I have been ruminating on the book of Hosea and the deeper I have gone, the juicier it has become, and I have literally had to ration its chapters as I savor every single sentence. The sheer measure of God’s love that bursts through this narrative is overwhelming. While reading Chapter 11 this week, I was reminded of stanza three and the chorus of the first hymn that I learnt immediately I knew how to put words together and hum hymns I had heard being sung in church. I first learnt this hymn in Swahili and since then, it has been the head and shoulder above the English version🙌🏾
Bwana wangu, tena Mungu, Ndilo lake jina!
Hataacha roho yangu, Wala kunikana.
Msalaba ndio asili ya mema, Nikatua mzigo hapo;
Nina uzima, furaha daima, Njoni kafurahini papo.
(Translation: My Lord, and also God, that is His name! He will not abandon my soul, nor deny me. The cross is the source of all good, and I laid down my burden there; I have life, joy forever, Come and rejoice there.)
This hymn perfectly encapsulates God’s message in Chapter 11, where we see His mercy and justice perfectly converging at the cross.
The chapter begins with agonizing tenderness, portraying how God loved His people from the beginning and cared for them: “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son… Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up by their arms” (Hosea 11:1, 3 ESV). This contrasts sharply with how Israel treated the Lord who had led them with cords of kindness and bands of love. They were rebellious and had turned away towards idols and refused to wait on Him. This unfaithfulness required retribution, and for the Israelites, their portion would be having Assyria as their king (Hosea 11:5b) since they had rejected their true King, Yahweh.
They had wanted to be like the other nations, and now God was literally handing them over to the brutal rule of the Assyrian nation which was a known terror (This judgement came to pass from 724 B.C to 722 B.C). However, the depth and vastness of the Father’s love is revealed just after He pronounces this devastating judgment. He looks at the terrible fate He is allowing and His heart recoils within Him. His love prevails against the utter destruction that they deserved (like what had befallen Admah and Zeboiim), and allows a remnant who eventually returned and became the foundation for the New Covenant. He didn’t abandon them nor deny them, but He kept His commitment of being their God and they His people.
Such were some of us! Wretched, rebels to His will, bound by the chains that enslaved our souls, hearts cold and defiled by sin and no hint of repentance or shame. We were by nature children of wrath just as the spiritually adulterous Israelites were but Christ’s love on the cross satisfied the justice that threatened to consume us. He did not leave our souls to perish, but took up our sin upon His shoulders and His wounds paid our ransom. And just as He led His redeemed people in unfailing love, He is also guiding us to His holy dwelling.
Therefore, where sin once reigned, the redeemed heart now proclaims with confidence:
Atakiri langu jina, Mbele za Babaye,
Anipe pahali tena, Mbinguni nikae.
(Translation: He will acknowledge my name before His Father, and give me a place to dwell in Heaven.)
This is the glorious certainty of this great salvation! For we are sure of this, that he who began a good work in us will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ!