Every evil of theirs began at Gilgal; there I came to hate them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more; all their officials are rebels. Ephraim is stricken, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit. Even though they give birth, I will kill the cherished offspring of their womb. Because they have not listened to him, my God will reject them; they shall become wanderers among the nations. (Hosea 9: 15-17)

Hosea is pressing forward with his metaphor: God and Israel as man and wife. If the Exodus was the culmination of a long courtship, entering the Promised Land was the consummation of marriage.

Joshua and the twelve tribes crossed the Jordon near Gilgal and there they erected twelve large stones to commemorate this important transition (Joshua 4). This subsequently became a place of pilgrimage.

In the process the stones of Gilgal had become, in a way, objects of worship. The struggle of ancestors, the founding of the nation, the hopes of the people came to be symbolized by those ancient rocks.

Just as we might be inspired to prayer at the Lincoln Memorial or the Statue of Liberty or the Vietnam Memorial or as I once prayed in the Williamsburg House of Burgesses, the people of Israel would bow to pray at Gilgal.

For Hosea this is adultery, idolatry, and heresy. We are confusing our hopes for God. We are confusing our needs for God's intention. We are extending value to empty vessels. These are all false lovers distracting us from our sacred marriage.

Hosea accurately describes the anger with which even the most long-suffering husband might eventually respond to a self-absorbed and unfaithful wife. Is this how God responds to Israel? To us?