Chapter 5

Yashar

Stand Up

Walk with Me...

Now that we have discovered how consistent, revealing, and pertinent Scripture is, let's complete our review of Hosea's poligious predictions. Two thousand seven hundred years ago, the prophet wrote a chapter that begins and ends with references to sowing and reaping. "Israel is a profuse and prolific, wasteful and destructive (baqaq - fruitful and plentiful / ruined, destroyed, devastated and shriveling, degenerate and withering) vine. He is like it in many respects, producing (shawah - being comparable to, equivalent with, resembling so as to replicate, making) fruit for himself." (Hosea 10:1)

Baqaq is a double entendre; an oxymoron with it own built in contradiction. It was perfect for Israel - and ideal for describing America too. The more productive and luxuriant we have became the more we have shriveled and degenerated. We have become what we desired: a nation for the people. Given the choice between serving God or serving ourselves, we made the wrong call and came to resemble the self-serving and self-reliant vine that was as plentiful as it was pitiful.

The wealthier we became, and the more powerful our military grew, the more we came to rely on things. It was not the first time..."The more abundant his fruit, the greater quantity of altars he made. The richer and more rumor filled (tabab - good, pleasing, fruitful, opportune and convenient, and also filled with harmful written and oral information) his land, the more beautifully he built religious memorials of stone to his deities." (Hosea 10:1) It is as if we think we can buy God's favor. This is one of many reasons why Yahuweh demonstrated wisdom in addition to compassion when He made salvation a gift. Rather than being pleased with our token sacrifices and fancy churches, Yahuweh finds them detestable. I doubt His spirit has ever lingered in St. Peters. It would be the last place on earth to look for Him.

Tabab is another internal irony. It highlights the inescapable connection between success and failure. I recall the day I became a billionaire (albeit for the briefest of moments). My first public statement was "You are never closer to your greatest failure than you are at the moment of your greatest triumph." It proved prophetic. I was crucified publicly on the cover of Business Week magazine just over a year later. While nothing they wrote was accurate, it was the perfect crucible for this mission.

Simply stated, success breeds self-reliance. Since Yahuweh created us for the purpose of relationship, and wants us to rely on His love, there is nothing He dislikes more.

Every word of what follows speaks to our time. "Their heart, mind, soul, and spirit (leb) is faithless (halaq - deceitful, misleading, encouraging bad behavior; seducing, dividing and dispersing). So now at this point in time, they must bear their guilt (asham - become liable for wrongdoing, suffer the consequence of violating the standard, be declared guilty and suffer the requisite punishment)." (Hosea 10:2) The message is consistent: is we choose azab/damnation we get azab/separation.

And speaking of consistent, Yahuweh isn't politically correct, multicultural, or tolerant: "He will break down and demolish their altars and totally devastate (shadad - ravage, ruin, and destroy) their religious monuments (matsebah - stone pillars and memorials, religious sites, and obelisks)." (Hosea 10:2) A pyramid or obelisk has always been a tribute to the sun god. It is why we should be concerned that one sits in the center of the Vatican's circle leading to St. Peters and another points skyward at the center of the National Mall directly across from the White House and leading to Capitol Hill. We even have one on our money, with the watchful eye of Horus gazing down upon us.

There are many gods, but only one is real, only one actually cares, only one can serve as our Master: "Surely now they will say, 'We have no leader, because we do not revere Yahuweh. As for our king, what can he do for us?' They speak mere words. With vain and worthless (shav' - empty and false) oaths ('alah - curses, recitals of divine harm that bind under oath) they make covenants." (Hosea 10:3)

Once again we are reminded that Baalism and Islam are indistinguishable. Hosea was speaking about the satanic sun god cult which worshiped Lord/Baal, but this description fits Islam perfectly. It's as if it came directly out of Allah's 9^th surah in which the Treaty of Hudaybiyah - a sworn oath - was repudiated and rendered worthless. It even contains the Islamic god's name, and it confirms that while all Islamic covenants are worthless, one of them must be repeated as a binding oath - "There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet."

For those who revere politicians, Yahuweh wants you to know that their words are vain, thus egotistical, and worthless. They are part of the problem, not the solution. They serve their own interests, no one else's. Moreover, as with Islam, religion and politics are often inseparable. Today in America we have two poligious agendas. On one side is the "religious right," supporting Republicans with their "moral majority" and "moral values." On the other side we have "secular humanists," liberal, elitist Democrats who love the rule of man. They have elevated themselves to the status of God by creating their own morality - something they call "political correctness."

Such men and their agendas have created the mess we are in today..."And legal disputes and official proclamations (mishpat - civil and criminal cases, lawsuits and courthouses, societal regulations and specifications, spoken and written commands which must be obeyed with penalties for non-compliance) sprout (parach - flourish, thrive, and break out) like poisonous (ro'sh - venom produced by a serpent, bitter and gall; irritating, annoying, infuriating, vexing, and maddening) weeds in the furrows of the field." (Hosea 10:3-4)

It's hard to imagine a time or place in which there were more "irritating, infuriating, vexing, and annoying criminal cases, lawsuits, and societal regulations" than there are in today's America. The IRS tax code itself is ten times longer than the Old and New Covenants combined. Collectively, there are millions of pages of state and national laws and regulations and yet as a people we become less moral, enlightened, and productive with each passing day. Should we have simply observed the Ten Commandments, or Yahushua's summation of them into two - love God and our neighbor - we would be living in paradise.

What's really interesting is that Yahuweh calls man's attempts to govern himself "poison," and suggests that lawsuits and regulations are the product of the "serpent," better known as Satan. God is even suggesting that this kind of contentious verses harmonious, and over regulated verses free, society is a direct result of separating ourselves from Him. Moreover, "weeds" are Scripturally synonymous with unsaved azab people. They flourish in societies like America, choking out productive plants and infuriating God.

The next verse reveals the source of the Northern Kingdom's trouble. They had chosen to associate with Halal in the form of Baal, the bull representation of the sun god. So Yahuweh tells them that they will get the opportunity to spend quality time with their idol - something they did while in Babylonian captivity. The Jews literally followed Satan and his idol home. Yahuweh's use of guwr and aven are especially telling.

"The people who live in the neighborhoods of Samaria [the capital of the Northern Kingdom] will have a temporary stay with (guwr - shall gather together and dwell as aliens with, live as guests in a strange place with, stand in awe of, abide together with and be afraid of and for, seek the hospitality of, stir up trouble and quarrel over) the bull of Beth-Aven (beth means house and aven is [descriptive of Satan, meaning] vanity, futility, wickedness, affliction, mischief, unrighteousness, evil, falsehood, idolatry, naught, injustice and sorrow). Indeed, its people will mourn and grieve for it. And its idolatrous priests (komer from kamar meaning blackness and gloom) will cry out (giyl - rejoice, exalt, be glad, delight in and be joyful) over it. Indeed (kiy - surely, truly) its monetary value and means to power (kabowd - attribution of high status to or by a person, beneficial reward derived from the giving of gifts) has been revealed (galah - made known, uncovered, and exposed). The thing itself will be carried to Assyria as tribute to King Jareb." (Hosea 10:5-6) Priests adore false gods. They are their source of power and provide their means to control and wealth. Islamic Imams are today's most glaring examples.

Giyl has a rather ominous secondary meaning - circle. Not only were circles of stones used in Satanic sun god worship (Stonehenge being a glaring example), the English word "church" is derived from "Circe," the daughter of the Teutonic sun god Helios and the root of our words circle and circus. In that giyl is being tied directly to idolatrous sun god religions, and thus Satan worship, this is particularly ominous. And when one recognizes that most of the rituals and festivals celebrated in today's Church are Satanic and not Scriptural (Sunday, Christmas, Easter, Lent and the Mass), and that Yahuweh's name has been replaced with Satan's Lord, this is a very black and gloomy picture.

What's also fascinating is the divergent reaction to the Baal bull being sent to the Assyrians as tribute - the nation whose ancestors invented him/it in the first place. The people were mortified and grieving. Their god was being sent away. They had been conditioned to believe in and worship a false deity - an idol crafted in Satan's image. In that this is Israel and these are Jews, the land and people of revelation, it proves that it doesn't take much to fool most people - especially when they are as willingly ignorant as we are today.

The idolatrous priests, who were also Jews, had the opposite reaction. They praised their false deity and rejoiced in his/its presence. Al, the word translated "over" in the verse, tells us that they were not only exalting Baal, and celebrating around him/it, they were "beside it, working on behalf of it, together in accord with it, and concerned about the account of" Baal because the Lord was their ticket to power and their license to steal. And that means, according to Scripture, the Jewish religious leaders in the Northern Kingdom, men known as rabbis today, were serving Satan for political and financial gain.

Here is the result of that service..."Ephraim [the Northern Kingdom, representing 10 or the 12 tribes] will be taken away in (laqach - be carried away in, receive, be seized with) shame and disgrace. Israel will be ashamed of (bowsh - be confounded, confused, and disappointed by) its own counsel (etsah - counselors and advisors; plans and schemes, course of action). Samaria [the Northern Kingdom portion of Israel west of the Jordan River and between Judea and Galilee] will be cut off (damah - cease and perish, be undone and destroyed, be silenced, be removed from the theophany/God's presence) along with her king, like irritating foam (qesep - dubious floating debris; a snapped and broken twig or splinter; wrath or indignation; antagonism or discord) on the surface of the water." (Hosea 10:6-7) It's safe to say that when we estrange ourselves from Yahuweh and form a relationship with Satan, our value in God's eyes diminishes significantly. We are seen as "pond scum."

"Also in the high places of Aven [a Northern Kingdom town known for its Satanic, sun god, Lord/Baal bull religion] (aven - iniquity, wickedness, vanity, affliction, mischief, unrighteous, evil, falsehood, idolatry, sorrow, injustice, and trouble) the sin of Israel will be wiped out (shamad - perish, be destroyed, exterminated, annihilated). Thorn and thistle (daredar - a prickly plant that has no value and produces no fruit) will grow on their altars. Then they will say to the mountains, 'Conceal us!' and to the hills, 'Fall on us!'" (Hosea 10:8) So terrible shall be the calamities associated with man's preference for Halal's religions, during the Tribulation men will prefer death to life. This passage is repeated in Luke 23:30 and Revelation 6:16. During the midpoint of the Tribulation, starting on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Yahuweh personally sees to it that all Satanic symbols, sites, and disciples are destroyed. It is the beginning of the last judgment.

After calling wayward Jews pond scum, thorns and thistles, Yahuweh reminds them of a divisive and unproductive war they fought among themselves: "From the days of Gibeah [an inhospitable Benjamite town infamous for religious scheming, civil war, rape, and murder] you have sinned, O Israel. There they stand! Will not the battle against the sons of iniquity overtake them in Gibeah?" (Hosea 10:9) Gibeah was Israel's Civil War as well as their Vietnam, their Iraq. This battle among Jewish tribes accomplished nothing, other than determine who was the lesser of the two evils. It reminds me of America's last presidential election. The "sons of iniquity" are Halal's children. Aual, the word translated "iniquity," actually means: "the evil one."

"When I am ready, I will chastise (yasar - correct and instruct, reform and reprimand, discipline and admonish) them. And the peoples will be gathered against them when they are captured, tied up, and taken as prisoners into custody for their double guilt." (Hosea 10:10) This occurred many times, so the Jews were not good learners. And Onah means more than just guilt. It tells us that the crime for which the Jews would be continually "reformed and reprimanded" is "living unfaithfully in a marriage" with Lord/Baal. It literally speaks of "intercourse" suggesting that the Jews and their chosen spouse were gratifying and abusing one another.

I recognize that this sounds extreme, but in the very next verse, Yahuweh compares the ten Jewish tribes of the Northern Kingdom directly to their demonic god's most common symbol, saying that they had been trained by the Devil to act like the Devil. "And Ephraim is a trained (lamad - skillfully taught and diligently instructed) heifer (eglah - female of egel, the bull-calf synonymous with the golden calf sun god incarnations of Satan) that loves to thresh (dush - to tread on, to trample down, to break and tear, to shred flesh and destroy)."

By using the female eglah for heifer, rather than the male egel for bull, in a book focused on marriage partners and divorce, Yahuweh is telling these Jews that they were married to Satan. Lamad, the word translated "trained," reveals that they were "taught to trample" the truth. It was part of their religious "instruction." And this indoctrination was not accidental. Lamad means that the priestly deceptions were "diligently, skillfully, and expertly" communicated to the people and that they were "accepted" by them. These Jews were literally "trained to be submissive" to Satan.

Dush is particularly significant in the harvest of souls, and Yahuweh's frequent use of grain to represent those anointed with His Spirit and living in beriyth with Him. The metaphor permeates the Yahuweh's Miqra' and Yahushua's parables. To dush is to "trample grain stalks and their heads with hooves in order to separate the fruit or grain from the stalk and chaff." This was spiritual suicide and religious cannibalism. These Jews, working on behalf of Satan, were killing one another and consuming their own souls. And while that is sad beyond words, rabbinical Judaism, and its stepchild Islam, are still doing it today.

I am not alone in seeing this behavior as self-mutilating and criminal. I am not the only one who wishes to awaken those who have been trained to serve Lord/Baal. These condemning words were written by God, not me.

Most of Hosea is written in first person so this is Yahuweh's plea: "I (aniy - meaning I or I am) will pass over (abar - pass through, pass by, or pass on; cross, cross over, or make a sacrifice) near (al - among, close or in proximity to, before, in front of or on) her, riding (rakab - grasping, harnessing, mounting, and sitting astride) her good neck." (Hosea 10:11) Yahuweh is hinting at His ultimate miracle and sacrifice as well as telling the bad boys of Samaria that He will eventually come back to them and for them. In reference to the covenant relationship, abar means "to pass over or through the sacrifice and thus affirm remission of sin by way of blood atonement." It is the basis of the Miqra' of Passover.

To understand this passage more completely, we need to turn to Matthew 11:28-30 in which zugos means to join by way of a coupling or yoke. Yahuweh is telling us that being yoked to Him is preferable to being harnessed by Halal. After Yahushua explained that He possessed all of God's authority, and that the only way to know Yahuweh was through Him, He told the Jews of Samaria: "Come unto Me all who are weary and over burdened and I will give you rest. Take My yoke (zugos) upon you, and learn from Me, for I Am gentle (praos - affable, friendly, sociable, easygoing, and jovial), humble of heart; and you shall find rest (anapausis - tranquility and recovery) for your soul. My yoke is easy to bear and profitable (chrestos - fit and good, moral and useful, virtuous, equitable, fair, forbearing, and benevolent) and My burden is light."

It's interesting in light of the religious indoctrination the Jews of Hosea's day received that Yahushua would use manthano for learn. It means: "to understand, denoting instruction by way of facts, to perceive clearly so as to have answers and to know more fully." Manthano means to "learn with a moral purpose and sense of responsibility." It is the opposite of lamad, the word translated "trained," revealing that the Jews were "taught to be submissive." God clearly wants us to know the facts, understand them, and think rationally. Good things happen when we do; bad things happen when we don't.

And speaking of the facts, think about how Yahushua/Yahuweh described Himself. It was so beriyth of Him. Our God is "jovial, easygoing, friendly and sociable."

Yahuweh, speaking through His prophet Hosea said: "Ephraim will ride (rakab). Yahuwdah (a union of yada, meaning know, and Yahu, God, thus YadaYahweh - know Yahuweh) will be an engraving tool (charash - an implement used for scraping, cutting, dividing, plowing; to bring peace, to inscribe, to write)."

I am not sure what "Ephraim will ride" means other than Yahuweh had divorced them and thus they were out of His future plans and were about to be driven out of town - a rendering identical to my Hebrew-English interlinear - "I will drive Ephraim." But I know precisely what Yahuweh intended to do with the Yahuwdah. Through them Messiah, the Prince of Peace, would come and He, as He promised, would divide us into those who are with Him and those who are against Him, engraving the names of those choosing to be anointed in His Spirit in the book of eternal life. Moreover, there would be prophets after Hosea. Yahuda still had Scripture to inscribe on Yahweh's behalf.

Incidentally, according to the Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic Domains, Yahuwdah is derived from yahab, a word that defines the role Judah would play in our salvation. It means: "to be given as a payment." It's related to stauros and ken, the words most directly associated with the Messiah's sacrifice in that yahab means to "lay a foundation someone can trust to be taken care of."

While Yahuweh had lots of unfinished business to take care of, for the most part Israel was now on her own because she had chosen that fate. "Jacob (Ya'aqob - father of all twelve tribes, thus all Yahudim/Jews) will harrow (sadad - break the clods, till the soil) for himself."

But alone was not forgotten. As a loving father, Yahuweh sent His wayward and unfaithful children off with some sage advice: "Sow righteousness (sadaqah - justice, truth, and salvation); reap in accordance with loving-kindness (checed - mercy, goodness, faithfulness to the relationship/covenant, and love). Choose to be an heir and live in the presence of the light (nir), for it is time to seek Yahuweh until He comes to teach and direct (yarah - to be a teacher/rabbi, to inform and instruct) you in righteousness." (Hosea 10:12)

Nir is a multifaceted word enabling us to render this portion of the passage in either or both of the following ways: "Dig a new furrow in unplowed ground so as to bring the land into cultivation." Or: "Choose to be a lamp in the presence of the Light, reigning as an heir." The first fits the symbolic context of the passage and is telling the Jews to plow a new course, one that leads away from Halal and to Yahuweh so that they will once again bear fruit and prosper. The second is majestic. By rendering nir in its most common forms - lamp, light, presence and heir - we witness the full extent of Yahuweh's calling. We are instructed to be a lamp unto the world. Our light is His Word and Spirit. When we are joined in holy union we inherit eternal life and abide forever in His presence.

Ad, translated "until," suggests "a significant period of time will elapse before the goal is achieved." It means "an extent of time within another extent of time." In hindsight it is predicting that it would be 700 years before Yahuweh's sacrificial advent when He was both teacher and rabbi and informed everyone of His nature while directing us to the lone path leading to Him. The next period of time is that of the ekklesia, an era that would extend 2000 years before the Anointed/Messiah would return in power and glory.

Even bow', the word translated "comes," is synonymous with the Messiah's mission and advents. It means "come and go, arrive and return." It means "to be included, to pursue, and to formally complete something." A bow' is a "harvest, the gathering of crops together."

Interestingly, yarah also means "autumn" the time Yahushua was born and the time He will return. The Messiah graced Bethlehem with His presence, becoming Emanuel, God associating with us, during the Feast of Tabernacles (God living with us) in October, and He will return on the Day of Atonement, which falls on October 3^rd 2033 - a Jubilee year. The Millennium Sabbath begins five days later on an autumn Sabbath, of course.

Unfortunately, the Jews did not heed Yahuweh's advice when He revealed it through Moses any more than they did when He spoke through Hosea. "You have plowed wickedness, you have reaped injustice. You have eaten (akal - consumed and devoured) the fruit of lies (kachash - deception and failure, delusion and error), because you have trusted in your way (derek - road, path, direction, habits, and course), in your numerous warriors." (Hosea 10:13) It is a simple choice really. We can rely on Yahuweh or ourselves, God or man.

Wickedness, from resha, also means "evil, injustice, and the violation of the moral standard." Reaped, from qasar, communicates: "became inadequate, vain, vexed, and grieved." Injustice, from avval, indicates "wicked, unjust, unrighteous, evil, and perverse."

While fruit, from pariy, is an accurate rendering, the word also means "descendants or offspring and successive generations." In that akal is literally "to be destroyed by fire," we see that the consequence of spreading lies, especially when they are cloaked in religion, has devastating consequences. It is why Yahuweh despises these schemes more than anything else. The promotion of religion isn't a victimless crime. It is cannibalism, in which priests, pastors, rabbis, monks and imams condition the populous to consume the souls of their own children.

The most important word in the passage may be batach, translated "trusted." It means: "to rely upon and to put confidence in a person, object, or spirit." It lies at the heart of the single most significant choice each of us must make: Who do we trust? Are you willing to trust the words of men over the Word of Yahuweh? Can your pastor, priest, imam or rabbi save you or is Yahweh alone capable of offering salvation?

Yes, it all comes down to the object of our trust - is he/He worthy or not. Our faith, our belief, our religion, our politics, has nothing to do with it. It's all about who or what we trust, and whether that person or God, religion or relationship, is worthy. For example, I can believe that a faulty bridge constructed by men whose religious or political affiliations I embrace, will carry me across a deep chasm to the promised land. I can pay for it to be built and maintained, even sacrifice my life in its defense. But if it is unworthy, I'm going to die when I walk across it.

The word translated "plowed" in this passage is charash again. So the verse could be rendered: "You have written (charash - engraved and inscribed) wickedness." In the context of history and what follows in the verse itself, this is accurate and telling rendition. Religious Jews called Masters or Rabbis wrote their own Scripture. They "ate the fruit of lies and deception because [they] trusted in [their own] way."

Let me explain. Sometime during the first century of the Christian era, Jewish religious leaders, recognizing that the populous no longer spoke or understood Hebrew, orally paraphrased the Old Covenant Scripture into Aramaic - the common vernacular of Israelis at the time. So far, so good, but they didn't stop there. In the third century, they engraved their Aramaic renditions into books called Targums. These were designed to reconcile Scripture with the new rabbinical religion, inserting Pharisaic-rabbinic Judaism into the text. If what God said conflicted with their way, they simply omitted it or changed the passage to reflect their sentiments - often stating the opposite of what Yahuweh had revealed.

But that wasn't sufficient. The Old Covenant is based upon sacrifices that must occur in the prescribed (actually prophetic) way in the Temple for the remission of sin. There was no Temple any longer so these rabbinical masters created an imaginary one in the Mishna. But even that was insufficient for these unfaithful, deceitful, and self-aggrandizing clerics.

Just outside of old Babylon, in the seventh century of our era, rabbis engraved their ultimate masterpiece - the Babylonian Talmud - the primary scripture of rabbinical Judaism. They claimed that Moses revealed two Torahs - one written and the other oral - and that rabbinical masters had faithfully passed the oral version along over the chasm of 2000 years and 100 generations without ever writing a word of it down. And as with Roman Catholicism, the religious officials were the only ones allowed to adjudicate or interpret the new scripture, empowering and enriching them. Yahuweh became unknown and unrecognizable and religion replaced relationship. And this is precisely what God was telling the Jews in this passage from Hosea.

The last line of the verse, "you have trusted in your...numerous warriors," was applicable to the Northern Kingdom and is applicable to America. Rather than relying on Yahuweh, both of us have chosen to trust warriors and weapons. And while swords, spears, guns and bombs are effective killers, the real problem is that they are controlled by self-serving, self-aggrandizing, delusional and deceitful men. Then they were called kings, now they're called presidents.

When we trust deceitful men and their doctrines and rely on their power and politics to protect us, this is what always occurs: "Therefore, a tumult will arise among your people, and all your protected cities will be destroyed (shadad - laid waste, devastated, robbed and plundered, violently and utterly ruined)." This is what happened to them and will happen to us.

A "tumult" is a very bad thing. Sha'own means: "horrible uproar and crash, destruction and desolation, corruption and ruin, a state of confusion and social chaos." It is from the base of sha'at, meaning "despite and contempt." A bowr sha'own is a "mud-hole, a slime-pit, a trap from which nothing emerges or escapes." And all of this is a direct result of self-reliance.

"As Shalmaneser (from shalman, meaning fire worshiper), king of Assyria, spoiled (shod - raised havoc with, sacked and plundered, wasted and oppressed) Beth-Arbel [literally, "House of God's Ambush] on the day of battle, when mothers were dashed in pieces with their children..." (Hosea 10:14) Yesterday's Assyrians were as barbaric as today's Muslims. They both served the same god. "...thus it will be done to you at Bethel because of your great wickedness. At morning (shachar - sunrise, the dawn of the morning star or sun) the rulers of Israel will be completely cut off (damah - caused to cease, undone, destroyed, and silenced)." (Hosea 10:15) Bethel was the religious capital of the Northern Kingdom - their Jerusalem, Rome, or Mecca. Religion wasn't going to protect these Jews any more than politics or weapons.

The Hebrew root of "because of your" begins with min. It means: "as a result of your expressions of separation and abandonment." This is followed by paneh, meaning "in the presence of, reaching toward an object [Lord/Baal/Halal/Satan] and turning away from [Yahuweh]. Great wickedness is from re'eh, which means "friend or companion, personal advisor, associate or associations." It is a relationship word which when properly vocalized, has a secondary and sinister meaning. The "e"s were most likely "a"s, something the rabbis didn't want to admit when they first added vowels to the Scriptures in the 14^th century creating the Mesoretic Text, because ra'ah points to the adversary, better known as Satan. Raah means "evil and the evildoer, misery, distress, injury, adversity, affliction, calamity, disaster, discomfort, distress, misfortune, sorrow, woe, wretchedness and wickedness." These religious Jews were going to enter a time of continual chaos not only because they chose to be self-reliant, but because they elected to associate with the Adversary. It was the worst decision any people ever made.

This is confirmed in a not so subtle way by what follows. Isaiah, when he named the Adversary, Halal, told us that Satan would be known as Shakhar, the Morning Star. So as a result of the Jew's personal and collective, religious and political, association with "Shakhar," the Adversary, sun god, and Devil, Lord/Baal/Halal/Satan, Israel was "completely cut off, undone and silenced." The relationship was over - at least for the next 2,700 years.

If you are the parent of a wayward child, you will feel Yahuweh's love and anguish as they are vividly conveyed in the historic and prophetic words presented in the opening verses of Hosea 11. "When Israel (Yisra'el) was a youth and helpful (na'ar - young man, teenager, child, lad, babe, age between infancy through weaning to late adolescence; servant, attendant and steward, one who serves and helps the owner) I loved and befriended (ahab - enjoyed moral love in a family context, had an affectionate and close family oriented relationship with, saw as lovely and desirable, liked and befriended) him and called (qara) My son (ben) out of (min) Egypt (misrayim)." (Hosea 11:1) These seven words tell an amazing and profoundly important story. Let's examine each of them closely.

First, Yisra'el. It is a name, not a word, so it is correctly transliterated, not translated. But that in itself is very odd in that the English transliteration begins with an "I," not the customary "J" that is errantly used with most every other Hebrew name which begins with "Y." For example: Jehovah is an erroneous rendering of Yahuweh, Jesus and Joshua wrongly represent Yahushua, as do James with Ya'aqob, Jeremiah for Yimeyahu, Jew for Yahudi, and Jerusalem for Yaruwshalayim. Since the English translators recognized that all names should be transliterated and that the Hebrew "Y" sound was unrelated to the Anglo-Saxon "J," why didn't they get any of the other names right?

In Hebrew, Yisra'el is a compound of yishrah-yashar, meaning "to stand upright, straight and be righteous, to be correct and pleasing, to be agreeable, right, justified, and straightforward" with el meaning "god." So much of yashar is synonymous with the beriyth relationship of the covenant and with the ken nature of our salvation. Remember, ken is synonymous with the Greek histemi root of stauros the upright pole of our salvation that enables us to stand with God. Ken, like yashar, means "to set upright, hence to justify so as to make right after this; to make the way straight, just, and true; from kuwn, to stand up, to set up so as to establish, to appoint and render sure, proper, and prosperous, to confirm with certainty, to be faithful and perfect, to make preparation by preparing oneself to provide a provision, to do a deed that makes ready and right, that establishes." Ken is similar to yashar in that it is derived from the verb meaning to stand upright so as to establish; to correct according to an established standard; to be or make upright and honest; it is a statement of agreement, a foundation from which something or someone can stand upright." So literally, Yisra'el defines the reason we were created - to please God and form a straightforward, righteous and pleasing relationship with Him - and how He saved us so we could do this very thing. It's little wonder the name Yisra'el is repeated 2,479 times in the Old Covenant. It is a sermon in and of itself.

The second word, na'ar, is almost as revealing. While it refers to Yisra'el's youth, and the infancy of the nation when the people were being weaned on Yahuweh's love, word and manna, it conveys one third of the chosen people's purpose, to be "servants, attendants and stewards, people who serve and help the Owner." This is what Yahudim were called to do. It was their mission to be Yahweh's witnesses and the example of beriyth. This is what they failed to do when they reached adolescence. This is also what the ekklesia/calling out was expected to accomplish following the divorce. But this is what we failed to achieve when we evolved from relationship to religion and began to proclaim man's dogmas instead of Yahweh's instructions.

The third Hebrew word, ahab, is perfect for the Hosea context of marriage and divorce, of relationship and unfaithfulness. Ahab means that Yahuweh "enjoyed moral love in a family context, had an affectionate and close family oriented relationship with, saw as lovely and desirable, liked and befriended" the na'ar Yisra'el.

The fourth significant Hebrew term is qara. This passage is but one of 735 times Yahuweh uses it so it's safe to say it's an important word. Qara is translated "called and called-out, cried and cried out, read, proclaimed, preached, named, and invited multiple times each. Strong's defines qara similarly to the concept of the Greek ekklesia, or calling out: "to call out, to call unto, to summon, to invite appoint and endow, to name and call by name, to be chosen. The Dictionary of Biblical Languages says that in addition to this, qara means "to call a person to come into one's presence and to give them a task." It means: "to designate by name and title so as to be representative and to represent, to be known as." Qara is synonymous with the concept of beriyth because it also means to be "an invited guest, one who receives an offer of hospitality." And qara defines Scripture in that it is a "public reading of something spoken that has been written down."

So in the context of the verse: "When Israel (Yisra'el) was a youth and helpful (na'ar) I loved and befriended (ahab) him and called (qara) My son (ben) out of (min) Egypt (misrayim)," all of qara's meanings come into play because Yahuweh is talking about the Yahudim in addition to Yahushua. The Yahudim were called-out of temporal bondage in Egypt so they could serve as Yahweh's example, His chosen people and proclaim His Scriptural message. Yahushua was called-out of Egypt to spiritually free all people from eternal bondage and be the ultimate example, proclaiming His Scriptural message for all to read and know. Both were chosen, summoned and called-out, as are we. Both were appointed and anointed, as are we. Yahudim and Yahushua alike bore His name and used His name as should we.

All too often, Jews get uptight over the concept of the Messiah being God's Son. They claim that it is an aberration of the Gospel writers. But here it is in the Old Covenant. And here the use of the term is explained, set into a context of words and events that help us understand its meaning.

On the surface, ben means son. But these Jews weren't literally God's son's; they weren't second generation deities any more than Yahushua was a second generation God. So to determine what ben/son means in this context, let's examine the surrounding words for clues. First, the whole of Hosea, and particularly this verse, is about a marriage and a family relationship that has gone bad and needs to be fixed. The vows of faithfulness between husband and wife are symbolic of Yahuweh's covenant with the Yahudim collectively. The father-son relationship he desires with them and each of us personally is the ideal way to depict the nature of that beriyth relationship. The Yahudim were called to exemplify and represent this kind of love, trust, reverence, and camaraderie. They failed so Yahushua set the ultimate example. There is no better metaphor than the marriage vows between husband and wife to demonstrate faithfulness or the role Yahweh's Scriptural vows play in our relationship. There is no better metaphor that of father and son to demonstrate how that relationship is to be experienced - to be lived and enjoyed.

Second, Yisra'el was presented early on in the verse as being a young male child - figuratively a son. But come to find out, the name Yisra'el defines both Yahudim and Yahushua: "to stand upright, straight and be righteous, to be correct and pleasing, to be agreeable, right, justified, and straightforward" with el meaning "god."

Na'ar, the term for youth, is as Yahudim as it is Yahushua: "servants, attendants and stewards, people who serve and help the Owner." Ahab defines Yahuweh's "moral love in a family context." It is the nature of and the reason for Yahushua. No word coveys the reason Yahweh chose the metaphor of father-son better. Qara is the ekklesia and the savior, the "called and called-out." And it is the Word of God as it is "read, proclaimed, and preached by the Son who bore His name, and invited us to come into His presence." Moreover, ben/son is synonymous with qara in that both serve "to designate by name and title so as to be representative and to represent, to be known as." A son comes from his father and represents His father; he bears his father's name and often goes about his father's business. That is what ben means when it is applied to Yahudim and Yahushua.

The best explanation of the Messiah being the ben or son of Yahuweh is presented in the 9^th chapter of Isaiah. In this passage Isaiah tells us that the Messiah will come as a child and as a prince and that the Messiah is the Son, is the Father, is the Spirit, and is God. While it would be appropriate to cover here, it is even more pertinent in the Yahushua chapter which follows. I promise to amplify and cover it there.

So to finish the opening passage of Hosea 11, we see that Yahuweh said I "called (qara) My son (ben) out of (min) Egypt (misrayim)." Calling out and setting apart are central to Yahuweh's plan and His message. The Yahudim were to be a "chosen people set apart unto Yahuweh." The ekklesia is literally a "calling out." So it should not be a surprise that this verse encapsulating the totality of God's plan uses both qara and min to emphasize the importance of being called-out unto Him by Him. Min "expresses separation." It tells us that this calling out is "away from or out of" something and "after and because of" something. The first something was the Exodus leading to the revelation of the Torah - calling the Yahudim out of bondage and into fellowship. After receiving these instructions, this Owner's Manual, they knew what they had to do, think and believe to remain set apart in the covenant relationship. The second something was Yahushua - the fulfillment of the Old Covenant and the beginning of the New Relationship. Because of His sacrifice we are called-out of the bondage of sin and death and set apart unto Him.

In the previous chapter Yahuweh told us that Jewish religious leaders had been trained by Satan to trample their own souls on the threshing floor. It is interesting, then that min is used by Daniel (2:34-5) in his prophecy pertaining to the Messiah's role in act of salvation, the rapture, tribulation and seventh advent to tell us that those who are min/separated are taken away from the threshing floor by the Spirit of Yahuweh/Yahushua.

Finally, we come to misrayim - the Hebrew word for Egypt. Keep in mind that Egypt is a Greek term first used many centuries after Hosea wrote these words. The Greek root implied "House of the Spirit of Ptah or Memphis." While no one seems to want to explain why Yahuweh elected to call the residents of the Nile who both served and fought Him and His people misrayim, I'd at least like to share the meaning of the words which surround it in the Hebrew dictionaries and from which some believe it may have been derived. Strong's says that misrayim is based upon matsowr, a word translated "siege and besieged, strong and limited, an entrenchment and a fortress." From Yahuweh's and Yisra'el's perspective, Egypt was and will continue to be all of these things.

To understand what Yahuweh was calling the Yahudim out of and away from, let's look at some of the surrounding words. Mitsora means diseased and leprous. A minsnepet is "a turban," descriptive of the headgear worn by Muslims. Misiyrah is "someone who is comparatively smaller and weaker" - Halal verses Yahuweh, for example. Consistent with that notion, misar is "something of little or no value." A mispeh is a "lookout in the wilderness" - the place of separation. Mesar is "distress, anguish and pain, anxiety in the throes of serious illness and death. Mesar describes the hopelessness and oppression of Israel in Babylonian exile." Misrayim is "the name of the son of Ham, who was the son of Noah, the biblical ancestor of the Egyptian people." Masrep is "a crucible in which impurities of precious metals are separated out." Maq is "rottenness, something that is putrid and unpleasant as the result of decay." A maqqebet is a hammer used to drive nails and to break up and shape various materials - destroying some things while making others more useful." And finally, a maqebet is "a manmade pit," descriptive of mankind creating hell on earth.

The second verse of Hosea 11 uses "they" three times so we have to look back into the last statements found in the 10^th chapter to know that the first use of "they" refers to the Jewish religious leaders - the idolatrous priests. The second "they" represents the people of Yisra'el. "They [the Jewish religious leaders] cried out to them [Yisra'el], so therefore they [the Yahudim] come and go, walking (halak) in their presence (paneh/panah - turning to them, being turned by them, taking directions from them, and following their own desires / being defiant, ruthless and humiliated), sacrificing to (zabach - giving offerings to, killing, slaying and slaughtering for) the Baalim/Lords [supreme male divinity of the Phoenicians/Canaanites] and burning incense (qatar - fumigating so as to drive out the occupant) to idols (paciyl - hewn, graven or carved images, icons of worship, things that represent a god)." (Hosea 11:2)

In spite of what Yahuweh had done and promised to do for Yisra'el, all so eloquently articulated in the pervious verse, Yahudim took their directions from their unfaithful and self-serving rabbis instead. They sacrificed their wealth, freedom, lives and souls to Satan. They literally stunk up the Promised Land, driving God away.

I have always known that the religions of Lord/Baal/Halal/Satan/Allah (Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek and Roman Mythology, Constantine's Christianity, Rabbinical Judaism, and Muhammad's Islam) and the religions of man (socialism, fascism, communism, and secular humanism) are remarkably similar in that they all are designed to put man in control. But by examining every use of ba'al in Scripture, I found some interesting evidence. Of the 82 occurrences of the first version of ba'al used in the Old Covenant, the Authorized Version translates the word as "man" 25 times, "owner" 14 times, "husband master, man given, adversary, babbler, and confederate " the remainder. The word means "lord," a "foreign or false god" a "citizen ruler," and a "master of dreams." So in Baal, we have man as the owner and master of a confederacy that relies upon manmade and adversarial babble.

The second version of ba'al appears 16 times and is translated "marry, husband, dominion, and wife." It's chilling in a religious context because it means "to marry, to possess, to rule over, and to own." From time immemorial, religions have existed to form a bond between clerics and kings, enabling them to possess power, to rule over others, and to own whatever they covet.

The third and fourth form of Ba'al is what is found in this verse, meaning "the supreme male divinity of the Phoenicians/Canaanites. Baal = Lord." The singular form, Baal, appears 62 times and the plural, Baalim, is used 18 times. If you are serving the Lord, as the religions of Rabbinic Judaism, Constantinian Christianity, and Islam are wont to do, you are serving Ba'al.

Of the two words which precede Lord/Baal in the Hebrew dictionaries, baiy means "grave and ruin," and baiyr means "beast." Ba'el, which follows, means "chancellor, owner, and lord." Ba'al Bariyth and Ba'al Gad signify "lord of the covenant" in reference to the religious relationship the Philistines had established with Lord/Baal, and "Lord of Fortune," a city noted for Lord/Baal worship. A gadabar, by the way, is a treasurer, letting us know that there is money to be made in religion.

In this next verse, Yahuweh is lamenting over how His chosen people could have made such a horrible choice - preferring Lord/Baal to Yahuweh, man to God. Yahuweh had acted like, and wanted to continue to be, their loving Father. "Yet it is I who taught Ephraim [Yisra'el/Northern Kingdom] to walk. I took them (laqach - fetched them, married them, and carried them away) in My arms." (Hosea 11:3)

While Yahuweh is Spirit, and only has physical form in His Messianic manifestation, He enjoys referring to Himself in human terms - in this case teaching a child to walk by His feet and holding him in His arms, carrying him away from trouble. It is a wonderful picture of God's enduring, personal, engaged and self-sacrificing love.

Regel, the Hebrew word translated "taught to walk" implies that the instruction took place alongside the Father and near His feet. Regel can also mean "to follow or journey with" so it is a relational term.

"But they did not know or understand (yada) that I healed (rapha - was their physician and cured them, reappeared and repaired them, completely healed and restored) them." (Hosea 11:3) Many future prophetic events, like Yahuweh's sacrifice on the upright pole that saved mankind, were so certain in God's eyes that He predicted them in the past tense as if they had already happened. And from God's perspective, that is true. He had already been to their future and to ours.

There are yet other connotations to rapha that are important. First, Yahuweh is comparing Himself to a physician, interesting in that the most accurate term for Torah is prescription. If we want to be healthy we need to ingest His medicine - Scripture. Second, rapha means to "reappear to repair, completely heal and restore." The Messianic advent would not be Yahushua's first visit to planet earth. He walked with Adam and Abraham. He spent forty days with Moses revealing His prescription for the human mind, body, heart and soul. He wrestled with Ya'aqob, naming him Yisra'el once he proved worthy. Then he came as our doctor to permanently and completely heal us. He reappeared at His resurrection and will return once again in the same place.

Lastly, this prediction of a future healing revealed in the past tense is equivalent to the Miqra', a word which means "rehearsal." The sacrificial blood of unblemished lambs offered for the remission of sin during these Feasts of Yahuweh did not atone for sin but instead predicted that the self-sacrifice of the Ultimate unblemished Lamb would.

"I led them (mashak - drew them out, lifted them up, led them away, and prolonged them) them with cords (chebel - sorrowful pangs, painfully difficult work, anguish and burden, suffering, travail, union and destruction) of a man (adam - person, mankind, human being, and Adam), with bonds of (abowt - interwoven foliage, encircling, enveloping and adorning with) love (ahabah - strong affection based upon relationship)."

Mashak (drawing out, lifting up, leading away, and prolonging) combines the concepts introduced by laqach (took out, fetched, married, and carried away) and rapha (physician who reappears, completely heals and restores). Therefore in context, the first verse of this chapter was a summary of the relationship God desired with Yisra'el. The second explained what actually occurred - that Yahudim had chosen Lord/Baal instead. The third verse reveals how ignorant the Jews were of, and how ungrateful they were for, what God had done and promised to do on their behalf. So now, in the fourth sentence He is restating His prophetic plan in hopes that forgetfulness and unfaithfulness will wane.

But to understand it, one has to look at the words carefully, one has to care about what Yahuweh is saying enough to scratch beneath the surface. Both chebel and abowt can be and are translated "cords and ropes." Therefore, we can safely assume that two words were chosen instead of one because God intended to make a distinction between them. Moreover, in this passage, Yahuweh used adam for man instead of the vastly more common iysh. Both words mean "man" but the first, used only 552 times infers a relationship to Adam, the first man, our fallen state, and to one of only two humans created perfect by God in His likeness. Iysh appears 1,639 times in the Old Covenant and is a completely generic term for "man, men, husband, male, human, person, or mankind."

By reading Psalm 22 or Isaiah 53, passages which had been revealed 300 and 50 years earlier respectively, and which we will dissect in great detail in the upcoming Yahushua chapter, the Yahudim to whom Yahuweh was speaking these words would have recognized that the "chebel (sorrowful pangs, painfully difficult work, anguish and burden, suffering, travail, union and destruction of adam (a perfectly conceived man)," was the Anointed/Messiah's atoning sacrifice on their behalf - the one foretold in the Miqra' of Passover. Yahushua is the union of God and man, in which the man did a painfully difficult work, was anguished for our burdens, allowing us to destroy His body so He could destroy our sin. Abowt describes His Set-Apart Spirit that encircles and envelops us, adorning us in light and love. It is how the Anointed anoints. And the reason is ahabah - love and relationship."

As beautiful as this picture of salvation, of parental and sacrificial love, is, Yahuweh was not through illustrating what He, Himself, intended to do. The next word in this self-portrait is hayah - the root of Yahuweh's name - meaning "I Am" and "I Exist." As a verb, hayah is translated "to be or to become, to make happen, to be done." Hayah has connotations which specifically apply to Yahushua: "to come, to appear, and to arise, to become like, to be with, to accompany and to stand," Messianic concepts all. Its secondary meaning echoes Yahushua's last words: "it is finished." "I came (hayah) to them as one who is exalted, lifting up (ruwm - praised and acclaimed, eulogized and worshiped, raising up and offering to give, taking away and removing) the yoke ('ol - a wooden frame with straps, used on beasts of burden, often in reference to oppression) from their jaws. I bent down and fed them." (Hosea 11:4) Yes, just as the Miqra' of Tabernacles suggests, Yahuweh left heaven so that He could bend down and enter an earthly tent to commune and feast with us. In Bethlehem, on the 14^th day of Tishri (October 13, 2 B.C.), during the Miqra' of Tabernacles, Yahuweh, the only Spirit worthy of praise and worship, stooped down to enter our word, giving Himself as an offering for us, taking away the burden of our sin, so that He could raise us up to live eternally with Him.

The word, natah, translated "bent down," is often rendered in tent related jargon - "spread out, stretch out, incline, and pitch." It means that Yahuweh "extended" Himself with "outstretched arms," "bending down" as part of a "plan of action" to "pitch a tent" so as "to dwell in" our presence "turning us back" to Him so that we would "reengage in the relationship."

Yahuweh's redemptive plan is perfect. Those who avail themselves of it will never be slaves to sin again. But those who do not accept His most generous gift will find themselves hauled off into captivity to be ruled by Satan and his servants. That is what this means: "They will not return to the land of Egypt (misrayim), but Assyria will be their king, because they refused (ma'an - resisted, rebelled, were defiant to authority, utterly unwilling, and absolutely refusing) to return to (shuwb - turn to, turn around and restore the relationship with, change and accept recompense from) Me."

Assur, the name transliterated "Assyria" is actually the proper name of the primary sun deity of the Assyrians. She was first worshiped in 2000 B.C. and evolved to take on the characteristics of many other satanic deities, particularly the Babylonian sun god Bel (Akkadian for Lord and thus synonymous with Baal), and Marduk, meaning "Son of the Storm" - a perfect epithet for Halal. In the choice of rulers - Messiah verses Marduk - Yisra'el chose the Devil and were handed over to him/her/it.

Having chosen to live with demons rather than dwell with God, these results were predictable. "And her [Assur's] sword will whirl against (hul - bringing trembling and pain, anguish and grieving, fear, torture and suffering to) their cities, and she [Assur] will demolish their gates and put and end to their counsels, plans, traditions, and schemes (mow'etsah - advice, wisdom, and practices)." (Hosea 11:5-6)  

"So My people are hanging in suspense, dangling by hooks and ropes (tala' - hung up, stubborn in an emotional state of anxiety and dread over a future horror that will occur) turning away, backsliding (mishubah - in faithless apostasy and rebellion) from Me. Though they cry out to the Most High ('al), none at all lifts up, exalts, praises, or glorifies (ruwm) Him." (Hosea 11:7) A god by any other name isn't God.

What comes next reflects parental anguish over a lost child. These words, spoken in first person, tell us a great deal about the nature of the Most High. He can love, which means He can hurt. He's just like us in these ways - but fortunately, in all others He is better. "How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I surrender you, O Yisra'el? How can I make you like Admah [the third of five cities along the Dead Sea punished by God for their sinful rebellion along with Sodom and Gomorrah]? How can I treat you like Zeboiim [the fourth of the five cities]? My heart is turned upside down (haphak - overwhelmed and disturbed, turned over and drained) within Me. All of My compassion and strong feelings of love yearn to be kindled, to grow warm and tender (kamar). So I will not act upon My burning anger. I will not destroy Ephraim again. Because I am God and not man (iysh), the Set-Apart Spirit (Qadosh) in your midst (qereb - inner person, within, inside). I will not come in wrath." (Hosea 11:8-9)

Man is iysh, not adam, because Yahuweh had and would manifest Himself as an adam - a perfect man conceived by God Himself. As such, Yahushua did tabernacle in our midst just as this verse predicts. But there is more to qereb than that, which brings us to Qadosh. The Set-Apart Spirit is Yahuweh but when "Set-Apart" is used as a name, it designates the Comforter, the Set-Apart or Holy Spirit who dwells within us. When we accept Yahushua's atoning gift, we are anointed with Yahuweh's Qadosh Spirit.

While the ekklesia/calling out has received this gift, most Yahudim have not. But some will. On the Day of Atonement, October 3^rd 2033, forty Jubilees from His sacrifice, the Anointed/Messiah Yahushua will return, and Yisra'el will accept Him and His gift. After roaring like a lion, and ending the Battle of Armageddon - all battles for that matter - Yahushua will begin His millennial reign five days later on a Sabbath, the Feast of Tabernacles. This is what Yahuweh prophesized earlier: ..." After two days [2000 years] He will revive us (chayah - restore us to life and keep us alive, save us, revive, spare, sustain, and preserve our lives, heal us so we can live forever). On the third day [the start of the final millennium] He will raise us up (quwm - arise, accomplish, confirm and fulfill) and we shall live (chayah - be restored to life, our lives saved, sustained, and preserved, healed so as to live forever) in His presence." (Hosea 6:2)

Zechariah says it like this: "Yahuweh will save the tabernacles of Yahudah.... In that day Yahuweh will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem...and I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. I will pour out My Spirit on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of supplication so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son...weeping over a first-born...in the plain of Megiddo [the source of the term 'Armageddon, meaning rendezvous]." (Zechariah 12:7-11)

Yes, you read that correctly. Yahuweh told us that it was He whom we pierced. He confirms that He is the Anointed/Messiah Yahushua in the 14^th chapter. After describing the horror of the attack on Jerusalem, we read: "Then Yahuweh will go forth and fight against those nations...and in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east...and Yahuweh will be king over all the earth. In that day Yahuweh will be the only one, and His name the only one.... And there will be no more curse.... Then it shall come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, Yahuweh, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles." (Zechariah 14:4-16)

While the remnant of Yahudim rally around their Messiah, the five days between Atonement and Tabernacles will be frightening. Yahuweh will roar and all who oppose Him and who have come to plunder Jerusalem and Yisra'el, will perish. All sin will be removed from the Earth. "They [Yisra'el] will eventually walk beside (halak achar - in another or subsequent time they will follow in the footsteps of, live with, receive and be led by) Yahuweh. He will roar like a lion. Indeed He will roar, and His sons will come trembling from the west. They will come trembling like sparrows from Misrayim, and like doves from the land of Assur, and I will settle them in their homes, declares Yahuweh." (Hosea 11:10-11) The wayward child finally comes home and his loving father welcomes his anxious son into his tent with open arms.