This is a fascinating chapter. Israel refuses to return to the one, true God but goes after idols.

They will be turned over to Assyria to rule over them.

But, this isn’t a typical chapter of God’s judgment and wrath.

God talks about how He had taken care of them and led them with kindness and love. He talks about how He eased their burden and came down to feed them Himself.

But He won’t make an end of them. He can’t. His heart won’t let Him. He has compassion for them. He won’t destroy them. He won’t come in wrath.

They will have to go into the world, for they will be given over to their choice of not submitting to the Lord, but He will return a remnant.

He knows how He will call them home.

He will roar like a lion. I usually think of God roaring in Scripture as a bad thing. Here it’s a good thing. Well, it will cause fear, but it will cause the good kind of fear.

The right kind of fear of the Lord sends us running to Him. The wrong kind sends us running from Him.

The Lion will roar and His children will come trembling.

They will return home because God will return them to their homes.

God knows how to preserve a people.

I find this so interesting because we consider Israel lost. They are the lost tribes. The people assimilated into the culture and disappeared as a unique people. But, we know from Scripture that there will be a “highway of holiness,” people coming from places like Egypt and Iraq (Assyria). What if those Muslims, seeking the Messiah and finding Him in Christ at the end of the age, are really descendants of the lost Jews?

I don’t know, but it’s fascinating to think of. The Lion will roar. All will be restored.