Breaking New Ground
Updated: Jun 6, 2019
Hosea 10:12-13 (International Children’s Bible)
12 I said, ‘Break new ground. Plant what is right. Then you will harvest good things from your loyalty to me. It is time for you to turn back to me, the Lord. Do it until I come and pour out my goodness on you.’
13 But you have planted evil. So you have harvested trouble. You have trusted in your own power and your many soldiers. Now you must live with the result of your lies.
In this scripture the author of the Book of the prophet Hosea was writing to the people of the northern kingdom of Israel during the time of King Jeroboam II, which is situated in the early 8th century BCE. The back story is the cultural and political strife which engulfed the Northern Kingdom between the rule of Jeroboam and Israel’s fall to the Assyrian Empire. It is thought that the corruption of the court, economic abuses and the exploitation of the poor by the rich may have prompted Hosea to issue these warnings to the Israel courts. Hosea reminds them that though they chase after false gods, create idols to the Canaanites deities and participate in their religious rituals there is still time to return to Yahweh.
Yahweh has not forgotten the covenant people of Israel. The blessings of a fertile land, animals and peace enjoyed by a nation who follows the ordinances of the Lord will swiftly be upended by the invasion of a foreign nation, a consequence of violating the covenant between Israel and Yahweh.
Perhaps it time for us to break new ground, plant the right seeds at the right time. Both Hosea and Paul seem to indicate that followers of God have the moral courage to stand in the face of injustice, moral turpitude and idols to perform counter cultural activities such as feed the hungry, cloth the naked, and offer shelter to those in need.
As Paul notes in his letter to the Galatians Chapter 5:9-10 So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith.
May it be so.