In the book of Hosea, Hosea told his son Jezreel to tell his brother and sister to, “Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife,neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts. Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms. For their mother has played the harlot: she that conceived them has done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink”, and in chapter two and verse six of Hosea, Hosea said, “I will hedge up your way with thorns” where we read,
Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns,
and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.
The verse begins, “Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, ...” Hosea began with the words, “therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way” or “so, thus, then and hither to, lo, look and consider, I, Jehovah God, shall shut in, fence, entwine, protect and restrain your, Gomer and the nation of Israel's, journey, manner, path and course of life” “with thorns” which means “by the use of pot hooks and briers”. Hosea shared how Jehovah God said He would place a “thorn hedge” of protection within the course of life of the nation of Israel through the means of Hosea's wife Gomer as an illustration.
The verse goes on to say, “... and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.” Hosea continued with the words, “and make a wall” or “and form, fashion, build up and close off an inclosure”, “that she shall not find” which means “so she, Gomer and the nation of Israel, will in no way secure, attain, acquire or encounter” “her paths” or “her, Gomer and the nation of Israel's, beaten tracks or trodden pathways”. Hosea shared how Jehovah God would erect an inclosure that would not allow his wife Gomer or the nation of Israel to attain her trodden pathways.
When we think through the words in this verse, we discover through Hosea how he attempted to keep his wife Gomer from returning to her adulterous ways, and in the same manner Jehovah God attempted to prevent the nation of Israel from following their idolatrous ways. God will put a “hedge of protection” around us and in front of us because He loves and desires to have a personal relationship with us. When we receive His Son Jesus who died on the cross for our sins as our “Savior and Lord”, He will forgive our sins, grant us everlasting life and watch over and protect us from trodden pathways that have and will prove to bring difficulties and troubles into our lives.
Next time Hosea says, “she shall follow after her lovers”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".
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