For I Desire Mercy and not Sacrifice

A call to repentance is given to encourage the people to return to God. It reminds the people that although they are broken by God, yet God will receive them again. God will heal, bind, revive and raise them up to be His people once more.

However God again expresses displeasure at Judah and Israel because their repentance was fleeting. God mentions he prefers mercy than to have offerings. They have violated their covenant with God. They are described as evildoers, murderers, robbers, lewd. Israel have been defiled and played the harlot, while Judah still have a destiny to be fulfilled.



Hosea 6
A Call to Repentance

6 Come, and let us return to the Lord;
For He has torn, but He will heal us;
He has stricken, but He will bind us up.
2 After two days He will revive us;
On the third day He will raise us up,
That we may live in His sight.
3 Let us know,
Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord.
His going forth is established as the morning;
He will come to us like the rain,
Like the latter and former rain to the earth.


Impenitence of Israel and Judah

4 “O Ephraim, what shall I do to you?
O Judah, what shall I do to you?
For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud,
And like the early dew it goes away.
5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets,
I have slain them by the words of My mouth;
And your judgments are like light that goes forth.
6 For I desire mercy and not sacrifice,
And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
7 “But like men[a] they transgressed the covenant;
There they dealt treacherously with Me.
8 Gilead is a city of evildoers
And defiled with blood.
9 As bands of robbers lie in wait for a man,
So the company of priests murder on the way to Shechem;
Surely they commit lewdness.
10 I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel:
There is the harlotry of Ephraim;
Israel is defiled.
11 Also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed for you,
When I return the captives of My people.

The Lord is good to those who wait for Him

This seems to be a personal lament of one who thinks God has appointed all disasters upon him. He has been afflicted by the wrath of God. His ways are blocked and frustrated by God. He feels bitterness and abandoned. But he also remembers God's compassion and faithfulness. He has hope and practices patience to wait for the Lord. The virtue our Lord Yeshua mentioned about giving the other cheek to the one who strikes you, is also stated here.

Then a sense of maturity is displayed. The author recognizes his own rebellion and sins which leads to the wrath of God. His response has now turned toward God in prayer and repentance. Then as the enemies still approaching him, He calls upon God to save him and stop his enemies.




Lamentations 3
The Prophet’s Anguish and Hope

1 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.
2 He has led me and made me walk
In darkness and not in light.
3 Surely He has turned His hand against me
Time and time again throughout the day.
4 He has aged my flesh and my skin,
And broken my bones.
5 He has besieged me
And surrounded me with bitterness and woe.
6 He has set me in dark places
Like the dead of long ago.
7 He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out;
He has made my chain heavy.
8 Even when I cry and shout,
He shuts out my prayer.
9 He has blocked my ways with hewn stone;
He has made my paths crooked.
10 He has been to me a bear lying in wait,
Like a lion in ambush.
11 He has turned aside my ways and torn me in pieces;
He has made me desolate.
12 He has bent His bow
And set me up as a target for the arrow.
13 He has caused the arrows of His quiver
To pierce my loins.[a]
14 I have become the ridicule of all my people—
Their taunting song all the day.
15 He has filled me with bitterness,
He has made me drink wormwood.
16 He has also broken my teeth with gravel,
And covered me with ashes.
17 You have moved my soul far from peace;
I have forgotten prosperity.
18 And I said, “My strength and my hope
Have perished from the Lord.”
19 Remember my affliction and roaming,
The wormwood and the gall.
20 My soul still remembers
And sinks within me.
21 This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope.
22 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I hope in Him!”
25 The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him.
26 It is good that one should hope and wait quietly
For the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man to bear
The yoke in his youth.
28 Let him sit alone and keep silent,
Because God has laid it on him;
29 Let him put his mouth in the dust—
There may yet be hope.
30 Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him,
And be full of reproach.
31 For the Lord will not cast off forever.
32 Though He causes grief,
Yet He will show compassion
According to the multitude of His mercies.
33 For He does not afflict willingly,
Nor grieve the children of men.
34 To crush under one’s feet
All the prisoners of the earth,
35 To turn aside the justice due a man
Before the face of the Most High,
36 Or subvert a man in his cause—
The Lord does not approve.
37 Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass,
When the Lord has not commanded it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
That woe and well-being proceed?
39 Why should a living man complain,
A man for the punishment of his sins?
40 Let us search out and examine our ways,
And turn back to the Lord;
41 Let us lift our hearts and hands
To God in heaven.
42 We have transgressed and rebelled;
You have not pardoned.
43 You have covered Yourself with anger
And pursued us;
You have slain and not pitied.
44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud,
That prayer should not pass through.
45 You have made us an offscouring and refuse
In the midst of the peoples.
46 All our enemies
Have opened their mouths against us.
47 Fear and a snare have come upon us,
Desolation and destruction.
48 My eyes overflow with rivers of water
For the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My eyes flow and do not cease,
Without interruption,
50 Till the Lord from heaven
Looks down and sees.
51 My eyes bring suffering to my soul
Because of all the daughters of my city.
52 My enemies without cause
Hunted me down like a bird.
53 They silenced[b] my life in the pit
And threw stones at me.
54 The waters flowed over my head;
I said, “I am cut off!”
55 I called on Your name, O Lord,
From the lowest pit.
56 You have heard my voice:
“Do not hide Your ear
From my sighing, from my cry for help.”
57 You drew near on the day I called on You,
And said, “Do not fear!”
58 O Lord, You have pleaded the case for my soul;
You have redeemed my life.
59 O Lord, You have seen how I am wronged;
Judge my case.
60 You have seen all their vengeance,
All their schemes against me.
61 You have heard their reproach, O Lord,
All their schemes against me,
62 The lips of my enemies
And their whispering against me all the day.
63 Look at their sitting down and their rising up;
I am their taunting song.
64 Repay them, O Lord,
According to the work of their hands.
65 Give them a veiled[c] heart;
Your curse be upon them!
66 In Your anger,
Pursue and destroy them
From under the heavens of the Lord.

O Lord, You Are My God

Amid the prophecies of doom, this chapter praises the Lord God for who He is. It exalts and praises His name, and that He is faithful and truth. Although His judgments involve destroying cities, He is recognize for His care for the poor and needy, providing refuge and shade when required.

The promises include that God will "swallow up death forever" and "wipe away tears from all faces". In terms of His judgment, it names Moab. God is determined to destroy their pride, and no trickery nor fortress will prevent that.


Isaiah 25
Praise to God

1 O Lord, You are my God.
I will exalt You,
I will praise Your name,
For You have done wonderful things;
Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
2 For You have made a city a ruin,
A fortified city a ruin,
A palace of foreigners to be a city no more;
It will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore the strong people will glorify You;
The city of the terrible nations will fear You.
4 For You have been a strength to the poor,
A strength to the needy in his distress,
A refuge from the storm,
A shade from the heat;
For the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
5 You will reduce the noise of aliens,
As heat in a dry place;
As heat in the shadow of a cloud,
The song of the terrible ones will be diminished.
6 And in this mountain
The Lord of hosts will make for all people
A feast of choice pieces,
A feast of wines on the lees,
Of fat things full of marrow,
Of well-refined wines on the lees.
7 And He will destroy on this mountain
The surface of the covering cast over all people,
And the veil that is spread over all nations.
8 He will swallow up death forever,
And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces;
The rebuke of His people
He will take away from all the earth;
For the Lord has spoken.
9 And it will be said in that day:
“Behold, this is our God;
We have waited for Him, and He will save us.
This is the Lord;
We have waited for Him;
We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”
10 For on this mountain the hand of the Lord will rest,
And Moab shall be trampled down under Him,
As straw is trampled down for the refuse heap.
11 And He will spread out His hands in their midst
As a swimmer reaches out to swim,
And He will bring down their pride
Together with the trickery of their hands.
12 The fortress of the high fort of your walls
He will bring down, lay low,
And bring to the ground, down to the dust.

The Spirit of the Lord Shall Rest upon Him,

This chapters delves into the introduction of the Messiah. His lineage will be from Jesse, the father of King David. He will have the Spirit of the LORD, with wisdom and understanding and knowledge. He will be a fair judge, compassionate to the poor and fearsome to the wicked. There is a description of His rule in which there will be peace on Earth, even in nature, where the wolf will lie down with the lamb.

In the days where Messiah rules, the whole earth will know Him. All the Gentiles will come to Him. He will again gather the remnant of His people. This part is prophetic and is difficult to be sure about. It may be referring to the remnant of His people Israel, but in that time it is not clear who the enemies will be since Messiah is known throughout the Earth.




Isaiah 11
The Reign of Jesse’s Offspring

1 There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse,
And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
2 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
3 His delight is in the fear of the Lord,
And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes,
Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
4 But with righteousness He shall judge the poor,
And decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins,
And faithfulness the belt of His waist.
6 “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
Their young ones shall lie down together;
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole,
And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.
9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
As the waters cover the sea.
10 “And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse,
Who shall stand as a banner to the people;
For the Gentiles shall seek Him,
And His resting place shall be glorious.”
11 It shall come to pass in that day
That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time
To recover the remnant of His people who are left,
From Assyria and Egypt,
From Pathros and Cush,
From Elam and Shinar,
From Hamath and the islands of the sea.
12 He will set up a banner for the nations,
And will assemble the outcasts of Israel,
And gather together the dispersed of Judah
From the four corners of the earth.
13 Also the envy of Ephraim shall depart,
And the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off;
Ephraim shall not envy Judah,
And Judah shall not harass Ephraim.
14 But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west;
Together they shall plunder the people of the East;
They shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab;
And the people of Ammon shall obey them.
15 The Lord will utterly destroy[a] the tongue of the Sea of Egypt;
With His mighty wind He will shake His fist over the River,[b]
And strike it in the seven streams,
And make men cross over dry-shod.
16 There will be a highway for the remnant of His people
Who will be left from Assyria,
As it was for Israel
In the day that he came up from the land of Egypt.

For He Has Done Marvelous Things

A victorious call to sing to the Lord because of His salvation, mercy, faithfulness. The psalmist is in great joy and encourages people to make music with all kinds of instruments to worship God. Previously the mighty and awesome nature of God was made known. Here God's provision for His people is revealed. The people are eagerly awaiting the righteousness of God and His coming judgement.



Psalm 98
A Psalm.

 1 Oh, sing to the LORD a new song!
         For He has done marvelous things;
         His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory.
 2 The LORD has made known His salvation;
         His righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the nations.
 3 He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;
         All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
        
 4 Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth;
         Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises.
 5 Sing to the LORD with the harp,
         With the harp and the sound of a psalm,
 6 With trumpets and the sound of a horn;
         Shout joyfully before the LORD, the King.
        
 7 Let the sea roar, and all its fullness,
         The world and those who dwell in it;
 8 Let the rivers clap their hands;
         Let the hills be joyful together
          9 before the LORD,
         For He is coming to judge the earth.
         With righteousness He shall judge the world,
         And the peoples with equity.

For My Soul is Full of Troubles

The psalmist appears to have gone through a long journey and is still facing much troubles. He knows God is his salvation and continues to cries out yet he is facing constant difficulties. He calls on the LORD daily and stretches out his hands and also sarcastically asks if God's lovingkindness could only be experienced after death. Despite the hopelessness of the situation, it does seem that the psalmist still have a hope in God which perhaps he does not understand - that is the hope which keeps him calling onto God and praying every morning.



Psalm 88


A Song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. To the Chief Musician. Set to “Mahalath Leannoth.” A Contemplation[a] of Heman the Ezrahite.

 1 O LORD, God of my salvation,
         I have cried out day and night before You.
 2 Let my prayer come before You;
         Incline Your ear to my cry.
       
 3 For my soul is full of troubles,
         And my life draws near to the grave.
 4 I am counted with those who go down to the pit;
         I am like a man who has no strength,
 5 Adrift among the dead,
         Like the slain who lie in the grave,
         Whom You remember no more,
         And who are cut off from Your hand.
       
 6 You have laid me in the lowest pit,
         In darkness, in the depths.
 7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
         And You have afflicted me with all Your waves.  Selah
 8 You have put away my acquaintances far from me;
         You have made me an abomination to them;
         I am shut up, and I cannot get out;
 9 My eye wastes away because of affliction.
       
         LORD, I have called daily upon You;
         I have stretched out my hands to You.
 10 Will You work wonders for the dead?
         Shall the dead arise and praise You?  Selah
 11 Shall Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave?
         Or Your faithfulness in the place of destruction?
 12 Shall Your wonders be known in the dark?
         And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
       
 13 But to You I have cried out, O LORD,
         And in the morning my prayer comes before You.
 14 LORD, why do You cast off my soul?
         Why do You hide Your face from me?
 15 I have been afflicted and ready to die from my youth;
         I suffer Your terrors;
         I am distraught.
 16 Your fierce wrath has gone over me;
         Your terrors have cut me off.
 17 They came around me all day long like water;
         They engulfed me altogether.
 18 Loved one and friend You have put far from me,
         And my acquaintances into darkness.

God the Rock of Salvation

The psalm starts off in a very similar way as other psalms and it looks like a psalm by David. There is the appeal to God to save the writer from the enemies. There is also a description of who God is to the writer, namely rock, fortress, refuge. The writer has trusted God in his youth and asks God not to forsake him.
He calls on God not to be far from him. He promises to continue to praise God. The writer talks of spreading the knowledge of God, telling others of God's salvation and righteousness. The writer seeks to praise God with all his soul with any instruments he can like the harp, lute and singing.


Psalm 71
God the Rock of Salvation

 1 In You, O LORD, I put my trust;
         Let me never be put to shame.
 2 Deliver me in Your righteousness, and cause me to escape;
         Incline Your ear to me, and save me.
 3 Be my strong refuge,
         To which I may resort continually;
         You have given the commandment to save me,
         For You are my rock and my fortress.
        
 4 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked,
         Out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.
 5 For You are my hope, O Lord GOD;
         You are my trust from my youth.
 6 By You I have been upheld from birth;
         You are He who took me out of my mother’s womb.
         My praise shall be continually of You.
        
 7 I have become as a wonder to many,
         But You are my strong refuge.
 8 Let my mouth be filled with Your praise
         And with Your glory all the day.
        
 9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
         Do not forsake me when my strength fails.
 10 For my enemies speak against me;
         And those who lie in wait for my life take counsel together,
 11 Saying, “God has forsaken him;
         Pursue and take him, for there is none to deliver him.”
        
 12 O God, do not be far from me;
         O my God, make haste to help me!
 13 Let them be confounded and consumed
         Who are adversaries of my life;
         Let them be covered with reproach and dishonor
         Who seek my hurt.
        
 14 But I will hope continually,
         And will praise You yet more and more.
 15 My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness
         And Your salvation all the day,
         For I do not know their limits.
 16 I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD;
         I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only.
        
 17 O God, You have taught me from my youth;
         And to this day I declare Your wondrous works.
 18 Now also when I am old and grayheaded,
         O God, do not forsake me,
         Until I declare Your strength to this generation,
         Your power to everyone who is to come.
        
 19 Also Your righteousness, O God, is very high,
         You who have done great things;
         O God, who is like You?
 20 You, who have shown me great and severe troubles,
         Shall revive me again,
         And bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
 21 You shall increase my greatness,
         And comfort me on every side.
        
 22 Also with the lute I will praise You—
         And Your faithfulness, O my God!
         To You I will sing with the harp,
         O Holy One of Israel.
 23 My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You,
         And my soul, which You have redeemed.
 24 My tongue also shall talk of Your righteousness all the day long;
         For they are confounded,
         For they are brought to shame
         Who seek my hurt.

I waited patiently for the LORD

David describes a few important things in his relationship to God which is a good example for us all. The first thing is to place our trust in God, and as David did so, God led him out of trouble. The wonderful works of God are too many to be counted.

The second is our heart's desire towards God is more regarded by God than any offerings or sacrifices. David's sum this up as: "I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart.”

Out of this, it is natural then to proclaim the good news of God, God's faithfulness, Salvation, His Lovingkindness and truth. “The LORD be magnified!”

Psalm 40

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

 1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
         And He inclined to me,
         And heard my cry.
 2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
         Out of the miry clay,
         And set my feet upon a rock,
         And established my steps.
 3 He has put a new song in my mouth—
         Praise to our God;
         Many will see it and fear,
         And will trust in the LORD.
       
 4 Blessed is that man who makes the LORD his trust,
         And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
 5 Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works
         Which You have done;
         And Your thoughts toward us
         Cannot be recounted to You in order;
         If I would declare and speak of them,
         They are more than can be numbered.
       
 6 Sacrifice and offering You did not desire;
         My ears You have opened.
         Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.
 7 Then I said, “Behold, I come;
         In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
 8 I delight to do Your will, O my God,
         And Your law is within my heart.”
       
 9 I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness
         In the great assembly;
         Indeed, I do not restrain my lips,
         O LORD, You Yourself know.
 10 I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;
         I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation;
         I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth
         From the great assembly.
       
 11 Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O LORD;
         Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me.
 12 For innumerable evils have surrounded me;
         My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up;
         They are more than the hairs of my head;
         Therefore my heart fails me.
       
 13 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me;
         O LORD, make haste to help me!
 14 Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion
         Who seek to destroy my life;
         Let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor
         Who wish me evil.
 15 Let them be confounded because of their shame,
         Who say to me, “Aha, aha!”
       
 16 Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
         Let such as love Your salvation say continually,
         “The LORD be magnified!”
 17 But I am poor and needy;
         Yet the LORD thinks upon me.
         You are my help and my deliverer;
         Do not delay, O my God.

The Ways of the Wicked

The first part of this psalm describes a wicked person. They have no fear of God and praise themselves for their wickedness. They are liars and they even plot evil when going to sleep.

Then the psalm turn to praising God for his mercy, faithfulness, righteousness and judgement. God is acknowledged for his lovingkindness and how men can put their trust in God. The psalm then pleads with God to continue His lovingkindness toward those who are upright in heart and to keep them from pride and the wicked.



Psalm 36

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David the servant of the LORD.

 1 An oracle within my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked:
         There is no fear of God before his eyes.
 2 For he flatters himself in his own eyes,
         When he finds out his iniquity and when he hates.
 3 The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit;
         He has ceased to be wise and to do good.
 4 He devises wickedness on his bed;
         He sets himself in a way that is not good;
         He does not abhor evil.
       
 5 Your mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens;
         Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
 6 Your righteousness is like the great mountains;
         Your judgments are a great deep;
         O LORD, You preserve man and beast.
       
 7 How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God!
         Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.
 8 They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house,
         And You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures.
 9 For with You is the fountain of life;
         In Your light we see light.
       
 10 Oh, continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You,
         And Your righteousness to the upright in heart.
 11 Let not the foot of pride come against me,
         And let not the hand of the wicked drive me away.
 12 There the workers of iniquity have fallen;
         They have been cast down and are not able to rise.