"Jacob I Loved"

[dave c]

simpletruth #138m Revisited 26May10 salicart@msn.com

HOSEA 10:12—Part Thirteen: “Jacob I Loved”

by rev. dave carter

Hosea 10:12, Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the LORD, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you (NKJV).

The law of the harvest and the subject of mercy as coupled in Hosea 10:12 is best typified in the New Testament by Matthew 5:7, Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy (NIV). In this passage from the Beatitudes, Jesus is plainly teaching that as we sow mercy, so shall we reap it. This verse should be read in context of Luke 1:50, however, lest we inadvertently give support to the apostasy of Universalism (the teaching that there are many paths to salvation), His mercy extends to those who fear him [who have reverence for Him]... (NIV), and John 14:6, Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (NIV). God loves all people, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance (2Pe 3:9b, NAS), and His love is manifest in the promise of eternal salvation to all...who will...confess with [their] mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in [their] heart that God raised him from the dead, [they] will be saved (Ro 10:9, NIV).

Regarding the subject of God’s mercy, however, Romans 9:13-23 raises several difficult issues. Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'" Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath--prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory (NIV).

These passages require some digging into if we are going to understand what Paul is saying about the merciful character of God. Verse 20 is at the heart of the point that the Apostle is making: “God is big and you’re not Him.” God is God...and He can, and does, what He wills. We can not draw a box large enough to contain the divine nature and eternal power of the Triune God who is the One True God. Whatever else we may feel or consider or contemplate about Him, we must start at this reality, keep it constantly before us, and wind up back at that conclusion. With that in mind, let us start to examine these passages from Romans, Chapter Nine.

"Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." The word “hated” in verse 13 is a linguistic convention of ancient Hebrew where to elevate a point, an exaggerated term or phrase is used to compare and/or contrast with an initial term or phrase. In this case Paul is quoting the original Hebrew writer who wished to express that God’s love was so great for Jacob, that compared to it, what God felt for Esau would seem like hate. The bottom line is, God chose Jacob (Israel) to become His people, while rejecting Esau (Edom). As the study notes for The Nelson Study Bible (Thomas Nelson Inc., 1997, p. 1896) explain, “Actually God made provision for Esau (see Gen. 27:39; 36; Deut. 23:7). Hated is an idiom where the opposite is used to express a lesser degree. For example, Gen. 29:30 says Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, but the next verse (literally translated) says that Leah was hated. What Paul is saying is that Esau was not the object of God’s electing purpose.”

When it comes to applying this idea of “being chosen, or not being chosen” to our own lives, it is important to remember God’s exhortation to Cain in Genesis 4:7, If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it" (NIV). Although God had accepted Abel's animal sacrifice, and refused Cain’s offering of grain, it was not His rejection of the offering that resulted in Cain becoming ...a restless wanderer on the earth (NIV). Judgment was the effect of Cain’s decision to allow the root of bitterness to grow into hate, and hate to bear the fruit of murder. It is our arrogant pride in the face of God’s correction that robs us of His mercy. If we are to reap the harvest of His righteousness, we must pray to God to sow in us a teachable spirit.

In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work (2Ti 2:20&21; NIV). “Lord, please help us through the power of the Holy Spirit to cleanse ourselves from the wood and clay in our lives. Please strengthen our resolve to do what is right so that we might master the sin that crouches at our door. Please make us holy, useful, and prepared to do any good work. In the name of Jesus, amen.”