Reading for September 21st

 Read Hosea 12.10-13.16. In 12.11: For Hosea's view of Gilead and Gilgal compare 4.15; 6.8. In verse 12: The Land of Aram was the territory to which Israel's ancestor Jacob fled from his brother Esau's anger (Gen 27.41-45; 29.1-30). In verse 13: The prophet to whom Hosea refers is Moses, who led Israel out of Egypt (Deut 34.10-12). In 13.4: Hosea's idea that Israel learned to know its God in Egypt appears to be based on the tradition that the name of God was revealed to Israel there (Ex 3.13-15). In verse 5-6: After delivering Israel from Egypt, God fed them manna in  the wilderness (Num 11.7-9). In verse 11: Hosea may share  the viewpoint of the author of 1 Sam 8.6-8, who saw Israel's request for a king as a rejection of God's rule. In verse 14: Sheol was a shadowy realm inhabited by the dead (Ps 6.5). In verse 16: Hosea anticipates Israel's end with a vivid image of the fall of its capital, Samaria. Comments or Questions..