I wanted the grace – not the sacrifice- Hosea 6:6

A question that I am asking myself and my pupils all the time is what the correct way to serve The Lord is, how should I treat The Almighty or like the song from the great album "The Wall" - is there anybody out there? (To answer the question... of course).
One of the great metaphors in the bible is the husband and wife- the husband is God, and the wife is us the people on the plant. The first prophet that used this metaphor is Hosea, especially in the first and second chapters of his book.

As a teacher I am always in the point of curriculum and output, the pupils need to learn chapters in order to get a degree in the end of high-school, so I can't teach what I want - I need to follow the material...

But always we need to remember that we have as teachers our autonomy in the class, so this verse is verse that I am teaching all the time, even if I don't have to according to the syllabus and this is from Hosea 6:6-

"כִּי חֶסֶד חָפַצְתִּי, וְלֹא-זָבַח; וְדַעַת אֱלֹהִים, מֵעֹלוֹת

"For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings"

 (I think that the word grace is a better translation then mercy)

 What a beautiful saying: serve The Lord with leaning and good acts between the people of this planet; this is the correct "sacrifice" that you need to have...

 Main phrases of the post + transcription + translation

Hebrew      Transcription   Translation
זֶבַח             zebah           Sacrifice
חֶסֶד             hesed           Grace
דַּעַת            Da'at             Knowledge
הוֹשֵׁעַ          Hôšē'a            Hosea
שֵׁרֵת           šērēt             Served
בַּעַל            Ba'al              Husband
כַּלָּה           kallāh            Bride

Eli@eteachergroup.com