Hosea 5:13-15

Seeking the Lord -- Hosea 5:13-15: Sadly when the punishment started God's people turned to Assyria for help. How sad, "When Israel and Judah saw their sickness and wounds, Israel asked help from Assyria. Jareb is "A symbolical name for Assyria." Assyria could not help or cure Israel of her wounds. Many turn to the wrong source for help when they should turn only to God.

It grieves the heart of God when His people look to strangers for help instead of to Him. His anger was pictured in the words, "So I'll become a fierce lion attacking Israel and Judah. I'll snatch and carry off what I want, and no one can stop me." It is a tragic sin to lose faith in God. Appealing to someone else for help will always fail! The appeal to others for help brought no help, but it did bring down the wrath of God.

It must have been very difficult for God to leave His people in the hands of the heathen. God said, "I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early." (Hosea 5:15) God's people would be left in the hands of their enemies until they became desperate and begged for my help. The purpose of this punishment was to cause the people to see their sins and to come to repentance.