"I'll Be Dining Alone..."

Scripture Passage

Hosea 9:1-14:9

Scripture Focus

They may eat this food themselves,
    but they may not offer it to the LORD.
                               (Hosea 9:4 NLT)

Observation

There’s so much to today’s reading—Israel’s persistent rebellion, God’s compassionate heart (torn between the need to mete out judgment and His undying love for his people—I love Hosea 11:8), God’s call to repentance and promise of restoration…these are rich, full chapters!

But there was a sentence in the opening verses of chapter 9 that especially caught my attention. Hosea is describing the impact of Israel’s eventual deportation into Assyria as a result of their sinfulness. He makes it clear that sacrifices to God will be impossible in that foreign land, if only due to unavoidable ritual impurity.  And he says about life under those conditions…

They may eat this food themselves,
    but they may not offer it to the LORD.
                                (Hosea 9:4 NLT)

Anyone who has never “tasted” fellowship with God may read that verse and respond with, “So what?” But anyone who has any real sense of how good it is to live in relationship with God—to know Him…to have experienced His presence—…anyone who takes a moment or two to think about it…will recognize how empty life would be apart from that rich and abiding fellowship.

Many of the ritual sacrifices God’s people offered were “shared meals.” The sacrifice was given, but then portions of the sacrifice were received back as a meal to be enjoyed by the priests who presented it and the family who offered it. And the meal was shared with a sense that it was eaten in the presence of God—that He, too, was “at the table” and a part of the fellowship! How empty—how hollow—a meal would become apart from the presence of God, especially when a person knew the joy of a meal shared with God!

I’ve said before—one of the most difficult moments following the unexpected death of my father several years ago was that moment when it was time to sit down together again at the dining room table with the rest of the family. It was another reminder—and a most powerful reminder—that my Dad was gone and things would never again be the same. I wonder if this prophetic pronouncement of judgment felt similar at all to the Israelites—“You’ll eat, alright, but not with God. He’ll not be there with you, as He always has been in the past.”

Wow…that may be one of the saddest verses ever.

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