'm going to go with Jacob and take, you know, if the plain sense makes common sense. See no other sense. Okay, so I'll take it. Yes, sir, Alex. It's an instinct. Yes. There's I think it's certainly in your point, there is an interconnectedness here that is worthy of considering all those. Could it be yeah. Is this a metaphor or is there even some connection that we're not seeing in all this interconnection? Because this story is woven all through here in the way that it's bringing several things together into the life of of Israel. Yeah, and you got some exactly. Yeah. And there's plenty of plenty of ways, even if we got into Daniel and whatnot and see the wrestling that took place there, that you could pull some of that together. So if we go jacob had power over the angel. Jacob prevailed. Jacob wept and made supplication unto the angel, and the angel who is the Lord, found him in Bethel. Now, Bethel is a different place, a different time, a different place. So all of a sudden talk about this interconnectedness, we jump from one story in one episode in Jacob's life all the way to another story in another episode. I didn't look to see how much time passed between these, but I think quite a few years, just like between his birth and his fighting with God, there was quite a few years. So now the Lord finds him in Bethel, or Bethel if you want to be more Hebrew. And there he spake with us. Now us, I think, is the nation. And indeed Bethel means the house of God. And this is where, again, Jacob's ladder, and Jacob named it Bethel. This is the house of God. This is the place where this is the entry point of God. So he found him there and he spake with us. Who did that? Even the Lord, God of hosts. The Lord is his memorial. Or here's our flag that we've got. So brings all that here again to say, just like chapter eleven, hey, here's all these good things I've done for you, and yet look what you've done for me. And then I did another good thing and look what you did for me, you're incorrigible. And the Lord then goes back into Israel's history and says, this pattern has been with you right from the beginning. He's trying to get them to recognize this. And so he comes then beginning in verse six, and he says, therefore turn thou to God, keep mercy and judgment and wait on God continually. This is again the hoped for response is that Israel will say, wow, you're right, we've been messed up for a long time and now God is calling us to turn thou to thy God and we ought to do it. And he almost defines how that would look. To turn down to thy God would be to keep mercy and judgment and wait on thy God continually. Now again, I would say we want to be careful about not applying that directly to our lives. This would be an easy one to say if I was having a revival service tonight. We had a room full of lost people, and I were to say, okay everybody, we need to turn to thy God. And I could wax eloquent about how God created you and God has a wonderful plan for your life. And I could give some wonderful laughing stories and then some sad stories and get everybody eating out of the palm of my hand as a preacher. And then turn now to thy God, who is ready to turn now to thy God. And to do it you need to keep mercy and judgment and wait on thy God continually. Well, that would be a works answer and it would lead someone into a life of works. Honestly, a life of Christian works is a lot better than a life of crime. So if that's my only two choices, you can go into a life of crime or you can go into a life of keeping mercy and judgment and waiting on God. I'll take it. I'll go for Jose twelve six. But that's not my only option. There's certainly nothing wrong with being merciful and having judgment that is sound and continually waiting on God, that is trusting on God. Nothing wrong with that at all. I just think that being good, right dividers here. We want to make sure and keep in mind that this instruction right here is a works based solution, which was the only solution they had because they hadn't had the death barrel and resurrection of Jesus Christ yet. The offer of grace had not yet been given to them. And Israel, furthermore, unlike people who live today, israel was under a covenant with God and had some covenant obligations. And so really the word here is obey your covenant obligations. If I can summarize that. Okay, then we come into seven through 14, which is more of the same. How's that? He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand, he loves to oppress. Now here you have to notice he is right there is italicized? And that of course, if you're using a King James or a few of the other Bibles, but King James, italicizes when the translators want us to know those words aren't really there. We didn't translate that. We put it in because doesn't make good English sense not to have something there, but they're not there. So that helps us to say, okay, I want to question this a little bit. So it literally just says a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand. He loveth to oppress. An ephraim said So we really, I think, can safely assume that Ephraim is the one that's coming here. Remember that this was almost, I would say, the spoken word written down. And a lot of times I have recognized this from looking at sometimes I'll have a transcript of what I said and a transcript of what I said is almost impossible to read and understand because I assume so much. You sit here and listen to me. You know exactly what I've said. I've never confused anybody. But when we're all sitting and we're looking at each other and you've had the whole thing, you can take some of that conversation in and get it, but when it's just written, then it's a little harder. So here's the spoken word I'm going to say. And again for those who watch our ass, the theologian. Pardon me, I'm going to repeat myself, but Madison didn't even hear me talking about her the other day. Tuesday, I think it was on the program I mentioned how hard it is to get the written word communicated correctly, or how easy it is to misunderstand the written word. And I gave the example of the other day when she said, are we having lunch tomorrow? And I said no. And then the next day it was Sunday. The next day we were standing around, I said, Are you going to lunch with us? And she said, you said we weren't having lunch. And I said when did I say that? What a stupid thing to say. Of course we're having. Lunch? And she said, I texted you and you said no. And I said, oh, I thought you meant are we having potluck lunch? Because it was potluck Sunday and are we having lunch? So, you know, as a Saturday afternoon, I thought she was thinking she had to set up or something. No, we're not having lunch. So I'm thinking one thing, she's thinking another, wondering why I just said, no, no lunch. So here I think probably in the spoken word, you could just start right there. A merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand. He loves to oppress. And Ephraim said ephraim responded, this is about going back to Ephraim. He's a merchant with the balances of deceit in his hand. That is, he's a cheat, liar, and a cheat and a thief, and he loveth to impress. And Ephraim responded, or said, yet I've become rich. I have found me out substance in all my labors. They'll shall find none iniquity in me that were sin here. I don't know. He's making excuses for his sin. One is he kind of says, I'm rich, so who cares? I'm rich, so I can do whatever I want. I'm rich, I found my substance, and so find some iniquity in me. I dare you. You can't do it. And probably, obviously God could find some iniquity in him because he's already charging him. But it could be that with the flaws of the justice system, he knew that he could never be charged for any of this stuff. There was no way to ever get him for having deceitful scales, especially in that day. All you got to do is put your finger on it a little bit and there was no videotape. How are they ever going to get you for this? So they shall find none iniquity. He viewed himself in some way as pure as the driven snow, and yet he loves to oppress. And then verse nine. And I, that am the Lord God am thy Lord God. Let me get this. And I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt. So God's responding here, hey, we've been together since Egypt, and yet I will make thee to dwell in Tabernacles, as in the day, the of days of the solemn peace. Now, I actually think this is a little bit of hope here, Ephraim. You're a scoundrel and you're never going to admit you're a scoundrel. Yet I've been with you and been your God since I got you out of Egypt, and someday I'm going to make you dwell in Tabernacles, like in the feast. Now, that's obviously a little Jewish thinking there, but I am convinced I won't take the time to prove it, but I am convinced that that last phrase, make thee to dwell in Tabernacles basically says, I'm going to deliver my promises and you are going to have the messianic kingdom. The messianic kingdom is going to be yours. Even you who have been a scoundrel from day one. I am going to make thee to dwell in Tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn peace. And Tabernacles, or dwelling in Tabernacles certainly had become by that time the symbol of the coming Messianic kingdom. It was a time of celebration that they would take part in. And so really, again, a note of hope. He says, I have also spoken by the prophets and have multiplied visions and used simultudes by the ministry of the prophets. So. Look, I promised this. I've described this in the prophets. My prophecies are going to come true. But that word of hope is just a I don't know, can I say a teaser? That's probably not the right word to use, but it's a little bit of a teaser. Someday I am going to fulfill every one of my promises to Israel in verses nine and ten. But then it's kind of like he says, Someday, but first back up. And he gets into verses 1112, 13 and 14 and he says, first, there's a little bit of punishment coming. Is there iniquity in Gilead? Gilead was a part of the Northern Kingdom. For those like Kay, who just went over there to the northeast. It's the Golan Heights today. The northeast of the Sea of Galilee is there iniquity in Gilead? It's a rhetorical question, and the supposed answer is absolutely there is iniquity in Gilead. Why? Surely they are vanity. They sacrifice Bullocks in Gilgal. Yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the field. So you might be able to take the surely, and if you want to understand that word just a little bit better, substitute tooth. The word because is there iniquity in Gilead? Absolutely. Why? Because they are vanity sacrificed bullocks in Gillia Gilgal. Their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields. Some kind of poetic language there. But obviously it's talking about a bad thing of their alters. That is, their pagan altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields. And then it goes back into this little bit of history in Twelve and 13 again, as it has from the beginning. Bringing Jacob up all the way from his birth, really grabbing the heel of Jacob, carrying through his life all the way through. Using the namesake of the nation as a picture of the problem in the nation, it says and Jacob fled into the country of Syria and Israel. Same person served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep. Now we're studying the life and times of Abraham on Sunday morning. If we were to stick with it, of course we would get to Isaac and then we would get to Jacob. And eventually Jacob goes to find a wife. Remember Rebecca and Leah? Or should I say Leah and Rebecca? And what does he do for that? Or where does he go? He goes to the country of Syria for his wife. And then what does he do? He for his wife, he kept sheep. He worked for his father in law Laban. And verse 13 then and, and by see if I can get there. And by a prophet, the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt. And by a prophet was he preserved. He, I think, is still Jacob. Now, this gets into some confusing kind of stuff, and I'm going to try to put it simple, and I'm going to hope I understand it right. I can put it simple, but what if it's just wrong? I think this is what this is all saying. So God says again in verses nine and ten, eventually I'm going to give you your messianic kingdoms. You're going to dwell in the tabernacles like in the days of the feast. But is there iniquity in Gilead? Do I hear an amen? Yeah, there sure is. Full of vanity and all this other kind of stuff, idolatry. So let me give you an illustration to show. There's sin, there's ultimately going to be a blessing, but in the meantime, you're going to have to be married to Leah. You're going to have some things that you didn't want. And so to say that, he says, you remember the whole marriage story with Jacob, don't you? And they say, yeah, of course we remember the whole marriage story of Jacob. He's the name's sake of our country. And you remember that by a prophet, the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt. Now, that prophet is Moses, by the way. So Moses brought him out of Egypt. Now that ties together again, speaking of this interconnectedness, that ties together a whole bunch of stuff. What it assumes in the story is or assumes, you know, in the story he got Leah, he got Rachel, they had twelve children. Eventually those twelve children ended up down in Egypt. They had all those hundreds of years of slavery. And then finally, by a prophet, Moses or the Lord, by Moses, the Lord brought him back up, and by a prophet was he preserved. Okay, the moral of the story is, I am going to preserve you, but you're going to end up in Egypt for a few years. In the end, I'll send my Savior, if I can use that term, I'll send my Savior to get you out. And even in a sense, the prophets of the Lord are going to hold you together or preserve you. But this is not going to be an easy journey. Just like Jacob ending up in Egypt, ending up dying with no inheritance of the land and the children of Israel serving Egypt, this is the punishment you're about to go through. And the last verse, then, for tonight ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly. Therefore shall he leave his blood upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him. This has been a chapter of I cannot believe how bad you are. I've tried everything to get you back, you won't come back. I've got some promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that I've got to fulfill and I'm going to fulfill, but I don't have to fulfill them to you. And I am going to send you Ephraim and Judah. I'm going to send you into turmoil and punishment. Later I'll send someone to come get you back out of Egypt and come back to the promised land. So it's a mixed bag message in chapter twelve, you are going to be punished. I am going to come through with my promises. Your children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, whatever, are going to receive the promises, not you. You're going into punishment because you have provoked the Lord to anger most bitterly. Not really a good spot to be in, is it? To provoke the Lord to anger most bitterly. So in a sense, this really ends on a very sour note for Israel. This says, we're sunk, lord's not coming to rescue us, we're going down. And that's the word of the Lord, and that's a tough message to swallow there, even though there's this ultimately eschatologically endtime good news message that's in there, a note of hope that's in there, a threat of redemption that's in there. But it's a long way off. Remember when the Lord Isaiah, the Lord said through Isaiah to Hezekiah, hezekiah prayed and wait, I'm mixing up my stories. What's the one where God said, maybe it is Hezekiah too? God said, punishments coming, but not while you're alive. He says, oh, good, as long as it's not while I'm alive, good. This is kind of the opposite of that story. Good things are coming, but not while you're alive. You're going to get punishment. The good things will come much later on, is what Hosea, chapter twelve, says. So again, there's a thread of hope in there, but it is just a tiny little gold thread woven through there very faintly, and yet it's there. You know, if you need some point of application here, I would put it in this as difficult and tough and far from God as the world can get, god does still have that little golden thread of glory that says, I haven't forgotten my promises, I'm going to fulfill my promises, just not in your day. It's out there for another day. And there it is. We can ultimately have faith and rejoice in the Lord on that account. That is chapter twelve of Hosea. Rightly, divided session number 14 will pick up next time, obviously in chapter 13. In all of that, let me lead us in a word of prayer. Father, thanks for allowing us just to spend some time on this cold, snowy night, to study the word a little bit. And we are grateful for it and all that it provides for us and encourages us with in an ultimate, long hope that we take and we see. Still, ultimately, you haven't fully fulfilled those promises to Israel. But the day will come when all the promises will be taken care of. We'll be yes and amen in Christ Jesus. And we rejoice in this asking for your safety and watch care over each of us. And we're grateful, dear Heavenly Father for our brother and friend Roger Feinstra, who's headed to Cambodia doing mission work tomorrow. Give him safe travels and we pray your encouragement upon him and on Carol and their work. In Jesus name, amen. God bless us, everyone. You all take care. And those of you online will see you soon. Online, take care.