In case you missed it, you can read Part 1 of this little “series” here.
We are looking a little deeper into the following passage of Scripture:
I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices.
I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings.
Hosea 6:6, NLT
Specifically, we are going to unpack the first “command” in this passage: “to show love”. Let’s start with the words themselves. Of course these are Hebrew words:
Chasad : to show kindness (this is the “show” part of the phrase)
Hesed : love or affection that is steadfast based on a prior relationship, devotion
Together, these words translate into the phrase we see above: “show love”. Now let’s look at how other translations interpret this particular phrase:
NIV: “mercy”
ESV: “steadfast love”
NET: “faithfulness”
NASB: “loyalty”
That helped, right? Not a single version uses the same words or phrases to translate this particular set of words. 
No worries, this just means that either it’s a hard one to translate or that it just has that many meanings…so it isn’t a “set in stone” kind of phrase.
That’s where context can help us out. In Hosea, God is trying to call his people back to Him. They have been acting as prostitutes (His words, not mine) and He wants them to return. He doesn’t want them to just “follow the letter of the law”, He wants so much more. He wants their hearts…He wants them to know and love Him because they choose to. He wants more than sacrifice that’s offered out of duty.
The “show love” that’s referenced here isn’t about us showing love to others. It’s about us showing love, faithfulness, loyalty, and mercy to God! He wants us to show Him love instead of acting like a prostitute and giving that “love” to anything that catches our fancy or draws our attention or gives us something we think we want or need.
He wants more than our sacrifice…He wants us to show Him love based on a real relationship with Him. Hasn’t that been God’s message from the very beginning? Wasn’t that Jesus’ message? He wants to know us and wants us to love Him (i.e.: Mark 12:30).
So the first “command” here is about loving God with everything we have…not out of duty, but because we have a relationship with Him. He wants us to show Him our love…it means something to Him. More to come…
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