I will deliver this people from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction? – Hosea 13:14

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 15, 2016): Hosea 13 & 14

Eleanor Rigby, the lonely woman behind the Beatles Classic song. The Tabloids love to play with the story. There apparently really was an “Eleanor Rigby.” She was born close to where John Lennon grew up. Her name may have actually been “Eleanor Whitfield, ” but at the request of her maternal grandfather, she took his family name - Rigby. Her father, Arthur Whitfield, had passed away when she was young, and so it is likely that she had more connection with her grandfather than she did with her father.

Eleanor, born in 1895, married late in life, at least for the period. She was 35 years old when she finally walked down the aisle with Thomas Woods, a man who was 52 at the time. She proved to be unable to have children and died in 1939 at the age of 44 of a massive brain hemorrhage. A sad story to go along with a sad song. In the Beatles version of the story -

Eleanor Rigby, died in the church
And was buried along with her name
Nobody came   

In real life, Eleanor Rigby died in the same house into which she had been born. A sad ending to a sad life. Of course, John Lennon and Paul McCartney had never heard of the story of Eleanor Rigby when they wrote the song. They had sunbathed in the Liverpool cemetery where Eleanor was buried, but have no recollection of ever looking at her gravestone. Maybe they had and subconsciously remembered the name back when they wrote the song. Paul simply said that the name “Eleanor Rigby” sounded real. The way that the song matches real life, well that was pure coincidence.

Hosea has a message for all of the Eleanor Rigby’s of life. Death is not the final act. God has the power to redeem, even from the grave. The message was delivered as a hope to Israel. Even though it may look like the end of the nation might be imminent, God had the power to bring them back – a power that extended even over the grave.

The apostle Paul in the New Testament reinforced these words of Hosea in his letter to the Corinthian Church. Quoting Hosea 13:14 from the Septuagint translation, Paul writes these words.

“Where, O death, is your victory?
                        Where, O death (or O Hades), is your sting” (1 Corinthians 15:55)

Today the words are used at funeral services all over the world. They are a confirmation that, in Christ, death has lost its hold over us. We are so much more than just the sum of our days. Eternity awaits, and that is good news.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 27