The Bible

 

Hosea 5

Study

   

1 Hear this, ye priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ear, O house of the king: for this judgment is for you; for ye have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.

2 And they have plunged themselves in the corruption of apostasy, but I will be a chastiser of them all.

3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me; for now, Ephraim, thou hast committed whoredom; Israel is defiled.

4 Their doings do not allow them to return unto their God; for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they know not Jehovah.

5 And Israel's pride doth testify to his face; and Israel and Ephraim shall fall by their iniquity: Judah also shall fall with them.

6 They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek Jehovah; but they shall not find [him]: he hath withdrawn himself from them.

7 They have dealt treacherously against Jehovah; for they have begotten strange children: now shall the new moon devour them, with their allotted possessions.

8 Blow the horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah; cry aloud [at] Beth-aven: behind thee, O Benjamin!

9 Ephraim shall be a desolation in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which is sure.

10 The princes of Judah are become like them that remove the landmark: I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.

11 Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because in selfwill he walked after the commandment [of man].

12 And I will be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.

13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his sore, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb; but he was unable to heal you, nor hath he removed your sore.

14 For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah. I, I will tear and go away; I will carry off, and there shall be none to deliver.

15 I will go away, I will return to my place, till they acknowledge their trespass, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.

   

Commentary

 

Face

  
Photo by Caleb Kerr

“The eyes are the windows of the soul.” That's a sentiment with roots somewhere in murky antiquity, but one that has become hopelessly cliché because it is both poetic and obviously true. We feel that if we can look in someone's eyes, we can truly know what they are inside. And it's not just the eyes; really it is the face as a whole that conveys this. As Swedenborg puts it, the face is “man's spiritual world presented in his natural world” (Heaven and Hell, No. 91). Our faces reveal our interior thoughts and feelings in myriad ways, which is why psychologists, poker players and criminal investigators spend so much time studying them. It makes sense, then, that people's faces in the Bible represent their interiors, the thoughts, loves and desires they hold most deeply. We turn our faces to the ground to show humility when we bow in worship; we turn them to the mountains when seeking inspiration; we turn them toward our enemies when we are ready to battle temptation. When things are hard, we need to “face facts,” or accept them internally. When the topic is the Lord's face, it represents the Lord's interiors, which are perfect love and perfect mercy. And when people turn away from the Lord and refuse his love, it is described as the Lord “hiding his face.”

(References: Heaven and Hell 91)