Here in the Old Testament is a reference to God as one who provides human kindness. This human kindness is in the form of “ties of love” through which God “lifts the yoke from their neck” and “bends down to feed them” referring here to Israel, of course.
Human kindness? Yes, that is what the prophet Hosea writes. God’s kindness is referred to as human. Of course, we now know that Jesus is the one who gives the human touch to God’s infinite goodness.
Jesus lifts the yoke from our neck and bends to feed us. He heals us and leads us with his ties of love, his cords of kindness.
Easy to imagine Jesus being kind despite his brief anger in the temple when he proclaims God’s house is not a marketplace. Nearly every other interaction Jesus has with people is kind. In fact, Jesus goes out of his way to remain kind and amazingly calm. Remember how he stops Peter from taking a sword to those who have come to arrest the Lord? Remember the story of the good Samaritan who was kind to a stranger on the road?
In Hosea, God asks himself, “How can I hand you over, Israel? My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused. I will not carry out my fierce anger (Hosea 11: 8, 9, NIV).”
The implication is even though Jesus is angry at the condition of his people, he sets that aside and acts toward them (and us) with “cords of human kindness.”
Grace Partakers 