14th Week in Ord. Time, Tuesday – 9th July 2024 – Hosea 8,4-7.11-13; Mt 9,32-38
Clarion Call to Avoid Idolatry
In the first reading, Hosea makes a scathing attack on the idolatrous practices of Israel, Samaria and Ephraim and for setting up kings without the Lord’s approval. He makes a clarion call to avoid idolatry by his enigmatic statement “For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.” This is a familiar proverb about the results of doing evil, gleaned from the agricultural process of sowing and reaping. The principle of duplication means, the type of seed sown would grow and the same would be multiplied and harvested. But here it means, one evil leads to something much worse. Israel sowed the wind of idolatry and reaped the whirlwind of judgement. “Wind” means something worthless and foolish (Job 7,7; Prov 11,29; Eccl 1,14.17). Israel’s foolish pursuit of false gods would reap a severe judgement from the Lord. It also means Israel’s sin of idolatry would bring forth an amplified consequence that would sweep them all away. Further Hosea points out, “The standing grain has no heads; it shall yield no flour; if it were to yield, strangers would devour it.” So, the crop would yield nothing. Outsiders would steal anything that did happen to grow. Here, God is warning his people that their idolatry would lead to ruin. The idolatry of the people, their turning their backs to their God in favour of idols, will lead to the disaster of the Assyrian invasion and their deportation into exile.
