1) God is a confused, heartbroken parent here. the image is touching, but dangerous, as the punishment being meted out could be an excuse for abuse in the wrong hands.
2)Matthew uses the first verse to buttress the flight to Egypt and the return for Jesus.
3)Here instead of betrayal of infidelity by a spouse the image is more of a rebellion or stubborn refusal to honor the parent.Which image, parent or spouse, do you find more religiously helpful?
4)_Ephraim was a child of Joseph and had some of the choice land in Israel.
5) How could they not know they were healed?
6) What are some tender memories of your growing chidlrne do you treasure?
7)What do you think are good ways to deal with wayward children?
8) what is dangerous in imagining an adult community to be hcildren?
9)How does God lead with cords of human, not divine, kindness? What bands of love do you notice that the church employs in our time?
10)How does the end of v. 4 affect your image of god?
11) Admah and ?Zeboiim were cities destroyed with Sodom (Dt. 29:23) Look at how God resists the impulse to destroy. Recall comparison could be translated as motherly love as it is connected to the word for womb. In a way God is being tempted y the specter of vindictive punishment here. In English compassion is to suffer with, to feel with. How do you regard feelings toward within the divine?
12) Work with the phrase that God is god (a la Barth) and no mere mortal.
13) Does the locution Holy One work for you or not?
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