Horse-Drawn Caring

In Hosea 6:6, Jehovah responds to his people’s announcement to return to him having endured chastisement.

“Come, and let us return unto the Lord:”

They sound authentic. Committed. Yet the Lord, who knows the heart and sees what is really going describes their “goodness” as morning fog and dew that burns off with warmth of the rising sun. It’s springtime here in New England so this image is particularly useful to the mind’s eye. Just as quickly as their new commitment to God is made it dissipates into thin air, a forgotten memory.

What kind of goodness were they trying to display? Externalism. In verse 6, the Lord notes that their sacrifices and burnt offerings where not what he desired. It is not that he was dissolving the law and its program of offerings and sacrifices, but he is explaining that they have “the cart before the horse.”

The horse is the living, breathing being that has the power to move the cart. The cart is a dead, unmoving frame that has no power on its own. Together, though, when hitched together correctly much can be accomplished. In Ephraim’s case, they neglected this reality, and God calls them on it.

The cart of practice (sacrifices and burnt-offerings) must be drawn by the horse of mercy and knowledge. Our understanding of “mercy” here refers to kindness, not to the withholding of punishment.* The knowledge of God is real and personal knowledge of his person and character. We are seeing the recurring theme and command to love the Lord our God with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbor as yourself. Knowledge and mercy. They are the horse that draw the cart of our practices.

So, what do we learn? A return to God takes place with your whole heart. Put the horse in front. First. Will seeking to first fill your life with religious practice, placing the cart before that horse, take you anywhere? Nay.

Onward and upward.

*Consequently if you study “mercy” you’ll see in a number of other places in the Bible this emphasis. Study it out!