For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey wandering alone. Ephraim has sold herself to lovers. – Hosea 8:9

Today's Scripture Reading (April 13, 2026): Hosea 8

Wild donkeys still exist, but they are critically endangered. Most of what we see as wild donkeys are actually descendants of domesticated breeds that have gone feral. But there still are wild donkeys in the world. Part of the conservation problem is distinguishing feral domesticated animals from truly wild donkeys; however, it is an important distinction, and the real wild donkeys desperately need our help.

Wild donkeys are very different from wild horses, especially when it comes to social structures. In the wild, horses form permanent herds for protection. Donkeys don't. It is not that they don't come together for protection, because they do. But a donkey is much more fluid in the social structure they adopt. They may gather in large herds when food is plentiful, but when food is scarce, they can shrink their social groups. They also tend to establish territories rather than fighting for harems. And there is evidence that grandmothers, mothers, and daughters stay together to facilitate the teaching of the next generation.

What donkeys seldom do is go it alone. They need other donkeys for protection and support. It might be a small group of donkeys standing together when food is scarce, but donkeys still tend to stand as a group. Something has gone very wrong if a wild donkey stands alone.

It is part of what has happened to Israel or Ephraim. Hosea describes Israel as a wild donkey that has chosen to stand alone; because it is alone, it is also vulnerable. Eventually, Ephraim will have to stand against Assyria, the bully on the world stage during this era, and unless things change, they will do it alone. They would not be the only ones. Nations often seem to think that they can stand alone, but none of them can. We need each other. Eventually, Israel will fall to Assyria because it decides to stand alone. Assyria would eventually fall to Babylon because it stood alone. Babylon would fall to the Medes and Persians because it was alone—next, the Greeks, then the Romans. But the disease is always the same; someone decides that they can stand alone.

Following the Second World War, the two Uniteds, the Kingdom and the States, realized that survival was possible only if the nations stood together. It is the reason behind the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). NATO could stand against the Soviet Union and its satellites and survive, allowing Germany to transform itself once more into an economic power in Europe, because they decided to do so together. Today, as we begin to see cracks develop in NATO, there is no mystery as to what will happen if we go it alone. History has already told our story. And Hosea spoke of it to Israel. Becoming a wild donkey and walking alone in the wilderness means we will fail, regardless of how strong we think we are. We will have sold ourselves to lovers who only want to take us for what they can, and then let us die in the presence of the next pack that decides to stand together.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Hosea 9