Let’s return to the Lord, they say for a small bit of time. He will restore us to His presence. And isn’t that the goal of repentance and restoration? To be restored to His Presence?
“Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces
but he will heal us;
he has injured us
but he will bind up our wounds.
2 After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will restore us,
that we may live in his presence.
That’s the joy of repentance. It’s like when water comes on to parched desert and it flourishes.
But that was not Israel/Ephraim. God wanted to grant them mercy, not judgment. But they persisted in evil. Evil always brings great harm to people and sometimes the only way to stop it is judgment.
The LORD says their sins are unending. Their streets are stained with the blood of the innocent. Even priests like in wait to shed the bled of innocent. Even priests! Of God!
They murder freely and commit shameful acts. They give themselves to all sorts of forms of prostitution, both literal and spiritual.
A person reaps what they sow. Not right away as God is patient. But make no mistake. A harvest will come and it won’t be of grain that gives life, makes warm, buttery bread. Instead it will be a harvest of judgment.
God does not want this. But sometimes judgment is necessary to stop man from harming one another.