POWER HOUSE CHURCH TAMBARAM
where people matter
POWER HOUSE CHURCH TAMBARAM
where people matter
Day 11 - Jacob symbolizes the pattern of Israel
Drifting for the faith

Passage
Hosea 12:1-14
12 [a]1 Ephraim feeds on the wind;
he pursues the east wind all day
and multiplies lies and violence.
He makes a treaty with Assyria
and sends olive oil to Egypt.
2 The Lord has a charge to bring against Judah;
he will punish Jacob[b] according to his ways
and repay him according to his deeds.
3 In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel;
as a man he struggled with God.
4 He struggled with the angel and overcame him;
he wept and begged for his favor.
He found him at Bethel
and talked with him there—
5 the Lord God Almighty,
the Lord is his name!
6 But you must return to your God;
maintain love and justice,
and wait for your God always.
7 The merchant uses dishonest scales
and loves to defraud.
8 Ephraim boasts,
“I am very rich; I have become wealthy.
With all my wealth they will not find in me
any iniquity or sin.”
9 “I have been the Lord your God
ever since you came out of Egypt;
I will make you live in tents again,
as in the days of your appointed festivals.
10 I spoke to the prophets,
gave them many visions
and told parables through them.”
11 Is Gilead wicked?
Its people are worthless!
Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal?
Their altars will be like piles of stones
on a plowed field.
12 Jacob fled to the country of Aram[c];
Israel served to get a wife,
and to pay for her he tended sheep.
13 The Lord used a prophet to bring Israel up from Egypt,
by a prophet he cared for him.
14 But Ephraim has aroused his bitter anger;
his Lord will leave on him the guilt of his bloodshed
and will repay him for his contempt.
Questions
1. Vs 2-6 Jacob had faith in the promises of God but drifted away from God as he depended on his craft and skill till the episode of the massacre at Shechem in Gen 34 leading to his final total commitment to Yahweh in Gen 35:2. How is this behaviour reflected in vs 1 and 7-8 by Israel?
2. Vs 9-14 continues to apply the life of Jacob to Israel. Jacob had fled to Syria in Gen 28-29 and later went to Egypt. Vs 13 by Moses, God brought Israel out of Egypt but they still have turned away from Him. How has God shown love to Israel in spite of their apostasy in vs 10?
3. Vs 5 says that Yahweh is characterized by mercy and love. So what should the response of Israel be according to vs 6? How does this apply to us?