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Hosea was called to predict the destruction of Israel as he prophesied during the reigns of Israel’s last seven kings (northern kingdom)
This passage is an extraction of a larger portion of judgment warnings with a retrospective tone; a review of past situations.
Israel was privileged to plant goodness and reaps faithful love; instead, they have planted evil and have continually experienced the harvest of trouble.
The prophets had warned of wars and invasion overtaking them but they ignored the warning and presume the strength of their military will outmarch the invasion threat.
The story of Beth Arbel’s destruction was an appropriate reminder of the sort of thing God was about to do to northern Israel’s top worship center, Bethel.
The king of Israel will be completely destroyed and the nation subjugated by its enemies. This is because of the idolatry of the people and their faithlessness towards God.
Jesus said his nourishment comes from doing the will of God and from finishing the work, that is, to die on the cross
He communicated the dawn of spiritual harvest to his disciples using their understanding of the harvest season
Above the agricultural season is a more important season; the season of winning souls, for the earth, through the coming of Jesus, is ripe for harvest
Asking the disciples to open their eyes is figurative because their eyes were not literarily closed, but this reality that the harvest has already begun in the history of salvation just as seen in the Samaritans that believed
Jesus further instructed his disciples to go out to reap the benefits of the labor of laborers that has gone ahead
And now, reaping the labor of others is not a material gain of other people’s wealth but implies asserting minimal evangelistic efforts to the foundational work of the Law and the prophets, and through Christ bringing people to repentance