We've reached the final four chapters of Hosea's prophecy which reiterate the themes of the book: Israel's spiritual adultery (Hosea 11:12-12:14), the divine anger she has aroused (13:1-16), and God's longing for a renewed relationship (14:1-9).

Chapter 12 begins with Israel's unfaithfulness. How has she offended God? By living deceitfully: ″Ephraim has surrounded me with lies, Israel with deceit″ (11:12). Judah (in the south) is little better, but Israel has tried to live a double life.

She sought to follow the Lord, but she continued to worship the pagan deities too. She was unfaithful. Notice how, by contrast, Hosea refers to the one whom Israel has sought to deceive. He is ″the faithful Holy One″ (11:12). What God says, He does. When He makes a promise, He keeps it.

Israel's double life was also seen in her foreign policy. On the one hand, she tried to keep Assyria happy by making a treaty with her. On the other, she sent olive oil to Egypt in tribute (12:1). She should have fed on God's Word (Deuteronomy 8:3), but instead she ″feeds on the wind″ (Hosea 12:1), whichever way she thought it was blowing. She was deceitful at every level. Ultimately, it will all be futile (like eating wind!).

Hosea now turns to include Judah in his indictment. In many ways she was like her forefather Jacob, who grasped his older brother's heel (12:3) and pretended to be Esau in order to snatch his inheritance. Yet God turned that ″grasping″ into a blessing. It was at Bethel (12:4, notice Hosea uses its real name instead of the nickname ″Beth Aven″ this time) that Jacob was humbled and transformed.

God holds out the possibility of doing the same again (12:6) with Jacob's descendants. If she would only learn from her forefather and return to Him instead of to a golden calf, she too would have a future. It was, after all, the Lord who had brought about the reversal in Jacob's fortunes, and no one else.

Heavenly Father, you can turn Jacob into Israel. Please perform that change in me too. For Jesus' sake, amen.