WORD STUDY – I WILL GO

Hosea 5:15;  “I will go and return to my place until they acknowledge their offence and seek my face, in their affliction they will seek me early.”

 

By my count, the Old Testament mentions that God will not forsake us twenty two times. Yet, from the way this passage is rendered, it sounds like God is just going to turn his nose up on us, pick up his marbles and return home and just to wait for us to fall into some do do so we can come crying back to Him. I mean that sounds like He is forsaking us even if He said he would never leave us nor forsake us.

 

We could call this a contradiction or we might  just call it an awkward translation which makes it seem like a contradiction. This one is really awkward.  Aside from the fact that this rendering gives the impression that God will leave us in our sins and walk away, it also wreaks havoc on our concept of omnipresence where He is everywhere at one time.

 

I believe the first thing we need to do is examine this phrase, “I will go and return” The word for to go is halakah. He is saying that He is going to walk the Halakah, the righteous life. Ever stop to think that God also walks the Halakah or righteous life? He too walks in righteousness. He is saying that he cannot walk with someone who is not walking in righteousness. He must walk the righteous walk, He has no choice and it is up to us to decide whether we will follow Him or not.

 

Note that the word for return is shuv. In its root form shuv has the idea of returning for the purpose of power and strength. Well, you have to really run down the list of usages for shuv to find one that fits God.  I mean he is moving at maximum warp drive, so to speak, why would He need to strengthen Himself? There is one usage of shuv buried deep within its Semitic origins which I found used in the Akkadian language that really fits, it is to shine brighter.  He may have to continue his righteous walk and leave us behind in our unrighteous walk, but He is going to shine brighter and brighter so He is never out of our sight or His sight.  You will always know where He is at and where to go when you are ready to return.  Sort of like the stubborn child who refuses to move, until Mamma calls his bluff and says: “Ok, stay here then, but I am going anyways.” Unless the kid is a real brat, Mama needs only go a few paces before the child is running to her crying, “Don’t leave me.” Of course there are brats out there who will not call Mama’s bluff.  Those are the ones referred to in Hosea 5:15.  But Mama is always in reach, her presence is always there, she has not forgotten or forsaken that child, just left him in his brattiness to stew awhile.

 

I ran across a reference to this verse in Jewish literature. The sages point out that it is not God that leaves his people but His Shekinah glory. As most of us know the word Shekinah is not found in the Old Testament but is found in Jewish literature such as the Talmud and Mishnah.  It is derived from the root word “Shakan” which means to dwell.   The word Shekinah is used to represent the very presence of God and has a feminine ending which is believed by the sages to represent the female nature of God.

 

Women have traditionally been perceived as being more compassionate and nurturing than men.  Men are like a brutish, ox, you know the John Wayne type, “Well, guess I will just have to yank him out of that wheel chair.” There is a definite perceived trait that women have that men don’t and hence the word Shekinah is given a feminine ending.

 

This word place that God is going to return to is maqom from the root word qom with the preposition from meaning from a place. The word qom could be a locality, a hometown, a place of origin, etc. It could be simply moving from one chair to another.

 

So putting this together, God is not so much saying that He will leave us stewing in our own sins until we are good and ready to return to Him, but He is more or less saying; “Well, Momma has had her chance to change your ways and you have just been too bratty to do it, so now Daddy has just gotten home and I am just going leave you to Him. Yeah, God originated the good cop/bad cop.

 

In walks the big six foot four, 300 pound giant of a daddy with belt off, slapping it against the palm of his hand as he quietly sits down and leans over to you and says: “Now what shall we talk about.”  Somehow your excuse to Momma that it was just an accident and not intended, with the hope of getting off with a light sentence, just doesn’t hold water anymore.  In fact the picture of some terrorist laying on a board with water being forced down his throat begins to take on new meaning.

 

I don’t know about you but as I journey to God’s heart, I am finding more of these little offenses in my life that I keep just hanging on to, confessing to God and God just faithfully keeps right on forgiving me. In the back of my mind, however, there is Hosea 5:15.   I realize there is a point when the Shekinah, the tender hearted feminine part of God will sadly say: “Well, I tried everything to get you to let go of that offense, but guess who just came home?”

 

I think God makes it very clear in Scripture in Hebrews 11:25 that we have a choice like Moses to endure the struggles of maturing as believers or to enjoy “sin for a season.”