The haftorah from Hosea is a challenging one. Challenging in that this prophet was berating the people who had abandoned Hashem. Challenging in that its relationship with the Torah section seems strained, though the reading does start with a reference to Jacob as a shepherd working for his future bride, but then it mentions the prophet Moses who led us out of Egypt, and then refers to the tribe of Ephraim, which at the time loudly declared allegiance to Baal and other idols, so that the dew turns into smoke and the people grown fat are attacked by bears and lions with their infants smashed and their pregnant women ripped apart, but though the king will have fallen and the ground turned to drought, yet will Hashem have Israel flower like the Lily as we speak words of praise with our lips.