The Gospel of Hosea, Ch. 6: Mercy and Knowledge

The Gospel of Hosea, Ch. 6: Mercy and Knowledge. 

“My will (‘haspasti’) is that you show mercy (‘hesed’) and not sacrifice, and that you grow in knowledge (‘yada’) of Me rather than burnt offerings.“ (Hosea 6:6).

In other words, hear the word of the Lord… I delight in loyal mercy to others and intimate knowledge of Me; I vastly prefer lovingkindness towards others and an ongoing relationship with Me; My desire is that you love others and trust Me; My heart takes pleasure when I see mercy in this world and devotion to Me; My will is that mercy is demonstrated before religious duties.

“You may expend your whole life in search of the Will of God, His “perfect will,” but you will not find any other perfect will of God than that which God has revealed in Christ Jesus. And that will is mercy, a mercy which involves giving your life for others as an offering to God.” (Brother Rex Andrews, from his book, What the Bible Teaches About Mercy).

“Haspasti” = The Hebrew word which means to will something because it brings great delight; to desire because it brings pleasure; to wish something to be done because it is the best for all concerned.

“Thelema” = The Greek word which means the preferred choice, the intended will that has a deep purpose behind it; the desired preference for action. This is the gospel word used by Jesus in Matthew 9:13 and 12:7 when he quoted Hosea 6:6 in a face-off with the Pharisees.

“Hesed” = A Hebrew word for mercy used a number of times in Hosea, and is often translated as lovingkindness, indicating an eternally steadfast love, covenant faithfulness, unfailing loyalty, love-in-action. Hesed has so many dimensions that it is much easier to describe than define. Hesed may be the most important word in the Hebrew Bible, because it is considered a summary word for all of God’s character traits, the driving force behind all He does. Hesed is a covenant word, a relationship word, and celebrates God’s commitment to remaining true to his merciful promises out of sheer love. The very center of God’s will is mercy, to satisfy all mankind with His goodness; to strongly desire what is best for each person, especially for those in need; to graciously treat those in distress with compassion; to have an eternal readiness to show practical love to those in any type of trouble or need; to have a passionate eagerness to put love into action. Mercy is the chief attribute of God, and seems to be the main way He shows his power. And so since we were made in His image, mercy is meant to be our main attribute as well. Mercy: Such is God with us, such are we to be with others. The book of Hosea has a lot to say about love in general (thirty mentions in the book) and mercy in particular, about God’s divine lovingkindness, Israel’s lack thereof, and His desire that His followers demonstrate mercy. There are various ways of describing mercy: Eager love-in-action; steadfast kindness; loyal compassion; faithful favor; generous grace; the ardent desire to do good to someone; a completely undeserved lovingkindness; an affectionate love that goes beyond what is expected, above and beyond, free of charge, no strings attached, way beyond the call of duty; to demonstrate to a complete stranger the same type of generous compassion one would reveal to a friend or family member, and  the strong desire to treat someone as if that close relationship existed.

“All I want is to know Christ and to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings and become like him in his death.” (Philippians 3:10).

“Yada” = A vital theme in Hosea is the importance of knowledge of God. The Hebrew word “yada” is dropped 25 times in the book, and if we don’t understand what the Bible means by “know,” we are missing the heartbeat of our relationship with God. The Bible has a lot to say about the meaning of know, including the usual suspects: memory of a fact or event; possession of a technical skill; a perception of a piece of reality; an intuitive awareness; a mastery of a particular subject; an understanding of something; a personal familiarity with something. That’s all good. Nothing new there. But now the fun begins… The Hebraic-Christian understanding of “know” is not at all limited to an intellectual or mental knowledge. To know someone in the Biblical sense is to experience that person in a deeply intimate way. “Know” is a relationship word and involves knowledge that comes from personal experience. To know involves a deeply personal union with a truth or a person. In the Hebrew and Christian mind, we don’t really know something until it becomes a part of us, something that changes us in some way. To truly  know  something is to be able to live it out, to experience participation with that which is known. Knowing something involves a heartfelt focus, an intense investment. To know something is to care for it, to give oneself over to it.  To know someone in the Biblical sense is to literally participate in a profound relationship with that person, to establish an ongoing union with someone, to be personally invested to an intimate degree with a person. A spiritual relationship with God seems best understood in the context of “knowledge” in the biblical sense, a deep union involving spiritual relations between God and the believer. In the same way that Adam and Eve “knew” each other physically, God wants to “know” us spiritually, and for us to know Him at that same level. To walk with the Lord is to grow in our “knowledge” of Him, to experience spiritual relations with Him in an intimate way.  In fact, to know God in the way He want us to know Him means to have spiritual intercourse with Him, an ongoing spiritual union that involves, not “carnal knowledge,” but spiritual knowledge.

“It is better to limit belief in God’s power than to dampen faith in God’s mercy. Between mercy and power, mercy takes precedence. And to the mercy of heaven there is no limit… Beyond all mystery is the mercy of God. It is a love that transcends the world. To live by such a love, to reflect it, however numbly, is the test of religious existence.” (Abraham Joshua Heschel).

Mercy is Closer to the Heart of God than Empty Religion. God’s preferences are made very clear in Hosea 6:6 and Isaiah 58:4-7. Yahweh is much more pleased with the self-denial it takes to show mercy, than whatever self-discipline is revealed in insincere obedience to religious obligations. “Your kind of fasting is pointless! On a day like today, fasting like yours will not make your voice heard on high. What kind of fast do I choose? Is a true fast simply some religious exercise for making a person feel miserable and woeful? Is it about how you bow your head, like a bent reed, or how you dress in sackcloth, or where you sit in a bed of ashes? Is this what you call a fast, a day the Lord finds good and proper? No, what I want in a fast is this: to liberate those tied down and held back by injustice; to lighten the load of those heavily burdened; to free the oppressed and shatter every type of oppression. A fast for me involves sharing your food with people who have none; giving to those who are homeless a space in your house; giving clothes to those who need them; fulfilling your duty to your own family and not neglecting their needs.”

A Foundational Truth to Consider. God’s will is based on His character, and so His will shall always reflect His essence and divine identity. His will is always going to be a revelation of His authentic Being, and it will not compromise His nature. To be in the center of God’s will then, we need to live in the center of who God is, what His character is through His Holy Spirit with Jesus. God’s character determines the substance of His will. His ultimate intentions and plans will unfailingly line up with His character. It appears from Scripture that God’s will is mercy. God’s bottom-line will is mercy. What God wants for the world to experience is His mercy and goodness, and His desire is to demonstrate the essence of His character.

THOUGHTS AND VERSES ON MERCY:

1. “Without the word ‘mercy,’ the Bible is a dead book in which there is no revelation of God at all.”

“Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.”  (Micah 7:18-19)

2. “The root of all of God’s activity in this world, beginning even with the world’s creation, is Mercy.”

“The Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world… For a child has been born to us, and authority has settled on his shoulders. He has been named ‘The Mighty God is Planning Grace; The Eternal Father, a Peaceable Ruler.’ O LORD, You are my God; I will extol you, I will praise Your Name. For You planned graciousness of old, counsels of steadfast faithfulness.” (Rev. 13:8; Isaiah 9:5 and 25:1; Tanakh version)

3. “Mercy is the cause and reason of all that God does. God does nothing, absolutely nothing, except as an expression of His Mercy.”

“I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my Name… ‘The LORD! The LORD! A God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and faithfulness, in mercy and truth, extending kindness and preserving mercy to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin.” (Exodus 33:19, 34:6-7)

4. “His Mercy stretches out to both extremes of infinity. All we will ever discover of God will be the deepening levels of His great, abundant, overflowing, rich, endless Mercy.”

“I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth.” (Psalm 108:3-5)

5. “When we deal with God, everything is Mercy. Everything else that can be said of God is but an aspect of His Mercy.”

“Though he was in the form of God, he did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at. Rather, he emptied himself and took the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men. He was known to be of human estate, and it was thus that he humbled himself, obediently accepting even death, death on a cross! (Philippians 2:6-8)

6. “‘For His Mercy endures forever’ lies under each line of Holy Scripture, and is the eternal song of the saints.”

“Enter His gates with thanksgiving; go into His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and call upon His Name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; His faithfulness endures from age to age.” (Psalm 100:3-4)

7. “It is better to limit belief in God’s power than to dampen faith in God’s mercy. Between mercy and power, mercy takes precedence – and to the mercy of Heaven there is no limit.”

“The Lord’s mercies never cease, His compassions never fail. They are renewed every morning. Great is your faithfulness! The Lord is my portion, He is all I have, therefore I have hope in Him.” (Lamentations 3:21-24)

8. “Mercy is the defining explanation of everything that God has revealed of Himself. Mercy is the explanation of every single thought that God has with respect to us.”

“‘I beseech you, Lord,’ he prayed, ‘is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? This is why I fled at first to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, rich in lovingkindness, loathe to punish.” (Jonah 4:2)

9. “Mercy rather than justice is regarded as the outstanding attribute of God.”

“Rend your hearts rather than your garments, and turn back to the Lord your God. For He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in kindness, and renouncing punishment.” (Joel 2:13)

10. “Beyond all mystery is the mercy of God. It is a love, a mercy that transcends the world, its value and merit. To live by such a love, to reflect it, however numbly, is the test of religious existence.”

“We are only on the outer fringes of Your works! How faint the whisper we hear of You! I am unworthy – How can I reply to You? I put my hand over my mouth. Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.” (Job 26:14, 40:4, 42:36)

11. “The encounter with God’s Mercy, a celebration of God’s sustained and abundant Mercy, is the root of all Christian worship.”

“The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the LORD and sang: ‘He is good; His mercy endures forever.’ Then the temple of the Lord was filled with a cloud, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.” (2 Chron. 5:13-14).

[Quotes, Bold Italics: #1 is Brother Rex Andrews from his book What the Bible Teaches About Mercy; #7 (Heavenly Torah), and #9 (A Passion for Truth), and #10 (God in Search of Man) are from Abraham Joshua Heschel; all the remaining quotes are from Rev. Patrick Henry Reardon’s book Christ in the Psalms. Italics: Verses from Holy Scripture, various translations].

God’s Mercy and Man’s Mercy. Man’s mercy is stingy, conditional, inconsistent, tends to be self-serving, and often depends on the worthiness of the person being shown ‘mercy.’ Man’s mercy includes words like inexcusable, unforgivable, irredeemable, disgraceful. But God’s mercy is the opposite of all that, and is nothing even remotely like man’s mercy. God’s mercy and man’s mercy are like night and day… No, it’s even more different than that. God’s mercy and man’s mercy are infinitely distant from each other. God shows mercy in an infinitely different way than man. God’s quality of mercy is a universe apart from man’s mercy. God is infinitely more merciful than man, so much so that man cannot even hope to understand the depths of God’s mercy, unless you are looking at Jesus. God’s mercy is beyond human comprehension, but because of Jesus is now up close and personal. God’s lovingkindness breaks the mold, and now, since we’ve seen it in action through Christ, we can confidently thirst for that mercy in a world that often seems devoid of authentic love.

“On the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works, I will meditate. They shall speak of the might of Your awesome deeds, and I will declare Your greatness. They shall pour forth the fame of Your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of Your righteousness. Lord Yahweh is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness. The Lord is good to all, and His steadfast love is over all that He has made.” (Psalm 145:5-9).

Returning to Hosea, chapter 6: Why such a deep dive into verse 6? That simple passage has stood the test of time as being a CenterPoint of biblical theology and truth. It’s the center candle in the centerpiece of the world’s dinner table. Quoted more than once and certainly on the top of Christ’s mind during His earthly ministry, the themes Hosea mentioned in 6:6 reverberate throughout Scripture and thus eternity. So, let’s move on to another couple of key ideas in this chapter…