As at Adam, they have broken the covenant; they were unfaithful to me there. – Hosea 6:7

Today's Scripture Reading (April 11, 2026): Hosea 6

When I was younger, I worked in a church office. Actually, I worked with the church's youth, was involved in the church's music, and produced the weekly worship order and bulletin. One thing you should know about me is that I really struggle with proofreading. Too often, I read what I want to be there rather than what is. Whether it looks like it or not, I depend heavily on grammar apps even in writing this blog. And back then, I relied heavily on early grammar apps that focused more on spelling than grammar.

When producing the bulletin, I would often use the previous week's worship folder as a template, updating the info that had changed since then. But my lack of proofreading skills often meant mistakes went unchecked. I remember one mistake that lasted for an embarrassing number of months. The problem was that it was part of the bulletin that was featured every week without change. It was a permanent part of the Worship Order, which was included on the back page of the Worship Folder. The phrase included was "Open Alter," indicating a prayer time that usually occurred in the first half of the service. Because it was a weekly feature, I seldom looked at the phrase.

However, one retired Pastor in the congregation read the phrase every week and cringed. The problem was a spelling mistake. Finally, this Pastor had had enough, and he came to me to ask me to correct the spelling. It shouldn't have read "Open Alter", which would indicate some sort of change, but rather "Open Altar", indicating a place of prayer. He added, in his request that I correct the spelling, that maybe we hoped people would change at the Prayer Altar, but we still shouldn't spell "Altar" that way. And he was right.

We have a grammatical problem with this passage in Hosea. Grammatically, everything points to a place called "Adam." In this English translation, the grammar is rendered for the reader as "at Adam," which is reinforced by the phrase at the end of the verse, "they were unfaithful to me there." However, the context seems to refer to a person named Adam, or perhaps to the human race.

And so, we struggle through this passage. If something happened at a place called Adam, we are not sure what that was. But we do know that Adam and Eve, at the beginning of the human story, rebelled against God, they broke the covenant, and proved themselves unfaithful to the God who had created them and walked with them. And Israel was walking down that same road, just like Adam.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Hosea 7

Personal Note: Happy Birthday to my sister, Cheri.