The nature of repentance and the way to healing
Hos 14:1-9
In the Harry Potter series, the arch-evil Voldemort splits his soul into multiple pieces through murdering others. Keeping these fragments hidden in various receptacles, he hopes to ensure his immortality. At one point the question arises whether such a process of tearing one’s soul into pieces can ever be reversed and the soul made whole again. As it is explained, it can be done if the individual truly feels remorse for what he has done. However, those feelings may be so painful that it can kill the person. Repentance, of course, is more than just feelings and, in itself, it cannot heal – God can. Nevertheless, even this secular perspective gives us a glimpse of how destructive sin is in tearing our soul apart and how painful and difficult true repentance is.
The nature of repentance
While the Assyrian captivity cannot be avoided, the prophet exhorts Israel to turn back to God. When one made a vow of commitment as Israel is modelled to do here (Hos 14:3), they would bring sacrifices to affirm their verbal promise. Here, however, the words are brought like a sacrifice asking God to take away or carry their sin (nasa’ ‘avon) and accept, literally, ‘the bulls’ of their lips (Hos 14:2). When human beings ‘bear their guilt/sin’ (nasa’ ‘avon), it means that they must live with the consequences or bear the punishment of their sin. When God does the carrying (or taking away), it means that He forgives. Behind the language is the idea that sin is a burden that either the sinner carries or God does.[1] There is thus a cost involved for the forgiver that is implicit here. Repentance for Israel meant not only an admission of guilt and a desire to be free of its burden, but a commitment to trust God instead of human powers (Assyria), military might (horses) or other gods (Hos 14:3).
The way to healing
Repentance then is a return to God, the only way that His unfaithful people may be healed (Hos 14:4), though the act carries no magical properties to restore one. Rather, it creates the connection with the Lord that opens the way for His healing. Neither is the language of God’s love and anger (v.4) primarily about emotions here but part of the covenant vocabulary. God’s love involves His commitment and faithfulness to His people and the turning away of His anger signals the end of judgement. What follows are lyrical descriptions of Israel’s blossoming and flourishing using the imagery of lush vegetation (lily, olive tree, vine; Hos 14:5-7). Ephraim, the tribe that seems to have been foremost in idolatry, is singled out with a pun playing on their name (Ephraim is derived from ‘fruitfulness’, Gen 41:52) to emphasise that only the Lord can make them truly fruitful (Hos 14:8). The final exhortation addresses the reader to hear the message of the book and act wisely by walking with the Lord (Hos 14:9).
Why repentance is hard
Much as the formula seems simple – in fact, non-Christians routinely complain that it is too easy – repentance is harder than it looks. It involves the admission that we are in the wrong, a humbling experience. We like to put our actions in the best light to others and ourselves, so it is not surprising that owning our sin is hard. Further, when our culture does not recognise a sin as wrong, it is difficult to change our perspective and see it God’s way. We also hold deep convictions about what would make us happier and more fulfilled, so that our trust in those things we pursue to feel complete are hard to turn away from. No matter how superficial the joy they provide or how temporary, prizing our hold off the things that falsely promise a good life involves a change of attitude and a shift to trusting God first. At this point, we might cry out to God like Paul, ‘Who will set me free from this body of death?’ (Rom 7:24). Israel could not have known what we do today that the Lord Jesus Christ took upon Himself the burden of sin on the cross to carry it away and destroy its power over us. Thanks be to God who not only saves us from the consequences of sin and death, but who heals our unfaithfulness by transforming our heart!
[1] Although understanding the imagery behind the words is illuminating as we think of sin, it should be noted that Israelites would not have actively thought of it as they spoke those words. It is the nature of language that its metaphors become dead with use, so that we no longer perceive the image and simply think of the concept it represents such as forgiveness here.
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