Difficult Passages: Hosea 13:16

Hos 13:16 "Samaria will be held guilty, For she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword, Their little ones will be dashed in pieces, And their pregnant women will be ripped open." (NASB)

Looking at other scriptures, I noted the following in Amos:

Amos 1:13 "Thus says the LORD, "For three transgressions of the sons of Ammon and for four I will not revoke its punishment, Because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead In order to enlarge their borders." (NASB)

But they did it to selfishly enlarge their borders. God rather does so in judgment. God says "do not kill" but is He restricted to not kill? If so, then He could not be the judge. No, instead we are told by Jesus Himself "I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!" (Luke 12:5 NASB). This is the God who created us, who loved us enough to redeem us and come Himself to suffer God's punishment for each of us as the only perfect and acceptable sacrifice.

Jeremiah was so destraught by God's judgment that like Job he curses the day when he was born and the man who brought the news of his birth to his father "because he did not kill me before birth, so that my mother would have been my grave, and her womb ever pregnant." He continues: "Why did I ever come forth from the womb to look on trouble and sorrow, so that my days have been spent in shame?" (Jer 20:13-18).

Surely, if God's prophets felt this way, I'm sure we will too. God's judgments are severe here on earth, but they are just. And they are no comparison to the eternity to come. Perhaps we just do not understand the seriousness of sin.

Looking back at Hosea 13:8 we read how God will encounter the people. And look at verse 2 how "they sin more and more" in idolatry. However, continuing onto chapter 14, we see that God's anger is eventually turned away -- He even says in Hosea 14:3 "For in You the orphan finds mercy." No doubt, after that bout of wrath, there were a lot of orphans. Perhaps the final exhortation of this chapter is the key to difficult issues such as these:

Hosea 14:9 "Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; Whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right, and the righteous will walk in them, but transgressors will stumble in them." (NASB)

So -- let us be discerning and know that God is just and not stumble in the fact that He destroys every living thing of those that are evil. We would do well to remember what God said to Abraham of Sodom and Gomorrah -- even for 10 righteous people I will not destroy them.

I hope this was helpful. Please let me know what you think.