The Wild Ass Alone: Untamed Rejection of God's Yoke

Scripture employs a striking figure in Hosea 8:9—the wild ass alone by itself—to depict the untamed soul refusing the easy yoke of Christ. Man's untamed spirit spurns the Redeemer's love, and no truer picture of the altogether intractable exists than this creature traversing the desert according to its own nature alone.

Ephraim and the Ten Tribes are compared to the wild ass for three weighty reasons:

First, they refused Christ's easy yoke. Their hearts were untamed; stubborn in rejecting God's inviting grace, they ran mad upon their idols as the wild ass gratifies only its low nature.

Second, the wild ass is excessively swift. Though they herd together, one breaks away and separates himself, running alone—precisely when he becomes easy prey to the lion. Ephraim, seeking to be all for himself, became sure prey of the devourer. When the sinner breaks away thinking thereby to be masterless and free, he is given up by God to his own devices.