Articles
Hosea 6:6
For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.(Hosea 6:6)
The Law of Moses clearly commanded sacrifices and burnt offerings in order to atone for sins, so to conclude absolutely that God is not asking for these things is a contradiction. We have to look at the passage as a relative comparison.
Throughout the book God is lamenting the wickedness of His people. In the immediate context He equates their faithfulness with morning fog that lifts or dew that evaporates with the sunrise (6:4). He further indicts them as transgressors of the covenant, evildoers guilty of robbery and murder (6:7-8). Priests are ungodly in the midst of performing their sacred duties (6:9).
Yet in some quarters of Israel rituals were still being followed; the temple machinery was humming along; God’s name still issued from their mouths. They still conceived of themselves as a special, privileged people. But God is calling on them to look deeper, to question their inmost motives and desires.
And it is good for us to probe our own true selves. It is easy to go through the motions with our hearts disengaged. If this is true of us, God already knows it. It takes courage to ask Him to show us what He sees in us.
