River Crossing
Their heart is faithless; Now they must bear their guilt. The LORD will break down their altars and destroy their sacred pillars. Hosea 10:2 NASB
Faithless – “Faithless” is a nice abstract noun. What exactly does it mean? The NIV gloss “deceitful” isn’t much better. Both attempts are really paraphrases of the Hebrew word halaq. That’s because Hebrew is a language with roots in the dirt. It is farmers’ speech. If I want to describe something in Hebrew, I will usually end up with some very tactile expression. God’s mercy is “long-nosed breathing.” God’s reliability is as solid as a rock. Words like faithless or deceitful convert this earthy existence into abstract ideals. So when Hosea says halaq libam, he paints a picture of smooth stones in the river bed. Why would Hosea use this imagery to describe the heart of Israel?
Have you every tried to wade across a stream? When I was young, I used to hike the Cascades. In those days, long before government-required hiking permits and safety railings on footbridges, I would have to ford streams of rushing water with only my balance. The last thing you want to do when you are traversing a stream with a full pack is to step on a smooth stone. Smooth stones encourage spills. What you look for are stones that are rough, that have grip, otherwise you’re going to end up in the water. Smooth stones are dangerous. So are smooth hearts.
If my heart is as smooth as a stone in the water, it can’t be penetrated by God’s warning. The water just slips over it. It offers no grip for life. It is unreliable and unpredictable. Appearing to be refined, it is actually disguised treachery. Now we have a Hebrew picture of halaq. Now we know what it means to be faithless or deceitful. Appearance is a camouflage. The real test of the river stone is whether or not I can stand on it safely.
Hosea warns Israel that it has been a smooth stone in the river. It is unreliable. God cannot trust Israel and certainly men cannot either. Israel has not revealed His character. No one is safe standing near them. Now YHWH will break the people of Israel down and they will “bear their guilt.” Of course, “guilt” is another one of those abstract terms we so easily vocalize. Once again we are required to consider its earthy context. ‘Asham is about the result of sin. The pictograph could be “the first great destroyer” (Aleph-Sheen-Mem). Guilt kills us. It robs us of life. It sacks well-being. It lays siege to peace with God and Man. Hosea tells us that the smooth stones of our hearts will result in the destruction of our lives. When we try to cross the torrent and we step on a smooth stone, we will fall. When we smooth over God’s words, when we let His instructions slip past us, we bring about our own destruction. The only one who can stand on a smooth stone in the river bed is the great destroyer of life.
The comfortably religious will bear their own guilt. God will not lift it from them. They have consumed themselves in their affluence. The multiplication of their altars will not save them. The only way across the rushing water is to step on rough rock, rock that is cracked, pitted, bruised and battered. Rock that God has pummeled in order to allow you to stand securely.
What kind of stone are you seeking? Where are you planting your feet? Will you stand with the broken or with the smooth?
Topical Index: halaq, smooth, faithless, deceitful, guilt, ‘asham, Hosea 10:2
The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17.9)
What we (as in you and I) need and what this world needs is “a new heart for a new start..”. Pray for the gift of repentance. Solomon asked for wisdom and G-d gave it to him. If we pray for repentance (the gift of a new heart) would this be pleasing unto our Father? Do we need to review the parable of the prodigal?
Yes, brother Skip (and all), repentance is not a one-time ocurrence, it is a life-style of learning to think (and do) as our Master-Teacher, the ONE who lives within each (and all) of us now. The very Author of the Torah (and the rest of the Story) dwells/abides in us today- are we listening to Him? Are we living Torah obedient lives? Are we listening to His instructions?- (all of them..). This includes (but are not limited to) the ten words written in stone. Every word of G-d is pure.
Our Bible (the Lamb’s book of life) has said, (G-d is speaking)- “We (now) have the mind of Christ.” My friends.. “it is written.” (1 Corinthians 2.16) It is ours through the gentle speaking of the Ruach HaKodesh- the holy Breath of G-d, “re-minding” us of “what He said.” And as the mother of Yeshua said to the servants (that’s us folks!..- we do serve our Master, right?)- “Whatever He says unto you- “do it.!”
Dear family: From Genesis 1.1 thru maps- “whatever He says unto us- we should do this. We should (all of us) “shema” the word(s) of ADONAI.
In order for this to happen we need two things. Ears ready to hear, and (willing) hearts, ready to obey. Selah: -Stop,look and listen. Listen to the instructions written in G-d’s book. If we are willing to do these things- we will be “blessed” in the very doing of them. Both “short-term” and “long-term” blessing will occur.
“LORD, teach us to pray” is not just for “them.” It is for us. Today. Now. Prayer transforms the “prayer.” Try it, -you’ll like it. We were born to worship. Read Psalm 150 (again, for the first time..)
What a meaningful picture, it hits the mark, piercing directly into the smooth heart! Thank you, Skip.
There is also a refer. in 1kings18:21 where Elijah is challenging the people to choose whom they will serve. It seems a smooth heart is one that is not a firm or solid foundation.
I also see where Skip is saying it is not safe to trust the smooth stones and the rough ones that have been through a brokenness etc. are safer.
I have said for some time that we cannot trust one who does not walk with a limp. In other words if someone has not been broken or gone through something how can they understand.
Yacov wrestled with Yah and won, but he walked with a limp.
blessings
I recently finished reading a book that asks many more question than it answers. In fact, the controversy surrounding this author’s work are the questions he raises, not his answers. A friend of mine was up all night after reading the book and pressed me the next day to talk with him. His whole struggle is about the lack of answers to the questions. Another friend suggested – in an attempt to comfort – that the only good questions were the one’s that you can find the answers to.
It strikes me that the unanswered questions in my world, the unresolved conflicts, and maybe the unhealed wounds serve my Beloved’s purpose for me to trust Him and live in community. Maybe my counsel is more believeable when my clients see the dents in my fenders.
Lol…Roderick only this morning I was thinking it is more important to know the question than it is to know the answer. I have said that I need to now what the question is first.
I like the analogy of the dents in your fender.
How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
Bob Dylan
Michael, that might be Mr. Dylan’s deal -(no direction) but it is not our
Hi Carl,
Although, based on my experience of his music, I believe Bob Dylan knew very well the “state of being” that is described in the lyrics above.
It seems to me that he is really asking a rhetorical question; because he was obviously not a “complete unknown.”
In my view, Bob Dylan was actually leading millions of people back into the Hebrew worldview, with his poetry and prophetic symbolism.
I had been listening to his music for about fifteen years (saw him in 1966) and could not understand why he drew me into the heart so profoundly.
Then I read Isaiah. (1978)
From Wiki:
Several reviewers have pointed out that the lyrics in “All Along the Watchtower” echo lines in the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 21, verses 5-9:
Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise ye princes, and prepare the shield.
For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.
And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed.
And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen.
And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.
I must have listened to the first four lines of All Along the Watchtower a 1000 times 🙂
All Along the Watchtower
Line 1 There must be some way out of here, said the joker to the thief
Line 2 There’s too much confusion, I can’t get no relief
Line 3 Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth
Line 4 None of them along the line know what any of it is worth
Line 5 “No reason to get excited,”
Line 6 The thief he kindly spoke.
Line 7 “There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke.
Line 8 But you and I, we’ve been through that, And this is not our fate.
Line 9 So let us not talk falsely now,
Line 10 The hour is getting late.”
All along the watchtower
Princes kept the view
While all the women came and went
Barefoot servants too
Outside in the cold distance
A wildcat did growl
Two riders were approaching, and
The wind began to howl
Sorry for the multiple posts- (new iPad) . Yeshua is the Way, His words? Follow me.
Janet, I can identify with your post and I agree, follow those who walk with a limp. Amen!
These are the “wounded healers.” (brother Skip, -amen?) Jacob worshiped leaning on His staff. The University of Hard Knocks?
“Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!” (John 20.27)
and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, and your house. (Acts 16.30,31)
and for those of us who are now in “troubled waters”- His words to the Talmudim: “let us go over to the other side”- not “hey y’all, let’s go out into the middle of the lake and drown!” And He has yet to lose one sheep.
“Cleave unto the LORD..” -Holding to the nail-scarred hands.. -“let us go over to the other side..”
This is my first word for Today! Wow how insightful Hebrew is for us to gain the real meaning. Thanks Skip I look forward to receiving them every day wherever I am in the world (As long as the Ethiopian internet works when I get there).
Blessings
Christine
Indeed, “smooth” sailing may get you to your destination quickly and without incident, however, how much did that smooth sail prepare you for the soon-coming storm? “For there shall be no more any vain vision nor smooth divination within the house of Israel” (Ezek. 12:24; JPS).