Digging Deeper Days
Finding the original intent of Scripture and making good application to our everyday lives as we become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!
Yesterday’s Journey Study connects with today’s!
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The Questions
1) What is the book of Hosea about?
2) When was Israel a child? What time period is this talking about?
3) Who is Ephraim and when did God teach him to walk?
4) How is it that Ephraim didn’t know that God had healed him?
Hosea 11:1-4
When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son. The more they called them, the more they departed from Me. They kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols. It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them in My arms, but they never knew that I healed them. I led them with human cords, with ropes of love. To them I was like one who eases the yoke from their jaws; I bent down to give them food.
Original Intent
1) What is the book of Hosea about?
In the book of Hosea, God tells Hosea to marry a prostitute. He does, and she bears three children: two sons and a daughter. God uses Hosea’s relationship with his wife, Gomer, to teach the nation of Israel about themselves and about Himself. Throughout the book, Gomer cares little about Hosea and much about herself. She even leaves him and finds another man. However, Hosea pursues her and continually brings her back to himself. This is a beautiful picture of God and His people, Israel. Over and over they turned to idolatry, and over and over, God cared enough about them to pursue them and bring them back to Himself.
2) When was Israel a child? What time period is this talking about?
Israel began with the patriarch Abraham. In Genesis 12, God called him out of the land of Ur and asked him to go to a country that He would show him, and thus, Israel began. Throughout the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, the Israelites were babies or children, so to speak. They were slaves in Egypt for 400 years. During this time, God was molding them and shaping them into a people after His heart. When they were children in slavery, God called them out of Egypt. He called them as a father would call a son.
3) Who is Ephraim and when did God teach him to walk?
Ephraim was one of the twelve tribes of Israel. It was after God released them from slavery in Egypt that He taught them to walk in the wilderness. They spent forty years wandering around the desert, and all the while, God watched over them. He protected them. He provided for them. He proved Himself to them over and over in numerous ways. He provided manna for food. He provided protection from other armies. He never left them and led them by cloud during the day and by fire at night. During this period, He was teaching them to depend on Him, to trust Him. He was proving His deep, deep love for them.
4) How is it that Ephraim didn’t know that God had healed him?
Despite God’s pursuit of Israel (the Northern Kingdom whom Hosea was writing to), the Israelites continued to chase after other gods, just as they did after He led them out of slavery in Egypt. The Northern Kingdom ended up right back in captivity to the Assyrians in 722BC, were scattered, and never heard from again. God had rescued them from slavery, led them through the wilderness to the Promised Land, and still, they failed to recognize all He had done for them. Throughout their journey, they looked to themselves and their own efforts. They became prideful and believed they had actually gotten themselves to the Promised Land. They forgot all God had done for them. Makes me wonder if they ever really “grew up”!
Everyday Application
1) What is the book of Hosea about?
Over and over, we fail God. We sin. We miss the mark. We can be so selfish and run after things of this world. If we’re really honest with ourselves, we know that we, too, have played the harlot when it comes to what or who we allow to be lord of our hearts. Maybe for you shopping is your idol. Maybe vanity is your thing. Could it be your husband or your children? Whatever it is, it’s a substitute for God. Yet God, in His infinite love for us, continues to chase after us despite ourselves.
2) When was Israel a child? What time period is this talking about?
I want you to think of yourself as Israel. There was a time when you were a mere child. Maybe you knew about God when you were growing up, maybe you didn’t. Even if you didn’t, God was using this time in your life to shape you and to draw you to Himself. Maybe you didn’t accept Christ until you were an adult, but according to God’s word, before that, you were a child, spiritually speaking. We were all slaves to sin at some point in our lives. It was during this time that God called us out of slavery to be His daughters.
3) Who is Ephraim and when did God teach him to walk?
Many times, after we accept Christ, we find ourselves in the wilderness wandering around, wondering where God is and why He led us here. It is during these times of trials and tribulations that God is teaching us to walk, but we certainly can’t do it on our own. If we tried, we would fall flat on our face! He is teaching us to lean on Him, to trust Him. When we don’t know where our next meal will come from, He will provide. When we’re scared about the enemies surrounding us, He will protect us. When we feel lonely, He is there!! He is using the wilderness to teach us to walk tall in His love.
4) How is it that Ephraim didn’t know that God had healed him?
As an adult, it is so easy for me to look back and see all my parents did for me! How hard they worked to provide for me and take care of me. They care so much about me! And yet, sometimes I fail to remember how God has called me out of bondage to sin, how He has provided His very Son to pay the price for that sin, and how He has never left me alone on this road to the Promised Land of eternity. I easily fall back into old patterns of trying to do things on my own, forgetting that He taught me how to walk. Somehow, I think I can work myself to the Promised Land if I’m just “good enough.” When I do this, I fail to recognize that God has healed me. He has given me everything in Christ Jesus that I need to grow up. When I recognize that Jesus plus nothing equals everything, then I recognize the fact that I am healed! I am grown, and I’m on my way to the Promised Land, hand in hand with the Love of my life!
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Digging Deeper is for Everyone!
1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read it, and the verses around it,
several times
3) Write down your questions
as you think of them.
4) Ask specific culture related questions and be ready to dig around for your answers. Google them, use www.studylight.org, or look them up in a study Bible and read the footnotes (click on the little letters next to a word and it will show you
other related verses!). (www.esvbible.org)
5) Check your applications with other trusted Christians that you are in community with and embrace the fullness of God
in your everyday!
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Why Dig Deeper?
Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.
In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!
Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.
Study Tools
We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources, providing the original Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) with an English translation.
Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Discover “origin”, “definition” and hear the original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!
Want more background? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))
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