20151231 Thursday, December 31 2015
Hosea 08: Sow The Wind, Reap The Whirlwind

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind"

The LORD's "reap what you sow" is a promise of goodness for those who do good, and a warning of wrath for those who do evil.

"10:12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you." (Hosea 10:12 KJV)

"4:7 Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off? 4:8 Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same. 4:9 By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed." (Job 4:7-9 KJV)

The specific promise to those who not only obey the LORD, but truly obey the LORD (see Why Call Me, Lord, Lord, and Do Not The Things Which I Say?):

"26:1 Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.

26:2 Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD. 26:3 If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; 26:4 Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 26:5 And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.

26:6 And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. 26:7 And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. 26:8 And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.

26:9 For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you. 26:10 And ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because of the new. 26:11 And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you. 26:12 And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people. 26:13 I am the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright." (Leviticus 26:1-13 KJV)

On the other hand, the warning of wrath that is surely coming to those who reject or pervert the true Way of the LORD (see Iniquity In History And Prophecy):

"26:14 But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments; 26:15 And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant: 26:16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. 26:17 And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.

26:18 And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. 26:19 And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass: 26:20 And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.

26:21 And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. 26:22 I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate.

26:23 And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me; 26:24 Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins. 26:25 And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. 26:26 And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.

26:27 And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me; 26:28 Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. 26:29 And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. 26:30 And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you. 26:31 And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours. 26:32 And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. 26:33 And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. 26:34 Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths. 26:35 As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it.

26:36 And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth. 26:37 And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies. 26:38 And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. 26:39 And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.

26:40 If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me; 26:41 And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: 26:42 Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land. 26:43 The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes. 26:44 And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the LORD their God. 26:45 But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.

26:46 These are the statutes and judgments and laws, which the LORD made between him and the children of Israel in mount Sinai by the hand of Moses." (Leviticus 26:14-46 KJV)

The mission of the true prophets of the LORD was to deliver His Word so that the people knew exactly what future that they are choosing for themselves - by the means of the behavior that they choose for themselves (see Strait And Straight and Which Way Is Right And Left?).

"8:1 Set the trumpet to your lips! One like a vulture is over the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed my covenant and rebelled against my law. 8:2 To me they cry, "My God, we—Israel—know you." 8:3 Israel has spurned the good; the enemy shall pursue him. 8:4 They made kings, but not through me. They set up princes, but I knew it not. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction. 8:5 I have spurned your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence? 8:6 For it is from Israel; a craftsman made it; it is not God. The calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces.

8:7 For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; it shall yield no flour; if it were to yield, strangers would devour it. 8:8 Israel is swallowed up; already they are among the nations as a useless vessel. 8:9 For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild donkey wandering alone; Ephraim has hired lovers. 8:10 Though they hire allies among the nations, I will soon gather them up. And the king and princes shall soon writhe because of the tribute.

8:11 Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they have become to him altars for sinning. 8:12 Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands, they would be regarded as a strange thing. 8:13 As for my sacrificial offerings, they sacrifice meat and eat it, but the LORD does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins; they shall return to Egypt. 8:14 For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces, and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; so I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour her strongholds." (Hosea 8:1-14 KJV)

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