Judah’s
leaders are like those who move boundary stones. (Hosea 5:10)
While
chapters 1-3 tell the story of Hosea and Gomer, chapters 4-14 detail Israel’s
crimes in the form of lawsuits wherein God is the plaintiff. Israel’s chief
crime? Adultery. Not that wives were cheating on husbands as in the opening
chapters, but that Israel was chasing after foreign gods like an adulteress
chases after her lovers.
Sometime
after Israel’s fall to Assyria in 722 BC, this writing made its way south to
Judah where the people saw themselves in Hosea’s story and the succeeding
lawsuits. Did Hosea write about Judah or were those references added for later
readers?
One
complaint directed at Judah: Judah’s
leaders are like those who move boundary stones. Ancient property lines
were marked with stones, easy to see but equally easy to move. Do not move an ancient boundary stone set up
by your forefathers (Proverbs 22:28). In other words, don’t change the rules.
God
calls his followers to be faithful. Even in the 21st century we are
tempted to follow after other lovers. They may not be named Baal or Molech, but they’re just as dangerous and just as wrong. You shall have no other gods before me (Exodus
20:3). This is just as much for us as it was for Israel in the time of Moses…
or Hosea.
When
they’re not convenient, do you try to change the rules?
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