Tune in as Pastor Josh preaches from Hosea 5:8-6:6 this morning:
“…For God to say ‘I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings,’ is not to say that he no longer required obedience in the sacrifice and burnt offerings of the old covenant, but that those things had become distorted when they replaced knowledge of God and the real practice of ḥesed - the steadfast love of God. Without this relational aspect of their worship, their rituals became transactional or coercive towards God; a means of inducing him to act. This was one of the ways that Canaanite religion had corrupted the worship of God, that the worshippers thought that they could relate to God through sacrifice in order to obtain what they wanted without the loving and compassionate heart that comes from a transformational life with God.”