Bible Commentaries
Hosea

HOSEA

The Broken Hearted Prophet

The first of the twelve Minor Prophets is Hosea. Based on his personal domestic tragedy, he delivered a series of lessons that Dean Stanley described as "a succession of sighs."

About the Author

Hosea was the son of Beeri, a Hebrew of whom nothing is known. No information exists on Hosea’s birth, early life or his call to the prophetic office. The name Hosea means "salvation" and derives from the same Hebrew root as Joshua and Jesus. The prophet was a citizen of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

Hosea was a poet of the highest order. He was a deeply affectionate man whose heart was broken by the infidelity of his wife.

Upon God’s instruction, the prophet took for his wife, Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim. Following their marriage, she proved unfaithful and left her family. Falling to the depths of immorality, she was finally sold into prostitution. With loving pity, Hosea bought her back and took her home.

Gomer gave birth to three children, each of whom received a name of prophetic significance. The first child was given the name Jezreel which meant "vengeance." It foretold a day of vengeance which was coming upon the dynasty of Jehu and the nation (Hosea 1:4-5). When a daughter was born, he named her Lo-ruhamah, which meant, "not pitied or no more mercy." This signified that the nation’s day of grace was rapidly drawing to a close. Another son was given the name Lo-ammi which meant, "not my people." This implied that Israel had forfeited her position as God’s people. It is obvious that by giving his son this name, the prophet doubted whether the child was his.

Hosea was God’s spokesman to the northern kingdom of Israel. His message was concerned primarily with their problems and needs. Over thirty-five times he addressed Ephraim, the principal tribe of the north. They stood for the whole of the nation. He was the first prophet of and to the north whose message was preserved in written form, and the last to prophesy before the nation’s collapse. Hosea has been called the prophet of "the decline and fall of Israel."

In his own domestic heartbreak and sorrow, Hosea understood how God felt about backsliding Israel who had betrayed Him with their idolatry. His tragic experience became the foundation of his message to his people.

Hosea was the first Hebrew prophet to set forth the great love of God that was later fully revealed in Jesus. His personal heartbreak taught him two unforgettable lessons: Jehovah’s undying love for Israel and the people’s unfaithfulness to Him. He boldly condemned the moral and spiritual degeneracy of the nation, using his own family problems to illustrate the depth of their sin. Hosea was a preacher of repentance, calling his erring neighbors back to God.

The prophet was a keen observer of his nation’s foreign affairs. He noted and rebuked their alliances with heathen nations (See Hosea 5:13; Hosea 7:11; Hosea 10:14; Hosea 11:5; Hosea 12:1; Hosea 14:3).

Hosea has been styled the home missionary to Israel while Jonah was the foreign missionary to Nineveh.

The Message of Hosea

Hosea, by divine inspiration, depicted Israel as a wife that had “departed” from her husband (i.e., God) (Hosea 1:2; Hosea 9:1). Israel’s departure was a heart-wrenching experience for her husband, Jehovah God.    She had committed adultery against her first love. Hosea wrote, “Contend with your mother, contend; for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her whoredoms from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts;” (Hosea 2:2). To effectively communicate God’s feelings toward His departed wife, He requested Hosea to take a wife of whoredom (Hosea 1:2). Hosea faithfully obeyed the Lord, taking Gomer as his wife. Gomer committed adultery against Hosea, having three children (two sons and one daughter) through her acts of whoredom (i.e., Jezreel, Loruhamah, and Loammi). The meaning of Loammi’s name (the last son) is “ye are not my people, and I will not be your God” (Hosea 1:9).

Israel’s Sin Against God

Hosea wrote that God had a “controversy with the inhabitants of the land” due to their sinfulness (Hosea 4:1). The people were “defiled ” in their harlotry (Hosea 5:3; Hosea 6:10). Their sins included sexual immorality (Hosea 4:14), ungratefulness (cf. Hosea 2:8-9; Hosea 9:10; Hosea 9:13; Hosea 11:3-4), idolatry (Hosea 4:17; Hosea 11:2; Hosea 13:1), pride (Hosea 5:5; Hosea 7:10), walking after “man’s commands” (Hosea 5:11; Hosea 11:6), drunkenness (Hosea 4:11; Hosea 7:5), lying (Hosea 10:4), and cheating (Hosea 12:7). Furthermore Israel had completely forgotten God (Hosea 4:6; Hosea 8:14; Hosea 13:6 ). The deeper they went into sin, the less they called upon the name of Jehovah for help in time of need (cf. Hosea 7:7). Rather than looking to God, they turned to their idols (Hosea 4:12; Hosea 11:2), their king (Hosea 10:3; Hosea 13:10), Assyria and Egypt (Hosea 5:13; Hosea 7:11), their mighty men of war (Hosea 10:13), and their wealth (Hosea 12:8). Every aspect of Israel’s society was corrupt. Israel’s prophets (Hosea 9:7-8), princes (Hosea 9:15), king (Hosea 10:3), judges (Hosea 7:7), and priest (Hosea 10:5) perverted justice.

Consequences of Sin

God’s wrath against the disobedient would be poured out upon Israel in the form of the Assyrian Empire (Isaiah 10:5; Hosea 11:5). Israel was to be exiled to Assyria for her refusal to return to the Lord in repentance (Hosea 10:6). Samaria would bear her guilt and she shall die grievous deaths (Hosea 13:16). No king, judge, prophet, priest, idol, other nation, riches, or mighty men would be able to save them from God’s wrath (Hosea 13:10).

The Misdirected Thinking of Israel

Hosea used the contrast of the patriarchs Jacob and Israel to illustrate the misdirected and unspiritual thinking of Israel (Hosea 12:3 ff). The more Israel sinned, the deeper they sunk and the further from God they went (Hosea 7:13; Hosea 9:9; Hosea 13:2). It was not long until Israel viewed God’s laws as “strange” (Hosea 8:12). Israel was simply not thinking right. Hosea wrote, “Their doings will not suffer them to turn unto their God; for the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not Jehovah” (Hosea 5:4). The “spirit of whoredom” appears to be Israel’s problem (cf. Hosea 4:12). The idea of a “spirit” is the direction of one’s thinking. Israel cheated, lied, committed sexual immorality, drank intoxicants, turned to everyone but God for help, and was filled with pride because she had a “spirit of whoredom.” She was “bent on backsliding” (Hosea 11:7). God’s people no longer cared about Him. They looked to the surrounding nations and desired their ways and deities (Hosea 2:13). The grass appeared greener on the other side, yet when they walked in the counsel of the wicked they produced trouble with God.

God’s Desire for His People Then and Now

Though the book of Hosea brings out the truth that God will not allow sin to go unpunished, it also tells of God’s mercy (Hosea 1:10-11; Hosea 2:14-17; Hosea 2:21-23). God’s earnest desire was that His people would repent of their sins (Hosea 14:1). God wants us all to serve him because that is what our hearts truly desire to do. He wants our “words” to reveal a heart of humility and subjection to His will (Hosea 14:2) . God desires His people to “acknowledge” (Hosea 5:15) and confess (Hosea 14:2) their sins. The Lord wants to hear His people reject the help of other entities (such as idols and the Assyrians / cf. Hosea 14:3) in spiritual matters. To such people God will turn away his anger (Hosea 14:4) . Hosea’s final words define the “wise” and “prudent” of all history as those who will humble themselves to God and follow Him with all their hearts (Hosea 14:9). Nothing has changed through the years. God still demands our interest, humility, subjection, and overall heart (Matthew 12:33). The Christian today must be careful not to allow an interest in this world to interfere with their eternal interest in God.

Information About The Book of Hosea

During the days of Jehu, 10^th king of Israel, God had pronounced the end of the Northern kingdom (cf. II Kg. 9; Hosea 1:3-5). Hosea comes on the scene in Israel at time that had just experienced civil war between Israel and Judah (cf. 2 Kings 14:8 ff). Israel, under the reign of Jehoash, attacked Judah (Amaziah) and defeated her taking much spoil. Jeroboam continued the wars against Judah that his father participated in and took Damascus and Hamath by force from Judah (cf. II Kg. 14:28f). The next king of Israel, Zechariah, ruled only six months over Israel before being assassinated by Shallum. Shallum’s reign lasted only one month before being killed by Menahem.

Israel first came in contact with Assyria during the reign of Menahem. Tiglath-pileser (Pul), king of Assyria, had marched on Israel, and Menahem taxed his people to pay off the Assyrians (2 Kings 15:17-22). Pul accepted the money and left (750 B. C.). Five years later Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, marched again on Israel. The tribes of Naphtali, Gad, Reuben and Manasseh were carried away as captives during the days of Pekah, king of Israel (2 Kings 15:29). After this successful campaign against Israel, Assyria became weakened and preoccupied by the rising power of Babylon. Israel regained its strength. Pekah formed an alliance with Rezin, king of Syria, to attack its brother nation Judah (II Kg. 16:5-6). Ahaz foolishly offered Tiglath-pileser all the treasures of the temple of Jehovah for help (2 Kings 16:7-10). Tiglath-pileser agreed and defeated Israel and Syria at Damascus.

Hoshea conspired against Pekah, murdering him and taking the throne (2 Kings 15:30). Eight years were spent in power struggles as Hoshea held office in Israel. During this time Shalmaneser V, the successor of Tiglath-pileser, came up against Israel and utterly defeated them, making them tributary. One last effort was made by Israel to maintain their independence through an alliance with Egypt; however, it failed (II Kg. 17:4). 727 BC effectively ended the kingdom of Israel for good. God’s rod of correction had run its full course.

Judah alone was left as God’s faithful people, yet they too were sinful and subject to God’s wrath. Hezekiah replaced Ahaz as king of Judah in 727 BC. The author of II Kings stated that Hezekiah “did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that David his father had done” (18:3). Sennacherib came up against Hezekiah in 2 Kings 19. Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, and Judah was delivered from the Assyrians. God killed 185,000 Assyrians and gave Judah peace from their enemy. It was during these days of war with Assyria and luxurious living that Isaiah came on the scene to warn God’s people of their ungodly works and motivate them to repent. Israel had before cried out for help from Syria (cf. II Kg. 16:5-6) and Egypt (II Kg. 17:4ff) in the time of their calamity. Judah too called out to Assyria for help (II Kg. 17:7ff). The Lord’s anger was kindled against Israel and Judah not only for not following His commandments and participating in idolatry (II Kg. 17:16) but also for their reliance on other nations for help when they should have prayed to God as did Hezekiah (II Kg. 16:5ff).

Date	King of Israel	king of Judah	king of Assyria	Prophet
788 BC	Jeroboam	Amaziah (15th year)		Jonah
	(II k. 14:23)
761	27th year of Jeroboam	Uzziah (beginning of		Hosea
		Hosea’s Prophecy)		~ 760 – 725 BC
747	Zechariah (6 months)	38th year of Uzziah		Amos
746	Shallum (1 month)	39th year of Uzziah
		(II Kings 15:13)
746	Menahem		Tiglath-Pileser III
			(Pul) (cf. II K. 15:19)
			(745 – 727)
711-735	Pekahiah (2 years)	50th year of Uzziah		Isaiah
				Micah
733	Pekah (20 years)
731		Jotham (16 years)
?		Ahaz (16 years)	Pekah and king of
Overlapping		(sought help from	Syria war with
time with		Tiglath-Pileser (16:7)	Jerusalem (II K.
other kings.			16:5f)
725	Hoshea		Shalmaneser V
	(kingdom of Israel		(727 – 722) ISBE V.
	ends cf. II Kg. 16:7-		1, pp. 335.
	18)
725		Hezekiah
			Sargon II (722 – 705)
			Sennacherib
			(705 – 681)
			Esarhaddon
			(681 – 669)

The Kingdom of Israel will cease due to her whoredom (cf. Hos. 1:2, ): · Israel did not follow God’s commandments and they participated in idolatry (II Kg. 17:16). · Relied on other nations for help when they should have prayed to God as did Hezekiah (cf. II Kings 16:5-6; 17:4ff). · Israel practiced idolatry (cf. II kg. 17:16).

Historical Background

To understand the historical backdrop of Hosea’s ministry, one should read 1 Kings 15:8 to 1 Kings 18:12. His work was done in the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah of Judah and Jeroboam II of Israel. Thus the dates of his ministry were approximately 800-722 B.C.

Socially, Jeroboam’s reign was one of peace, plenty, prosperity and luxury. His neighbors lived lives of ease, extravagance and moral corruption. The courts were corrupt. Violence and bloodshed were visible on every hand. Family life was rapidly disintegrating.

Religion was at a low ebb. Religious leaders eagerly joined the masses in their sin. Jehovah’s worship was commonly mixed with the pagan practices of disgusting Baal worship. So widespread was spiritual ignorance that the people thought they were loyal to God when in reality they were but idolatrous pagans.

The moral climate was terribly degenerate. Swearing, breaking faith, murder, stealing, adultery, lying, drunkenness and dishonesty were commonly practiced (Hosea 4:2; Hosea 4:11-12; Hosea 10:4).

Politically, Jeroboam II ruled Israel as a military despot. Following his long reign, civil strife and anarchy prevailed. Of the next six kings, only Menahem died naturally. Conspiracy was the norm. The nation was in the throes of death.

Mighty Assyria invaded Israel in 734, taking all of the land save Samaria, the capital. In 722, after a lengthy siege, Samaria fell to the troops of Sargon II. The Assyrians deported 27,200 Israelites to work in their labor camps.

Contemporary prophets of Hosea were Amos and Jonah in Israel, and Isaiah and Micah in Judah.

About the Book

The book bears the name of its inspired author. It consists of a number of short oracles or lessons delivered over several years of the prophet’s ministry and later compiled as we have them. Rather than logical arguments, the book is an outpouring of impassioned emotions. Dean Stanley styles it "a prophetic voice from the depths of human misery."

Many commentators feel that in terms of the language, Hosea is one of the most obscure and difficult books to interpret.

The prophet loved to make puns or to play on the meaning of words. The name of each of his children was prophetic (Hosea 1:4-9). Because of the idolatry practiced at Bethel (the house of God) he called it Bethaven (the house of vanity) (Hosea 4:15). Baali, a proper name for master would be rejected because it would remind them of Baalism (Hosea 2:16).

Hosea and the New Testament

Hosea is quoted more than 30 times in the New Testament, more than any other of the Minor Prophets. Some examples are as follows:

"Not my people" (Hosea 1:10) is used in Romans 9:25 and 1 Peter 2:10.

"I desire mercy and not sacrifice" (Hosea 6:6) is used by Christ (Matthew 9:13; Matthew 12:7).

"Out of Egypt have I called my son" (Hosea 11:1) is used in Matthew 2:15.

"0 death, where are thy plagues...?" (Hosea 13:14) is used by Paul (1 Corinthians 15:55-56).

Hosea and the Liberal Critics

Coming to the Bible with their humanistic philosophy, these self-appointed critics seek to dissect and discredit Hosea’s book. They argue that all references to the Southern kingdom of Judah must have been written by some unknown Southern editor. Of course they offer no objective proof, only their subjective assertions. Those students wishing to read a thorough refutation of their views should read Gleason Archer’s A Survey of Old Testament Introduction.

Baal Worship

The root of the problem Hosea was confronting was the corrupt and degrading religion of Baal worship. Baal was the male fertility god of the Canaanites. He was symbolized by the sun and Ashtaroth, his female counterpart, by the moon. The word Baal meant "owner" or "possessor." The Canaanites taught that various baalim (plural) owned the land and gave it fertility. Baal and Ashtaroth were worshiped with ritual fornication, gluttony and drunkenness. Sacrifice of children was sometimes practiced. Shrines were built to Baal on high places, amidst sacred groves of trees. Ashtaroth was worshiped on the flat roofs of their homes. The sensual, indulgent aspects of Baalism was powerfully attractive to the Hebrews. It was the battle ground for Hosea, Amos and Jeremiah, as well as Elijah and Elisha.

The Hebrews who indulged in Baal worship never renounced Jehovah nor stopped worshiping Him. Rather they tried to blend the desired elements of Baalism with Jehovah’s worship. Such a practice is called syncretism. It was totally unacceptable to God and soundly denounced by His prophets.

Hosea the Portrait Painter

The prophet was a master at producing word pictures of sinners. He likened them to "adulterous wives (Hosea 3:1); drunkards (Hosea 4:11); troops of robbers (Hosea 6:9); a half-baked cake (Hosea 7:8); a silly dove (Hosea 7:11); a warped, dangerous bow (Hosea 7:16) and a wild ass (Hosea 8:9)."

What Great Men Have Said of Hosea

Across the ages literary men have been deeply impressed with the message of Hosea. We offer but a sampling of their impressions.

"We must reckon him among the greatest religious geniuses which the world has ever produced" G. H. Cornill.

"In all the world’s literature, there is no record of human love like that of Hosea" (George Robinson).

"No prophet of Israel outranked him in appreciation of the eternal mercy" (S.F. Cadman).

"For pathos and beauty, his book is unsurpassed in the Old Testament" (C. J. Harrell).

"His words are struck out on the anvil of a suffering human heart" (John Patterson).

"In coming near to Hosea, we come very near to Christ" (Merrill).

Keys That Unlock His Message

Two key verses capture the message of the book:

"O Israel, return unto Jehovah thy God: for thou hast fallen by thy iniquity" (Hosea 14:1).

"I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely..." (Hosea 14:4).

The key words are "return," which is used fifteen times, calling Israel back to God and "whoredom," used sixteen times to refer not only to their immorality but to their unfaithfulness to Jehovah.

The key characters are Hosea, God’s prophet, his unfaithful wife Gomer; Jehovah, the God of love and his unfaithful bride, the nation of Israel.

Purposes of the Book

Hosea writes to make his people realize the awfulness of their sin and the jeopardy in which they stand (Hosea 4:1-3). His goal is to bring them to repentance and restoration to God (Hosea 14:1-3). He sets forth the great and wonderful love of God in hope of convincing his people of the genuineness of it and thus winning them back.

Exposition

The book of Hosea naturally divides into two major sections:

I. The Prophet’s Personal Experiences (Hosea 1-3).

II. His Messages to an Unfaithful Nation (Hosea 4-14).

THE FIRST DISCOURSE

The Private Life of the Prophet (Hosea 1:1 to Hosea 3:5)

The authority of the prophet’s message is declared in verse one when he tells us that it is "the word of Jehovah that came unto" him. He marks his place in time so that we might know it is a true historical event of which we read -- not some myth or novel. The days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah and those of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, stretch from c.a. 800-722 B. C. Thus Hosea had an exceedingly long ministry -- extending perhaps seventy years.

His Marriage and Family (Hosea 1:2-11)

The first divine instruction the prophet received was to "Go take unto thee, a wife of whoredom and children of whoredom; for the land doth commit great whoredom, departing from Jehovah" (Hosea 1:2). This is the most difficult verse of the book. Three views are generally found among the commentaries:

1. That the words are to be understood literally. They reason that Baal worship had made sexual promiscuity respectable. Young maidens were taught to sacrifice their virginity at the altar of Baal. Multitudes of women were associated with the Baal temples as "sacred prostitutes." Hence they reason that Gomer could have grown up in that moral atmosphere as a normal course of things. However, most students of Scripture find it hard to believe that God would place such a painful burden on the shoulders of his prophet. Also, Jehovah’s high priests were specifically instructed to marry virgins which thus excluded literally marrying a woman of whoredom (Leviticus 21:13-14). Would less be expected of his prophets?

2. Some view the story as a parable with no historical basis. They interpret it as a literary device used to illustrate the nature of Israel’s unfaithfulness to God. Of course there are no indications that this record is anything other than fact. This is a purely subjective approach.

3. The majority of evangelical scholars hold that Gomer was a decent woman at the time of her marriage, but fell into immorality afterwards. She absorbed such an attitude and life-style from living in a degenerate society. This is the present author’s position. This view is reinforced by the words "and children of whoredom" since they were not yet conceived when the words were spoken, the statement looks to the future. So also does the expression "a wife of whoredom." He took for a wife "Gomer the daughter of Diblaim" (Hosea 1:3). Nothing is known of his wife or her father save their names, her unfaithfulness to her husband and consequent fall into a degraded life.

The Children Born and Their Prophetic Names (Hosea 1:3-9)

Gomer "conceived and bare him a son. And Jehovah said call his name Jezreel" (Hosea 1:3). Without question the first child was Hosea’s. Of the second child there is doubt. Of the third, he said it was not his (Hosea 1:8-9). God gave the name Jezreel which meant "vengeance." It signified that a day of vengeance was coming upon the dynasty of Jehu and the nation. It was at Jezreel that Jehu had smitted Joram, king of Israel and Ahaziah, king of Judah (2 Kings 9:17-28). Evidently this punishment fell on Jehu’s dynasty not just because he executed judgment, but because of the fiendish delight with which he pursued his bloody task. Furthermore, Jehu and his descendants took up the very idolatry he pretended to stamp out (2 Kings 10:29-31). To "break the bow of Israel" was to break their military power symbolized by the battle bow.

The second child that Gomer gave birth to was a girl named Lo-ruhamah (Hosea 1:6). This name, given by God, meant "not pitied or no more mercy." It declared that the nation’s day of grace was rapidly drawing to a close. It is perhaps noteworthy that the writer tells us she "conceived and bare" but does not say that "she bare him" a daughter (Compare Hosea 1:3). While the northern kingdom would be destroyed, God yet promised mercy and deliverance to the house of Judah (Hosea 1:7). He predicts however that their salvation from the invading Assyrians would not be by their military power (Hosea 1:7). When in 701, Sennacherib’s forces had taken all the South save Jerusalem and it was under siege, God destroyed 185,000 of the Assyrian troops in a night. It was done, "not by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle..." (2 Kings 18:13 to 2 Kings 19:37).

Gomer conceived a third time "and bare a son. And Jehovah said call his name, Lo-ammi...." (Hosea 1:8-9). This name was telling for it meant "not my people." This, with the fact that the writer simply states that "she bare a son," indicates that Hosea believed himself not to be the father of the child. But the name also declared to Israel that they were no longer God’s special people.

In Hosea 1:10-11, a ray of hope breaks through Hosea’s dreary message. He predicts that in spite of impending judgment on the nation, the day will come when the divided kingdom will be reunited under one king. It will be a day of great prosperity for the nation. They will grow to be as numerous as "the sand of the sea..." He then uses the names of two of his children to show that judgments can turn into blessings: "Where it was said unto them, ’Ye

are not my people (Lo-ammi), it shall be said ’Ye are the Sons of the living God.’" "And the children of Judah and...Israel shall be gathered together... for great shall be the day of Jezreel. (The word Jezreel not only meant "vengeance" but "whom God soweth"). Thus God would once more sow or replant the Hebrews in Israel, their own land. This promise is most likely dual in fulfillment, referring first of all to their return from Babylonian captivity—as one people with one head in 536 B. C., then in a greater, grander sense referring to the Messianic age when all nations would be united under Christ. Paul makes "ye are not my people" refer to Gentiles who can now become sons of the living God (Romans 9:25-26).

THE SECOND DISCOURSE (Hosea 2:1-23)

The Unfaithful Wife is Cast Out (Hosea 2:1-7)

This discourse opens with the prophet saying to his children that their mother is "not my wife, neither am I her husband." The cause of her rejection is her "whoredoms" and "adulteries" (Hosea 2:2). He speaks of stripping her naked and setting her forth as an abandoned child. To strip an adulterous wife of her clothing and drive her into the streets was a humiliating punishment practiced in ancient times and even in modern times in some Asian societies. To make her "as a wilderness" and "like a dry land" and "slay her with thirst" means that she would be left to provide for herself with no provision or support from her husband (Hosea 2:3).

He then thinks of his little girl which God had named Lo-ruhamah--"no more mercy" and with a broken heart says to his children that he will extend "no more mercy" to their unfaithful mother (Hosea 2:4). Here also he makes it clear that her last two children were "children of whoredom" (Hosea 2:4).

Hosea was especially hurt by the thankless ingratitude of his wife. She boasted that her lovers had and would provide her "bread and water," "wool and flax," "oil and drink." He tells her that those men whom she called her lovers, after using her, would leave her out in the cold. He reminds her that one day she will realize what she had lost and in her extremity she would wish to return to her "first husband" (Hosea 2:7).

Gomer’s Sin Is Typical of Israel’s Unfaithfulness (Hosea 2:8-13)

The message shifts from Gomer’s ingratitude toward Hosea to that of Israel’s ingratitude toward Jehovah. They gladly took the material gifts which the God of Abraham had given and then used them as sacrifices to Baal, the idol god of their Canaanite neighbors. We must keep in mind that Baal was the supposed god of fertility who was thought to provide crops and offspring to their herds and flocks. Forgetting that it was Jehovah who had really supplied their prosperity, they gave gifts that were rightfully His to Baal.

In view of this thoughtless ingratitude, God declared "I (will) take back my grain...and my new wine, and ...my wool and my flax” (Hosea 2:9). Like an unfaithful wife, Israel would be driven out of her homeland in shame and "none shall deliver her" or save her from his judgment (Hosea 2:10).

Her feasts and new moons would cease because they would be defeated and deported by the Assyrians. Since she had given Baal credit for her fruitful vineyards and orchards, God would allow trees to grow up in them while they languish in captivity (Hosea 2:12). He would "visit upon her the days of Baalim" (Hosea 2:13). To "visit" is a common Hebrew expression for "judgment." Baalim is the plural of Baal. There were hundreds of Baals as every community had its local Baal shrine and image.

We should probably conclude from Hosea 2:13 that Gomer had "decked herself with her earrings and her jewels and went after her lovers" and forgot her husband -- and Israel had done the same.

The Discipline of National Calamity (Hosea 2:14-20)

Having promised to drive unfaithful Israel out of her homeland for her sins, God now tells them that his purpose in so doing is not to destroy them but to correct them and win back their love.

To allure her, and bring her "into the wilderness" looks back to the days of the Exodus from Egypt when He led the nation into the wilderness, not to destroy them, but to save them (Hosea 2:14).

To "give her...the valley of Achor for a door of hope" (Hosea 2:15), looks back to the judgment of Achor (Joshua 7:1-26). Violating God’s prohibition about taking the spoils of Jericho for personal use, Achan brought the whole nation under God’s disfavor. When he was exposed, his judgment was execution by stoning in the valley of Achor. Achor appropriately meant "troubling" for Achan’s sin had brought trouble to the nation. With sin removed from their midst, the Hebrews went from the Valley of Achor to win a mighty victory at Ai and ultimately to conquer all the land. So the judgment of Hosea’s generation by the Assyrian’s would ultimately result in restoration to their homeland.

When their captivity was past, they would call Jehovah Ishi and not Baali. The word baali was a legitimate word, meaning master. It could be appropriately used to refer to the true God. However, as they contemplated the disastrous results of their idolatrous worship of the Canaanite Baal gods, they would shudder at the thought of using such a term for Jehovah. Hence, they would call him Ishi, which meant "husband."

The promised covenant with the beasts of the field, birds and creeping things means poetically that God will make the wild creatures of the earth to live at peace with the restored nation—not destroying their crops and preying on their flocks and herds (Hosea 2:18 a). To "break the bow and sword" is explained as "taking the battle out of the land" so they can lie down in safety (Hosea 2:18 b).

As Hosea was to accept his penitent wife back into his home, so God would again betroth Israel unto him (Hosea 2:20) at the time of their restoration. That occurred in 536 B. C. when Cyrus the Persian sent the captives home to their land.

Hosea 2:21-23 continues the description of the blessings God will bestow on the restored nation. Along with the covenant with the wild creatures he "will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth." God will hear and answer their request for rain for their crops and the earth will respond with crops of grain, new wine, and oil (see The Amplified Bible).

"They shall answer Jezreel" is explained "I will sow her unto me in the earth." Not only does Jezreel mean "vengeance," it can be translated "whom God soweth" (see footnote). The meaning is when God brings his chastened and purified people home, he will sow them as seed in their homeland. We see here his delight in punning with words. For in this and the lines following he does so with the names of his three children. God will then have mercy on her that had not obtained mercy, i.e., Lo-rohamah. In that future day of blessing, God "will say to them that were not my (His) people," i.e., Lo-ammi, "Thou art my people..."

THIRD DISCOURSE

The Broken Marriage Restored (Hosea 3:1-5)

God instructed Hosea to accept his adulterous wife back into his home. "Her friend" of Hosea 3:1, almost certainly refers to Hosea himself (see the footnote). His willingness to do this, although not obligated by the law of Moses (Deuteronomy 2:4), made it an act of grace. So God, although not morally obligated, would in grace receive Israel back unto himself.

The "cakes of raisins" most likely refer to "sacred cakes" offered to their idols. Jeremiah rebukes women who made "cakes to the queen of heaven," i.e., Ashtaroth (Jeremiah 7:18).

The Ransom Paid (Hosea 3:2)

"Fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley" equaled thirty pieces of silver which Hosea paid to secure the return of his wife (see Cheyne in the Cambridge Bible Commentary). That was the value of a slave (Exodus 21:32). From this we can assume that she had become the slave of someone and out of his deep love, her husband redeemed her. One cannot help but see the analogy of God’s love in saving Israel from Egyptian slavery in days past and from Assyrian/Babylonian bondage in days to come.

Her Restoration (Hosea 3:3-5)

In all of Hosea’s words, we must see the analogy of Gomer’s infidelity and Israel’s unfaithfulness to God and God’s forgiving grace and mercy as seen in Hosea’s willingness to forgive and receive back his errant wife.

When Hosea said to Gomer, "Thou shalt abide for many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be any man’s wife...," he was saying that she would be received on probation and providing that she would demonstrate true repentance and a changed life he would then restore to her full conjugal privileges. "Abide for me" in the Hebrew literally means "sit still," implying she must stay at home and cease her "running around." Similarly, the children of Israel would be detained in captivity, where true repentance would have to be demonstrated, before God would restore them to his home, i.e., the land of Canaan. They were detained, first by Assyria from 721-612 B.C., then by Babylon 612-538. In 536, Cyrus the Persian issued the proclamation that finally allowed them to go home.

Their days of captivity would be spent without king or prince, i.e., without self-government as they were political prisoners. "Without sacrifice, pillar, ephod, or teraphim" means they would not pursue their idolatrous rites of Baal worship:

(1) Their captives would likely not allow them the privilege of worship.

(2) They would realize that it was those practices that had brought them to their sad condition.

"Pillars" were obelisks, perhaps phallic symbols. They were forbidden (Deuteronomy 16:22; Exodus 23:24). "Ephod" generally referred to the priest’s garment, but in context it refers to an idolatrous artifact as in (Judges 8:27). Gideon made an ephod.... "and all Israel played the harlot after it...." "Teraphim" were images of household gods. Some of these were small enough to be easily portable. Rachel stole her father’s teraphim and carried them with her (Genesis 31:19; Genesis 31:34). Micah of Ephraim had "himself gods, and he made an ephod and teraphim...." (Judges 17:5). Putting away of all their relics of idolatry would be one of the marks of repentance God would look for once they were allowed to come home. With contrite hearts they would seek Jehovah and "David their king;" not literally David, the Son of Jesse, since he was long dead. By metonymy "David" the founder of the Davidic dynasty stands for his line of kings. The ten tribes of Northern Israel had rebelled against David’s heir, Rehoboam, and chosen Jeroboam I for their king. All of which was contrary to God’s will. In the long dreary years of captivity, they would realize their great mistake and gladly pledge their allegiance to the dynasty of David and the kingdom of Judah. This they did when God restored the nation to their homeland in 536 B. C. The Northern Kingdom was forever extinct. "The latter days" here simply means in the future when by God’s grace they would return home. Cheyne in the Cambridge Bible renders it, "in the days to come." Perhaps, typically, this could refer to Christ the greater son of David, but such is not the primary measuring.

A Collection of Messages to Israel (Hosea 4:1 to Hosea 14:9)

With the fourth chapter, the prophet leaves behind the analogy of his unfaithful wife. He records for us eight lessons that he preached, during his ministry, to the unfaithful citizens of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

FOURTH DISCOURSE

The Cause of National Decay and Decline (Hosea 4:1-19)

In this chapter, Hosea blasts his people for their ignorance of God’s Word. That ignorance was the root of all their sins. God is presented as addressing his people. Hosea simply records His words. The indictment of the nation charged, "there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in the land" (Hosea 4:1). The consequence of this spiritual ignorance is a breakdown of the moral fiber of the community. "There is nought but swearing and breaking faith, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery: they break out (i.e., into acts of violence, Amplified Bible), and blood toucheth blood" (i.e., bloodshed is everywhere (Keil) (Hosea 4:1-2).

"Therefore shall the land mourn" (Hosea 4:3), is explained by the parallel line, "everyone that dwells therein shall languish." Hebrew writers usually expressed themselves by repetition. A highly wrought poetic flourish is immediately explained by a more literal statement. The land, i.e., dirt rocks, and trees cannot mourn, but the inhabitants can. That birds, wild beasts, and fish are to be taken away, poetically means that all the inhabitants of the nation will be carried into captivity. Invading armies are little concerned with wildlife. Their interest is in the people (Hosea 4:3).

Hosea 4:4 is obscure. It is possible that the prophet represents the people responding to his rebuke by saying, "let no man strive, neither let any man reprove" to whom he retorts that they were "as they strive with the priest." Moses had instructed the Hebrews to take all serious problems of judgment to the priests. The man who was presumptuous and refused to accept their judgment was sentenced to death (Deuteronomy 17:8-12). Hosea thus brands, his hearers as "priest strivers" (Keil). Their penalty would be to stumble, i.e., fall in the coming judgment. "Thou," the people shall fall, their "prophets" also would fall (i.e., corrupt religious leaders, not faithful prophets such as Hosea). Their "mother" was their nation (Hosea 4:5).

Lack of knowledge had led their religious leaders into terrible sin (Hosea 4:6-10). "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." This oft-quoted verse is rarely used in its proper context. God is actually indicting the priesthood for failing in their duty to teach the people God’s word. Because of their failure, God’s people are destroyed.

The sins of the priests were numerous:

1. They had "rejected knowledge,"

2, They had "forgotten the law of God,"

3. They had sinned against God;

4. They fed on the sin of God’s people;

5. They "set their heart on their iniquity;"

6. They had "left off taking heed to Jehovah" (Hosea 4:6-10).

The penalties for failing to do their spiritual duties were:

1. God would reject them and they would be no priest to him;

2. Their children would be forgotten, i.e., not given the privilege to serve Jehovah as priests;

3. Their glory would be turned into shame;

4. God would punish them for their doings;

"They feed on the sin of my people" (Hosea 4:8). When the Hebrews sinned, they had to bring a "sin-offering" to the priest for their forgiveness (Leviticus 4:27-31). "The priest that offereth it for sin shall eat it..." (Leviticus 6:26). The priest’s job was to so instruct the people that they would go and sin no more. Hosea charges the priests of his day with encouraging sin because it brought them sin-offerings which they could eat.

"It shall be like people, like priest" (Hosea 4:9). Again we see a verse commonly quoted out of context. The prophet means as God will inflict punishment on the people for their sins, so will he punish the priests who did nothing to discourage their sin.

"They shall play the harlot and not increase" (Hosea 4:10), alludes, to the degenerate Baal-worship which even the priests had embraced. Baal, the god of fertility, was worshiped with ritual fornication. Priests and priestesses of Baal served as "sacred prostitutes." It was thought that such rites would prompt Baal to bless their herds, their crops and even their wives with children. (See Jeremiah 2:23-28 and Amos 2:7-8 for similar rebukes).

Lack of knowledge had led the masses into idolatry. The "whoredom and wine" that took away knowledge has reference to their Baal worship (Hosea 4:11). Along with the ritual sex were gluttonous banquets and indulgence in strong drink. Such sensual indulgences had numbed their minds to God’s truth.

The "stock and staff” which the people asked for counsel, refers to their idolatrous images (Hosea 4:12). Rather than dignify them by calling them gods, Hosea described them as pieces of wood. "They prayed to a log" (Huxtable). Some of the ancient people had sacred sticks or rods that were engraved with images of their gods or magical inscriptions. Such can yet be seen in Africa. Nebuchadnezzar consulted his teraphim for instructions regarding the siege of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 21:21-23). God’s people should have consulted their God in his appointed way, i.e., through the high priest rather than as their pagan neighbors did. (See Numbers 27:21).

"They played the harlot" both spiritually and literally by embracing the sensuous practices of Baalism. They departed "from under their God" can mean that they were no longer in submission to him. Given the forceful language in the following verses describing the idolatrous sexual practices it may mean as a wife, Israel is no longer faithful to her husband, Jehovah. She is not "under him" as a wife should properly be to her husband. She is "under Baal" (Hosea 4:12 b). Ezekiel used similar strong words. (See Ezekiel 16:30-34).

"They sacrificed on the tops of mountains," in groves of trees when they worshiped Baal. When asked why they were going to those places and what they were doing, they offered the lame excuse, "because the shadow (shade) thereof is good" (Hosea 4:13).

Their daughters and brides committed adultery by sacrificing their virginity to Baal. All the people, both men and women, were deeply involved in the wicked immoral practice. Because of it, their nation would be overthrown in judgment.

The women would not be singled out for punishment as harlots and adulteresses because their men were equally guilty (Hosea 4:14). Moses legislated harsh penalties against adultery. Both "the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death" (Leviticus 20:10). The daughter of a priest that played the harlot profaned both herself and her father. "She shall be burnt with fire" (Leviticus 21:9). We can imagine an outraged father, husband, or fiancee demanding satisfaction for the sexual promiscuity of their given lady---yet those very men had themselves visited the "holy women" at the Baal shrine.

A Warning to Judah to Avoid Ephraim’s

Sins of Ignorance and Stubbornness (Hosea 4:15-19)

The guilt of the northern kingdom of Israel is established. "Yet let not Judah (the Southern Kingdom) offend." The offense against which he warns is that perpetuated at Gilgal and Bethaven, i.e., Baal worship at the shrines located at these sites (Hosea 4:15). Bethaven is a pun made on the name of Bethel. Bethel meant "house of God." It was so named by Jacob to commemorate the dream and assurance God gave him at that place (See Genesis 28:10-22). Hosea refused to call it God’s house because of the golden calf enshrined there (1 Kings 12:28-30). Rather, he chose to call it Beth (house) aven (emptiness) which means "house of emptiness" (H. Hailey).

They swore "as Jehovah liveth" but they lived as though He did not exist. Also, their oaths were false because they profaned his name by their idolatry and ungodly conduct (Leviticus 19:12).

A Picture Portrait of a Sinful People (Hosea 4:16-19)

Israel was "like a stubborn heifer" (Hosea 4:16). Those who have worked with cattle can readily see the point he makes.

They would be fed "as a lamb in a large place," i.e., in an open field without fences for protection. Thus their enemies would make easy prey of them.

"Ephraim is joined to his idols: let him alone" (Hosea 4:17), i.e., mated as with a wife. He is hopelessly entangled. Let him be abandoned (See Jeremiah 7:16).

"Their drink is become sour" (Hosea 4:18). This phrase is very obscure. It may be understood to mean "when their intoxication is gone they commit whoredom" (Keil). i.e., they move from one sin to another. More likely it means that their carefree, indulgent life has now been turned into distress and sorrow -- even as the joviality of social drinking is lost when the stomach is made nauseous by over-drinking. Thus, once happy carefree Israel now retches like a vomiting drunk.

"They play the harlot continually," i.e., their appetite for sin is insatiable.

He alludes to their immoral idolatrous practices.

"The rulers dearly love shame." They have no sense of shame. They pursued their vile practices as a young man does the maiden whom he loves.

"The wind bath wrapped her up in its wings..." (Hosea 4:19). This means that they are caught in the throes of a destructive storm which will be their ruin. (Compare Isaiah 57:13 for the similar use of this figure).

FIFTH DISCOURSE

An Address to the Nation’s Religious

and Political Leaders (Hosea 5:2-15)

In this message, the prophet declares God’s judgment upon the priests, the nation (Israel) and the royal family (house of the king). By their wicked ways they had led God’s people into destruction like that of an animal caught in a snare. Tabor was located on the west side of Jordan and Mizpah on the east. Thus the whole land was caught in their destructive traps (Hosea 5:1).

Hosea 5:2 is admitted by all expositors to be obscure and difficult in the Hebrew. Translations of the words have widely varied. This is illustrated in the following texts:

"The revolters are gone deep in making slaughter; but I am a rebuker of them all" (ASV).

"They have made deep the pit of Shittim, but I will chastise them" (RSV).

"The revolters are deeply sunk in corruption and slaughter, but 1 (the Lord God) am a rebuke and a chastisement for them all" (Amplified).

"And excesses they have spread out deeply, but I am a chastisement to them all" (Keil).

"They understand from the very foundations how to spread out transgression" (Delitzch).

The general sense seems to be that he notes how widespread was the moral corruption of the nation, and that God, through his prophet, was rebuking all.

"I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me," reminds them of God’s omniscience because of which “they will not escape judgment" (Hosea 5:3).

Six reasons for her judgment are set forth in (Hosea 5:3-7).

1. They had "played the harlot." By turning to Baal they were as an unfaithful wife and they literally practiced adultery in their pagan rites.

2. They would not "turn unto their God" (Hosea 5:4). So addicted were they to their cherished sins that they would not consider forsaking them and returning to God.

3. "The pride of Israel testified to his face" (Hosea 5:5). From the beginning, pride was the chief sin of Ephraim, the leading tribe of the Northern Kingdom. That pride was especially seen in their resentment towards Judah. They resented Judah being designated the kingly tribe. They resented removal of the ark from Shiloh to Jerusalem. They hesitated to accept David as their king. They eagerly led the rebellion against Rehoboam, Solomon’s son. Dr. Pusey in his commentary on the Minor Prophets devotes a page to the scriptural background of Ephraim’s pride (Pusey is published in the Albert Barnes Commentaries by Baker Book House). To "testify" means to bear witness or testify. "To his face" means openly or publicly.

4. Both Israel and Judah "stumble in their iniquity" (Hosea 5:5). To stumble means to fall into calamity. The stumbling block that would bring them down was their iniquity. Ephraim, who was so self-confident and sure of himself, would stumble and perish. Judah who had also taken up Baalism would likewise fall but later be restored.

5. They offered insincere and therefore vain worship unto Jehovah. They never quit their Jehovah worship, they just added their idolatry to it: such we call syncretism. Implications are that they might have been profuse in their sacrifices as a cover for their Baalism.

6. They "dealt treacherously against Jehovah; for they have borne strange children" (Hosea 5:7). Like Hosea’s adulterous wife, who conceived with strangers, Israel had been unfaithful. As Gomer had borne children who did not belong to Hosea, so that generation of unfaithful Hebrews would bear a generation of children who would be even more disloyal and further removed from God.

The consequences for their apostasy are announced. God "hath withdrawn himself from them" (Hosea 5:6), and "the new moon (shall) devour them" (Hosea 5:7). The saddest day in the history of any people is when God gives up on them. The new moon comes once a month. This by metonymy means in a short time their judgment would come at the hands of the Assyrians.

Their Coming Judgment Described (Hosea 5:8-14)

In the Spirit, Hosea sees their judgment bursting forth as the Assyrian armies invade their land. He cries out "blow the trumpet" of alarm that the people may be warned. The invasion moved from north to south: first Gibeah, then Ramah, Bethaven and Benjamin. He predicts that mighty Ephraim will become a desolation. Notice his total confidence in his prophecy. It shall "surely be" (Hosea 5:8).

God’s wrath, like a ravaging flood, will sweep over Judah because his princes (leaders) are like those who remove landmarks. To move property boundaries for one’s own advantage is an ancient sin which God always condemns (See Deuteronomy 19:14; Deuteronomy 27:17). Such was an act of dishonesty, greed and oppression. Judah’s rulers were like that. Note the simile in Hosea 5:10.

Ephraim would be "crushed in judgment because he was content to walk after man’s commandment"(Hosea 5:11). This they did despite the degree of their predicted ruin, i.e., to be broken to pieces. Such judgments were promised by Moses (Deuteronomy 28:33). The reason for their destruction is also stated. They were "content to walk after man’s command" rather than God’s. Numerous verses warn against this danger. Man cannot direct his own steps (Jeremiah 10:23). "Cursed is the man that trusteth in man...and whose heart departeth from Jehovah” (Jeremiah 17:5). "In vain do they worship me, teaching as their doctrines the commandments of men" (Matthew 15:9). One "man’s command" they chose to follow was that of Jereboam I who said that it was too far to go to Jerusalem, hence they should worship his golden calves at Dan and Bethel (1 Kings 12:28).

"Therefore" draws a conclusion from the preceding. Because of their sin, God would be to the sinful nations as a moth, i.e., a clothes moth and "rottenness," i.e., wood worms or termites, or dry rot (RSV). The picture is that of slow steady internal decay of the two nations that would ultimately destroy them (Hosea 5:12).

When the apostate peoples realized they were in trouble, rather than repent and seek Jehovah’s favor and protection, they foolishly appealed to Assyria for help. Menahem of Israel appealed to Pul of Assyria for help (2 Kings 15:19-20) and Ahaz of Judah requested help of Tiglath-pileser (2 Kings 16:7-8). "Jareb" was a descriptive title of the Assyrian monarchs. It meant, "the warrior of fighting king" (Keil). Jareb could not "heal" or "cure" their wound. They had offended Jehovah. Only He could save them (Hosea 5:13).

In judgment God would be "as a young lion" to the house of Israel. He would pounce upon them, tear them, carry them away as a strong young lion would his prey and no one would be able to save them (Hosea 5:14). The purpose of God’s judgment and the exile He would impose on them is stated in (Hosea 5:15), "till they acknowledge their offense and seek my (God’s) face...earnestly." Thus the Assyrian invasion and captivity was not intended to exterminate them, but to refine, purify and salvage them.

SIXTH DISCOURSE

Israel’s Fickleness Rebuked (Hosea 6:1 to Hosea 7:16)

By some, Hosea 6:1-3 is attributed to the people who, frightened at his previous threats, quickly say, "come, and let us return unto Jehovah." Others see these lines as the words of the prophet, speaking for God, inviting his erring brethren to come home to God. The former seems most plausible to the present author.

Hosea 6:1 of this section looks back to Hosea 5:14. Like a lion he had torn them. If they will merely return, they surmise, he will heal them. "Two or three days" means they thought their judgment but a passing thing. Little do they realize that they will be deported and held captive upwards of 200 years.

Hosea 6:3, "let us follow on to know Jehovah," looks back to Hosea 4:6 where he reproved their lack of knowledge. God then exposed their double mindedness, saying: "0 Ephraim...0 Judah what shall I do unto thee?" We can see the Lord shaking his head in dismay. Their "goodness is a morning cloud (fog) and as the dew that goeth away early." Their repentance was as transient as dew and fog (Hosea 6:4).

God "hewed them by the prophets and slew them by the words of (his) mouth" (Hosea 6:5). With vivid strokes he describes the preaching of his prophets to be like chopping down a tree with repeated blows of the ax, or like a warrior slashing his enemy with his sword. The message of judgment the prophets announced had been as clear as the light of sun. They could not excuse themselves by pleading that they heard not heard or understood the warning (Hosea 6:5).

"For I desire goodness, and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings," looks back to their eagerness to appease their offended God by offering yet another sacrifice. God demands much more than outward ritual. He wants goodness and knowledge of His will which is reflected in righteous conduct. To properly understand Hosea 6:6, the ellipsis must be supplied. Thus it reads: "I desire goodness, and not sacrifices (only) and the knowledge of God more than burn offerings (alone)." He does not exclude, sacrifices, rather, he stresses that outward ritual without inner goodness is profitless (Hosea 6:6).

They had transgressed the covenant like Adam (Hosea 6:7), i.e., with full knowledge of God’s will, and by choice. He alludes to Adam’s eating the forbidden fruit (Gen. 2:1647; 3:6).

"There have they dealt treacherously" probably indicates a gesture towards a hill or grove with its Baal shrine. Perhaps he speaks especially of Dan, Bethel or one of the other centers of idolatry (Hosea 6:7).

Having charged them with treachery, he offers as evidence the following:

1. Gilead is "stained with blood" (Hosea 6:8). Gilead was a district east of Jordan, but Ramoth Gilead was a city of refuge for the tribe of Gad (Deuteronomy 4:43). It was also a city of Levites and priests (Josh. 21:34; 38). There, the innocent man who had shed blood was to be given safety. Being a city of priests, its citizens should have been workers of righteousness, but it was filled with "them that work iniquity," i.e., wicked priests. "It is stained with blood," literally "tracked with bloody foot-prints" (Cheyne). Innocent lives had been taken there and not properly avenged (Hosea 6:8)

2. Shechem was also a city of refuge and a community of Levites (Joshua 20:7-9). The priests thereof were as vicious as a troop of robbers. The roads to and from Shechem were notorious for highwaymen who preyed on travelers. The priests were no better for "they have committed lewdness," i.e., outrageous sins (Hosea 6:9).

3. "Whoredom" was common throughout the land. "House of Israel" is the entire nation. Their whoredom was both spiritual, i.e., idolatry, and actual as they practiced the rituals of Baalism. To God’s righteous eyes it was "a horrible thing." So familiar are we with sin, it is difficult even for Christians to perceive the heinous nature of transgression (Hosea 6:10).

Judah will not escape the "harvest" of judgment appointed for her (Hosea 6:11 a). It is best to end the chapter at Hosea 6:11 a. The last phrase is clearly understood when joined with Hosea 7:1. Remember that uninspired men have divided our Scripture into chapters and verses. Also the ancients did not use our modem marks of punctuation.

Thus we read:

"When I bring back the captivity of my people,

When I would heal Israel,

Then is the iniquity of Ephraim is uncovered

And the wickedness of Samaria" (Hosea 7:1).

God’s grace and his desire to heal the nation, was frustrated by their wickedness. When the outer facade was removed, he found "falsehood" and "robbery" which stand representative of a multitude of similar sins. Worse still, was their smugness. Their hearts were hard, thus they felt no wrong in their actions. They did not think that God would hold them accountable. God does however see their deeds (they are before his face) and they will not pass untended (Hosea 7:2).

In Hosea 7:3-7 the prophet, in poetic fashion, describes a typical conspiracy and assassination of one of their kings. We must imagine a royal banquet with the conspirators laughing and drinking with the unsuspecting king. When the king is thoroughly intoxicated, they pounce on him and strike him down. The RSV offers a lucid translation:

"By their wickedness they make the king glad,

and the princes by their treachery.

They are all adulterers." (Hosea 7:3-4 a).

He then uses a similitude of a baker to describe their plot of assassination:

"They are like a heated oven,

whose baker ceases to stir the fire,

from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.

On the day of our king, the princes

became sick with the heat of wine;

he stretched out his hand with mockers.

For like an oven their hearts burn with intrigue;

all night their anger smolders;

in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.

All of them are hot as an oven,

and they devour their rulers.

All their kings have fallen;

and none of them calls upon me" (Hosea 7:4-7)

"They make the king glad" with flattery or lies (Hosea 7:3). The conspirators are called "adulterers" because they are disloyal, unfaithful friends and servants (Hosea 7:4).

We must picture the ancient earthen ovens in which bread was cooked. The baker starts his fire early so the oven will be properly heated when he is ready to place the bread within. The fuel is allowed to burn down to embers while he kneads the dough and gives the leaven time to work. This might take the night to accomplish. With the morning, all things are ready for the baking (Hosea 7:4-6).

"The days of our king" would likely be his birthday or an anniversary, for example, of his coronation. The assassins lead the unsuspecting monarch into excessive drinking. The king stretches out his hand with scoffers. Likely in his intoxication he enters into the buffoonery of his court jesters or that of his treacherous guests. Finally, when he is overcome with strong drink, staggering drunk or passed out, the evil deed is done (Hosea 7:5-7).

"All their kings, are fallen" (Hosea 7:7 b). Of the kings of the North, Nadab, Elah, Zimri, Tibni, Jehoram, Zachariah, Shallum, Pekahiah and Pekah were murdered. (See 2 Kings 15:8 to 2 Kings 17:6.) The prophet paints a picture of a nation in the throes of death.

In Hosea 7:8-16, Hosea, exposes the folly of his nation. With biting sarcasm he shames the people.

1. They had "mixed" with their heathen neighbors and absorbed their forbidden vices (Deuteronomy 18:9-14). They had made alliance with foreigners which God forbade (Exodus 23:31-33). The psalmist bemoaned the fact that they had "mingled themselves with the nations and learned their works, and served their idols" (Psalms 106:35-38).

2. "Ephraim is a cake not turned" (Hosea 7:8). Ephraim, the principal tribe, stands for the entire northern kingdom. He likens the nation to a cake of fry bread that was not properly turned hence it was burned on one side and raw (uncooked) on the other. Such bread would be disgusting and worthless, and so was Israel.

3. Strangers had "devoured his strength and he knoweth, it not" (Hosea 7:9). "Strangers" refers to their heathen neighbors. Both enemies and allies had extracted tribute and concessions from Israel leaving them in a weakened state (see 2 Kings 8:12; 2 Kings 10:32-33; 2 Kings 13:3-7; 2 Kings 15:19-20). Social and religious intermingling had further weakened them and alienated them from their God. So darkened was their perception that they did not even realize their awful predicament.

4. "Gray hairs are here and there (sprinkled, footnote) upon him." The nation was as men growing old, nearing the end of their existence. The signs of decay were there, but they did not notice them.

5. Their stubborn national pride would be their condemnation. It kept them from turning back to God who alone could save them.

6. "Ephraim is like a silly dove" (Hosea 7:11). An Eastern proverb said "nothing is more simple than a dove" (Pusey). Not understanding God’s will or way, Israel rushed to Egypt for help against Assyria and then to Assyria for help against Egypt. Nor did they understand that both of those "friendly" heathen allies would devour them at the earliest opportunity. God’s throughly hidden providential power was using Assyria to chastise Israel. Isaiah provides a lengthy discourse on God’s use of heathen nations in Isaiah 10:5-9. "As their congregation hath heard" through the preaching of Hosea and other faithful prophets, (Hosea 7:12). "Woe" is pronounced upon the nation because they had "wandered from" God "trespassed against" Him and "spoken lies against him" (Hosea 7:13).

7. When God sought to redeem them they responded by "howling on their beds" (Hosea 7:14). Most commentators understand this and the following line to refer to them crying out in anguish because of the chastisements God was sending. It seems more likely to refer to their Baal worship which was an act of rebellion towards Jehovah. The bed was a major part of Baalism as they engaged in ritual sex acts. The Baal prophets "cried aloud and cut themselves after their manner with knives....till the blood gushed...." (1 Kings 18:28). Some Hebrew manuscripts and the Septuagint render Hosea 7:14 b-- "they cut themselves for grain..." rather than assemble to worship God in His appointed way. Baal, being worshiped as the god of fertility of crops and animals; their barbaric practices and the fact that Hosea was combating Baalism leads us to this conclusion. They were totally ungrateful to God. He had taught and strengthened them, but they returned his goodness by devising mischief against him (Hosea 7:15).

8. They were "like a deceitful bow" (Hosea 7:16), i.e., a warped bow that does not shoot straight. Not only is such a bow useless, it is highly dangerous. So was the nation to God.

Proud and rebellious, they made alliances with Egypt contrary to God’s wish. He predicts that they will be held in derision in Egypt when they fall to the Assyrians. Isaiah had a similar warning for Judah (See Isaiah 33:3-9).

SEVENTH DISCOURSE

Judgment Is Coming (Hosea 8:1-14)

In Hosea 8:1 to Hosea 9:9 Hosea sets forth reasons why God must destroy the sinful nation of Israel.

"Set the trumpet to thy mouth" means to sound the alarm that hostile armies are near. Swift as an eagle, the king ofAssyria and his troops will come against "the house of Jehovah," which here refers to Jehovah’s land, i.e., Israel. He is coming to punish them for violation of His law, which is his covenant. Here we have a clear example of synthetic parallelism."

"They have transgressed my covenant,

and trespassed against my law."

The Hebrew poets and prophets used this method of repetition to emphasize and clarify their points. There are several varieties of parallelism; synonymous, antithetic, cumulative, synthetic, etc. In their distress, when the conqueror comes, they will cry unto God but it will be too late (Hosea 8:2).

He then enumerates the charges against Israel:

1. "Israel hath cast off that which is good." The meaning in the Hebrew is strong! It means "to cast off with abhorrence" (Pusey). The "good" refers to the good things of Jehovah: His law, His worship, His prophets, Himself (Psalms 119:68). These they abhorred.

2. "They set up kings, but not by me" (Jehovah) (8:4). There is an apparent contradiction between this verse and (1 Kings 12:24) where Shemiah the prophet said concerning the division of the nation, "Thus saith Jehovah....this thing is of me." God did tell Jereboam I that He would give him rule over the ten tribes (1 Kings 11:30 ff) and Jehu was anointed king of the North at the command of Elisha (2 Kings 9:1-3). Both of them however proved themselves unworthy of ruling God’s people. Each ignored God’s will and turned to idols. All the other kings of the North were set up without consideration for the will of God. This included Jereboam II who reigned as Hosea delivered his lessons. Not one of the Northern kings faithfully served Jehovah. Homer Hailey interprets God giving them Jereboam I and Jehu in the light of 1 Samuel 8:4-7. There God gave the murmuring Hebrews their first king (Saul) but did so noting, "they have rejected me, that I should not be king over them." He overruled their rebellious act to accomplish His ultimate will.

3. They had made idols for worship (Hosea 8:4 b); most notably the golden calves of Dan and Bethel (1 Kings 12:28-30). Samaria’s calf was unacceptable to God and would be destroyed.

They had sown the wind and they would reap the whirlwind (Hosea 8:7 a). To an agricultural people his illustration of sowing and reaping would be easily grasped. To sow wind is to sow nothing that is profitable. But from their unprofitable conduct would come to disaster like a tornado. Their sowing the wind refers to all of their senseless acts of rebellion and disobedience to Jehovah. The whirlwind refers to their destruction by God’s agent, Assyria.

They had "no standing grain; the blade shall yield no meal: and if so if it yield, strangers shall swallow it up" (Hosea 8:7 b). They had prayed and sacrificed to Baal expecting him to bless them with abundant crops. That false god could not provide their needs. Their crops had failed. It was a judgment of God. Famine is one of His "four sore judgments" (Ezekiel 14:21). If by chance any fields did produce, the invading armies would take it. When he says "the blade shall yield no meal," the prophet plays on the sound of the words in his language. In our English it would be like saying "the flower yieldeth no flour" (Huxtable).

Hosea 8:7 closes with, "strangers shall swallow up" their grain. In verse eight, Israel is swallowed up. So sure is Hosea of his prediction that he speaks of it as a present reality.

Among the nations (i.e., Gentiles), Israel "is a vessel wherein none delighteth" (Hosea 8:8). Comparing a person or nation to a despised vessel is a common figure in Scripture (see Jeremiah 22:28; Jeremiah 48:38; Romans 9:21; 2 Timothy 2:20). The comparison is blunt for he speaks of "a utensil devoted to the basest uses" (Huxtable). In our language, he speaks of a "chamber pot," such as was used before the invention of indoor toilets. His point is that Israel will be held in contempt by her neighbors who will turn away from her in disgust. This prediction has been realized in all the Hebrew people. Such is the essence of anti-Semitism.

Hosea describes his people as a "wild ass" wandering across the desert to Assyria asking for help from the very nation that was determined to destroy them. To liken one to the uncouthed and lowly ass was the same insult then as now. Also note that Israel would be like the ass, "alone by himself," a sad situation for a nation in times of international war (Hosea 8:9 a).

"Ephraim hath hired lovers"(Hosea 8:10) refers to alliances with foreign nations for which Israel had to pay indemnities (Hosea 8:9 a). God assures them that though "they hire among the nations" (i.e., make alliances) it will not avail, for He will gather them and begin to diminish them by the king of princes, i.e., the king of Assyria (Isaiah 10:8).

In Hosea 8:11-14, the prophet promises them devastation and captivity because of their ignorance of God’s will and corruption of his worship. They "multiplied altars." In time of national trouble they multiplied sacrifices hoping to appease their God and convince him to save them (Hosea 8:11). There was, however, no corresponding change of heart and life. The reference to multiplying of altars may well refer to the divine instruction that there be but one altar for God’s worship (Deuteronomy 12:13-14). Ignoring the foregoing restriction, they had multiplied altars for the worship of Baal.

The "ten thousand things of his law"(Hosea 8:12) is not to be taken as a literal number, rather it is metonymy wherein the definite stands for the indefinite and simply means the many teaching of the law. The KJV renders it "the great things of my law." The teachings of the law were strange or unfamiliar to them because they had not read or studied them, nor had they listened to the instruction of faithful priests and prophets. Had they heeded the command of Deuteronomy 6:6-9, they would never have reached this low ebb.

Hosea 8:13 makes it clear that God does not accept every sacrifice offered. Only those offered with a proper spirit, pure motive and an accompanying holy life style are accepted. The same is true today (Matthew 7:21).

"They shall return to Egypt" (Hosea 8:13). Egypt stands by metonymy for bondage. In actuality the place of their coming bondage would be Assyria. Because Israel had forgotten God, he would deliver them over to their oppressors. Moses had warned them of this very thing (Deuteronomy 6:12-15).

EIGHTH DISCOURSE

Captivity Will Come Because of Corruption (Hosea 9:1-9)

This sermon appears to have been precipitated by Hosea’s observation of the festivities of a harvest celebration. Hosea warns them not to rejoice because judgment is coming (Hosea 9:1). He proceeds to rebuke them for playing the harlot and "departing from...God" as an unfaithful wife. Doubtless he was reminded of the infidelity of his wife. They were thanking Baal for the harvest God had given them (See Hosea 2:8-9). In their Baal worship they engaged in ritual fornication to stir Baal to give them fertility. The prophet brands them as being no better than the prostitutes who made their appearance at public festivities in search of money for their favors.

God would take away their prosperity and Baal would not be able to feed them (Hosea 9:2). That was but the beginning of their sorrow for they would be evicted from Jehovah’s land (Canaan) and return to Egypt, i.e., captivity. In the use of this figure, he alludes to the bondage which their fathers endured in Egypt. The actual place of the bondage of which Hosea warned of would be Assyria. They would "eat unclean food" there. As slaves in a heathen land they would not be able to observe their dietary laws in which they delighted. Later, Ezekiel reinforced this painful lesson to the exiles in Babylon (Ezekiel 4:12-14).

In captivity, they could not sanctify their crops by offering the first fruits with Jehovah (Leviticus 23:9-10). Neither could they "pour out wine-offerings to Jehovah" in a foreign land. The wine spoken of was a part of the daily sacrifices offered at the temple (Exodus 29:38-41). Their sacrifices would be "as the bread of mourning." When a person died, the contents of his house, including the food, was unclean (Numbers 19:14). Thus if they tried to offer sacrifices in captivity they would be polluted thereby rather than blessed. While their produce could be used for this (their appetite) it would not be acceptable for worship (Hosea 9:4).

The day of solemn assembly (Atonement) and the feast of Jehovah refers to the three annual holy convocations of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:1-36). In captivity they would not be able to observe them (Hosea 9:5).

Hosea 9:6 is obscure in the ASV: "for they are gone away from destruction." The meaning seems to be they will be led away from the devastation of their home land into Assyria. Again Egypt stands for their coming bondage. Memphis was the capital of Lower Egypt. When the desolations of war overwhelm them and they are marched away in chains, thorns, and nettles (briars and thistles) will grow up in their ruined homes and abandoned fields (Hosea 9:6).

The "days of visitation" and "recompense" are the judgments of which the prophets had continually warned them (Hosea 9:7 a).

"The prophet is a fool, the man that hath the spirit is mad" (Hosea 9:7 b), has two possible meanings. It can be the words of the people addressed to Hosea, calling him a fool. Jeremiah was so called (Jeremiah 29:26). It might refer to their false prophets who claimed to have the Spirit of God and gave the people false hopes of deliverance. (Compare Micah 2:11 and Ezekiel 13:10). The latter is likely the correct view (Hosea 9:7 b).

Hosea 9:8 is a most difficult passage. The Amplified Bible renders it thusly: "Ephraim was (intended to be) a watchman with my God (and a prophet to the surrounding nation); but he, that prophet, has become a fowler’s snare in all his ways. There is enmity, hostility and persecution in the house of his God."

This, view depicts the northern kingdom as failing in its divinely given mission and instead, becoming an adversary of righteousness. Another approach is reflected in the footnote which renders it "Ephraim watcheth against my God." This suggests that Ephraim is God’s enemy rather than his loyal subject (Hosea 9:8).

To stress just how deeply they had corrupted themselves, he compares their conduct to that of the wicked men of Gibeah who raped and murdered the Levite’s concubine. So outrageous, was their conduct that the entire nation joined hands to punish them (Judges chapters 19-20). Their wickedness had become proverbial. Since Israel of Hosea’s day was corrupted as was Gibeah, God must destroy them (Hosea 9:9).

The prophet declares that fruitful Ephraim will become unfruitful (Hosea 9:10). The word Ephraim means "fruitful." Throughout this paragraph he stresses that God will make them unfruitful.

God remembers the early days of Israel’s history. They were delightful to Him as fresh grapes would be to a pilgrim crossing a wilderness. They were as desirable as the first ripe figs of a newly planted tree. Their attractiveness had been spoiled when at Baal-peor they "consecrated themselves to the shameful thing" (Hosea 9:10). This shameful event is recorded in Numbers 25:1-3. They sacrificed and bowed down to Baal and played the harlot with the Moabite worshippers. That was the first of a never-ending involvement with the disgusting Baal worship which Hosea was opposing.

Through Baal worship they thought to increase their fertility. God states "there shall be no birth, none with child, and no conception." The "no" is not to be taken literally, but as meaning they would be diminished rather than increased. This is seen in Hosea 9:12, "though they bring up their children, yet will I (God) bereave them."

"Woe to them when I depart from them"(Hosea 9:12 b). What an awful judgment, to be abandoned by God. They would face their hostile neighbors with no one to help them.

Tyre was a fortress city, thought to be impregnable. So was Samaria, capital of Ephraim. Yet, Ephraim would see their children slain by the conquering Assyrians. It was their custom to dash against a rock the children of those conquered (See Isaiah 13:16) (Hosea 9:13).

They had sought to increase their fertility at Baal’s shrine, but God would "give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts" (Hosea 9:14).

"Their, wickedness is in Gilgal" (Hosea 9:15). Gilgal was the site of singular blessings in the past. Gilgal was situated northeast of Jerusalem in the Jordan valley. There their fathers camped and ate the fruit of their new land. There they erected their monument commemorating their crossing Jordan (Joshua 4:19-20). There their first king had been anointed (1 Samuel 11:14-15). Samuel solemnly protested their determination to reject God’s rule and have a human king (1 Samuel 8:9-10). God showed his displeasure at their action by sending thunder and rain in the dry season (1 Samuel 12:16-18). The rebellious Northern kingdom, their illegitimate kings, their calf-worship were all of the same genre as that ancient sin at Gilgal. Later, God said, "I have given thee a king in mine anger, and have taken him away in my wrath" (Hosea 13:11). As the prophet spoke, Gilgal was a center for their disgusting Baal worship (See Hosea 4:15).

As Hosea had driven out his adulterous wife (Hosea 3:2-3), now God will drive his bride, unfaithful Israel, out of His house, the promised land (Hosea 9:15). Because "Ephraim is smitten (and) their root dried up, they will bear no more fruit." This is another example of fruitful Ephraim becoming unfruitful (Hosea 9:16).

"They shall be wanderers among the nations" (Hosea 9:17), even as Moses warned. "Jehovah will scatter thee among all peoples, from one end of the earth even unto the other....and among their nations shalt thou find no ease, and there shall be no rest for the sole of thy foot...." (Deuteronomy 28:64-65).

NINTH DISCOURSE

They Must Repent or Perish (Hosea 10:1-15)

Hosea 10:1-8 is an oracle pronouncing judgment on Israel. God had blessed the Northern Kingdom with abundant prosperity. She was like a vine laden with grapes. Instead of thanking Jehovah for his blessings they multiplied their altars to Baal, giving him credit for their prosperity. The same thought is reflected in the second line of the parallel. The pillars were obelisks dedicated to their false gods. God will smite, literally, "break the necks of their images" (Laetsch), thus destroying them.

"Their heart is divided" between Jehovah, and Baal, between good and evil (Hosea 10:2). God has always expected his people to love Him with all their heart (Deuteronomy 6:5). Then as now, man cannot serve, God and mammon (Matthew 6:24).

When disaster befalls them, they will surely say "we have no king" (Hosea 10:3). They had rejected Jehovah as their king and their earthly kings could not save them from the powerful Assyrians.

They are further guilty of "swearing falsely in making covenants" (Hosea 10:4 a). Most likely, he refers to alliances the rulers had made, knowing all the while they had no intentions of honoring them (See Hosea 5:13; Hosea 7:11). Of course it would be wrong for anyone to use such dissimulation (Leviticus 19:12). Consequently, judgment will spring up like hemlock in a cultivated field (Hosea 10:4 b). (Compare Deuteronomy 28:18) Hemlock is a bitter, poisonous herb unwelcome in the farmer’s field. It is generally thought that the writer had not in mind God’s judgment, but their judgments which should have been righteous, just, and fair were perverted into bitter injustice. Amos said the people of the North, "turned justice into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood" (Amos 6:12).

The golden calves which were so dear to the citizens of the Northern Kingdom will be a cause of distress when Assyria captures their land (Hosea 10:5). Jereboam I placed the calf images in Dan and Bethel (1 Kings 12:28-30). He said to the people, "behold thy gods, 0 Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." It is astounding that with the written record of Aaron’s sin in making the golden calf and the harsh punishment resulting therefrom that Jereboam could foist upon them such a monstrous lie (Exodus 32:1-10; Exodus 32:19-30). The answer is found in the prevailing ignorance which Hosea denounced (Hosea 4:6). He refused to call the site of the calf by its proper name, Bethel, which meant "house of God." Instead, to show his contempt, he called it Bethaven, "house of vanity" or emptiness. Those who once rejoiced in their idolatrous rites and festivities will mourn as they see the golden calf hauled away as a trophy of war.

Their calf would be given as "a present for King Jareb" (the warrior king) of Assyria (Hosea 10:6). It was common in those days, when one nation overcame another, to take the loser’s sacred images as captives to be housed in their temples. So the Philistines took the ark of the covenant and placed it in Dagon’s temple (1 Samuel 5:2).

Samaria’s king shall be cut off "as foam upon the water" (Hosea 10:7). Samaria was the seat of government of the northern kingdom and stands for the entire nation. Their king, whom they trusted to lead and deliver them, would be as helpless as foam (frothy bubbles) upon the water. The Septuagint renders it "a chip" of wood. In either case the picture is of that which is totally helpless, without roots or foundation, swept along irresistibly by the force of the water.

"The high places of Aven" shall be destroyed and left desolate (Hosea 10:8). Aven means vanity or iniquity. High places, refers to the Baal shrines with their altars. High place is from the word bamah and was something which could be constructed (1 Kings 11:7) or broken down (2 Kings 23:15). It is thought that the altar for the Baal shrines was placed on a platform or mound which elevated the sacrifices above the worshipers. Hosea noted that their altars were as common as the furrows in a plowed field (Hosea 12:11).

When they experience the horrors of the Assyrian atrocities, they will "say to the mountains, cover us; and to the hills, fall on us" (Hosea 10:8 b). Christ said the Jews would say these words when the Romans took Jerusalem (Luke 23:28-30) and John said the Romans would say the same when their judgment would come (Revelation 6:16).

Hosea charged them with the same type of wickedness as the ancient Gibeonites who raped and murdered the Levite’s concubine (Judg. chapters 19-20). It was universally agreed that the Gibeonites deserved to be destroyed. Thus Israel’s fate was equally just.

The ten tribes had rightly joined the battle to punish the wicked Gibeonites and all but exterminated them. lt was a battle of righteousness against iniquity. The victorious tribes spared 600 Benjamites lest that tribe perish. Hosea says that wicked remnant is now represented in the Northern kingdom. The footnote in the ASV says Israel had sinned "more than in the days" of Gibeah. God will punish that present generation as severely as he did the ancient Gibeonites (Hosea 10:9).

When God desires to do so, he will chastise them (Hosea 10:10). He says they are "bound to their two transgressions." Two possibilities exist for the "two transgressions." It could refer to:

1. The two calves at Dan and Bethel or,

2. Their rejection of David’s dynasty and their unfaithfulness to God in adopting Baalism.

The former seems to this author to be most preferable. This is reinforced by the word "bound." The footnote and the Amplified Bible render it "yoked." We can thus see Israel depited as an ox yoked to her golden calves.

Continuing the imagery of the ox and the yoke, he says,

"Ephraim was a trained heifer

that loved to thresh,

and I spared her fair neck,

but I will put Ephraim to the yoke,

Judah must plow

Jacob must harrow for himself’ (Hosea 10:11, RSV).

An ox would have loved the job of threshing grain because the law said "thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the grain" (Deuteronomy 25:4). For the beast, threshing was much easier work than plowing. Prior to this point, God had been easy on Israel and Judah, but now they would face the rigors of justice for their sins.

The agricultural metaphor is extended in (Hosea 10:12-13). They had "plowed wickedness" and reaped iniquity. God pleads with them to "sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap according to kindness; break up your fallow ground." Their hearts are likened to hard, uncultivated ground that has lain untilled for a lengthy period. To break up their fallow ground meant to repent and turn back to God. If they did so he could then "come and rain righteousness upon them." Their sin was that they had trusted "in the multitude of (their) mighty men," i.e., her warriors. She, like Judah, had trusted her military might rather than God (Isaiah 31:1).

"Therefore" draws a conclusion from the foregoing. As a consequence of their repeated sins, a tumult, i.e., war will come upon them (Compare Amos 2:2). Her military fortresses would be destroyed as when Shalman (Shalmanezer, king of Assyria) destroyed Betharbel. No historical record survives of the destruction of Betharbel. Even the place is uncertain since there are several villages by that name in the region. It is assumed that he alludes to some recent event that vividly illustrates the horrors of war. So would Israel suffer because of their wickedness, as exemplified by the calf worship at Bethel. "At daybreak" means it would happen shortly (Hosea 10:14-15).

TENTH DISCOURSE

God’s Tender Love for His People (Hosea 11:1-11)

Again the prophet looks back to the early days of the nation’s history. The tender affection of God for Israel is vividly portrayed in this chapter as well as His deep hurt at their unfaithfulness to Him. When Israel was a child, God called the young nation "out of Egypt" (Hosea 11:1). Matthew uses these words when he describes the flight of the holy family to Egypt and their return (Matthew 2:15). The context in Hosea gives no indication that he was predicting Messiah’s experience. The use Matthew makes of Hosea’s lines are what is called "typical prophecy," i.e., the prophet’s words well describe what happened in the life of Jesus.

The stubborn rebellion of Israel is seen in Hosea 11:2. The more God’s spokesmen, the prophets, called Israel to follow God’s ways, the more obstinate and disobedient they were (Jeremiah 25:4).

One can almost hear the emotion choking God’s voice as he recalls, "I taught Ephraim to walk; I took them in my arms; but they knew not that I healed them" (Hosea 11:3). The picture is that of a loving father teaching his infant son to walk. When the child grows weary the father takes him in his arms to transport him safely. Thus had God done through the years of the Exodus and wilderness wandering (Deuteronomy 1:31). Yet his people did not comprehend that it was Jehovah who had so blest them. Isaiah used a homely illustration for the same thought:

"The ox knoweth his owner and the ass his mater’s crib;

but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider" (Isaiah 1:3).

The writer now chooses another illustration of God’s compassion. The picture is that of a farmer with his oxen. God, as a gentle farmer,

"drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love; and I was unto them as they that lift up the yoke on their jaws; and I laid food before them" (Hosea 11:4).

Rather than the coarse, hard, leather harness, the gentle, considerate farmer used softer ropes, treating the domestic beast as he would be treated himself. When the great wooden yoke was heavy on their necks he would lift it to rest them and give them relief. He would set ample food before his ox that worked for him. So had God been gentle to Israel, and so had He provided their every need.

"They shall not return unto the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be their king" (Hosea 11:5). Lest he be misunderstood, Hosea states clearly that they will not go into Egypt (Hos See 8:13), rather their captivity will be in Assyria. The reason for their bondage is "because they refused to return to" God. The call to return was a major point in Hosea’s preaching (Hosea 14:1).

"The sword (of war) shall fall upon their cities" (Hosea 11:6). Sword stands by metonymy for the slaughter of war which was one of God’s sore judgments (Ezekiel 14:21).

Their "bars" that shall be consumed refers to the great wooden beams that were used to bar the city gates. They will not keep the invading armies out.

Hosea’s generation was "bent on backsliding" (Hosea 11:7). Keil renders the Hebrew "my people are harnessed to apostasy from me," as we would say. "they, were bound and determined to abandon God."

"Though they (the prophets) call them (Israel) to him (God) that is on high, none at all will exalt him" (Hosea 11:7 b). What a sad portrait of that nation that had been chosen to be God’s covenant people.

Hosea 11:8-11 describes in highly emotional terms God’s inner feelings as he is torn between punishing Israel as justice demands or sparing them as love would do. Huxtable calls this "one of the most pathetic passages in all Scripture." Doubtless it prompted A. B. Davidson to describe the book as "a succession of sobs." God asks plaintively, "how shall I give thee up Ephraim?" We can imagine a grieving father wrestling with such a decision with his only son who had gone astray.

Admah and Zeboiim were cities of the plain of Jordan that were destroyed along with Sodom and Gomorrah (Deuteronomy 29:23). The merciful God could not bear the thought of destroying Israel as He had those degenerate heathen cities (Hosea 11:8 b).

Using anthropomorphisms, (that is, depicting himself as a man so we could understand), God said, "my heart is turned within me, my compassions are kindled together" (Hosea 11:8 c). The RSV beautifully captured the essence of these lines.

"My heart recoils within me,

My compassion grows warm and tender."

"The tenderness of the Father overcame the austerity of the Judge" (Pusey).

God would not give them the justice they rightly deserved, for that would have utterly destroyed them. Rather, He will send them into captivity to refine and purify them and then restore them to their homeland (Hosea 11:9-11). "I am God not man" suggests that if he were a human judge, bound by human law, he would have to order their destruction. Being God, he can exercise mercy. This did not mean that they would escape all punishment only that they would not taste the full "fierceness of his anger" and be totally destroyed (Hosea 11:9).

In future years, "They will walk after Jehovah," i.e., the hearts of the people will turn back to God. Jehovah will roar like a lion and the Hebrews, scattered throughout the land of their captivity, will hear the welcome voice and come with trembling hearts to dwell once more in the homeland (Hosea 11:10-11). Egypt stands symbolically for captivity. Assyria is the actual place of confinement. The Northern Kingdom was taken captive in two successive phases. In c.a. 734 B.C., Tiglath-pilesar carried away the trans-Jordanic tribes and those of Galilee (1 Chronicles 5:26; 2 Kings 15:29). In 722 B.C., Samaria fell to Sargon II after a lengthy siege launched by Shalmaneser IV. They languished in captivity until 536 B. C. when they were allowed to return home with the remnant of Judah through the benevolent policy of Cyrus, King of Persia.

ELEVENTH DISCOURSE

Ephraim’s Many Sins Recounted (Hosea 11:12 to Hosea 13:16)

Our chapter division between eleven and twelve is unfortunate. The new lesson begins at (Hosea 11:12) as in the Hebrew Bible. The twelfth chapter is devoted to a catalogue of the nation’s sins which demonstrate that her coming judgment is justly deserved.

The prophet sees God standing among his people. Everywhere he looks He sees lies. To "compass" means to encircle. The problem was not unique to Hosea’s day. The Psalmist said in his haste that "all men are liars" (Psalms 116:11). The latter prophets continually rebuked the citizens of Judah for lying. Hosea 11:12 b in the ASV says that Judah "is yet faithful with the Holy One." They stood in contrast to apostate Israel. However, the footnote reads, "Judah is yet unstedfast with God." The Amplified Bible agrees with the latter reading as does Cheyne, H. Haily, Keil, etc. Hosea 12:2 verifies this view.

"Ephraim feedeth on wind and followeth the east wind" (Hosea 12:1). The east wind is Assyria. Her covenant or alliance with Assyria (2 Kings 15:17-19) would be as useful for the nation as wind would be for a starving man. They also had made alliances with Egypt (2 Kings 17:4). Such alliances with heathen nations were strictly forbidden (Deuteronomy 7:2). Israel multiplied lies in making alliances with no intention of honoring them except for her own advantage.

God’s controversy was with both Judah (the Southern Kingdom) and Jacob (the Northern Kingdom) (Hosea 12:2). Jacob is used by metonymy; the father of the tribes stands for his descendants. Both nations will be punished according to their doings. In the words of Paul, what they have sown, they will reap (Galatians 6:7).

The use of the name Jacob for the Northern Kingdom in verse 2 reminds Hosea of the patriarch Jacob. He uses two illustrations to show Jacob’s earnest desire to receive God’s blessing. He then proceeds to show that the nation had not followed the godly example of Jacob but had taken up the ungodly practices of the heathen Canaanites.

"In the womb (Jacob) took his brother by the heel" (Hosea 12:3). See the event recorded in (Genesis 25:23-26). This strange event was taken prophetically to mean that Jacob would supplant Esau. Jacob’s "high regard for the birthright and his desire to obtain it...was demonstrated in the hard bargain he drove with Esau in order to possess it" (Genesis 25:27-34).

"In his manhood (Jacob) had power with God: yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed; he wept and made supplication unto him: he found him at Bethel..." (Hosea 12:3-4). This looks back to the time which Jacob on his return from Padan-Aram, wrestled through the night with the angel of Jehovah and prevailed (Genesis 32:22-32). Jacob would not let the angel go except he bless him. Through weeping and prayer, Jacob found strength and favor with Jehovah. Hosea is urging his neighbors to follow Jacob’s righteous example in seeking God’s favor. It is theirs by promise if they will but claim it.

The angel with whom Jacob wrestled was said to be God (Genesis 32:28). This mysterious person is met repeatedly in the Old Testament, beginning with the appearance to Abraham at Mature (Genesis 18:1-33). He was in the burning bush and spoke to Moses (Exodus 3:2-5). His name was I AM (Exodus 3:14). Jesus claimed that he was "I am" (John 8:58). Paul said that it was Christ who supplied Israel’s needs in the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:4). Those wishing to pursue this fascinating study further should consult H. P. Lidden’s The Divinity of Our Lord or Studies in Theology by Loraine Boettner. See also the author’s discussion of The Angel of Jehovah in Appendix A at the conclusion of the notes on Zechariah.

There at Bethel, Jehovah revealed himself to Jacob the father of Hebrew nation (spake with us) (Hosea 12:4 b). Before God gave Moses the written message of the law, on Sinai, He spoke "unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners" (Hebrews 1:1). The fathers were expected to pass along those revealed truths to their households and those that would come after them (Genesis 18:19).

Two names of God (Hosea 12:5). "Jehovah of hosts" literally means the God or leader of the armies of heaven (Keil, p. 148). This speaks of his power to protect his people and to deal with his enemies. "Jehovah is his memorial name." This statement looks back to Exodus 3:13-15. Moses was instructed to tell the Hebrews slaves in Egypt, that "Jehovah, the God of your fathers....Abraham....Isaac and Jacob hath sent" him unto them. God’s name was revealed to Moses as "I AM THAT I AM." The footnote offers the alternative, "I WILL BE THAT I WILL BE." Pusey notes that, "I AM," expresses His unchangeableness. Thus the unchanging God that spoke to Abraham had spoken to Moses and was now speaking to Israel through Hosea. He was reliable and dependable. Both his demands and his blessings were the same for Hosea’s generation as for the fathers of the nation. The words Jehovah and I AM come from the same Hebrew root word YHWH. By this sacred name Jehovah revealed himself to Israel as their covenant God. To the Hebrews, the word we pronounce "Jehovah" was an unspeakable name. In their superstition, they feared they might mispronounce it and thus offend God. Hence when they came across the Hebrew word YHWH they would substitute the word Adonai (Lord). At first YHWH was pronounced only in the temple precincts, but by 322 B.C., in the days of Simeon the Just, they ceased to use it altogether (Pusey, pp. 119-120). Now the correct pronunciation is lost. Our word Jehovah is derived by adding the vowels of Adonai: thus we ge YaHoWah which we anglicize to Jehovah. Given this information we cannot but smile at the Jehovah’s Witness organization that erects its entire doctrinal system on the name Jehovah. In theological literature, the Hebrew Word YHWH is called the Tetragrammaton. By "memorial" he is not just saying that Jehovah is his proper name, but it is the name that properly reveals his nature as the unchanging God.

The paragraph is concluded by a call to repentance "Turn thou to thy God," and a charge to manifest that change of heart by practicing kindness and justice towards their fellowmen. Then they must patiently wait for God to work out his good pleasure on their behalf as did father Jacob (Hosea 12:6). The concept of patiently waiting on God was a favorite idea of the psalmists and prophets (See Psalms 25:5 and Isaiah 40:31).

Hosea 12:7-14 continues the list of sins for which the nation of Israel stood condemned. By reading the lines carefully one will note the following items of wrongdoing:

1. Deceitful business practices,

2. Oppression,

3. A self-righteous belief that they were above judgment,

4. Idolatry,

5. They had forgotten God.

He calls his fellow-Hebrews "traffickers" (Hosea 12:7). A trafficker is a "merchant." The word comes from the Hebrew term "canaanite" which had a dual meaning. It was a generic name for the earlier inhabitants of the land which Israel had displaced. It also identified merchants and traders. The Hebrews felt vastly superior to their Canaanite neighbors whom they viewed as godless heathen. By using this term, Hosea consciously rebuked them by saying that they were no better than their despised heathen neighbors: The reason for this blistering charge was they use deceitful balances (scales) in their business. Such was specifically forbidden by Moses (Leviticus 19:35-36). They readily oppressed the poor whom God had said they must protect (Exodus 22:21-23). They boasted of their ill-gotten wealth and placed their hope in it (Hosea 12:8). Solomon warned that "he that trusteth in his riches shall fall" (Proverbs 11:28). Their foolishness is seen in their boast that no one would catch them in their crooked business dealings (Hosea 12:8). They had forgotten that Jehovah was the all-seeing God from whom nothing is hidden (Jeremiah 16:17).

Hosea 12:9 expands the thought of the unchangeable nature of their God. The same Jehovah who had delivered their fathers from Egyptian bondage and then sentenced them to forty years of wandering in the desert for their rebellion would now be forced to send the nation back into captivity (in Assyria) because of their sin. To dwell in tents as in the days of the solemn feast alludes to their method of observing the feast of tabernacles (Leviticus 23:39-43). The festival commemorated their forty years of desert wandering. The thing he threatens is captivity in the land of the Assyrians.

In Hosea 12:10 God reminds the people that their judgment was not unannounced. Through his prophets, God had frequently warned them of the dangers of disobedience (Jeremiah 7:25-26).

Two cities are singled out for rebuke and judgment: Gilead on the east and Gilgal on the west of Jordan (Hosea 12:11). This implies that the coming judgment would sweep across all the land. The Amplified Bible helps to clarify Hosea 12:11 which is obscure in our standard translations.

"If Gilead is given over to idolatry, they shall come to nought and be mere waste; If they (insult God by) sacrificing bullocks in Gilgal (on heathen altars), their altars shall be as heaps in the furrows of the fields."

Both Gilead and Gilgal were centers for the idolatrous Baal worship. "In the days of Pekah, King of Israel, came Tiglath-piliser, King of Assyria, and took....Gilead....and he carried them captive to Assyria" (2 Kings 15:29).

"Altars are as heaps in the furrows of the field" means that their pagan altars will be reduced to rubble, like the piles of stones gathered out of the plowed fields (Hosea 12:11 b). Some take this to mean their pagan altars were as numerous as the furrows in a plowed field.

In Hosea 12:12, Hosea returns to his illustrations from the life of Jacob (See Hosea 12:2-5). Their father, Jacob, to avoid marrying one of the idolatrous women of Canaan, traveled all the way to Aram (Padan-Aram of Genesis 28:2), the ancestral home of his mother, to find a righteous mate. But Jacob’s children had eagerly embraced the corrupt paganism of their Canaanite neighbors. Jacob served as a lowly shepherd for twenty years to get a righteous wife (Genesis 31:38-41), but his heirs manifested none of his faith and conviction. The prophet speaks thus to shame them.

Moses was the prophet by which Jehovah delivered Israel from Egypt and preserved them in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 34:10-12). God had saved the Hebrews from slavery and provided their every need for the forty years of their sojourn in the wilderness. They repaid him by provoking him "to anger most bitterly" by their rebellion and disgusting idolatry (Hosea 12:13-14 a). "Therefore" they leave God no choice but to pour out his wrath upon them. Their guilt would be upon their own heads. They would reap what they had sown (Galatians 6:7).

In chapter 13, Hosea warns his people that they are traveling a path of certain self-destruction. In Hosea 13:1, he recalls the old days when Ephraim, (the principal tribe of the northern kingdom), was the military leader of all God’s people (See Deuteronomy 33:17; Judges 8:1; Judges 12:1). So long as they were faithful to God, no enemy could stand before Ephraim’s troops. But Ephraim "exalted himself in Israel" (Hosea 13:1). When the leaders of that tribe sought to wrest the nation’s leadership from God’s appointed ruler, Judah, they offended God (See Genesis 49:10; 1 Kings 12:19). This was seen in their hesitancy to accept David (II Samual 2:4-11) and in the revolt to the ten northern tribes against Rehoboam, David’s grandson (1 Kings 11:26; 1 Kings 12:19). Ephraim was the leader in that rebellion and became the center of government for the breakaway kingdom. That was the first major step toward their destruction.

When Ephraim "offended in Baal, he died" (Hosea 13:1 b). A whole range of events occurred in which the northern nation embraced the corrupt worship of Baal. Two most notable steps were the introduction of the golden calves at Dan and Bethel by Jereboam I (1 Kings 12:28-31) and the attempt by Ahab and Jezebel to impose Baalism and stamp out Jehovah’s worship (1 Kings 16:29-33; 1 Kings 18:4; 1 Kings 19:9-10).

By Hosea’s time (c.a. 750-725 B. C.) the situation had gone from bad to worse. Idolatry was endemic in the land (Hosea 13:2). He singles out for ridicule and rebuke, one disgusting practice of the Baalites: "Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves." He doubtless refers to the golden calves at Dan and Bethel (1 Kings 12:28). Elijah was faced with the same idolatrous practice (1 Kings 19:18). It is no less disgusting to see worshipers in our day kiss the toe of Peter’s image in the Vatican or kiss the ring of the Roman bishops. Other practices of Baal worship included priests leaping about the altars, crying aloud and cutting themselves with knives (1 Kings 18:26-28). Also involved in the Baal culture were sexual rites involving both men and women, both heterosexual and homosexual activity (Jeremiah 2:20; 2 Kings 23:5-7). In so doing, they sought to invoke the blessings of Baal on their crops and herds.

Because of their wickedness they would pass away as surely as "the morning cloud," i.e., the fog, and the dew that evaporates with the coming of the sun. Their instability would be as the chaff of the threshing floor before the wind and as the smoke of a fire (Hosea 13:3).

Hosea 13:4-5 remind the Hebrews that except for Jehovah they would still be slaves in Egypt. One of the conditions set by God when he delivered them was that they "know no god but me;" or in words of the decalogue, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" (Deuteronomy 5:7). He reminds them that "there is no savior" besides Jehovah (Hosea 13:4 b). Isaiah proclaimed that same truth in the Southern Kingdom (Isaiah 43:11). This was spoken to remind them of the futility of looking to Baal for help or deliverance. Jehovah, not Baal, had led them safely through the great wilderness for forty years. He had provided their every need in that desolate land (Deuteronomy 8:3-4; Deuteronomy 29:5; Deuteronomy 32:7-10). In spite of all the blessings they had received from God’s hand, they showed nothing but ingratitude. "Therefore have they forgotten me" (God) (Hosea 13:6 b). These words are a summary of Moses’ warning to Israel. "Thou art waxed fat, thou art grown thick, thou, art become slick; then, he forsook God who made him..." (Deuteronomy 32:12-18). As a consequence of their ingratitude and sin, God their savior was now to be "as a lion," "as a leopard," "as an angry bear" to attack and destroy them (Hosea 13:7-8).

With thundering tones, Hosea pronounces their doom: "It is thy destruction that thou art against me, against thy help" (Hosea 13:9). No man or nation can fight against God or even reject him and expect to win. He chides them by asking sarcastically, "Where now is thy king that the may save thee...?" (Hosea 13:10). They had reasoned that having a king was essential for their military security (1 Samuel 8:19-20). Now that mighty Assyria was looming ever larger on their borders, he reminds them that only God, not their king, could deliver them (Hosea 13:10-11). Hosea 13:11 gives us insight into God’s action in allowing the nation to have their first king, Saul, and in His allowing the ten tribes to successfully revolt. Such was not His will; rather he allowed it to happen, reserving judgment for a later date. He said to Samuel regarding their clamor for a human king, "They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me that I should not be king over them" (1 Samuel 8:7).

"The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up" is explained by the parallel line following: "His sin is laid up in store" (Hosea 13:12). The meaning is that every sin is being laid up for proper punishment. God will not forget their transgressions. "Every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward" (Hebrews 2:2).

Hosea 13:13 is hopelessly obscure in the older translations. The Amplified Bible makes Hosea’s meaning clear:

"The pains of a woman in childbirth are coming on for him (to be born); but he is an unwise son, for now, when it is time (to be born), he comes not to the place where unborn children break forth — he needs (a) new birth, but makes no effort to acquire it." Israel’s inability to give up his life of rebellion and disobedience is likened to a woman unable to deliver the child when it has come to term. Not to do so will mean certain death. Hezekiah uses the same imagery: "This is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of contumely; for the children are come to the birth, and there is no strength to deliver" (Isaiah 37:3).

Through the gloomy cloud of threatened judgment, a ray of hope breaks through in Hosea 13:14. "I will ransom them from the power of Sheol..." Under the image of a resurrection from the dead, God promises to rescue the nation from their coming captivity in Assyria. Ezekiel uses similar imagery to describe the rescue and restoration of his people from Babylonian captivity (Ezekiel 37:1-14). Sheol in this passage is synonymous with death; note the parallelism:

"0 death, where are thy plagues?

0 Sheol, where is thy destruction?" (Hosea 13:14).

Paul uses these lines in his glorious paean celebrating Christ’s victory over death through the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:55).

"Repentance shall be hid from my eyes" refers to the foregoing promise to ransom them from captivity. God has made the promise to do so and under no circumstances will he change his mind. The captives will come home. In the words of the author of Hebrews, "it is impossible for God to lie" (Hebrews 6:18).

"Though he be fruitful" is a veiled allusion to Ephraim whose name means fruitful (Hosea 13:15). Although at the moment the Northern Kingdom appeared strong and permanent, the east wind, i.e., breath of Jehovah would dry them up and destroy them. That east wind would be Assyria’s invading army. Theirdestructiveness is likened to the hot burning winds that come from the Arabian desert, scorching the vegetation in Israel.

He closes the chapter with the solemn warning, "Samaria will bear her guilt; for she hath rebelled against her God" (Hosea 13:16). Samaria, the capital of the north stands for the whole nation. The brutality of the Assyrians is seen in the description of their war practices: "infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up." For such atrocities they were renowned and feared.

TWELTH DISCOURSE

God’s Final Plea to His People (Hosea 14:1-9)

In Hosea 14:1-3 , we see a fervent appeal to the citizens of Northern Israel to repent while they can and confess their sins to the God they had offended.

"Take with you words," means to come back to God with words of confession. Rather than bullocks God wanted genuine confession of sins, i.e., "the offering of our lips" (Hosea 14:2). Among the things that needed to be confessed were:

1. Their foreign alliances ("Assyria shall not save us").

2. Their dependence on military strength ("we will not ride upon horses").

3. Their idolatry ("neither will we say to the work of our hands, ye are our gods"). In Jehovah alone would mercy be found (Hosea 14:3 b).

Hosea 14:4-7 are a lovely promise of forgiveness and restoration. "I (God) will heal their backsliding..." they will one day be strong and stable as the great cedars on Mt. Lebanon. The phrase, "they that dwell under his shadow" is speaking of the citizens of the restored nation once more living under God’s care and protection. His providential care is spreads over them like the cedars of Lebanon cover all beneath them (Hosea 14:7).

After the bitter experience of captivity the Hebrew, will once and forever renounce idolatry saying, "What have I to do any more with idols?" (Hosea 14:8).

The moral of this grand book is stated Hosea 14:9 : "Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Prudent, that he may know them? For the ways of Jehovah are right, and the just shall walk in them; but transgressors shall fall therein."

SOME LESSONS TO REMEMBER

1. Nothing can quench God’s love for his people.

2. It brings intense pain and sorrow to Jehovah when his people desert him.

3. We see the sacredness and sanctity of marriage reflected in our relationship with Jehovah.

4. When the leaders of a nation become degenerate, the whole society quickly follows.

5. Internal corruption is more dangerous to a nation than her external enemies.

6. Corruption in politics is bad, but in religion it is inexcusable.

7. The root of all sin is unfaithfulness to God.

8. We see the danger of following untrustworthy teachers.

9. Genuine repentance will bring forgiveness and full restoration to Jehovah’s favor.

10. From Hosea we learn the beauty of forgiving those who sin against us.

11. May we not be half-baked Christians--burned on one side, mushy on top; therefore useless (Hosea 7:8).

12. Our goodness must be more permanent than the morning mist and dew (Hosea 6:4).

13. Let us, like Hosea, be a living demonstration of our message.

14. God still prefers goodness to heartless ritual and sacrifice (Hosea 6:6).

15. The greatest sins of life are against true love.

16. The crushing experiences of life can drive us back to the arms of God.

17. God is not willing than any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

"It appears to be a universal law of this sin-stricken world that God makes perfect through suffering, that redemption is wrought through sacrifice" (Eiselen).

Fractured Love

Hosea 1:1 to Hosea 2:1

Brent Kercheville

Who does not love a love story? We are drawn to them as humans. This is why so many books, tv shows, and movies are made regarding love stories. The Hallmark Channel just had a month of movies that are all love stories at Christmas time. We love a good love story. The book of Hosea is God’s love story. It is a book that reveals the heart of God. What God is going to do is unique. He is going to tell his love story for people through a prophet named Hosea. Hosea is the last prophet to proclaim God to the northern nation, called Israel (750-725 BC). God is willing to use his prophets in strange ways to make visual teaching points to his people. God made Isaiah have his rear end hang out so that the people would see that this is how they will go into captivity: naked. God told Jeremiah not to marry. God told Ezekiel to not weep when his wife died and to lie on his side for a year to teach the people a message. God is going to use Hosea to teach a message of love to the people of Israel, but it is going to be a strange, yet amazing love story.

The Strange Command (Hosea 1:1-2)

God’s first message to Hosea is to go and marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her. Some translations read that she would be a wife of harlotry or a prostitute. But we should not think of her being a professional prostitute or a temple prostitute because a different Hebrew word is used for those people. We will see that she receives gifts for her services but she is not a professional prostitute. She is just promiscuous. Just imagine this command being given to you. You are going to marry someone who sleeps around and he or she is going to continue to sleep around after you are married so that you will have “children of whoredom.” You get married knowing that your spouse is not going to be faithful to you. Why would God tell Hosea to do this? The rest of Hosea 1:2 explains the reason. “The land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” Israel is guilty of being unfaithful to the Lord. Hosea is going to be a picture of what God is experiencing in his relationship with Israel.

This picture tells us much about how God feels about our sins. Turning away from the Lord is as heart breaking and covenant breaking as a spouse that commits adultery against you. Turning from God into our sins is adultery to him. It is painful and devastating to him.

The Strange Children (Hosea 1:3-9)

Hosea does what the Lord says and marries a woman named Gomer. Hosea and Gomer have a son named Jezreel. The child’s name means “God will scatter.” This can be a positive or negative but the explanation shows that this is a negative. God is going to punish the house of Jehu and put an end to Israel. Interestingly, the city of Jezreel is where Jehu slaughtered Ahab’s house and established his own dynasty, which was God’s judgment for Ahab’s wickedness. However, Jehu failed to walk in God’s ways (2 Kings 10:30-31). Therefore, judgment was going to come. The military power and strength of Israel will be shattered (Hosea 1:5).

Hosea 1:6 says that Gomer conceived again. It is worth noting that in Hosea 1:3 the text tells us that a son was born to Hosea. But in Hosea 1:6 the text merely says that Gomer conceived and bore a daughter. We are left to wonder if this is Hosea’s child. Perhaps even Hosea was left to wonder if this daughter was his since he is married to a promiscuous woman. The Lord says that this daughter’s name is to be No Mercy. No more mercy would be given to Israel to forgive them. Israel has run out of God’s mercy and God will no longer forgive them. Mercy is still available to the southern nation, Judah (Hosea 1:7), but not for Israel. It is time for judgment, not mercy.

Finally, Gomer conceives and bears a son and his name is Not My People. It seems evident that this child is not Hosea’s child but a child of whoredom as God declared. The message is clear. Israel is no longer God’s people and he is no longer their God. You are completely disowned. You do not belong to God anymore and cannot call him your God. As each child is born we see an underscoring of the truth that mercy is over and judgment is coming against Israel for its wickedness. It sounds like it is over for Israel.

The Strange Promise (Hosea 1:10 to Hosea 2:1)

But look at what God says in Hosea 1:10. The promise God made to Abraham will be remembered. God made a promise to Abraham that his offspring would be innumerable. God says that this promise is still going to happen even though Israel will be judged. Further, a reversal is going to happen. In the place where God declared them to no longer be his people, they will be called children of the living God. The children of Israel and Judah will be gathered together under one head and they will go up from the land, which is a picture of a new exodus, as if coming out of Egypt again. Then the beautiful words are declared: “You are my people” and “You have received mercy.” Further, the positive use of Jezreel is declared. The scattering can also referring to scattering seed. So a great reversal will happen.

The people who deserve wrath will in the future receive mercy. The people who deserve to be cut off from God will be gathered again as God’s people. Not only will they be called his people but they will even be called God’s children. There is an amazing reversal that is coming. Now scour the chapter. Did the people do anything to deserve this reversal? Did the people change for this reversal to come about? Did the people turn back to the Lord and that is why God promised hope for their future? The people will not change. They will not turn back to the Lord. They will be judged for their sins. They are not going to do something that is going to move God to act. God is just going to act because that is who God is. God is doing something for Israel because that is the kind of God he is. God loves his people. God loves the world. God loves every single human. God is going to restore Israel in spite of her sins.

New Testament Hope

Now we can read a chapter like this and be fairly unmoved because we see it simply as a hope to Israel. But what is the relevance for us? What does this mean for us? This passage is quoted and alluded to in a couple of places in the New Testament.

First, the apostle Paul quotes this in Romans 9:25-26. But the apostle does something shocking with the text. Romans 9 is where Paul shows that God’s promises have not failed toward Israel. We might be tempted to think that Paul is just going to show that Israel is able to access to God by quoting the text. But the point Paul makes is not that God would merely bring back the “not my people” Israel. Instead, God is going to bring back all peoples who are called “not my people.” Look at Romans 9:22-26. God is able to make known the riches of glory “not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles” (Romans 9:24). God was going to do something and offer to every rebel and every sinner the ability to come to God. Even the Gentiles would be able to enjoy a privileged status with God.

What is the New Testament trying to teach to us by referring to and quoting this scripture? Our sins put us in the same condition before God. We should be scattered and judged. We should not receive any mercy from God. We should not be able to find forgiveness of sins. We should not be God’s people. Yet consider what has happened. We have been chosen by God. It is so easy to forget where we come from in life. It is so easy to think of the way things are now as the way they have always been. It is easy to forget what life was like many years ago. I have to stop and remember how far I have come. When I was in college, April and I were dating and I was so poor that to take her out on a date, we would go to Olive Garden and order the unlimited soup and salad for $3.99 and split it. That was our big outing. Our dates consisted of finding new malls in driving distance and walking around them for the day. For a long time we had no money and we went nowhere. I cannot fully appreciate the blessings I have now unless I remember how little I had physically in the past. The same is true when it comes to appreciating our relationship with God. We cannot appreciate being God’s people until we truly appreciate how much we should never have been called God’s people. We cannot see the privilege we have been given until we see how we should have no opportunity to be forgiven or belong to God at all.

There is only one way that we lose compassion for lost souls and become proud regarding our salvation: by forgetting how we were terrible sinners that God showed mercy toward and forgave. We become like the Pharisee and think that we have been forgiven little, as if we were really not that bad. But this thinking shows that we are blind to our own sinfulness. Being God’s people begins by realizing that I cannot pay for my sins any more than some in the world. We are not better than anyone else and our privileges and blessings we enjoy are only by God’s mercy. This is why Hosea makes this proclamation and why Paul and Peter would apply the prophecy to us. We have to see that we are not a people and we are not ones who receive mercy so that when we do receive mercy and do become his people we will be overwhelmed with gratitude and joy.

Finally, God used a marriage picture to see Israel’s relationship with him. Israel was not merely God’s people. The relationship was far more intimate to God. It was a marriage relationship to God, but Israel broke the marriage covenant. We need to see that God pictures our relationship with God as a marriage also. The church is pictured as the bride for Christ in Revelation 19. In Ephesians 5:23-30 the apostle Paul teaches that the image of marriage refers to Christ and the church. Christ has loved us and given up himself for us. We give our lives to him because he wants this intimate relationship with us. You are married to the Lord and this should change how we live. God wanting us in spite of our sinfulness opens our hearts to love him, worship him, serve him, and obey him.

Greater Love

Hosea 2:2-23

Brent Kercheville

The book of Hosea is a love story of how God loves and treats his people. The first chapter of Hosea revealed that Hosea would live what God was experiencing with Israel. Hosea would marry a promiscuous woman and have children from her promiscuity to show the pain that God was experiencing with Israel’s unfaithfulness toward him. Yet God will call all who are not his people to be his people again in a new exodus under a new head, Jesus (Hosea 2:10 to Hosea 2:1). The second chapter of Hosea presents another picture of God’s love for his people and how that is supposed to change our view of God and how we live.

End Unfaithfulness (Hosea 2:2-5)

The prophecy is a pleading with Israel to stop its unfaithfulness. Their sins have caused a separation in relationship because God and the people. We saw this in chapter 1 and it is restated in chapter 2. “She is not my wife, and I am not her husband” (Hosea 2:2). We have talked about how God does not share us with other loves and desires. We understand this in a marriage relationship. If we love someone in marriage, we do not share our spouse with another. God does not share us with others either. So he is calling for us to stop looking to be unfaithful to God. Stop looking to run from him. Stop looking to fulfill your desires elsewhere. Stop giving yourself over to your sinful ways.

God then warns the people that there are consequences for choosing to continue one’s unfaithfulness to the Lord. God will strip Israel naked and make her like a wilderness and parched land. God will cause the people to experience destitution. The blessings of God are going to be removed. He will not show love to them because they are unfaithful.

Now the reason is clearly pictured in Hosea 2:5. The people are determined to go after other gods and idols because they think that these gods (“lovers”) gave them their bread, water, oil, and drink. Essentially, the people go after other lovers because they think these other lovers gave them their blessings. They did not see that God gave them all their blessings. They did not think that the Lord was sustaining them and caring for them. They thought their idols were caring for them. They ran to other gods because they did not understand that God was behind their prosperity and blessings. We so easily do the same thing. We think that it is our career that gave us our wealth so we give ourselves to our career. We want more money so we work harder. Yet we fail to realize that God gave us the wealth and possessions we have. God gave us the job we have. God gave us the money we get from our job. God gave us the intellect and ability to work. God gave us working bodies so that we could make money. God is the reason you are at where you are at in life. But we often do not see it this way. God gave us our parents, our spouse, our children, our home, our cars, our jobs, our wealth, and anything else you can possibly think of in your life. But we fail to seek the one who gave us all this. We go after the stuff instead.

Emptiness Revealed (Hosea 2:6-13)

So God needs to wake us up and that is what he says he will do in Hosea 2:6-13. God will show his people the futility of what they are pursuing. God will let them go that direction but it is going to be an empty pursuit. God will take back all of his blessings so that they will see the emptiness of their ways. You are going to try to find your joy and satisfaction in your desires and you are not going to get there. But notice what God says in Hosea 2:7. The emptiness of our pursuit is supposed to bring us back to God. Our failure to find lasting joy and satisfaction is to turn our eyes back to God and understand that he is the one gives us everything. Just think about this. God is doing us a favor by not letting us get to what we think will be the joy we want when we pursue the desires of this world. So God will put an end the prosperity of Israel and punish them for their sins. But I want us to see what is ultimately the big problem, which is stated in Hosea 2:13. Israel would be punished because she went after her lovers and forgot the Lord. Spiritual failure comes from forgetting God. Forgetting God leads to an empty life. The apostle Paul made the same point in Romans 1:21 which led to a spiritual demise. Forgetting God, not honoring God, and not thanking God leads to our spiritual ruin and to a life of emptiness now. So what is God going to do about this situation? He has a people that he loves who have been unfaithful to him, who do not understand that everything they have come from him, and who have forgotten him. What will God do? The rest of the chapter is all about what God will do. Fourteen times God says “I will” in Hosea 2:14-23. First, look at Hosea 2:14-15.

Alluring Love (Hosea 2:14-15)

God is going to allure his people and tenderly speak to them. God is going to entice his people. Now there are two great pictures God uses for how he will allure his people. In Hosea 2:14 God says he will bring his people into the wilderness. The wilderness is the place to start over. God is saying he is going to hit the reset button. God will put Israel in the wilderness. The wilderness represents the time when they were set free from Egyptian slavery and on the brink of inheriting God’s promises. God will bring his people back to the wilderness, setting them free from their slavery and bringing them back to God’s promises.

The second picture is in Hosea 2:15. God will give Israel her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. The Valley of Achor is a direct reference to the story of Achan and his stoning in Joshua 7. The Valley of Achor was a place of death and a reminder of rebellion. But God is going to take the place of rebellion and death and make it a place of hope. God is going to cause such a staggering reversal that Israel will be reset and renewed as if when she came out of Egypt (Hosea 2:15). The people are going to respond to God again, like in the beginning. God is going to allure his people back to him because death will be turned life. Judgment will be turned to hope. Who can turn the Valley of Achor into a door of hope? We cannot. Only God can take the place of death and turn it into the place of hope. Only God can take a cross, the instrument of death for Jesus, and make it the icon of hope. Only God can take Golgotha, the place of the skull, and turn it into the place of redemption. Only God can take a tomb and make it a place of life. God is going to allure and entice people to him by taking death and turning into life.

Covenantal Love (Hosea 2:16-20)

But if this was not enough, there is more that God will do. God will renew the marriage covenant with his people. His people will call God, “My Husband” and will no longer be confused by the idols (Hosea 2:16). God’s people will no longer look to their idols to provide but will be in a covenant marriage with God. Further, it will be a true love relationship. The word “Baal” means “my lord” or “my master.” So the Lord will no longer be “my master” but “my husband,” picture a new view of the relationship with God. The people will want God, not just our master. In fact, the worldly passions and pursuits are going to be removed from their memory (Hosea 2:17). God’s people won’t want to do those things any longer. The people are going to have a greater love for God that is so strong that they will not want what the world is offering. Listen to Hosea 2:18 : “I will make you lie down in safety.” This is a picture of rest. The people will depend on the Lord and the Lord will be there for them to care for them and give them safety. After our spiritual adultery against the Lord, the Lord will betroth us to himself in righteousness, justice, steadfast love, mercy, and faithfulness. Did you hear this amazing covenantal promise? God will be righteous toward us even though we were unrighteous toward him. God will be just toward us though we were unjust toward him. God will show steadfast love toward us even though we have shown him wavering love. God will show us mercy though we do not deserve mercy. God will be faithful to us even though we have been unfaithful to him. So God says he will take death and reverse it to life. Then God says he will return us into his marriage covenant and he will be faithful to us even though we have been unfaithful to him. One more picture is found in the final three verses of this chapter.

Restoring Love (Hosea 2:21-23)

Finally, God says he will respond by restoring his blessings to his people. God is going to turn everything radically upside down. Jezreel will no longer mean calamity but salvation and prosperity. Now seeds of hope will be scattered as seed. God had dried up his blessings toward his people but there will be a time in the future will he will pour out those blessings on his people again. God will restore the relationship with his people so that those who he called “not loved ones” will now receive God’s love. Those who were called “not my people” will be God’s people. These people will now confess and proclaim to belong to God. Before we forgot the Lord and pursued emptiness. Now we will remember the Lord and declare him to be our Lord. I do not have the time to go through this point in this lesson and hope to do some new lessons about this topic in the future. But let me just say that there is a summary idea of how the New Testament describes all of this. God alluring his people by reversing death to life, by restoring a covenant relationship with his people, and restoring his blessings on his people so that they can belong to him is called in the New Testament the “gift of the Holy Spirit.” When Peter preaches to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, this is what he was talking about. This is what the Holy Spirit had promised: life to the dead, a covenant to those who were afar off, and blessings to those who would receive his message. This is the hope for us. God is alluring us with his greater love for us. His love is to cause us to stop loving our idols, desires, and worldly pursuits. His love shows us the emptiness of this life and the fullness of life with him. His love makes us forget the world and enjoy all the blessings that God has to offer. This is what the apostle Peter means when he references this prophecy in his letter.

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. (1 Peter 2:9-11 ESV)

You are now God’s people who have received mercy. Proclaim God’s praises to the world and abstain from the passions of the world.

Redeeming Love

Hosea 3:1-5

Brent Kercheville

God is wanting to show his amazing, unfailing love toward Israel while at the same time expressing how hurtful it is to endure Israel’s unfaithfulness. God pictures his relationship with his people as a marriage. But God is describing that he is in a bad marriage because Israel is not faithful to him. So God calls a prophet named Hosea to marry a promiscuous woman and have children that are born from her promiscuity to be a picture to his people about what he is enduring. In Hosea 3 we come back to this picture. Hosea has three children, some of which are not his. Hosea is married to an unfaithful woman. Now this picture of God’s love will be fully brought to our eyes through Hosea’s life. Look at the first verse of Hosea 3.

Love Again (Hosea 3:1)

We have not been informed about how things are going in Hosea’s life. We do not know what the home looked like and the difficulties that ensued. But verse 1 reveals that there has been pain. Gomer, Hosea’s wife, has left him. She is loved by another man and has continued her unfaithfulness against him. She is loved by another man and she is an adulteress. What would a human do in this situation? The marriage would be over. It would have to be over. She refuses to be faithful to him. Hosea would have every right to divorce her for her infidelity. The scriptures give him every right to put her away for her unfaithfulness. But God tells Hosea to go and love her again.

Why? Look at Hosea 3:1. Love her “even as the Lord loves the children of Israel though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” God will love his people even though they do not love him. His people do not love him and have left him. This love is simply unbelievable. God has every right and every prerogative to divorce his people because they left him. They do not love him. They do not want God. But God says he will love them again. To help us see even more how staggering this love is, notice the text tells us that the people love raisin cakes instead of the Lord. Raisin cakes were enough to pull the people away from the Lord. Raisin cakes were offered to Mesopotamian gods. The people apparently loved those raisin cakes. Think about the silliness of this exchange. The people love raisin cakes instead of loving God. It is unfathomable. What are the raisin cakes that we love more than the Lord? We love such trivial things instead of God. Think about the things that we love that absolutely interfere with loving God. Trade out the raisin cakes for television. Rather than loving God and learning about him in our private time, we love television. We trade God for money, possessions, and recreation. We trade the Lord for sex. We trade God for all kinds of trivial, temporary things in this life and we do not see the silliness of the exchange. Rather than loving God, we love raisin cakes. In spite of this, God loves us and desires to win our hearts back to him.

Think about what God told Hosea. Hosea is to love the woman who has been unfaithful to him like God loves the children of Israel. Love her like God loves you. This is the model for our marriages and mirrors what the apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 5. Husbands are to love their wives like Christ loves the church. Love is to be in our marriage like how God loves us. Even though we completely fail in our marriages, we are to continue to love each other in our marriages just as God loves us in all our failures.

Bought Back (Hosea 3:2)

Now we are told something in Hosea 3:2 without any explanation. Hosea must buy back her wife for 15 shekels of silver and a homer and lethech of barley. The impression we are left with is that she has enslaved herself somehow. She had left Hosea for another lover and perhaps he had rejected her at some point or she left him. Somehow, whether through her sexual escapades or being rejected by her adulterous lover, she is now put up for sale. Think about how crazy it is that Hosea would have to buy back his own wife! Yet he does it. She already is married to him but he has to buy her back and does it. Hosea does this and it is a picture of what God does for us. We belonged to the Lord already. He created us and called us to himself. Yet he rejected him and went after all of our desires. There is not a person who has not done this. We have sold ourselves into the power of sin. We gave into our flesh and chased after the pursuits of this world. But God buys us back. This is the repeated message of the New Testament, showing us what Jesus did for us.

He gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people for his own possession, eager to do good works. (Titus 2:14 CSB)

For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb. (1 Peter 1:18-19 CSB)

This is the power of Paul’s teaching in Romans 5.

For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8 CSB)

The Call (Hosea 3:3)

Now that Gomer has been bought back and returned as Hosea’s wife, Hosea has an obvious, simple request. You must be faithful to me. I will be faithful to you and you must be faithful to me. Not a crazy request and not a difficult request. It is a request that we would expect. This is what God tells us. We were married to the Lord and we cheated on him with our worldly desires and sins. We enslaved ourselves and by God’s amazing love he set us free by paying a high price, the blood of his Son, to bring us back to him. Now God has a simple request: you must be faithful to him. You cannot belong to someone else. You cannot chase these other lovers that I redeemed you from. You must belong to me and be faithful to me. God says he will do the same for us. He will continue to be faithful to us. This is why, in the scriptures we read above, God is always calling for us to be holy and pure because he redeemed us. It is an obvious request of us. Listen to how Paul taught this idea to the Corinthians.

You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV)

God’s call is not simply, “Stop sinning.” God’s call is, “I love you when you ran away from me and sold yourself. But I came and brought you back. All I am asking is for you to now remain faithful to me.”

What This Looks Like (Hosea 3:4-5)

The final verses of this chapter contain prophecy about what this return will look like. God’s people are pictured as being purged and cleansed from all their idols, gods, and desires. God’s people will be stripped of all their false loves and false security. God is going to deconstruct his people with a purpose, which is stated in Hosea 3:5. So that the people will return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king. We see this teaching from God repeatedly in the scriptures. God allows suffering, allows difficulties, removes prosperity, strips blessings, and deconstructs our lives so that we will return and seek the Lord. We need to think about this for a moment. Life not going according to our vision or plans is intended for us to see if we are depending on something besides the Lord and return to him. God is trying to show our flaws in faith and refine that faith to a saving faith (1 Peter 1:6-7). This is also God’s grace, mercy, and love. God would not love us if we continued with an insufficient faith and did not try to rattle our lives. It would be as foolish as a parent allowing bad behavior from their child. This is what the writer of Hebrews taught in chapter 12. God is teaching, training, and transforming us through his discipline. A good father trains the child so that the child is no longer disobedient or out of control. Without God doing this for us, we would be disobedient and out of control toward God. So God is using these life events to turn our hearts back to him.

Hosea 3:5 speaks to a messianic hope. People are going to want the Lord and his Anointed to rule over them. We will come in fear to the Lord and we will come to his goodness when Christ came. Jesus is the descendant of David, and he is the one who changes our hearts to change our lives. This is what God says he will do and now we can see that this is what God has done through Jesus.

Application

So we need to feel the weight of the picture God provides to us. We are in a marriage to God and we are responsible for making this a bad marriage. God is not the problem. We are the problem. We need to hear this. God is not the problem. We are the problem. We are unfaithful. We enslave ourselves. We wander from him. We love other people and other things than God. This means that we have betrayed God. We like to think this is not us but it is. We have wrecked ourselves. We have wrecked our lives. We have run so far from God. We have put ourselves in the arms of other lovers again and again. God has 100 million reasons to divorce us. Think about how many times you have loved something else more than God and have chosen sin instead of God. How many times have we done this? God has over 100 million reasons to divorce us. But he does not do it. God does not give up on you. This is the message of the cross. The cross shows that God does not give up on you. God does not buy us back out of revenge, judgment, or punishment. God buys us back out of love. God loved us when we rejected him. God goes and buys us with the blood of his Son through the cross to show us how much he loves us and to bring us back to him. He did this when we did not even want him. God has redeemed us. God paid the price to restore us. He reconciles this marriage relationship. God is only asking one thing from you: be faithful to him. Stop destroying yourself, giving yourself away to destructive desires and worldly pursuits, and love God because he is faithful to you. His love is to change our look at sin and our view of this world. Our pursuits and ways kill us and destroy us. God’s pursuits and God’s ways heal us, help us, and restore us. Return to the love of the Lord your God.

Why We Are Not Satisfied

Hosea 4:1 to Hosea 5:15

Brent Kercheville

The first three chapters completes the narration of Hosea’s life as he is told by God to marry a woman who will be unfaithful to him to show the pain God experienced by Israel’s unfaithfulness and to show God love to Israel to buy them back to him. The rest of the book is God’s prophecy through Hosea to the people. As we think about the first three chapters God revealed the direction of the prophecy in chapters 4-14. God’s message was judgment must come but then God’s love will continue and he will redeem his people. So these prophecies are going to show us what brought Israel into God’s judgment. From this we can learn what we must and must not do so that we can avoid God’s judgment and enjoy an eternal relationship with him.

The Problem (Hosea 4:1-3)

The Lord begins by declaring that he has a legal case to bring against Israel. His charge is that there is no faithfulness, no steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land. Rather than faithfulness and steadfast love, there is cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and adultery. There are no boundaries. Murder follows murder. All the rules of God are broken. Israel has lost its moral compass. Now the characteristics of God’s people are lying, cursing, stealing, adultery, and murder rather than faithfulness and righteousness. How has this happened? What we are going to see throughout these two chapters is that the primary reason for the people’s sinfulness is that they do not know God. We see this first stated in verse 1. There is no knowledge of God in the land. People know of God, but they do not know God as in having a relationship with him. How did this happen? The explanation of how Israel got to this point is explained in the next five verses.

The Failure of the Priests (Hosea 4:4-8)

The Lord turns his attention to the priests as God lays the responsibility for the people’s ignorance on them (Hosea 4:4; ESV, CSB, NRSV, NET, NLT). I think these translations have the better reading because verses 4-8 show a condemnation of the priests. Listen to Hosea 4:6. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.” The people are destroyed because they lack a true knowledge of the Lord. The condemnation is on the priests because they have rejected the knowledge of God themselves. They have forgotten God’s law. They have failed in their mission of bringing God to the people by teaching them the law of the Lord.

Would God say this to preachers and teachers in churches today? Would God say that we are teaching but are we teaching a knowledge of God? This is a point that deeply concerns me and motivates my own teachings. I have a great concern that there is much teaching about some of God’s rules and some of God’s teachings, but there is still not a knowledge of God. God did not want the people to simply know the commandments. God wanted the people to know him. God wanted to draw his people into relationship with him. Rule following is not a relationship. Knowing a person is a relationship. The neglect of the complete scriptures is spiritually fatal. When teaching is built on an illustration, then we are not teaching the scriptures. We have it all backward when we spend our time on an illustration or a story and then ending the lesson showing how the Bible fits our story. The knowledge of God must have the preeminence and then we may illustrate what God means. To put this another way, if people are remember the story or the illustration rather than the scripture, then we have failed in teaching. As God’s people we must beg teachers to teach the text. Take us to the scriptures. Show us what it says. We must not teach something and the show how the Bible supports what we just said. This is proof-texting and it is dangerous. We must be more like Ezra who read from the law and gave the meaning to the people (Nehemiah 8:8). We as teachers will be condemned if we mess this up so that we have a bunch of people who do not truly know God.

Hosea 4:7 records a sad statement. The more the priests increased, the more sins increased against the Lord. The priests prospered on the sins of the people (Hosea 4:8). Rather than the priests trying to prevent sins, the priests were glad for the people’s sins so that they could feed off of their sin offerings.

The People Are Like The Priests (Hosea 4:9-19)

Before we think that only the priests are accountable, God turns his prophecy against the people because they are just like the priests in their attitudes toward God. The people will also be punished (Hosea 4:9). God will take away their satisfaction because they left him (Hosea 4:10). Seeking joy and satisfaction out of life without God will leave us empty. God will make this an empty pursuit. The people love wine and sex, sex and wine, instead of God (Hosea 4:11). So they have lost their minds and do not see the foolishness of this kind of life. Isn’t it interesting that this is what our culture tells us is “true living?” Live for the weekend, have lots of sex and get drunk and this is will be a great life. They have lost all understanding. Sex and alcohol have become the people’s worship (Hosea 4:12-14). In Hosea 4:13 God says that Israel has given their daughters over into the sexual immorality and idolatrous practices of these idols. They are sleeping with everyone. But notice that God says he will not punish the daughters but the men who are consuming these women (Hosea 4:14). The men are judged for consuming women with their sexual appetites.

The men are responsible for protecting women, not using them for their own personal pleasure. This is another concept that is completely lost in our culture: men protect and care for women. This is not because women are of lesser value or cannot handle themselves. This is not at all the idea. God’s point is that we would look upon them with care, love, and concern. God’s point is that men would have soft hearts toward women so that they are not looked upon as people who can be taken advantage of, dominated, or controlled, but people who should be prized and elevated. I will illustrate this in a simple way. A man hold the door open for a woman does not communicate that a woman is unable to open a door. Unfortunately, this is what our culture says. But that is not the message. A man giving up his seat for a woman on a bus or subway is not saying that a woman is too weak to stand. That is not the message. The message is that as men we honor and respect our women. The point God is making to Israel is that they had lost this godly thinking and the men were going to be judged for how they were treating the women in their society. Sobering words for us to think about as a nation and as God’s people.

Unfortunately, God says that it is too late for this nation. Israel is stubborn and will not change. The house of God (Bethel) has been turned into a house of iniquity (Beth-aven), and as such judgment will come (Hosea 4:15-16). Their worship is rejected because, rather than being led by God like a lamb, Israel is as stubborn as an ox (Hosea 4:16). The people are consumed with drinking and sex, one after another (Hosea 4:17-19). It is a hopeless situation because that is all they love.

Everyone Judged (Hosea 5:1-15)

God now brings everyone into the same boat for judgment. God called the priests, the people, and the leaders in the first verse of chapter 5. Israel is defiled. The leaders are culpable. Nothing is hidden from God’s sight. No one is getting away with their sins (Hosea 5:3). Their actions do not allow them to turn back to God (Hosea 5:4). This is a key statement. It is a point that is made three times in the book of Hebrews. It is not simple for people to return to the Lord because their sins are destroying their conscience and soul. They become so darkened that any sense of repentance or turning to God becomes impossible. Therefore they cannot change. I wish I did not have to say how often I have seen this happen. A person’s sins do not allow them to return to the Lord. They are so right in their own eyes. They become so stubborn in how they see their situation and how they see God that they just end up in complete darkness. It is so sad and so depressing to watch. The person just cannot change because of their own sins which lock them away from God. How does this happen? In Hosea 5:5 God says it is pride. Pride interferes with seeing the way back to God. Being right in one’s own eyes and doing what is right in one’s own eyes is spiritual suicide. It leads to total spiritual doom.

This is the point in the rest of chapter 5. The people can keep bringing their sacrifices but they will not find God. In our language, people can keep coming to church and look like they care about God, but it is false and eventually will reveal itself. So sound the alarm because doom and judgment are coming (Hosea 5:7-10). Judgment will be crushing because the people chased after things that are filth or useless (Hosea 5:11). Think about that statement from God. You will be ruined when you seek after the wrong things. Israel becomes a case study for this. Rather than seeking God in their times of trouble, Israel is seeking help from foreign nations (Hosea 5:12-13). You try to get your help from all the wrong places and you will ruin your life. You look to the wrong people and you look to the wrong ideas for help, you will find doom. So Israel will be carried off in judgment with no one will rescue them (Hosea 5:14).

Yet with all of this, there is only one thing God wants. Look at Hosea 5:15. “I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face and in their distress earnestly seek me.” God does not need your righteousness. God does not need perfect living or sinlessness. God wants you to acknowledge your sin and seek him. God wants you to look to God when you are in distress. This is what God wants from us. You will sin but do not keep sinning. Acknowledge your guilt to the Lord and turn to him. You will fail in trials but do not turn from God. Do not look for help elsewhere. Seek the Lord in your distress.

Application

We can see how this first prophecy comes full circle. The message God gave in these two chapters is clear. We are doomed if we are ignorant and arrogant. We are doomed if we do not know and we are doomed if we are arrogant in our way of life and thinking so that we will not seek him. We see that bad teaching leads to unholy lives and unholy worship. God’s word must be central to our daily lives or we will be doomed because we do not know him. Our lack of knowledge of God leads to pride in our own knowledge. We believe our ways our best rather than God’s ways because we actually do not really know God’s ways. We think our ways are God’s ways and that is the worst outcome we could possibly have. We live in our own delusion that we are right with God when we are so far from him that there is no chance to repent.

So we must seek to know the Lord. Determine what you can change this week so that you can have a deeper knowledge of him. Remember that the message from the book of Hebrews was that to endure trials we need to a deeper vision of Jesus. So we need so much more time in his word. Get into those journaling Bibles and enjoy seeing God for yourself each day. We are destroying our lives if we lack a knowledge of him. God will take away life satisfaction because we are missing out on him, the one that satisfies all of our desires.

Why We Are Not Healed

Hosea 6:1 to Hosea 7:16

Brent Kercheville

In Hosea 4-5 we see God explaining to the people why they are not satisfied. The people do not know the Lord and because they do not know the Lord, they cannot have any life satisfaction. God’s people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6). The people are not seeking to know the Lord and the priests are not teaching the people about God so that they can have a relationship with him. So you are not satisfied because you do not know the Lord. Now God is going to teach the people, and teach us, why we are not healed.

The Sound of Repentance (Hosea 6:1-3)

Hosea 6 begins by describing the words of the people. They declare their hope in repentance. They say that they will return to the Lord and he will heal them. The Lord will bind up our wounds. “After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him” (Hosea 6:2). This is imagery that is used in the scriptures for revival and restoration. God appeared to Israel on the third day (Exodus 19:10-16). Jonah and Esther experienced deliverance on the third day (Jonah 1:17; Esther 4:16; Esther 5:1). Hezekiah’s recovery was on the third day (2 Kings 20:8). Hosea is not prophesying the resurrection of Jesus. Rather, the third day is a day of renewal and giving of life. So they are hoping that God will bring new life to the nation after two days, on the third day.

They further declare that they will acknowledge the Lord and he will appear for their healing and rescue like the sun arises. Just as sure as the winter and spring rains come, it as just as sure that the Lord will return by acknowledging him. So they say to each other, “Let us press on to know the Lord.” It sounds like the people have listened to the prior prophecy. We are destroyed for lack of knowledge. So let us strive to know the Lord! This sounds like exactly what Hosea would hope for the people to do. This is exactly what God wants the people to do. But there is a problem. Look at Hosea 6:4-6.

Problematic Repentance (Hosea 6:4-6)

The problem is that the people’s love is like a morning cloud and like the morning dew that disappears. The people say all the right words but their devotion does not last. Their love is short-lived. It sounds good on paper but nothing changes. This is the problem with verbal repentance. The people say that they need to make changes and appear to be convicted in their hearts. But then tomorrow comes and they are back to doing what they were always doing. No changes are actually made. The striking of the heart lasts for a moment and then the people are back to the spiritual mediocrity. The people say all the right things but nothing changes. Notice that God does not accept this. He hears our words but there cannot be healing because nothing changes. You are just saying words. You are saying what sounds good. You say all the right things to get people off your back or draw people to your side. But the next day you commit all the same sins and make all the same mistakes that you did the day before. Ultimately it is a half-hearted repentance. So judgment will still come even though the people say all the right words (Hosea 6:5).

The reason is given in Hosea 6:6. God says, “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” God wants our hearts. God wants our love. God wants our consistent covenant devotion. What God wants is our consistent desire to know him and draw near to him. Going through the religious motions is not what God wants. Saying the right words is not what God wants. God does not want your mere confession of sins or sorrow but life change. He wants to see fruit that exposes a true repentance of the heart. Knowing the law of God or saying that you love God is not what God is looking for. God wants a consistent, loyal devotion to him. Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6 two times as he walked the earth.

The first time Jesus quotes this verse is in Matthew 9:13. The context is that the Pharisees are complaining to Jesus’ disciples because Jesus is eating with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus answers their complaint by first declaring that the sick need a doctor, not the well. Then Jesus tells the Pharisees to learn what this means: “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.” We see how Jesus’ message fits with Hosea’s message. The Pharisees obviously did not know God because they would have had compassion for sinners. They would have had the same love for the lost as Jesus did if they truly knew God. The Pharisees said godly things but did not show loyal love to God. The law of the Lord had not changed their hearts to love others.

The second time Jesus quotes this verse is in Matthew 12:7. The context is that the Pharisees are complaining against Jesus and his disciples again. They are complaining that Jesus’ disciples are breaking the Sabbath by plucking heads of grain on the Sabbath. Jesus tells them, “And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.” Notice that the application of this passage is the same. You obviously do not know what God wants. You know the laws. You know the rules. You know the basics. But ultimately it is all words because you have not allowed your heart to change your behavior. Your confession and your claims are meaningless without complete life change and devotion to the Lord.

No Healing (Hosea 6:7 to Hosea 7:10)

This is the reason why the people are defiled. They are like Adam. They transgress God’s covenant and are faithless to him. They are full of evildoers and bloodshed because the heart is not behind the words. True life change will only happen when we go beyond saying words that we think God and his people want to hear. So the people are full of sins and are completely defiled.

What is sad is that God would have healed and restored the people (Hosea 7:1). The people said the words that the Lord would heal them and they were right. God would have healed them and restored them. So why were they not healed by the Lord? God would heal them but they kept sinning. The people would not stop their sins to receive the healing God could bring to their lives and to the nation. Their sins ever stood before God’s eyes (Hosea 7:2) God saw what the people were doing and was not fooled by their words of repentance. God saw what happened in the darkness. God saw what happened in their homes. God saw the things that the people thought no one saw. God saw and he refused to heal because the people maintained their sins. “But they do not consider that I remember all their evil” (Hosea 7:2).

This should be a fearful statement to every person. God remembers all your evil. This is the problem we have before God. We need our evil erased. When we think about how our evil stands before the eyes of the Lord, it is to cause us to truly repent and not just say the words. Saying the words will not erase our sins. Looking like a Christian does not remove the evil from before God’s eyes. True repentance will lead to true healing which leads to the erasing of our sins. The problem is described more clearly in Hosea 7:3-7. The people delight in wickedness. None of them call out to the Lord from sincere hearts (Hosea 7:7). They are hot for sins. They want their sins and do not want God. So they are not healed. Their arrogance prevents them from returning to the Lord (Hosea 7:10).

No Redemption (Hosea 7:11-16)

The words of Hosea 7:11-16 are simply painful and stunning. Look at Hosea 7:13.

Woe to them, for they have strayed from me! Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me! I would redeem them, but they speak lies against me. (Hosea 7:13 ESV)

God cannot redeem his people because they are full of lies. God wants to redeem and deliver his people but they have run from God. They chose to run to their own destruction rather than running to the Lord. Look at Hosea 7:14.

They do not cry to me from the heart, but they wail upon their beds; for grain and wine they gash themselves; they rebel against me. (Hosea 7:14 ESV)

The people cry, but they do not cry from the heart. The people cry, but they do not cry for the Lord. They cry because they lost their possessions. The people cry about what they have lost. They do not cry about losing God. They are not crying about the loss of the relationship with God as God has declared that they are not his people. No, they are crying about their possessions. The time they cry is when they losing their stuff. What matters to the people is their prosperity, not their spirituality. In verse 16 God says that the people turn, but not to him. They turn to try to get their life back to the way it was. They turn to try to keep their possessions but they do not turn because they want God.

Application

So God gives the picture of why we would not experience healing that he wants to give. God says he would heal and he would redeem the people. But there was a problem that keeps God from healing the people. The problem is false repentance. He does not want love that is like a morning cloud that quickly disappears. God does not words. God does not want external conformity. God wants steadfast love. God wants our hearts and wants our loyalty. God will restore and heal us if we would simply stop chasing our desires. God wants us to cry to him from our hearts, not for our stuff.

Think about the kind of healing we want. Do our prayers reflect that we want the restoration of our former life, whatever earthly thing that we have lost? Or do our prayers reflect that we want the restoration of God in our lives? Do we cry more about our sins or about the physical things we want or have lost? How steadfast is our devotion to the Lord? Do we say today that we will change and we will repent and that God will heal us only to then see us do what we have always done on Monday like we did the week before? Do we say we will change but not change? Or do we say that we will change and then truly change? God wants our faithful devotion to him that truly changes and does not say the things that we think God wants to hear. Jesus’ words must ring into our hearts. “I desire steadfast love and mercy, not sacrifice.”

Are we making it impossible for God to heal us and change our lives because we continue to run after our own desires? God can heal you. God wants to heal you. But you have to come to the great physician and follow his prescription, not your own. He will heal but you have to listen to what he says and take the medication he is prescribing you. False repentance keeps us from the healing God offers.

Spiritual Delusion

Hosea 8:1-14

Brent Kercheville

The failure of Israel has been tied to two key problems: the people do not know God and the people offer a false repentance. The people simple do not have a relationship with God and do not truly know him. When confronted with this problem, the people say they will change, but no change happens. They say that they will press on to know the Lord, but their love is like a mist that vanishes in a few moments. Now in Hosea 8 we see God explaining to the people their spiritual condition and their present situation. God is attempting to wake the people up so that they will truly see their real condition before God.

Spiritual Delusion (Hosea 8:1-3)

First, God is going to show the people that they are living in spiritual delusion. God declares that the vulture is circling. Sound the warning trumpet. The nation is doomed for their sins and judgment is coming, just as God warned would happen through the mouth of Moses in Deuteronomy 28:49. Nations are pictured like eagles and vultures that will come and pick apart the nation. This is what will happen to Israel. The reason for their judgment is clearly expressed in Hosea 8:1. They have transgressed my covenant and rebelled against my law. God repeatedly warned about not rebelling against him and violating the covenant throughout Numbers and Deuteronomy. Yet the nation has rebelled against the Lord.

But look at Hosea 8:2. The people say all the right things. They cry out to God and declare that they know him. They claim to have a relationship with God. Notice that the people do not think they are breaking the relationship with God. They do not think they are rejected him or rebelling against him. They live in the grip of spiritual delusion. They think they know God but God does not know them. God does not have a relationship with them. The reason why is stated in Hosea 8:3. The people do not live up to their claims. They say that they know God but they have spurned the good. The people are in spiritual darkness in their minds. They think they know God but their actions show otherwise. They say all the right words but their actions reveal a denial of God and his ways.

We see one of the purposes God gives for his people that Israel had rejected was to do good as God defines it. God says what is good and we are to do what is good. But Israel refused. Doing good is not what we define as good. Our world has changed God’s definitions of right and wrong, good and evil. We cannot define what we think is good. God defines good and it is our responsibility as God’s people to do good and not reject God’s law.

Failed Saviors (Hosea 8:4-6)

God further describes the people’s problem in Hosea 8:4-6. The problem is that the people trust in all the wrong things. They do not trust in God. They trust in other things. In Hosea 8:4 we see that they trusted in their political leaders. They trusted in their kings and princes to deliver them. They did not consult God as to who to appoint as their leaders, rejecting God as their decision maker. They are installing kings for their rescue. This is truly a picture of our culture today. We appoint presidents, governors, mayors, senators, and representatives to be our functional saviors. We reject God as our decision maker and we elect people who will give us what we want for our physical desires. So keep us wealthy and give us what we want. We identify some economic or social issue and elect people on how they will give us what we want. Friends, political parties have come and gone in the history of our country. Yet we place our life hopes and national hopes on these wicked men rather than on God. God is our leader. God is in charge and only he can give us what we desire. The only reason we have prosperity is not because of our president but because God gives it to us. The only reason we have security is not because of our Congress but because God gives it to us. Everything we have as a nation is because God gave it to us today, not because of who we elect. Israel messed this up and it is easy for us to mess it up also.

Israel not only trusted in their leaders, but also their idols. Their idolatry was leading them to their destruction though the people thought their idols would save them. Notice in Hosea 8:6 that God questions how a person could give their life and hope to something a craftsman made. Why would our hope be in home, our car, our job, our money, or anything else in this life? They are not gods. They cannot save us. They cannot help us. They were made by humans. They do not have the power to rescue your life.

You Reap What You Sow (Hosea 8:7-10)

Notice Hosea 8:7. “For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.” Think about this image for a moment. They are sowing the wind. Sowing wind speaks to the emptiness of what they invest their lives. They sow to emptiness, vanity, and futility. They were not investing their lives in God which has eternal value and meaning. They sow the wind. They invested in empty and worthless things. They give themselves to so many things that just do not matter. They are things that are temporary and worldly. There is an outcome to sowing the wind: reaping the whirlwind. Wind is going to come back to you. You are going to find emptiness and you are going to find judgment.

We can easily live in a spiritual delusion in this area of our lives also. We can invest so much of our time, our thoughts, our worries, and our efforts into things that we can think are important but are not. Perhaps one of the areas we can easily do this is our jobs. At the end of the day, is it all really going to matter in eternity? Will our work in this world and sacrificing so much for our work matter in eternity? Or will all that we invest into our entertainment matter in eternity? We sow the wind. We sow to worthless things rather than the things that will be a spiritual return on our investment. The things of God always will provide an eternal return. Sowing to this life simply reaps the whirlwind. The people in Hosea’s day were spiritual deluded about their situation, sowing the wind, and thinking that this was an investment with God.

The rest of Hosea 8:7 depicts this spiritual condition further. It is a dual picture. They will lose their prosperity as part of their judgment. There will be no yield from what they have sown. But more importantly, the people are being pictured like standing grains with no heads. A headless stalk of wheat is worthless. Since it will not produce flour, it is only fit to be carted away and burned. Israel will be harvested but their end is doom because they sowed the wind. Hosea 8:8 really hurts in the picture of God’s people. “Israel is swallowed up; already they are among the nations as a useless vessel.” God’s people have lost their distinctiveness. They act like and look like the pagan world. They have been swallowed up and no longer represent God to the world. They do not show a faith in the Lord and so judgment comes. Again we see the spiritual delusion. They think they are God’s people but they behavior and character looks just like the worldly nations.

Rejection Leads To Rejection (Hosea 8:11-14)

In Hosea 8:11 God declares that the altars are not used for a devotion and worship of God but for sinning. Now remember that the people thought they knew the Lord. But look at Hosea 8:12.

“Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands, they would be regarded as a strange thing” (Hosea 8:12).

The people have a complete ignorance of God and his instruction. Imagine this scene that God gives. The people of God have no idea what God wants. They have no idea who God is. The instructions of God are completely lost on the people and foreign to them. We see a theme that God returns to throughout this prophecy to Israel. God gave his instructions and the people did not know the instructions. The people did not know the character of God. The people thought that if they kept their external worship going that God would be pleased and would continue to bless them. We see this thinking in Hosea 8:13. “They sacrifice meat and eat it, but the Lord does not accept them.” The people bring their worship and it means nothing to the Lord. Coming to worship without the love or the knowledge of God is also sowing the wind. The people will be punished and be returned to slavery (Hosea 8:13). Israel has forgotten the Lord as witnessed by the fact that they do not know him (Hosea 8:14).

Warnings of Spiritual Delusion

As we conclude I want us to consider the warnings described in this chapter to alert us if we are spiritually deluded. I want to ask three questions to check if we are experiencing the same spiritual delusion that Israel experienced.

First, what we are sowing?

Are we sowing wind or are we investing toward God? Jesus taught this warning himself in a couple of ways. Jesus said it like this:

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” (Matthew 6:19-20 ESV)

Investing in the treasures on earth is sowing the wind. It is emptiness. Nothing in this world is going to last. Rather, invest in heavenly treasures. So we need to ask ourselves if our efforts have eternal value. We need to ask ourselves if what we are doing has eternal benefit. Let your life be an investment in eternity. Can you imagine losing our souls because invested so much in our comforts, our entertainment, our possessions, our wealth, our careers, or something else in this world? It will not matter and will see so foolish that we sowed the wind. Jesus also gave this warning of Hosea like this:

What are we expecting to reap?

Jesus gave the same warning that Hosea gave.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:21-23 ESV)

Saying you know God is not sufficient. Truly consider if you know God. Consider if you really have a relationship with him. Too often what we can do with this teaching of Jesus is applying to the rest of the world. Those people in the world claim to know God but they really do not know him. But we need to apply this teaching to ourselves. It seems that the people of Israel made the same mistake. They thought they knew God because they were different than the nations. The problem was that by this point they actually were not different than the nations. They did not do the will of God even though they did things that looked like they did. So look at our lives and consider what we expect to reap. What have we spend our lives investing in? What should we expect to reap from the Lord? This leads us to the final question of warning for spiritual delusion.

What is our functional savior?

It is easy to say that we do not have a functional savior. Surely Israel would have answered in the same way. Yet God exposed that they put their hopes in their kings and leaders, in their idols, and in other nations. So we need to determine if we have functional saviors in our lives. Here is one way to evaluate it. What do you need to make your life better? Where do you turn for comfort and rescue? Israel thought that life would be better if they received help from Egypt or Assyria. Israel thought life would be better if they had more wealth. Israel thought life would be better if they had a different king. Think about what you need to make your life better. There is only one answer: more of God in our lives. God rules over all things. What we need more of is God. Unfortunately we can think that God is our problem so we think changes without God will make life better. But this only makes life worse. Whatever your problem is, your answer is God. What we need to make life better is God. This is what we see in the Psalms. What would make David’s life better? More of God in his life is his consistent answer. What is our answer? Whatever our answer is what we think is our savior. What are we sowing? What are we expecting to reap?

More Than Words

Hosea 9:1 to Hosea 10:15

Brent Kercheville

One of the blessings we have from the literary prophets is that God directly explains why judgment comes from God and what to do to receive the blessings of God. God is never unfair or arbitrary in his judgments. He explains why his judgments are reasonable and why judgments must come. He also explains what he expects of his people so that they can remain in his favor. Before transitioning into pictures of a future hope, God is going to express the present judgment and the reasons this judgment must finally come against Israel.

No Joy (Hosea 9:1-4)

Hosea begins his message by telling Israel that they will have no reason for joy because they have been unfaithful to God. The imagery of Gomer is applied to Israel again in Hosea 9:1. The people have played the whore because they are forsaking their God. God sees our divided loyalties as spiritual adultery. God does not share his people. We cannot worship God and worship money, materialism, worldliness, or our desires. God sees the people prostituting themselves against him. The people saw that their prosperity was from their idolatry (Hosea 9:1).

Therefore, the people are going to lose their physical blessings because of their sins. Since the people put their hope and joy in their material blessings and not God, then God will take away their physical blessings so that they will learn the sin and folly of putting their hope in those things. Since they do not think God gave these things to them, God will take those things away. Further, there is no reason for joy because their worship will be taken away. Their offerings are not pleasing to God. All of their external acts of worship were counted as useless before God because they were unfaithful in their hearts to the Lord.

Reasonable Judgment (Hosea 9:5-9)

The rest of our study of the text in this lesson, chapters 9-10, will show God explaining what the people are doing that is deserving of God’s judgment. In Hosea 9:7-8 God declares that the people have rejected the word of God. The people consider the prophet to be a fool and a madman. No one believes what God says. They think that God’s proclamations are nonsense. I want us to see that this is the same as our culture today. Our culture shouts down whoever it disagrees with. Godly virtue and morals are shouted down as antiquated and nonsensical. This is what the people of Israel were doing to Hosea and the prophets of God. Remember in Hosea 8:12 God said that if he were to give the people his laws, they would consider them as foreign and strange. The declarations of God are strange, considered foolish and nonsensical.

This leads to hatred (Hosea 9:8-9). The rejection of God leads to hate. Not only is there hatred for God and his words, but there is hatred of others. Look at the description given in Hosea 9:9. “They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah.” This is a shocking statement. The days of Gibeah refers back to the days of the judges where a Levite’s concubine was raped and murdered by the town’s inhabitants (Judges 19-21). If this was not bad enough, the husband then cut her into twelve pieces and sent her body parts to the twelve tribes of Israel. If that was not bad enough, this leads to Israel nearly exterminating a whole tribe rather than deal with only the perpetrators. It is a horrifying scene of hatred and corruption. God says that the whole nation has become this, not just a group of people. When we do what is right in our own eyes and reject the teachings of God as foolish and nonsensical, this is always the outcome. Society becomes corrupted, hatred runs rampant, and extreme evil is perpetuated.

Broken Beauty (Hosea 9:10-17)

For the rest of chapter 9 God is going to paint a sad picture of Israel’s beauty that is now broken. In Hosea 9:10 we see a positive presentation of Israel. There was the prospect of fruitfulness, like the first fruit on a fig tree. The Lord is portrayed as a farmer eagerly awaiting the full fruit from his planting. But the Lord is frustrated and dismayed by the failure of the harvest. The rest of Hosea 9:10 shows this failure, described as the sin that occurred at Baal-Peor. You will remember that the event of Baal-Peor occurred in Numbers 25 where the people of Israel committed sexual immorality with the Canaanite women. God sent a plague on the people because of their rebellion. God pictures Israel as now returning to this corrupted, detestable state.

The disaster is fully pictured in Hosea 9:11-17. God is going to leave his people because the people do not want him. If God’s words are foolish and nonsense, and if you attribute your wealth and prosperity to your idols, then there is no room for the Lord in your hearts and the Lord will leave them. In Hosea 9:12 God declares a woe on the people when we leaves them. In Hosea 9:15 God says that he will drive out the people and no longer love them because of their rebellion. In Hosea 9:17 God says that he will reject them because they have not listened to him. In Hosea 9:15 God says that every evil of theirs is in Gilgal and there God began to hate them. This is shocking because Gilgal was the place of the people rededication to the covenant (Joshua 4:19-20). The place of covenant renewal has become the place of hated. Gilgal was to remind the people of God’s faithfulness which was to generate the people’s faithfulness. But now there is idol worship in Gilgal (Hosea 4:13-15).

A Degenerate Vine (Hosea 10:1-8)

The next picture is that of Israel as a prosperous vine. But the problem is that this wicked vine produces more altars for false worship the more prosperous it became. It is a fruitful vine but it is full of bad fruit. The more prosperous the nation became, the greater the wickedness of God’s people. Idolatry increased in proportion to its affluence. God says that he knows the people’s hearts are divided (Hosea 10:2). He knows that they say one thing but their hearts are far from him. In Hosea 10:3 it looks like the people will understand. Notice that they say that they understand that they have no kings because they have no feared the Lord. They will say that they understand that there is nothing that a king can do for them. They will say that they need the Lord! But look at Hosea 10:4. They utter mere words. They make many empty promises. The people say they understand but they do not and they are not going to change. Their false worship will be carried away and the people will cry over losing it (Hosea 10:5-6). The nation will be completely helpless and powerless when God brings judgment on the nation (Hosea 10:7). The destruction will be so severe that the people will cry to the mountains and hills fall on them (Hosea 10:8).

This is an important prophecy in Hosea 10:8 as it pictures a devastating and complete judgment on Israel. Jesus is going to quote these words in Luke 23:30 when he describes the destruction of Jerusalem. By quoting this passage you see the severity of what Jesus was saying. Israel had become depraved again and it was time for full judgment to come on Israel when the Roman Empire destroyed Israel. These words are also quoted in Revelation 6:15-16 which again tells us that this part of Revelation was speaking about Israel’s destruction by the Roman Empire in the first century because of Israel’s rejection of God.

A Trained Calf (Hosea 10:9-15)

The final picture regarding Israel’s condition is found in Hosea 10:9-15. Israel is pictured as a trained calf. In Hosea 10:12 God told Israel to plow the ground and sow righteousness so that you will reap steadfast love. Break up the hard ground of your stubborn hearts and seek the Lord. But rather than sowing righteousness and receiving blessings, the nation plowed sin and is reaping the consequences of injustice (Hosea 10:13). The people have trusted in their own paths, their own power, and their own wisdom (Hosea 10:13). Therefore their fortresses will be destroyed, their families will die, and the nation will be cut off because of their great evil (Hosea 10:14-15).

Applications

So what do we need to learn from God’s message through his prophet Hosea to the people of Israel? First, God’s patience must not be misconstrued as unbounded toleration. Israel’s prosperity and lack of judgment had caused the people to think that there would no judgment. Hosea is called a madman who is speaking foolish words of judgment. It is easy for us to do the same thing. It is easy for us to misconstrue God’s patience as meaning that God is not going to judge our wickedness. The apostle Peter gave the same reminder to Christians in the first century because the same thing was happening.

…remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. (2 Peter 3:2-7 ESV)

God’s patience for us personally and God’s patience toward our nation must never be thought of as meaning God is going to tolerate how we are living. We must live in the light of coming judgment. We know judgment is coming. It must come for we also live in a nation that is in full rejection of the words of God, counting his teachings as nonsense and foolish. Peter asks, “What sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness” since such judgment is certainly coming (2 Peter 3:11)? There is a line when God’s judgment will come, where his patience is exhausted and God rejects a nation (cf. Hosea 9:17).

Second, our prosperity is a great hindrance to our holiness and godliness. Prosperity steals our hearts away from the Lord. We must think about if what God said in Hosea 10:1 looks like our hearts. The more we gain in prosperity, the more we use it for sinfulness. The more we have must mean the more we bear fruit for the Lord, not sin. Jesus warned of this in Matthew 19:23-24.

Finally, God wants more than words. We understand this truth. When I was in high school, there was a very popular song called More Than Words. The lyric said: “More than words to show you feel that your love for me is real.” The whole point of the song is that I do not want you to just say I love you to try to fix everything. So I want to take those words away so that you would understand that your love needs to be seen. We see God saying this in Hosea 10:4. The people just utter mere words and offer empty promises. We will not be God’s people just by saying words. God does not just accept words. Love is more than words and the people’s actions revealed that they did not love him, even though they said they did. What do our actions reveal? Do our actions match our words? Would God tell us that it is just mere words and empty promises? We must never misconstrue God’s patience as meaning that we will escape for just saying the right words. Let us work to not allow our prosperity to hinder our devotion to the Lord. Would God look back to our past and long for the devotion we used to have because we have been captured by the idols and desires of this world? God wants more than words because love is more than words.

God Does Not Give Up On You

Hosea 11:1 to Hosea 12:14

Brent Kercheville

The prophecy of Hosea has been describing the sins and coming judgment against the northern nation, Israel. God has described that their love is like a mist that disappears. God has revealed that they have false hearts that are not truly repentant, but merely say the words. Israel has corrupted themselves, reject God’s prophets, and rely on their own ways and power. Chapter 10 ends by picturing a complete destruction of the nation. It is with this background of judgment that God is going to express the most amazing display of his character in these final chapters.

Recalling God’s Love For Israel (Hosea 11:1-7)

God begins this paragraph by reminiscing about his love for Israel. God loved Israel as a child and called Israel his son as he brought them out of Egypt. We see God calling Israel his firstborn son in Exodus 4:22-23. However, the more God called his people to himself, the more they turned from him. It is a terribly sad picture. The more God showed his love and drew his people into a relationship with him, the more they wanted to run away from him. They continued to sacrifice to their idols and love their false gods. This is a picture of extreme rebellion and disobedience. You call the child’s name and the child runs in the other direction. This is horrifying disobedience. But it was God raised his child, Israel (Hosea 11:3). It was God who carried Israel and healed them. God led them in kindness and love, removing their burdens from them. But they did not understand that God healed them and helped them. So they ran the other direction.

This is why judgment must come against the nation. In Hosea 11:5 we read that judgment comes because the people refuse to return to me. Look at the description in Hosea 11:7. “My people are bent on turning away from me, and though they call out to the Most High, he shall not raise them up at all.” The people are bent in running from God. They are trapped by their own perversity. They refuse to respond to God’s pleadings and continue to rely on their own counsel and plans (Hosea 11:5-6). They believe that their plans are superior to God’s plans. Yet notice that Hosea 11:7 says that the people are calling out to God. How ironic that the people call out to God while they are bent on running from God. God does not accept this. We cannot call to him while we continue to live how we want. We must not view God as our genie who does what we want. We want to make God in our image and be what we want him to be. So we call out to him, trying to get him to do what we want, rather than submitting to his will because he is the Lord, not us. So God will not answer those who cry out to him while still running from him.

God’s Restoration (Hosea 11:8 to Hosea 12:5)

But now we have a shocking stop to the descriptions of the people’s sinfulness and the judgments that must come. Listen to the words of Hosea 11:8. “How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel?” We are able to hear the emotions of God. God is distraught because his love is so deep for his people. How can I give up on you? How can I turn you over and that be the final word? How can I let my people experience a full disaster? In Hosea 11:8 we see that God cannot bear to treat Israel like Admah and Zeboiim. Remember that these were two of the cities of the plains, along with Sodom, Gomorrah, and Zoar. God utterly destroyed Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim for their extreme sinfulness. This is what is due to Israel. But God cannot give up on his people. God cannot utterly destroy them like he did the cities of the plains. Look at the end of Hosea 11:8. “My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender.” God still has a heart for his people and he overflows with compassion. We must see that this is the character of God. This is what God said of himself in Exodus 34:6, that he is merciful, gracious, and abounding in steadfast love. God will not execute his burning anger and will not come in wrath (Hosea 11:9). The picture is that God’s judgment against Israel will not be the end. Even though we read the messages of judgment in chapters 6-10, this will not be the last word from God. God will not come in final wrath without any hope. God relies on his own character as proof. Notice in Hosea 11:9 God explains, “For I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst.” This statement is also made in Numbers 23:19 and 1 Samuel 15:29. The point is that God is not wishy-washy or duplicitous like humans. God says that this will not be a final judgment on Israel and that he will not change his mind. He will carry out what he says.

Hosea 11:10-12 picture the coming restoration that God has promised will occur. The people will follow the Lord. When the Lord roars like a lion, his children will hear his voice and come to him (Hosea 11:10). They will come out of their slavery and be restored in their homes. The imagery is that Israel will be brought home to the Lord again in the future. But you will notice that God is not ignoring the sins of the people. From Hosea 11:12 to Hosea 12:6 God reminds them of their sinfulness again. God will punish for their sins (Hosea 12:2). The nation acts like their father, Jacob (Hosea 12:3-5). So the picture is very much what we see the apostles proclaiming in the New Testament. You are sinful and God is going to save you in spite of your sinfulness. Judgment will come. Judgment must come. But I am offering a way of escape so that you can return the Lord.

Return To The Lord (Hosea 12:6-14)

Now look at Hosea 12:6 to see the power of God’s hope for the people.

“So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.” (Hosea 12:6 ESV)

God declares the way to return to the Lord. You will look to God for help and wait for him as you maintain love and justice. Essentially, do right while you wait for God’s rescue. God is going to do something to bring the people back and the people needed to wait for it to happen. But as you wait, do right. Do good. Cling to love and justice.

Notice what hinders people from returning the Lord in Hosea 12:8. The people say they are rich and have wealth. They think they are without sin. Now we have noted the prosperity of Israel as a hindrance to loving God and practicing righteousness. We add another problem with the people. They just do not see that they have a sin problem. They think that they are fine. What they are doing is okay. They are the people of God. There is nothing wrong with what they are doing. Friends, this is our biggest problem: our inability to see what we have done wrong. We live right in our own eyes and do not see our sinfulness. This is what blocks our restoration and healing. We are physical prosperous and believe we are spiritually rich. Therefore we cannot see how we wrecked our lives by our own sins.

Applications

I want to spend time thinking about what God has told us and the message this is to be for our lives. Let us bring all of these points together to hear what God was telling Israel and is telling us today. First, the people are deserving of complete destruction but will not experience this because of God’s love. God loves his people. God loves his creation. God wants to be with his people and must give multiple opportunities for people to return to him. God is not a “one and done” God. He loves his people and gives his people chance after chance to come back to him. In fact, how often does God say that he is taking away blessings or bringing us trials in our lives so that we will return to him? Trials are intended to awaken our souls so that we will change our lives so that we will not have to suffer eternal judgment. God jars us in the most amazing ways and truly in the most painful ways. It hurts and it is hard to go through life’s trials. But God is doing good by us so that we will look to him and stop resting our hope on this life and the people of this world. God is a God of compassion and love. He desires to rescue every soul and he will turn your life upside down to save you from yourself.

Earlier we talked about how we can treat God like a genie who must grant our wishes. But think about how grateful we can be for as often as God has not answered our prayers the way that we wanted! In our limited vision of life we plead with God to do something only to later find out how glad we are that God did not do that. We are trusting God to always do what is best for us even when we do not understand what God is doing. We trust God even when God does not answer prayers the way we want. We trust God even when we are deep trials, knowing that God is transforming us and purging us. We must not resist what God is trying to do in our lives and do to our character.

Second, what keeps us from receiving God’s healing is that we do not see what we have done. We are amazing at making excuses for ourselves. We reject that we have sinned because we think that we are justified in our behavior. We justify our anger, wrath, retribution, malice, sharp words, selfish behaviors, sexual immorality, and the like. We fail to see how doomed we are if we look to ourselves and how much we need God’s help. We will unfortunately act like the disobedient child who runs away from the calling of the Lord. But God wants us to see that he is a loving God who is calling out to us.

In fact, I want to draw our attention back to Hosea 11:1 as our third point in our application. In Hosea 11:1 we saw God reminiscing about how he called Israel his son. But the response of the people was to reject his calling. What we then saw was rather than God giving a final judgment for their rejection, God says he will not give them up but will restore. This is the message that Matthew is seizing on when he quotes this passage in Matthew 2:15. Turn to Matthew 2:15.

Herod was attempting to kill Jesus, Joseph and Mary took Jesus and fled to Egypt and stayed there until the death of Herod. Matthew says that this event fulfills what Hosea said in Hosea 11:1. Now we just looked at Hosea 11:1 and we know that Hosea was not referring to Jesus but to Israel’s past when they were in Egypt and God rescued the nation from slavery. So what is Matthew doing? There are two things that Matthew is doing. First, Matthew is showing how Jesus is the new Israel who accomplishes the new exodus. Israel was God’s firstborn son but Israel failed due to its sinfulness. Jesus is God’s firstborn son but will not fail because he will not be sinful. He will do all that God said to do. Therefore, when Jesus comes out of Egypt, it is the start of the new exodus.

This leads directly to Matthew’s second message. Hosea said to wait for God to rescue because judgment will not be God’s last word. God will help and God will save. By quoting this sentence of Hosea, Matthew is showing that the arrival of Jesus on the scene is God’s last word. God is going to save through him. Jesus will be the way that God will show his steadfast love. Jesus will be the way that God will bring his people home. Jesus is how God will bring people to himself. Jesus is how God’s rescue plan would be put into action. God would help people return by sending his Son. Let us not think much of ourselves but be poor in spirit. Let us think much of our God so rescues us even though God’s final word should be judgment, not love. God does not give up on you and give you another chance to come to him.

God Will Heal You

Hosea 13:1 to Hosea 14:9

Brent Kercheville

One of the biggest challenges we face in life is having an understanding that we need saving. It looks like we are fine. We are doing well. We have work, money, and family. So what do you mean that I need to be saved? When Jesus walked the earth, his challenge to the religious was to get them to see that they needed to be saved and they needed to be saved by him. One of the ways to understanding our need for salvation is to see that we need to be saved from something. Talking about salvation does not make sense without a context of danger. If you say that I need to be saved, then you are implying that I am in danger or am in trouble. This is why when we come to a study of the prophets you will see page after page of descriptions of sins and judgment. How else are you going to get people to understand that they need to turn to God for help unless you see your sins and see the judgment that is coming? Throughout our study of the book of Hosea we have seen that very pattern. Hosea has been saying repeatedly to the people that you have left God and put yourselves in danger. I know you do not see it because you are blinded by your prosperity. For our final lesson in Hosea we are going to see God present this message again to the people, hoping to get them to see what God will do for them if they will see their sins and turn to him.

Israel’s Past, Present, and Future (Hosea 13:1-3)

God tells another story about the history of Israel. In the past, Israel had so much going for it. Ephraim rose to a place of prominence among the other tribes, to such a point that the name became synonymous with the northern nation. But the nation has died by their sins. Their sins have killed them and rather than having the wisdom to stop, the people sin more and more. The idols that they thought were bringing them life were bringing them death. So their future is predicted in Hosea 13:3. They will be like the morning mist and soon disappear. Remember that God said their love was like the morning mist in Hosea 6:4. Since their love disappeared, the nation will disappear.

Forgotten Love (Hosea 13:4-6)

The reason the nation has turned to the poison of sin is because they had forgotten God. Hosea declared this before and wants to emblazon this message into their minds as the prophecy ends. Your doom has come because you forgot God. There is no other savior but God (Hosea 13:4). There is no one else who can rescue you. You cannot save yourself. Your wealth and prosperity cannot save you in your trouble. Nothing can help you. No one can help you. God reminds them that they were slaves in Egypt and no one could rescue but God. When we studied through Exodus through Deuteronomy we saw that this was a model for the whole world. All are enslaved to sin and are oppressed by their sins. Only God can save from this condition. God further reminds the people how he helped them in the wilderness (Hosea 13:5). God gave them provisions for four decades in the middle of the wilderness. But the people forgot the Lord when they became prosperous (Hosea 13:6). We must remember this danger: when life goes well we will be strongly tempted to forget God. God is warning us about doing this. The real danger of material prosperity is that it crowds out and kills our spiritual desires. This is why Jesus said that it is hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19:23).

Results of Forgotten Love (Hosea 13:7-11)

Since the people ignored the warnings about forgetting God, there are results that come from that choice. Judgment will come upon Israel like a lion, and like a bear robbed of her cubs. When that judgment falls, who is going to save you? Where are your saviors, that is, your idols and your leaders, that will help when God comes against you (Hosea 13:10)? Look at Hosea 13:9 as God reveals our foolishness. The people turned against their helper. God is not our enemy. God is our helper. This is the same word used in Genesis 2:18 when the woman is called the helper to the man. The point to see is that there is nothing derogatory or lesser about being called a helper. God calls himself our helper and decries the foolishness of turning against him when he is our helper. When we forget God, we are forgetting the one who helps us. We are forgetting the only one who can truly help us. We have an amazing ability to reject and forget the very ones who are truly helping us. To forget God, the one who can help, is absolutely tragic.

Death Is Not The Final Word (Hosea 13:12-16)

Up to this point, God has already pictured the death of the nation in Hosea 13:1-3 where the nation will vanish like the morning mist. Further, the death of the nation is pictured in Hosea 13:7-8 where the nation will be destroyed like bear robbed of her cubs or like a lion or leopard. In Hosea 13:12-13 Israel is pictured as experiencing death again. This time God uses the picture of an abnormal birth. The labor contractions are happening, but the child unwisely refuses to be born. The picture is that Israel has been unwise by making sinful choices. The implication is that death is the fate because of the refusal to be born. Israel stubbornly rejects the path of life.

So now God asks two questions in Hosea 13:14? Should he ransom Israel from the power of the grave? Should he redeem Israel from the power of death? Let us understand the words for a minute. Ransom is a process in which ownership or control is transferred from one individual to another by means of an appropriate payment. So God is asking if he should take Israel from the power of death to the power of life by means of an appropriate payment. The concept of redemption is similar. A redeemer is one who is legally entitled to intervene, who must possess sufficient resources to meet the obligation that is due and who is willing to act in this capacity. So God is legally entitled to intervene and has the ability to meet the obligation. But is he willing to act in this capacity? God’s answer is yes he will ransom and redeem from death. So the proclamation of hope is made. “O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting?” Even though Israel will die, it is not the final word. God has power over death and will raise Israel back to life. You may remember this image being used by Ezekiel in Ezekiel 37 where the nation was pictured as dead and lifeless, but God breathes life back into them.

The apostle Paul uses this imagery and applies it to us in 1 Corinthians 15:55. The message the apostle Paul is giving that in our own bodies, death does not have the final say. Paul says that this is the long range view for this prophecy’s fulfillment. Bringing Israel back was not the only thing God had in view. God also had in view the salvation of all people by overcoming death. The resurrection of Jesus from dead proves to us that death does not have the final say over our lives. Our perishable bodies must be changed to imperishable bodies and this is the ultimate victory that God has in store for us. Jesus is our redeemer who ransomed us from death as well. So what is this message supposed to generate in the hearts of those who hear it? This leads us into chapter 14 where we see the answer.

Call To Repentance (Hosea 14:1-3)

The first response is that we would simply repent. God wants to give life and blessings to his people but that is only possible if the problem of sin is dealt with and removed. God is saying he will deal with the problem of sin and death. So now bring your words of confession and return to the Lord (Hosea 14:2). Ask God for forgiveness so that you can worship him. Declare that you have no other god, renouncing all relationships with other gods. Come and experience the compassion and mercy of the Lord (Hosea 14:3). This is what true repentance looks like. Ask God for forgiveness, declare you will seek the Lord and do his will, bring your worship to him, and enjoy the mercy of God.

God’s Promise (Hosea 14:4-7)

God makes an amazing promise. Here is how he will respond to our true words of repentance. God will heal them (Hosea 14:4). God will heal when we turn to him and worship him alone. Listen to the middle of Hosea 14:4, “I will love them freely.” God’s love will be without limits or bounds when we return to him. God can freely love because he has turned away his anger by his redemption and through our repentance. Hosea 14:5-7 describe God blessing his people. Israel will be like a plant with deep root so that it will not be destroyed. God will give healing and strength.

Final Exhortation (Hosea 14:8-9)

God’s message is that if you will repent and forsake your ways and your idols he will heal and bless. The final two verses are now an exhortation to consider your life. First, why should there be idols in your life? God is the one who answers your prayers. God is the one who cares for you. God is the one who heals you. God is the one who will give you life after death. God is the one who redeems you from the grave. God is your helper. God is your savior. God is full of compassion and mercy toward you. God will bless you. God should not have to see any idols in our hearts. God should not have to be concerned about us turning to our desires and to our false hopes because he has proven that he is all we need. There is no other god beside him. God is so faithful to you. He is like a tree that is always green causing you to bear fruit. Your life will flourish when you are connected to God. Your life will be fruitful if you choose God and reject all false gods and false hopes.

Second, carefully consider your decision. Be wise and discerning and think about what God is offering to us. If we have ears to hear, then we need to hear what God is proclaiming. The wise understand what God is trying to give to us. The discerning know the right choice to make. The decision is something that we sometimes call in life “a no-brainer.” You can have God who is a Father caring for you, loving you, rescuing you, helping you, and redeeming your life even from the grave. You can have God who will make you fruitful and bless you. Or you can have your own way, following your own heart and your own desires which will lead to an empty life, a hopeless life, and ultimate judgment and doom. It is a clear choice and the wise understand this. Choose God. Repent and receive healing.

Finally, the ways of the Lord are true and right. The righteous live by walking in those paths. We will look at God’s law as a guide for directions. When we go on vacation, I always have my GPS on my phone open and active to tell me where to go in these new cities that we visit. I do not look at my GPS and argue with it when it tells me to go a particular direction. I am not upset when it gives me directions because I think it is limiting my options and inhibiting my will and desires. The GPS is helping me. It is telling me the way to stay safe and the way to get to where I want to go. That is the way we must see God’s paths. They are true and right. The wise walk in those paths and do not resist what God says because his paths lead you to where you want to go. However, the sinners stumble in them. Sinners resist God’s way. They are yelling at God’s guidance and run off the path of life and safety into their own destruction.

The choice is ours. Choose the path of life. Choose to listen to God’s guidance. Reject the wisdom and the ways of the world. Understand that your life and your hope is only found in God and listen to him.

MERCY, NOT SACRIFICE:

THE PROPHETIC BOOK OF HOSEA

Notes for Week One:

Children Of The Living God (Hosea 1:1 to Hosea 2:1)

After looking at some verses in which Jesus uses one of Hosea’s key ideas, we shall meet Hosea and see the unusual way in which God spoke through his life. The opening chapters of Hosea show us the contrast between God’s love for us and our persistent misunderstandings of him. We are children of God through his grace and mercy, not through our own goodness or knowledge.

Introduction - Learn What This Means (Matthew 12:1-8; Matthew 9:9-13)

Jesus twice quoted Hosea 6:6 - "I desire mercy, not sacrifice" - to the Pharisees, emphasizing this idea as an important part of God’s perspectives. The problem with the Pharisees was not their teachings in themselves, for they were right far more often than they were wrong. Their problem was one of attitude and viewpoint, valuing correctness above more important spiritual qualities.

Misunderstandings about God can lead to condemning the innocent (Matthew 12:1-8). When the Pharisees criticized Jesus’ hungry disciples for picking some grain from a field on the Sabbath day, they were partially right about the letter of the law - the Sabbath laws presumed the planning needed to avoid work on the Sabbath* - but certainly wrong in their application of it.

• *    For example, when God sent manna, he sent it only six days each week; they had to gather enough for two days on the day before the Sabbath. Yet none of this was ever spelled out precisely in the law. Even under the old law, God called his people to think in terms of priorities and perspective instead of firm rules.

Jesus asks, "haven’t you read" about David and his friends breaking the law by eating consecrated bread*. Even a clearly stated point of law can be superseded, in God’s mind, by a more important priority. Referring to Hosea 6:6, Jesus tells the Pharisees that they would not have gone astray if they had known what it meant that God desires mercy, not sacrifice.

• *    See 1 Samuel 21:1-6, during the period when David was constantly fleeing from Saul’s attempts to kill him. Ahimelech the priest accommodated David’s request to eat the consecrated bread, seeing that the need of God’s anointed outweighed the law that forbade anyone but Levites to eat the consecrated bread.

A similar incident occurs during Jesus’ dinner with the "sinners", at the home of Matthew the tax collector (Matthew 9:9-13). When the Pharisees are unhappy that a teacher like Jesus would associate with "sinners", Jesus notes that the sick, not the healthy, need a doctor. In reality, sin sickness is universal. There are only those who are aware of their need and those who deny it.

Pharisaism is not a matter of specific beliefs - a Pharisee is simply someone who forces his ways on others, who feels spiritually superior to others, or who tries to control others. Yet let us not dwell on them. Quoting Hosea 6:6, Jesus tells them to, "go and learn what this means: ’I desire mercy, not sacrifice’". And so, by studying Hosea, we shall hope to do this.

Questions For Discussion Or Study: Based on these examples, what might it mean that God desires mercy, not sacrifice? What similar situations might we encounter?

The Historical Setting (Hosea 1:1)

The prophet Hosea lived in the northern half of Israel, during the era in which the nation was divided into two rival kingdoms. He mentions the rulers during his lifetime, to give us a time frame for his prophecies. His message itself is largely timeless; so we shall take note of the historical background only insofar as it helps explain some of the details in the book of Hosea*.

• *    In the ancient Hebrew Bible, Hosea and the other 11 so-called "Minor Prophets" were in one book called The Twelve Prophets, or simply The Twelve. The order of the "Minor Prophets" is roughly chronological.

The divided kingdom arose after Solomon’s death, when Israel split into a northern half and a southern half. From Solomon’s death in 931 BC to the fall of the Northern Kingdom in 722 BC, "Israel" technically referred only to the Northern Kingdom; but the name was still used to refer to the nation as a whole. The north was often referred to as Samaria (its capital) or Ephraim (its most dominant tribe). The Southern Kingdom, ruled by the descendants of David and Solomon, was usually referred to as Judah, after its dominant tribe. Judah kept its capital in Jerusalem.

Hosea lived during the 8th century BC, with his prophetic messages probably coming sometime between 760 BC and 730 BC. He was from the Northern Kingdom, but his mention of several southern kings suggest that he may have lived there for a while*. The North was conquered by Assyria in 722 BC, so Hosea might have lived to see that. During the same period, the Southern Kingdom was undergoing a period of wide swings between religious reform and open idolatry.

• *    The reigns of the Southern kings in Hosea 1:1 extend well past the reign of Jeroboam II, so Hosea may have originally lived in the north, and later moved to the south.

Hosea mentions several kings of the south*: the faithful Uzziah (Azariah) had a long, successful reign, but it ended sadly and disastrously when he became prideful late in life (2 Kings 15:1-7, 2 Chronicles 26:1-12); Jotham was well-intentioned but very weak (2 Kings 15:32-38, 2 Chronicles 27:1-9); Ahaz was idolatrous and foolish (2 Kings 16:1-20, 2 Chronicles 28:1-27, Isaiah 7); Hezekiah was Judah’s greatest religious reformer up to that time (2 Kings 18:1-21, 2 Chronicles 29:1 to 2 Chronicles 32:33). Meanwhile, from a secular viewpoint King Jeroboam II of Israel was one of the Northern Kingdom’s most successful kings. But he was an idolater and a thoroughly worldly individual.

Questions For Discussion Or Study: How might Hosea’s lifetime reflect features common to almost any era? What aspects of his era might be unusual or unique? How would any of this affect our understanding of his prophecies?

Hosea’s Wife & Children (Hosea 1:2-9)

God told Hosea to form a family that provided living examples of his teachings. This came at considerable personal cost to Hosea himself, not least because he had to endure a marriage with a woman who would never return his faithful love and selfless devotion. Yet this sad situation also shows us what God gladly endures in his relationship with us, out of his love for his people.

Hosea’s own life illustrated his teachings*, as the prophet’s wife symbolized the spiritual ills of Israel (Hosea 1:2-5). God specifically told him to marry a prostitute**, using the marriage between a faithful prophet and a faithless prostitute to symbolize the unequal relationship between a faithful God and a faithless people who indulge in spiritual "prostitution" through their worldly attitudes.

* God also frequently told Ezekiel and Isaiah to undergo humiliating or unpleasant things. The symbolic actions here are a graphic depiction of the things God himself endures out of his love for his people.

** The Hebrew words for "prostitute" and "prostitution" are used several times in the passage. Some versions, such as the NIV, choose to translate them with nicer-sounding euphemisms.

God uses the prophet’s marriage as a shocking means of helping us to see things from his point of view. So many of our divisions, pretensions, and mistakes stem from our inability to look at things from God’s viewpoint. This is the role of the prophetic books in the Old Testament - they step back from the laws and the history, to show how God feels, to show what God wants to do and to teach. So, when we study Hosea’s sad and scandalous family history, we are not to critique it or to question it, but to see what it tells us about God’s side of his relationship with us.

Hosea and his wife Gomer have a son Jezreel, who takes the name of a valley where tumultuous events had taken place. It was the site of a fine vineyard coveted by Ahab, one of the North’s worst kings. His wife Jezebel provoked him to have the owner killed and to seize the vineyard himself (1 Kings 21:1-29). Later, Jezebel was killed there (2 Kings 9:30-37) by the command of King Jehu*, the bloody reformer who then massacred Ahab’s entire family (2 Kings 10:1-36).

* Jehu was the only northern king who had any faith in the living God, and yet he also followed idols. God did promise to allow four generations of his descendants to reign - Jeroboam II was the next-to-last.

The site Jezreel thus has an ambiguous significance. It was the site of a great injustice, and it was the site of a mass killing. Yet in some sense justice, of a crude kind, was done there. Thus God now warns of discipline coming to the "house of Jehu" (Hosea 1:5), and yet later he will say, "great will be the day of Jezreel" (Hosea 1:10). It is a symbol of the reality, rather than the ideal, of God’s relationship with his people. We struggle to grasp the truth, and we struggle to put it into practice in an appropriate way. But despite it all, God loves and cares for Gomer and Jezreel.

After the ambiguous symbol of Jezreel come two children of overt unfaithfulness (Hosea 1:6-9). Jezreel came when Gomer "bore him (Hosea) a son" (Hosea 1:3); but with the next two children Gomer "conceived again" (verse 6) and "had another son" (Hosea 1:8) - that is, they were hers, but not the prophet’s. Yet Hosea graciously accepted them as his own - just as God has graciously accepted so many millions of illegitimate children, including us, as his own. The daughter is Lo-Ruhamah, whose name means "not shown mercy", "not pitied", or "not shown compassion"*. This harsh name is a living reminder to the Israelites that their idolatry and selfishness do not deserve mercy. God does promise to save Judah, but only if they allow him to save them by his own means, not by battles, swords, or other worldly methods**.

* The NIV footnote translates the name as, "not loved", which is less precise than the original meaning.

** This foreshadows the crisis described in Isaiah 7-8, when Isaiah advised Judah’s King Ahaz to deal with a crisis peacefully, not by military action. Ahaz rejected this advice, leading to disastrous consequences.

Then comes the son named Lo-Ammi, or "not my people". The Israelites themselves had made this drastic declaration implicitly, through their worldly attitudes and perspectives. Even more shockingly, God declares, "I am not your God". The original Hebrew actually reads, "I am Not I Am" - to God, having his love ignored by his people means that he might as well not even exist.

Hosea’s family reminds us of what God endures from humanity, even from those who believe in him. When we build our relationship with him based on our good works, when we boast about what we do for Jesus instead of humbly praising him, then we deny the primacy of his grace and we become Lo-Ruhamah. When we seek self-importance and bring worldly methods and perspectives into the church, we show our true allegiance and become Lo-Ammi, not my people.

We are not Jesus; we are not even Hosea. We are Gomer; we are Lo-Ruhamah; we are Lo- Ammi. Our pretensions and self-importance prevent us from grasping the depths of God’s mercy and love. But paradoxically, when we acknowledge our inability to do "great things", when we renounce our fleshly craving for excitement and heroic action, everything changes for the better.

Questions For Discussion Or Study: How does Jezreel symbolize God’s relationship with us today? Why are we, by nature, Lo-Ruhamah and Lo-Ammi? Why do those things apply to us, not merely to unbelievers? How can we learn better to accept this about ourselves? Can we reconcile God’s graciousness with the family life he gave Hosea?

Great Will Be The Day (Hosea 1:10 to Hosea 2:1)

The sad example of Hosea’s family will not be the last word*. The names of Lo-Ruhamah and Lo-Ammi proclaim what the people actually were; but God himself, in his grace, now declares them to be something better. Mercy, not sacrifice, is at the root of our relationship with God. In ourselves, we are always unworthy of being his people; but the cross has changed all that.

* In the Hebrew text of Hosea, chapter 1 ends after verse 9, with chapter 2 starting with Hosea 1:10. This slight difference emphasizes the sweeping nature of the change announced by God in Hosea 1:10 to Hosea 2:1.

The ancient promise (Genesis 22:17; Genesis 32:12) still holds: God’s people will still be as countless as sands on the seashore (Hosea 1:10-11). And they will not merely exist in numbers - they will, after all, be called children of the living God. This change is not due to their efforts or their actions, but comes by God’s grace and forbearance. God’s love and grace are far stronger than we realize.

We do not need to prove ourselves or to accomplish anything - we need only believe that God will forgive us: "to the man who does not work but who trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness" (Romans 4:5). We can be hopelessly flawed like Gomer; and yet we are still righteous in his eyes as long as we seek his favor by his grace, not our goodness.

God will also, by grace, bring about a reunion between Judah and Israel - and later a reunion between Jews and Gentiles, through the gospel that breaks down all human barriers. This too is not because of our goodness, but because of our one "leader" (in Hebrew, "head"). This finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus, the head of the church. Great indeed is the "day of Jezreel".

When we see that we are Gomer, in deep need of grace; that we are Lo-Ammi, not God’s people but declared to be his people; it also changes our attitudes towards our brothers and sisters (Hosea 2:1). Others are not put in our lives to fulfill our dreams for the church. They are God’s own people, and he will be merciful to them. Yet even when we stubbornly resist these lessons, God still loves us and accepts us. His love and grace flow abundantly, to Pharisees and prostitutes alike.

Questions For Discussion Or Study: What brings about the changes described in Hosea 1:10-11? How much of this has to do with Hosea’s lifetime, and how much of it has to do with Jesus? What lessons should Gomer, Lo-Ruhamah, and Lo-Ammi teach us?

Selected References For Studying Hosea

J. Andrew Dearman, The Book Of Hosea (NICOT)

Alberto Ferreiro (editor), Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture - The Twelve Prophets Frank Gaebelein (editor) & Leon J. Wood, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 7 Derek Kidner, The Message Of Hosea (The Bible Speaks Today)

- Mark Garner, March 2012

MERCY, NOT SACRIFICE:

THE PROPHETIC BOOK OF HOSEA

Notes For Week Two:

Rebuke & Restoration (Hosea 2:2-23)

The book of Hosea opens with a look at the prophet’s family life, which symbolizes several aspects of God’s relationship with his people. The second chapter revisits the same ideas with even more vivid, detailed imagery. These verses re-emphasize God’s perspective, and they illustrate both God’s personal righteousness and his graciousness towards his people.

Review Of Last Week’s Class

By God’s grace we are children of the living God (Hosea 1:1 to Hosea 2:1). Jesus took a key idea of the book - Hosea 6:6, "I desire mercy not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings" - to express the difference between "religious" thinking and Jesus’ own perspective (Matthew 12:1-8; Matthew 9:9-13); and he encouraged his listeners to learn what this teaching means.

Hosea lived in northern Israel during the era of the divided kingdom (Hosea 1:1). Hosea’s wife and children were living illustrations of the prophet’s teachings (Hosea 1:2-9). His bride Gomer was a prostitute, yet the prophet knowingly married her at God’s direction. Their first son was named Jezreel, a symbol of the fallibility and weakness of God’s people. Then came two illegitimate children: Lo-Ruhamah, "not shown mercy" and Lo-Ammi, "not my people". Hosea accepted these children as his own, just as God accepts anyone who turns to him.

Great will be the day when God by grace will cancel all of our unworthiness and folly (Hosea 1:10 to Hosea 2:1). In Hosea’s day, God held out the hope of re-uniting the divided nation, while now the gospel has the power to break down all barriers. So, without doing or proving anything, we can become God’s people after all. He loves us anyway; he just hopes that on occasion we will pause and reflect upon what he has done to bring us to him, rather than always focusing on ourselves.

Rebuke Your Mother (Hosea 2:2-6)

Continuing the family imagery from chapter 1, the prophet uses Gomer’s faithlessness to parallel Israel’s struggles with idolatry. The specific idols they served were merely pretexts for filling their own desires - and this is a lesson for us as well. In every era, God must patiently and graciously endure the idolatry of his people, who even at their best are lovable but very weak.

This new passage opens with the prophet appealing to his children to rebuke or contend* with their own mother, telling her for the prophet that "she is not my wife" (Hosea 2:2-3). He cannot even address her directly, and he emphasizes the effect on his own identity by adding that, "I am not her husband." The graphic language in this passage calls for the unfaithful woman to be publicly shamed - the threat of nakedness also revealing her empty way of life.

• *    Literally, the Hebrew verb means to quarrel with or to start a dispute.

Continuing the cold and unforgiving tone, the prophet then addresses her children, the "children of adultery" (Hosea 2:4-5). He (or God) intends to show no love to these children, just as their given names foretold. Although it was not the fault of these children that they were conceived in idolatrous desire, the husband’s own disappointment and shame leads him to take this hard- hearted stance. It also illustrates the ways that sin damages relationships of all kinds. And it is not an arbitrary choice by God - by his nature he cannot have any other reaction to sin.

Yet all of this strong language is rhetorical, a device to make us think about what God endures in order to build a relationship with his people. He will not carry out these threats literally, nor will he permanently reject any of these persons, whether they "deserve" it or not. But we too often do not appreciate just how hard it can be for God to reconcile his desire to know us with our own inherent unworthiness. Our pride, idolatry, and pretensions make it very hard for him to allow us into his presence*. It is only because of his great love and desire to know us that he even tries.

• *    Under the Old Covenant, this was the essential concept behind the laws and the sacrificial system. The people knew that they had an ongoing burden of guilt for sin that required constant sacrifice. Likewise, only designated persons, who had undergone thorough cleansing, could risk being in God’s direct presence.

He is in the position of a husband who loves his wife but knows she will never be completely faithful to him. He is in the position of being expected to raise his wife’s illegitimate children as his own. He will ultimately show them the full measure of his love and grace anyway; but this should not lead us to underestimate just how much grace and mercy he must show in order to bring this about. There will always be a tension between God’s overwhelming desire to be with us and his acute awareness of our idolatry and folly - none of which he can allow in his presence. In the end, the only way for him to resolve this dilemma was through the cross.

What God actually does, rather than carrying out any of the dire threats in the earlier verses, is to block the path of the unfaithful wife (Hosea 2:6). God will deliberately cause his "wife" to endure hardships and frustrations, so that "she cannot find her way". This is an act of love, not of spite. She will realize how uncaring and unforgiving the world can be, since only then will she start to think about God. This is not a punishment - it is the start of the turnaround.

Questions For Discussion Or Study: Can we ever understand how God feels towards us? How can he love us so much and yet have such an aversion to our sin? How should we respond? How do his words to the wife parallel what he says to us or does in our lives?

Transforming The Relationship (Hosea 2:7-15)

God loves his unfaithful people too much to give them the punishment that they, in a legal sense, deserve. And so here the prophet proclaims only the discipline that is absolutely needed to make a restored relationship possible. God would be justified by doing nothing at all, or he could also, in a sense, get what he desires by force - but he chooses a much different way.

Humility is essential in knowing God (Hosea 2:7-10). The faithless wife takes a key first step, though she has only a superficial realization of her spiritual condition. God takes each person where he or she is. None of us really starts seeking God for all the "right" reasons - but it does not matter. We badly misunderstand what it is about us that God values, and what it is that makes each of us valuable and worthwhile. Worldly self-esteem is competitive, but godly self-worth comes from understanding the infinite value of each human soul, each human psyche, for its own sake.

The wife as yet only dimly realizes her need. She still sees only that her fleshly pleasures, pagan religions, and worldly ambitions do not satisfy her or make her feel safe, so she decides to return to her original husband (figuratively, to God). Like most of us, she has a great deal of difficulty in making a distinction between seeking the blessings that God provides, versus knowing the true source of life and of everything good. Such discipline as God imposes on the wife is to help her to realize this, rather than to punish her for what she has done in the past. We too often feel satisfied merely because we identify God as being the giver of what we have. That is only the rudimentary first step towards actually knowing him - but remember that God will be extraordinarily pleased with each tiny step we make on the way to finding him.

While God very much wants to be worshiped, he also has no place for false worship - even if the false worship is offered in his name (Hosea 2:11-13). Therefore God is going to call a halt to all of "her" worship - some of it based on his own Law, some of it in his name but not based on the Law, and some of it directed towards idols*. The value of worship comes strictly from the true object of worship, not from the energy, the methods, or the theology behind it.

• *    Although God mentions idol worship, such as burning incense to Baal, he also intends to stop their Sabbath worship and yearly festivals, which were based on the Law. The "New Moons" that he mentions are somewhere in-between - not overt idol-worship, but usually based on God in name only.

In a sense, the problem is worshipping worship rather than worshiping God. If our desire is to worship God, then we can do this without any particular format or method, and without regard to whether those around us are bored or enthusiastic. But if we desire a worship "experience" for its own sake, we inevitably have trouble distinguishing between worshiping God and worshiping idols. Neither doctrine nor enthusiasm matter in worship nearly as much as we think they do.

God’s greatest desire is for his people to know him (Hosea 2:14-15). The prophet symbolizes God’s desire and compassion with the imagery of a husband courting his own wife, to draw her back to him after her unfaithfulness. God shows how much he loves her by lavishing special attention on her, allowing her to think that it is he who needs her, rather than the other way around.

God seeks out the love of each soul into whom he has breathed life, he allows each of us to feel special, and for all the right reasons, not for the world’s competitive and selfish reasons. The value of a soul comes from its irreplaceability as a unique creation of a loving God. Salvation is neither a theological exercise nor a numbers game nor a competition. It is for each soul a story of love, estrangement, and reunion - and each soul makes its own decision as to how it shall end.

God’s gracious love creates a kind of second honeymoon with his faithless wife, whose renewed condition he describes as being, "as in the day she came up out of Egypt*," recalling one of the greatest days in Israel’s long history. All the conflict, the faithlessness, the suffering and discipline are all forgotten now. The reunion between a soul and God brings sudden joy, sudden hope, sudden treasure. This is equally true when a soul finds its God for the first time as it is when a struggling believer gains renewed love for his or her Creator.

• *    We’ll see this image used in various ways throughout Hosea: see, for example, Hosea 7:11; Hosea 8:13; Hosea 9:3; Hosea 11:1; Hosea 11:5; Hosea 12:9; Hosea 12:13; Hosea 13:4. The imagery includes the joyful departure from Egypt, the foolish longings for a return to Egypt, and the faithfulness of God in bringing them out and caring for them.

Questions for Discussion Or Study: What does the "wife" realize now, and what does she still not understand? How does she parallel us in our relationship with God? What does this imagery teach us about how God feels towards us? Does it provide any motivation to seek him? How does it change our perspective to look at things from God’s viewpoint instead of our own? How does God "court" a soul?

The Relationship Restored (Hosea 2:16-23)

And so by grace the relationship between God and his people is completely restored. The restoration is founded on God’s qualities alone - his grace, his wisdom, his compassion - and not on anything that the unfaithful "wife" has done. Given the slightest chance, God will pour out his love and blessings on anyone who acknowledges him in the least.

The result of spiritual restoration includes a fresh covenant (Hosea 2:16-18). It is not based on law or obligation or theology, but on relationship and Creation. The "wife" will call her "mate" (God) husband, not master* - the relationship will be based on grace and love. The new covenant also restores harmony between God, his Creation, and his people. Blame and guilt have been wiped away by grace. Coercion and aggression are also out of place in a relationship based on grace.

• *    Note also that the Hebrew word for "master" is the same as the name of the false god "Baal". So this also emphasizes the difference between a relationship with the living God and the worship of false gods.

When we really understand grace, it brings nothing but peace. Guilt is pointless, since we can never make up for our sins, nor does God ask us to. God’s grace also teaches us to relax in our ministries, without worrying about performance or results. Whatever we know or do is a distant second to the importance of simply knowing him. When we tell others about God, remember the extraordinary steps that God has already taken to draw that soul to him. Our role is barely even necessary - God simply by grace allows us to share in the joy when someone comes to him.

The relationship is made even more intimate with a renewed betrothal* (Hosea 2:19-20). Just as it is always encouraging when humans repair broken relationships, so too it is a blessing to all of us when a spiritual restoration brings someone closer to God again. Yet let us never think that we are the ones who make our relationship with God work - he is the one who makes an unconditional commitment forever, and he is the one who is always ready for us to turn to him.

• *    Compare this with 2 Corinthians 11:2, Ephesians 5:23-25, and Revelation 19:7; Revelation 21:2; Revelation 21:9; Revelation 22:17.

The Lord is responding to reality and to nature - God says, "I will respond*" since he is merely acting true to his own nature (Hosea 2:21-23). He and his creation are in tune with each other, and he would like to incorporate the humans he has created into this same oneness. And then they too can be served by all creation**, which will respond to them just as it responds to its Creator.

• *    The verb can mean, "to respond" either in the sense of to answer or in the sense of to testify.

** Note also the end of Hosea 2:22 with the start of Hosea 2:23 - "Jezreel" literally means "God plants".

And so the story again ends up with Lo-Ruhamah and Lo-Ammi transformed. God loves the loveless with all his heart, and he eagerly accepts as his people those who have no claim to be his people. If we can get past our fleshly pride and our worldly craving for exalting self, then we can rejoice in realizing just how deep, how permanent, and how powerful God’s grace really is.

Questions For Discussion Or Study: What similarities are there between the covenant in Hosea 2:18 and the New Covenant in Jesus? Why does Hosea keep emphasizing the analogy of marriage? In what sense does God "respond" to the creation? How does Hosea 2 parallel Hosea 1? Why are there two different discussions of the same ideas?

- Mark Garner, March 2012

MERCY, NOT SACRIFICE:

THE PROPHETIC BOOK OF HOSEA

Notes For Week Three:

Redeeming The Guilty (Hosea 3:1 to Hosea 4:19)

Hosea showed us how his own troubled family life parallels what God gives and endures in his relationship with his people. Then he used a series of vivid images to emphasize the same themes. Next, he presents the same problems in terms of a legal transaction; and then he will finally present a straightforward statement of the ways that idolatry has led Israel astray.

Review Of Previous Classes

We can be children of the living God despite our weakness and sin (Hosea 1:1 to Hosea 2:1). God desires mercy, not sacrifice. Hosea’s rather sordid family life provides living examples of these ideas.

Hosea provides a second perspective on his wife’s rebuke and restoration (Hosea 2:2-23). He asks his children to rebuke their mother for her idolatry, then warns his "children of adultery" that they too are unworthy. Yet this is only rhetorical, for God himself starts the turnaround.

The transformed relationship starts with discipline, to induce humility by reminding us of our dependence on God. God seeks to do away with false worship, wanting his people to focus on him and not themselves. Hosea then presents the image of a husband courting his own wife, to remind us of the great lengths that God goes to in order to help us see how much he loves us.

And so God himself will restore the relationship, by grace alone. This leads to a fresh covenant based on grace and on knowing God. There is also a renewed betrothal between God and his "bride". God portrays himself as responding to the needs of his creation - he wants himself, his creation, and his people all to be in harmony with one another.

Buying Her Back (Hosea 3:1-5)

The prophet now provides another living illustration from his personal life. His wife’s adulterous and careless ways have brought her to a new low point, from which she can escape only by her husband’s gracious generosity. All he asks in return is that she make one more attempt to acknowledge him, and that she to try to stay with him. His own love is given unconditionally.

This chapter returns to actual events in Hosea’s life, as he responds to his wife’s unfaithfulness with a new outpouring of grace* (Hosea 3:1-3). The third chapter again parallels the first two, making the same points in different ways and re-emphasizing the all-importance of grace. God will neither compromise his righteousness nor cease his compassionate efforts to bring us to him.

• *    A few commentators, uncomfortable with this extreme display of grace, prefer to see chapter 3 as Hosea’s first meeting with Gomer rather than a later instance of unfaithfulness. In this case, the same points are made, but not as strongly. But since God tells Hosea to show her his love "again", this scenario is unlikely.

Though Gomer has responded to Hosea’s faithful love by wandering back into adultery, God urges the prophet to love her and protect her instead of abandoning her or even disciplining her. God always loves all of us, even the most despised individuals on earth. He asks the innocent Hosea to endure this situation, as a way of teaching us the kind of thing that God gladly endures at the hands of every soul he has created, in his yearning to know each of us.

So the prophet must carry out a humiliating transaction. Not only must he accept back an unfaithful and even impenitent woman, but he must also pay* for the privilege! In return, he makes a simple request, which is not even new, for a promise of faithfulness is inherent in the wedding vows. God had already warned Hosea that Gomer would not honor her vows, but the prophet himself was expected to be faithful to this faithless woman - just as God is ever faithful, ever loving, ever forgiving, for all that he knows so well how faithless we can be at times.

• *    The situation suggests that Gomer had also gotten herself deep in debt, and apparently was only able to survive through continued prostitution. This is a metaphor for the ways that our idolatry of worldly things starts out by offering us pleasure of some kind, but later on controls us and dominates our lives.

Then God uses the prophet’s situation to make a spiritual parallel, with a meaning on an even broader level (Hosea 3:4-5). God’s warning that the Israelites will "live many days without king or prince" foresees the coming period of defeat and exile for both Israel and Judah*. This will be painful and humbling, yet God knows that there can be great value in humbling experiences.

The Northern Kingdom ("Israel") would fall to Assyria in 722 BC, and the Southern Kingdom (Judah) would fall to Babylon in 586 BC, with most of the people being taken as captives back to Babylon. Many years later, God would rebuild the nation and use it to prepare the way for the Messiah.

God’s people will "come trembling to the Lord", seeking God’s help yet knowing now that they do not deserve it. This multi-layered prophecy has both a historical fulfillment and a spiritual fulfillment. The plans God had for Israel were important for the sake of the ancient Jews themselves, and also as a prelude to the proclamation of the gospel. But all of these events also parallel the often-troubled relationships that individual believers can have with God.

Under the Old Covenant, God was not able to have the kind of personal closeness with each Israelite that he actually desired. So the nation’s overall level of faith determined how God dealt with them. But under the new covenant, "no longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ’Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest" (Hebrews 8:11, Jeremiah 31:34). Now God courts and disciplines each individual soul.

Questions For Discussion Or Study: What personal qualities does Hosea show in "buying back" his wife like this? How does God display these qualities? Why does Hosea not ask for more from his wife in return? What implications does this have in our relationship with God? Should we "come trembling to the Lord"? What might it mean?

Rejecting God (Hosea 4:1-9)

The prophet now details the ways that Israel has implicitly rejected God. He is less concerned with personal morality than with the ways that their idolatry and selfishness has harmed others. Yet even at that, God does not list these wrongs primarily in order to threaten, to punish, or to induce guilt. He would most of all like for them to realize and address the root of their troubles.

Because God, his people, and his creation are intertwined, the land itself "mourns" when God’s people stray from him (Hosea 4:1-3). Idolatry has consequences far beyond the ways it affects the actual idolater. Because there is no acknowledgement of God, the land is full of everything from adultery to blasphemy to violence. These sins are just symptoms - the real problem is the failure to acknowledge God, and this in spite of all kinds of outward religious and worship activity.

Whether in the ancient world or the modern world, human nature is the same. Now as then, religious humans address outward symptoms instead of dealing with real needs; now as then the creation mourns and suffers* for human sin. Entrusting nature to humanity is another way in which God’s love leads him to take risks: "What is a human that you are mindful of him … you made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet" (Psalms 8:4; Psalms 8:6).

• *    This imagery refers both to the literal ways that human sin damages the creation and also to the more figurative sense in which God’s creation has no real purpose if it is not one with God and with his people.

God is not going to try to stop or correct or punish all of the symptoms - instead he points directly to the heart of the matter, to bring out the inherent need for God that his people have forgotten. Until they grasp this, they must remain Lo-Ammi, "not my people".

God is neither arbitrary nor stubborn - by turning away, he is merely rejecting those who have already rejected him (Hosea 4:4-6). His offer to return will always be open; but in the meantime, there are some implications that his people may not have thought of. Because "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23), and because "there is no one righteous" (Romans 3:10, Ecclesiastes 7:20), none of us has any right to bring a charge against anyone else.

It is human nature to minimize our own sins and to magnify the sins of others. Yet it is no more appropriate for us to judge spiritual worth than it would be for Gomer to criticize Hosea for his prophetic methods. So too, the parts in the body of Christ need to support and appreciate one another, not try to boss each other around or assume spiritual authority over one another.

In Hosea’s time, priests and people alike were unfit to be priests, unqualified to be mediators* and unqualified to be involved with holy things**. For us, the paradoxical parallel is that we are only able to fulfill the roles God truly intends for us when we are completely aware that we are not qualified to do so. Mercy, not sacrifice, is again the basis of it all.

• *    Old Covenant priests were necessary as mediators because it was so difficult to maintain even the basic level of cleanness necessary to live in God’s presence and to touch holy things. In Jesus, every believer is a priest in a broader sense, being entrusted with the Holy Spirit and the holy gospel.

** Handling the holy things was an important part of the priests’ responsibility, because to do so required a constant state of cleanness almost impossible to maintain by anyone not wholly devoted to the task.

To value the world’s rewards above the presence of God exchanges glory for disgrace (Hosea 4:7-9). Unbelievers revel in the world’s pleasures instead of God’s grace and love - but believers too exchange true glory for false glory when they seek God as a means to an end instead of an end in himself. "When you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets … to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full" (Matthew 6:2).

Questions For Discussion Or Study: How can the land "mourn"? What did this mean in Hosea’s lifetime? What might it mean in ours? Based on Hosea, why we should refrain from accusing or judging each other. To what degree would Hosea want us to apply this? In what sense are we priests? How then do Hosea’s words to the priests apply to us?

The Idolatrous Life (Hosea 4:10-19)

Despite all the ways that his people have hurt and disappointed him, God understands that they are above all harming their own souls. The life of an idolater may be filled with short-term pleasures, but it is inherently empty and unfulfilling. As always, God is not primarily looking to condemn or punish. He would like very much for idolaters to turn back to him.

In the long run, following idols becomes a desperate search for satisfaction (Hosea 4:10-13). After a period of pleasure or success, the idol demands more and more. Eventually nothing seems to work, because idolatry brings with it a constant desire for more and an inability to appreciate what one already has. The same thing (tangible or intangible) can be a destructive idol to one person and a spiritual blessing to another - it all has to do with attitudes and expectations*.

• *    Isaiah 44 provides some detailed imagery of idolatry. See also the notes from the 2008 class on Isaiah.

God is unalterably opposed to idols, yet he wishes to draw us away from them, not to punish us for following them. And instead of condemning others for their idols, which may be obvious to us, it is better to re-examine our own perspectives. Our idols can seem valuable to us, even spiritual. We usually cannot identify them by what they are as easily as we can by what they do to us. Idols produce divisiveness, critical attitudes, ingratitude, and other such bad fruit. A general sense of dissatisfaction, as Hosea describes here, is one of the tip-offs of an idol at work.

God calls for understanding of idolaters rather than irrevocable condemnation (Hosea 4:14-16). "A people without understanding will come to ruin;" and when we do not understand how idolatry works, we become increasingly blind to our own idols. When we do not understand, we act and think based on emotion and self-interest instead of wisdom and self-control. It is not a noble thing to give in to rage or hatred just because the objects of our hatred or rage are "sinners".

Most idolaters are themselves victims, since they are often exploited by more experienced or proficient idolaters. Hosea specifically proclaims mercy for prostitutes because of this - he is not denying their own wrongdoing, but he knows that they are suffering even more at the hands of those who are exploiting them. This is often the case with those who arouse our anger, too.

Hosea’s generation is doubly stubborn, reveling in pseudo-religious idolatry while insisting that they are really serving God. Thus, as with the faithless wife in Hosea 2, God wishes to stop their worship activities (verse 15)* to make them pause and reflect. They feel quite comfortable with what they are doing on the outside, yet much is amiss on the inside.

• *    For the meaning of Gilgal, see Joshua 4-5. "Beth Aven" ("House of Evil") is a sarcastic name for Bethel (literally, "House Of God"), which in Hosea’s day had been turned into a site of false worship. Finally, God asks them not to swear by his name, for he knows that they have no real loyalty towards him.

If we are unable to expose our idols, we can become addicted to them (Hosea 4:17-19). Hosea’s contemporaries keep chasing after the very things that have brought them diminishing pleasure and security - just as today’s popular idols often disappoint their most enthusiastic worshipers. This is the "whirlwind" Hosea speaks of - not so much a direct punishment from God as the grinding and inevitable loss of faith and humanity that idolaters bring upon themselves.

As for God, he will always love the idolater as much as he loves all of his weak human creations. By sharing these things, he hopes that we will realize how eagerly he wants us to turn to him anytime that we need his grace and mercy, even if we are guilty of the darkest sins.

Questions For Discussion Or Study: Why does idolatry so often lead to dissatisfaction? Can this help us to identify our idols? Why does God want us to understand idolatry? What does he want us to know? How do idols punish those who worship them?

- Mark Garner, March 2012

MERCY, NOT SACRIFICE:

THE PROPHETIC BOOK OF HOSEA

Notes For Week Four:

Let Us Acknowledge The Lord (Hosea 5:1 to Hosea 6:6)

Hosea has used several different methods to emphasize the all-important role of grace and mercy in our relationship with God. He now details some of the specific spiritual problems of his time, yet most of these are only symptoms of deeper disorders. When we have fallen into sin or idolatry, the most important thing for us to do is to acknowledge him and to accept his grace.

Review Of Recent Classes

Hosea’s faithless wife is rebuked but then restored (Hosea 2:2-23). God transforms broken relationships by his grace and mercy, and he calls us his people even when we do not deserve it.

Hosea’s marriage is an example of redeeming the guilty (Hosea 3:1 to Hosea 4:19). When his wife strays into adultery, idolatry, and debt, the prophet buys her back himself. This new outpouring of grace reminds us again of how eagerly God desires to forgive us rather than to punish us. Hosea also points out further spiritual parallels, both in Israel’s history and in the Messianic future.

Only by rejecting God himself can we "escape" his grace. Yet this is still all too common, and the prophet describes the land itself in mourning because the people have chosen not to know God. They are unfit to be priests (mediators), and they need to be warned not to accuse each other. Yet God does not need to send special punishment for idolaters, because the idolatrous life is not rewarding. Idolaters spend much of their time desperately seeking satisfaction, as their idols fail to deliver lasting peace and security. They create a whirlwind of self-punishment.

Hosea shows us the great strength of God’s grace, his desire to know us, and his eagerness to show mercy. The wisdom, sacrifice, patience, and love he has put into the relationship far eclipse our own meager efforts to learn and serve. Although our idolatry and self-centeredness make it difficult for God, he does not ask for punishment - just a little humility and gratitude.

The Obstacle Of Pride (Hosea 5:1-7)

Pride, stubbornness, and arrogance prevent the Israelites of Hosea’s day from returning to God. Because of their pride, they cannot see their need; because of their stubbornness, they cannot admit their mistakes and weaknesses. God will forgive pride just as willingly as he forgives any other sin; but pride can make it especially difficult for us to seek and accept his grace.

God sees that most Israelites of Hosea’s generation are not going to return to him (Hosea 5:1-5). God knows their hearts and their lives, just as he knows ours. When he says, "their deeds do not permit them" to return, he is merely acknowledging the hardness of their hearts. This is part of their "spirit of prostitution", which has expressed itself in the injustice and oppression that have become rooted in their attitudes and practices*.

• ·    Mizpah and Tabor (see Hosea 5:1) were two common places of assembly. As implied by the phrase "this judgment is against you", these assemblies had become more noted for injustice than for worship.

Hosea describes a combination of stumbling and stubbornness - of which the latter is more dangerous spiritually. The people have lost all coherent sense of meaning in their lives, but the real problem is their stubbornness insistence that all is well.

So the Lord has withdrawn from them - not angrily or in pique, but sadly and reluctantly (Hosea 5:6-7). For the time being, their rejection of his mercy has made it impossible for him to overlook their idolatry and sin. So when they seek him now - that is, when they come seeking his blessings instead of his presence - they will not find him. They have become Lo-Ammi once again.

The sad irony is that the people will now be devoured (spiritually degraded and left unfulfilled) by their own religious festivals*. All this time God has been mercifully supporting them and helping them - but they have ascribed their blessings to their own outward actions and to the false security that they find in their spiritual identity. Only when God reluctantly withdraws his presence will they learn just how much grace God has been showing them.

• ·    The New Moon festivals were originally based on the Feast Of Trumpets from the Levitical law. But it had become something much different (and much more frequent) than the holy day described in the law. The festival was nominally observed in the name of God, but most of the activities were of human origin.

Questions For Discussion Or Study: Why does God know (or at least fear) that many of his people will never return to him? If he wants them to seek him, why does he withdraw himself from them? What should we learn from this? Is this a lesson about human nature or about God? In what sense will they be "devoured" by their festivals?

Illness & Healing (Hosea 5:8-15)

Israel and Judah are spiritually ill, yet neither recognizes their true spiritual needs. It is human nature to seek worldly solutions even when the problem is spiritual. It is a spiritual tragedy that unbelievers and believers alike turn away from God’s grace and mercy just when they need these qualities the most. Trying to prove that we are righteous is the least healthy thing to do.

To "sound the trumpet" warns of danger - both physical and spiritual (Hosea 5:8-12). This warning of a day of reckoning comes in the midst of an attack that Israel and Aram launched against Judah in about 735 BC*. The prophet uses this outward turmoil as a metaphor for inner spiritual struggles. The military conflict between two halves of God’s people is very sad; yet it is merely the inevitable result of the injustice** and oppression that have been rampant in both nations.

• ·    This same war is the setting of Isaiah 7-12, which includes some of Isaiah’s best-known prophecies. Gibeah, Ramoth, and Bethel (sarcastically called Beth Aven - see notes on Hosea 4:15) were in the territory of Benjamin, right along the border between Judah and Israel. Benjamin would bear the brunt of this senseless war, but all of the people were already suffering inwardly because of their spiritual weaknesses.

• ·    Note the criticism of Judah’s leaders in Hosea 5:10 - moving boundary stones was a notorious practice used by dishonest land-owners to increase their holdings (see Proverbs 22:28; Proverbs 23:10).

God warns them that he could become like a moth or a rot to them. Normally his presence blesses even the sinful; but as Hosea has previously warned, there are times when human pride and stubbornness make it impossible for him to continue pouring out grace - and then it can be dangerous to be in his presence. Compare Hosea 5:12 with James’s warning to the uncaring rich: "Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes … (James 5:1-2).

The sick, of course, should seek a doctor - but this takes humility (Hosea 5:13-15). During the war of 735 BC, both halves of Israel hoped for support from the powerful Assyrian Empire. Hosea criticizes the northern kingdom (Israel or Ephraim) for this, just as Isaiah criticized Judah. Historically, the decision to get Assyria interested in their affairs backfired badly for both Israel and Judah*. Worldly solutions always have consequences - even if the short-term results seem positive, the use of worldly methods and priorities always results in spiritual damage.

• ·    The Assyrians would decide to attack and dismantle the northern kingdom in 722 BC, and soon afterwards they would attack and nearly conquer Judah. A large section of Isaiah concerns the crisis that arose in 701 BC when Judah barely escaped from Assyria (see especially Isaiah 36-37).

We too are often tempted by the worlds’ methods and logic. We see churches attain numerical growth or political influence, and we become envious. We become frustrated with our brothers and sisters for not changing as quickly as we think they should, and we become judgmental. We become overly attached to an unyielding view of the church, and we become critical. All of these things can provoke us to settle for a worldly solution that promises to fulfill our immediate desire, but that carries long-term spiritual risks. Yet God will still love us anyway!

God created us knowing that we would often stray. He does not ask us to be perfect - he asks only that we admit our guilt and our need for God. Worldly solutions fulfill fleshly desires, but only God and his grace can truly heal us. Hosea uses a new image of warning, that of a lion destroying its prey, to warn of what it would be like to force God to turn away from them.

God waits to see whether his people will give up trying to justify themselves. As soon as they earnestly seek God, he will be waiting for them, no questions asked and no excuses needed. We should remember the same lesson. When we make mistakes, a worldly response just makes the problem worse. We can turn to God any time, for any reason. His grace is more powerful than we shall ever realize, and he is more eager to pour out his grace than we can ever understand.

Questions For Discussion Or Study: What warnings does Hosea give in this passage? What is the purpose of the warnings? How does the historical situation illustrate the spiritual principles involved? How do the mistakes of Israel and Judah teach us? Why does God withdraw himself? What does it take for him to come back?

As Surely As The Sun Rises (Hosea 6:1-6)

Despite these severe words, God’s love for his people is as strong as ever. He asks only that they return to him and acknowledge him, rather than relying on either heroics or self-punishment. If they accept his grace on his terms, there is no end to the healing, nourishing, and compassion that God will give them. God will always seek reconciliation and restoration, if only we let him.

Hosea makes the curious statement that God has injured us, but he himself will heal us (Hosea 6:1-3). God longs to heal; but the prophet also wants us to understand that our own self-will can hinder or prevent God from healing us. Indeed, his presence, such a blessing to the humble and poor in spirit, can become an affliction to the self-important or those who oppress others.

Hosea’s promise that, "on the third day* he will restore us" has significance on multiple levels. In his own day, it was a simple assurance that God will always be ready to heal and restore, even when we are fully responsible for our afflictions. To future generations of Israel, it was a promise that periods of oppression or captivity will always end. And finally, it is a striking look forward to the final healing that Jesus brought through the cross and the resurrection**.

• ·    The expression "after two days … on the third day" is a common poetical device, and the two days/three days do not refer to two different events. Compare with expressions in Proverbs such as "There are three things that are too amazing for me, four that I do not understand" (Proverbs 30:18) or with Amos’s recurrent use of the expression "For three sins of … even for four …" (; Amos 1:3; Amos 1:6; Amos 1:9; Amos 1:11; Amos 1:13; Amos 2:1; Amos 2:4; Amos 2:6).

• ·    Hosea 6:2 is sometimes cited in non-inspired writings by early Christians as an example of a prophecy of the resurrection. It is not, though, quoted as such in the New Testament itself.

To those who acknowledge God and seek his presence, he becomes like the rains that water the earth - a source of nourishment and of life itself. This adds a new dimension to Hosea’s recurring theme of God’s overflowing grace. We also need God to sustain all of our needs every moment of life; and he gladly provides for human needs, even for the evil and hateful. It is another reminder that God’s compassion for humanity is far deeper than we can ever appreciate.

It is also an appeal for us simple to turn to him with whatever we need, no matter how ’unworthy’ we may feel - "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" (Hebrews 4:16).

In view of his longing for them and their own stubbornness, God rhetorically asks his people, "what can I do with you?" (Hosea 6:4-6). Human love - even from caring and sincere humans - is like a mist, temporary and fragile. This is not a condemnation. God knows how hard it is for us to be unselfish, how hard it is for us to look beyond the moment, and how hard it is for us to value the spiritual above the physical. He made us this way, and he loves us this way. He treasures those moments when we can look beyond ourselves and can see him for who he is.

So, when his judgments ’flash like lightning,’ we should understand why it happens. God longs to have us in his presence; yet his presence is double-edged, a blessing to the clean and a hazard to the unclean. Those who live in his presence will feel more keenly the hurts of the world and the needs of the world, even as we also sense more keenly God’s grace, mercy, and compassion.

And so we come to God’s reminder that, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice." Grace is not just a new ’standard’ or a change of policy. It is an inherent part of God’s nature that permeates everything about him, everything about his creation, and everything he does in his relationship with us.

Questions For Discussion Or Study: Why would God injure us and then heal us? Do we understand what these things mean? What does Hosea 6:2 actually promise? To what degree might it anticipate the gospel? What reasons does Hosea give us to come to God? What obstacles does he describe? How can we better understand what Hosea 6:6 means, now that we have read the first few chapters of the book?

-Mark Garner, March 2012

MERCY, NOT SACRIFICE:

THE PROPHETIC BOOK OF HOSEA

Notes For Week Five:

I Long To Redeem Them (Hosea 6:7 to Hosea 7:16)

God always desires to see every soul come to him and live in his presence. Neither folly nor evil ever eliminates someone’s chance of redemption. Yet our own pride can prevent God from giving us the grace he longs to pour out. Moreover, we are inherently inclined to be just as receptive to worldly influences as we are to God’s efforts to communicate his love to us.

Review Of Recent Classes

God’s eagerness to redeem the guilty is a major emphasis in Hosea (Hosea 3:1 to Hosea 4:19). When the prophet’s wife wanders off into adultery and debt, the prophet himself graciously buys her back.

Hosea does not call us to be flawless, but rather to acknowledge the Lord (Hosea 5:1 to Hosea 6:6). Pride is a major obstacle, since it prevents us from seeing our need for God. So when God says that Israel will not return, he is ready to take his people back, but he knows how proud and stubborn they are. Thus they will be "devoured" by their own worship and festivals - they are seeking God for the wrong reasons; and even their religious observances will push him farther away.

We need to accept our spiritual illness in order to seek the right kind of healing. Hosea’s warning to, "sound the trumpet" describes the senseless war between Israel and Judah (about 735 BC - see last week’s notes) as merely the result of spiritual problems that have long been present. The people should seek a doctor, yet instead they seek worldly solutions through force and politics.

But "as surely as the sun rises", God always wants us to live in his grace and in his presence. Hosea constantly reminds us of God’s longing to heal; and he proclaims God’s perspective: "I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings."

Whenever I Try … (Hosea 6:7 to Hosea 7:2)

We rarely consider how persistently God tries to teach us and to show us compassion. When we are pre-occupied with our own agendas, he always hopes that we will pause to remember him. When we are in the midst of sin, he always seeks to heal us. He always knows everything about us, and he does not deceive himself about our nature - yet he longs for our souls all the same.

After his emphatic reminder of God’s eagerness to show mercy (see Hosea 6:6), the prophet reminds the people that they are the ones who have broken the covenant (Hosea 6:7-11 a). Yet this neither shocks nor angers God - though certainly he regrets it and mourns over it - because in this they are only like Adam* himself. It is human nature that makes it very hard for us to live up to our promises and agreements. God knew this when he created us; and instead of becoming furious over our broken promises, he rejoices over even the briefest moments when we do remain true to him.

• ·    The phrase "like Adam" can also simply mean, "like man" (man as in "humanity"). Alternatively, because some commentators are uncomfortable with the fact that the man Adam had no formalized covenant with God, they try to associate this verse with an obscure location named "Adam". But it is part of the prophet’s message that the problem with human nature goes deeper than any formal law or contract.

Worse, though, is the way that the Israelites are lying in ambush for each other. The prophet describes two kinds of sneak attacks, one illegal and one legal, but both displeasing to God. It was an unfortunate fact of life in Hosea’s day that worshipers travelling to places like Gilead or Shechem had to worry about attacks from bands of thieves who infested the roads to those places, knowing that the various assemblies would bring travelers their way. But what happened at their places of religious assembly, led by "bands of priests", was sometimes even worse.

For the religious leaders to use their positions for personal profit, to accumulate power, or to boost their egos was every bit as dishonest and exploitative as what the armed robbers did. Yet even today we do not always see exploitation and oppression for what they really are, if the oppressors and exploiters are clever enough to use God or religion as their pretext. For many centuries, ambitious persons have known that using God or religion is one of the most effective ways to manipulate the emotions, thoughts, and actions of other persons.

So there is an appointed "harvest", and it includes Judah too*. The image of a harvest, usually positive, is used ironically here to draw attention to the Israelites’ unrealistic views of themselves and unrealistic expectations of God - which were caused in turn by their pride and stubbornness. Note also that this fearsome "harvest" is not really a deliberate punishment devised by God - in this case, it is the natural result of their own folly and sin. They have deliberately invited Assyrian armies to get involved in their affairs; and this will be a big part of their future troubles.

• ·    Although it is mostly of importance for understanding how Hosea’s message applied to the people of his own day, it is worth noting how often he balances his criticisms of the north (Israel or Ephraim or Samaria) with equal criticisms of the south (Judah). Hosea does not choose sides in the conflict between brothers.

Persistence in ignoring God’s compassion is more troublesome than sin is in itself (Hosea 6:11 to Hosea 7:2). Here is God’s dilemma: the conflict between his longing to know us, in which he is willing to do anything to bring us close to him, and his righteousness, which means he cannot simply overlook our sin and idolatry. God always knows everything about us - this is not a stern warning, but rather a reminder not to try to deceive either him or ourselves. God always remembers* - this too is not a warning, but a reminder that he is ever aware of our need for his grace.

• ·    This was true in a stronger sense in Hosea’s day, since the Levitical sacrifices could only atone for sin, not obtain permanent forgiveness.

Fortunately, God’s grace takes precedence over his righteousness, as long as we humbly allow it to. "Dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense - Jesus Christ, the Righteous One" (1 John 2:1).

Questions For Discussion Or Study: Why is it so hard for us to remain faithful? How does God feel about this? Do believers "ambush" others? Can we avoid it? Why does God remind us that he knows everything? Can we become more certain of his mercy?

Rejoicing In Worldliness (Hosea 7:3-10)

All of us sin, act foolishly, and have mistaken beliefs. None of this keeps God from loving us or desiring to know us - but our denial of these truths does create a real obstacle to knowing God. God has gone to great lengths to provide mercy and forgiveness - we must merely recognize our need for them. These next images remind us of the folly of living for our own desires.

Hosea depicts unrepentant sinners as being "as hot as an oven", growing ever more devoted to their idols and ever less aware of God’s presence (Hosea 7:3-7). Three times the prophet uses an oven* to symbolize those who delight in their fleshly desires. It is one thing to sin, and another to revel in it. Hosea describes a society in which certain sins have become considered fashionable - and in fact this is true of just about any era. The only difference is which sins are at a given time seen for what they are, and which sins are considered "in" for the time being.

* In Scripture, this imagery of an oven to symbolize out-of-control sin is unique to Hosea.

This fleshly "fellowship" described by the prophet is a problem not because of any one specific sin, but because the people reinforce each other’s stubborn pride instead of encouraging one another to call out to God. In Hosea 7:7, God describes himself as patiently waiting for his people - some of them, any of them - to call out to him. But it is all too easy for even believers to fuel selfish passions in one another instead of drawing one another closer to God.

The details differ, but we too can whip up the wrong kind of passions in one another when we get off-track and indulge in human religion instead of God. When we indulge personal preferences in worship, the craving for outward results, partisan political loyalties, or any other such thing, these will inflame the wrong kind of passions and lead us away from God’s presence.

Hosea continues to reminds us of the danger of being unaware of our weakness (Hosea 7:8-10). He describes Ephraim (Israel) as "half-cooked*", over-cooked on one side and raw on the other side. They have focused too much on their human desires and not enough on knowing God.

• ·    Hosea uses the idea somewhat differently from our term "half-baked". We normally use "half-baked" to mean something ill-considered or not carefully thought through.

They are denying the obvious. Like an aging man unwilling to accept that he is no longer in his youth, the Israelites pretend that they are spiritually well. They have checked everything off of their lists, and they feel good about themselves, despite the obvious signs that they have lost track of God. The prophet does not expect them to change everything, but just to acknowledge their need for grace. He does not ask them to punish themselves, but just to search for God.

Questions For Discussion Or Study: What does Hosea mean with his image of an oven? What should we learn from this imagery? What kinds of fleshly passions are we most vulnerable to? What weaknesses are we most likely to deny or ignore? How does God want us to respond to this?

Catching Doves (Hosea 7:11-16)

Hosea describes God’s people as doves, because of our inherent vulnerability. Left to ourselves, we are just as likely to be influenced by the world as we are to be influenced by God. God calls us actively to seek him so that his presence can be a blessing to us instead of a threat. Then we, in turn, can become a blessing to other weak souls who are seeking God.

Ephraim (or Israel) is like a dove in a number of respects, some of them unexpected (Hosea 7:11-13). The people have a kind of innocence, but it is a risky form of innocence. As the prophet describes them, they are easily deceived, with a tendency to respond to any inducement, whether godly or worldly*. This is true of human nature in general, in any era - our inclination to pursue the immediate and outward makes us inherently prone to be easily manipulated or persuaded. In fact, those who consider themselves the best-educated or most sophisticated are even more vulnerable to this, because they find it so easy to come up with fancy-sounding rationalizations.

• ·    When Hosea 7:11 speaks of Ephraim "now calling to Egypt, now turning to Assyria," Hosea is referring to the practice of both sides during the war of trying to seek worldly alliances with any available country.

God can catch birds, so from time to time he uses a "net" to round us up and remind us to seek him instead of worldly things (compare the imagery in Hosea 2:6-7). God’s longing for us is stronger and more sincere than the world’s desire to have us; yet for this reason God’s actions are less drastic and less violent. He does not want to force us to know him or to do what is right - this would make our relationship with him meaningless. The world, on the other hand, just wants to get its way in the short term - hence its methods are crude but forceful.

We are usually so focused on ourselves - what we "have to do," what we "cannot do," what we desire - that we miss this entire aspect of God’s nature. Hosea keeps pointing out to us that God will never stop loving us and will never stop trying to bring us to him - even when this requires him to do things that by our definition would not be rational. He pursues his desire for us to know him with a combination of undying affection, unlimited mercy, and unselfish gentleness.

The prophet cautions Israel about being "ridiculed in Egypt" (Hosea 7:14-16). Egypt* was the site of their bondage long ago, and the Egyptians had seen God make a drastic display of his power to free his people from oppression. How cynically humorous the Egyptians would find it to realize that it was now God’s people who had turned away from trusting God and in their worldliness had begun to oppress each other.

• ·    In the second half of Hosea, the prophet will use Egypt several times as a symbol of their past slavery and as a reminder of their persistent desire - figurative or literal - to return to Egypt. See Hosea 8:13; Hosea 9:3; Hosea 9:6; Hosea 11:1 (also a prophecy about Jesus), Hosea 11:5; Hosea 11:11; Hosea 12:9; Hosea 12:13; Hosea 13:4.

Hosea’s words to them are instructive to us as well. They have a tendency to wail, to complain, or to lament their misfortunes instead of simply crying out in humility for God’s forgiveness and grace. They are ignoring God’s guidance, and relying on worldly methods and ideas. These things, more than their specific sins, make them a bad example to Egypt (to the world). The prophet consistently reminds them that they can come to God anytime for a fresh start. He won’t force them to do this, and he won’t force us - he always stands patiently waiting.

Questions For Discussion Or Study: Why does Hosea use the image of a dove for God’s people? How is it appropriate for us? Is there any way for us to be less susceptible to worldly influences? Is it possible for us better to understand God’s longing to know us? What is the difference between calling out to God versus mere complaining?

-Mark Garner, April 2012

MERCY, NOT SACRIFICE:

THE PROPHETIC BOOK OF HOSEA

Notes For Week Six:

The Wind & The Whirlwind (Hosea 8:1-10)

To a large extent, God gives us what we ask for. If we desire to know God and to receive his mercy and forgiveness, then he gives us these things. If we desire to satisfy our fleshly desires, then in a sense he lets us have this too - he allows us to see the natural result of living this way. He will not force us to accept his will, yet we must accept responsibility for our decisions.

Review Of The First Half Of Hosea

We are children of the living God by grace and mercy alone, not because we have earned it or can earn it (Hosea 1:1 to Hosea 2:1). Hosea’s unfaithful wife and her children by other fathers provide living examples of the kind of broken relationships that result from sin but that can be healed by God’s mercy. Hosea rebukes his wife but then acts to restore the relationship (Hosea 2:2-23).

God redeems the guilty (Hosea 3:1 to Hosea 4:19). Hosea pours out grace on his unfaithful wife, paying off her debts and buying her back out of bondage. God too is always ready to take us back, and he pays the price himself for our mistakes. He does not ask us to wallow in guilt or even to prove ourselves worthy, but only "let us acknowledge the Lord" (Hosea 5:1 to Hosea 6:6). God declares, "I desire mercy not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings" (Hosea 6:6).

God longs to redeem his people (Hosea 6:7 to Hosea 7:16). But whenever he tries to get closer to us, we try to justify ourselves by works, we ignore our need for his grace, and we insist on doing things our way. Human nature is too weak to live up to the covenant. Worse, the prophet compares the sneak attacks that thieves made on travelling worshippers with the spiritual sneak attacks made by religious leaders who exploit their positions to manipulate others. God’s dilemma is that he knows all our sins, and in his righteousness cannot ignore it - yet he loves us dearly anyway.

God accepts our weakness and does not condemn us, but he cautions us against rejoicing in worldliness. Humans can provoke each other into sin and increasing hardness, becoming "as hot as an oven" and losing all self-control and self-awareness. Hosea cautions us not to be unaware of our weakness, because the tendency to let sin get out of control applies to "inner" sins such as prejudice, hatred, and materialism just as much as it does to the more obvious outward offenses.

The first half of Hosea concludes with an image of God catching doves to protect them spiritually. Like doves, we have a certain risky kind of innocence that makes us just as likely to respond to worldly influences as we are to respond to godly influences. Yet God does not share our judgmental attitudes - he just wants to bring us back safely into his presence. He does not ask us to wail about our sins, but hopes instead that we will humbly cry out to him.

The first half of the book contrasts the gentle will of God with the hardened stubbornness of human self-will. Instead of trying so hard to get things our way and to force our ways on others, let us merely rejoice in God’s mercy. "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" (Hebrews 4:16).

The Hovering Eagle (Hosea 8:1-3)

Because Ephraim (Israel) and Judah have both insisted on going to war and have indulged in worldly political games, they have stored up a great deal of trouble for themselves. The prophet critiques them for their faithlessness and their rebellion against God; but he also points out that God will not need to devise a punishment for them. They have created it themselves.

Hosea now proclaims another trumpet blast - this time not heralding a war, but announcing a spiritual reckoning (Hosea 8:1). There is an eagle* "over the house of the Lord", hovering in a threatening manner. This has happened because of the broken covenant, the people’s inability to solve their problems in a godly manner instead of resorting to force and deception.

• ·    The bird could also be a vulture. Some eagles known to ancient residents of this area were scavengers rather than predators. Thus it is slightly ambiguous whether the image represents an eagle about to attack God’s people, or an eagle/vulture ready to scavenge the remains after the nation is ravaged from without.

Historically, this refers to the post-war situation in which Assyria is a looming, threatening presence in the affairs of the region. The final doom of the northern kingdom is near, though no one yet realizes this. The southern kingdom also will soon face some dark times because of the Assyrians. Out of compassion, God and his prophet try to alert them to the "eagle*" hovering over them. This reiterates of a long-established warning that goes back to Deuteronomy 28:49.

• ·    There is also a sadly ironic contrast between this "eagle" and the use of an eagle as a positive symbol in passages such as Exodus 19:4.

The Israelites try to acknowledge God (Hosea 8:2-3). They do this quite literally, calling out "O our God, we acknowledge you!" But they do not really understand what God is looking for. When Hosea encourages us to ’acknowledge God’, he is not talking about a verbal formula, or indeed anything necessarily spoken at all. God hopes that we will acknowledge him in our hearts, by developing humility and graciousness in response to the grace we have been given.

Hosea’s contemporaries have not done this. They will be pursued by an enemy (historically, Assyria; there are also spiritual parallels) since they have implicitly rejected God by rejecting the things he values. "God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). Outward proclamations of faith, no matter how loud or enthusiastic, do not in themselves satisfy God. He knows when we have accepted his grace in our hearts, and when we have not.

Questions For Discussion Or Study: What kind of ’eagle’ does Hosea warn about? What parallels might we experience? Why is their acknowledgment of God not satisfactory to God? What does this tell us about God’s nature? How should we acknowledge God?

Kings & Idols (Hosea 8:4-6)

Many of the kings and leaders of both halves of Israel were worldly persons who obtained their positions by force and used their positions for selfish gain. The prophet parallels this with the emptiness of the idols that they have made for themselves. Both idols and worldly leaders offer a sense of false security, but both of them tend to let us down when we need help the most.

Kings and princes, silver and gold were some of the favorite things of Hosea’s audience (Hosea 8:4). But they are not among the things God highly values. The people are proud of the kings and princes who exert force and violence, but God does not even know them*. He means, of course, that they do not know him, though they make a great show of being leaders of God’s people.

• ·    The NIV translates this verse as saying that the people chose leaders without God’s permission, but the original Hebrew literally says that it was done without God’s knowledge. The implication is that the people are so distant from God’s presence that they make decisions as if he could not know what they were doing.

They are also impressed with their idols of silver and gold, but their devotion to idols will lead to their destruction. They do not really believe that calves and other images are actual, living gods. Idol worship is a way of worshiping self. Idols merely provide a widely-accepted pretext to pursue things that the flesh desires. The destructive power of idols does not come from incorrect beliefs. It is the way that idols direct worship in spiritually unhealthy directions. Even if idols fulfill our initial expectations, worshiping them always pushes us away from God’s presence.

So Hosea’s implied call to clear out the idols* is necessary if the Israelites are to draw closer to God’s presence again (Hosea 8:5-6). He mentions calf idols since Israeli had a peculiar tendency** to make idols in that form, besides worshiping other idols that their neighbors had devised. Besides the golden calf in the desert (Exodus 32), the northern Israelites who split their half of the nation off from Judah chose a calf idol as one of their symbols of independence (1 Kings 12:25-33).

• ·    The NIV translates this as direct call to cast them out. But the Hebrew literally says only that, "your idol is rejected (or is offensive)" - making the call to discard it implicit rather than direct.

• ·    These images of ’calves’ were probably young bulls, rather than baby cattle. The choice of a young bull would indicate a desired connection with unrestrained virility and power.

These calf-idols are literal, but Hosea’s call extends to symbolic idols too - even those that bring results or self-importance. Idols do not always have obvious outward drawbacks. But when God says, "do not have any other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3), he does not merely mean not to put something ’above’ or ’ahead of’ him - he means, "do not have any other gods in my presence".

Questions For Discussion Or Study: What is the difference between Israel’s feelings about their rulers and their wealth, and God’s feelings about them? Are these things bad in themselves? What does God’s perspective teach us? Why does God not want idols in his presence? How does this explain why he wants us to do away with them?

Sowing & Reaping (Hosea 8:7-10)

The Scriptures often use the image of sowing and reaping to illustrate the ways that everything tends to have natural consequences. Here, Hosea combines this imagery with some other images that describe the human tendency towards self-destruction. It is by God’s grace that he restrains us just often enough and just firmly enough to keep us from spiritual destruction.

Israel’s idolatry and stubbornness will lead to a harvest of trouble (Hosea 8:7-8). Hosea uses the natural process of sowing and reaping to emphasize the natural consequences of ignoring God and turning away from his presence. They have sown the wind by stirring things up that can only have negative long-term consequences. Without God’s presence they are at the world’s mercy. Historically, the nation would "reap the whirlwind" when foreign nations turned from potential allies to oppressors. Thematically, the image cautions us against the temptation to use God as a means or pretext to pursue short-term goals instead of remaining focused on his grace and mercy.

God is not vindictive, but compassionate. He is not threatening to come up with some awful punishment; he is cautioning them against the natural consequences of their actions. "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life." (Galatians 6:7-8)

Substituting ritual or performance for God’s presence and grace makes us like useless grain. There may be plenty of stalks, but they do not produce anything meaningful to God. So Israel will soon be swallowed up among the nations. This will happen literally when they are attacked, but it has already happened spiritually. Their acknowledgement of God is outward only.

So God must gather some wild donkeys (Hosea 8:9-10). The comparison with wild donkeys* means that Israel is acting contrary to its own true nature by selling itself to worldly influences instead of seeking God’s presence. We were created in the image of God, and we have a strong need and desire for his presence. Our cravings for sensual thrills, outward results, forcing others to do our will, and so many other ills, are merely distortions of our true need for God himself.

• ·    The animal referenced here is the onager or Asian wild donkey (or Asian wild ass). Today it is an endangered species, but it was common in Hosea’s era. Onagers have close relationships with one another, but they are one of the few species of the horse family that firmly resist any attempt to domesticate them.

God’s promise to gather them together has a multiple meaning. God wants his people to be united, but here there is another dimension, for they will be gathered not in their own home but in a foreign land. They will learn to appreciate God’s presence all over again - the coming exile will be a natural result of their own mistakes and also what they need to rebuild spiritually.

There is a sad irony in the coming oppression at the hands of the "mighty king" (the king of Assyria, and later the king of Babylon). Anytime they wish, they can be close to a truly mighty and much greater king. God also keeps calling us and offering his grace to us, unconditionally. There is no reason for us to wander off on our own and sell ourselves to the world. And even if we have done this, God is ready any time to take us back.

Questions For Discussion Or Study: How would the imagery of sowing and reaping apply in our own experience? Does it refer to knowing God, to our actions, or to both? What does the image teach us about God’s nature? What should we learn from the imagery of wild donkeys? How does God want Israel to respond? How should we?

-Mark Garner, April 2012

MERCY, NOT SACRIFICE:

THE PROPHETIC BOOK OF HOSEA

Notes For Week Seven:

Grapes In The Desert (Hosea 8:11 to Hosea 9:10)

Through Hosea, God relentlessly challenges Israel to give up its idols, its violence, its immorality, and its oppressive ways. God does not speak against these sins out of bitterness or resentment, but because Israel means so much to him. Likewise, God’s call for us to be purified is not an arbitrary command. It is part of his constant desire to have us live in his presence.

Review

In Hosea 1-7 we repeatedly see God’s willingness to forgive and to show mercy. The most basic lesson from Hosea is that God’s grace and desire to know us are stronger than we can ever know.

One of Hosea’s best-known images is the wind and the whirlwind (Hosea 8:1-10). He warns of a hovering eagle*, a symbol of looming disaster brought on by Israel’s violence and idolatry. So the Israelites acknowledge God - or do they? They mechanically and ritualistically acknowledge God with their mouths, but still do not understand who he is or what he considers important.

* Either to swoop down and destroy, or perhaps just to pick apart their remains. See last week’s notes.

The people of Hosea’s day loved kings and idols, but God does not know their kings, and he rejects their idols. They should discard them for their own good. Their golden calves (young bulls) were literal, symbols of unrestrained fleshly power. But God also appeals to us to discard our symbolic or intangible idols - anything that we look to for things that only God can provide.

So Hosea presents his image of sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind. Idolatry, immorality, and violence are bringing Israel and Judah a harvest of trouble from the foreign powers whose help they foolishly sought during their war. God will not have to devise a special punishment, since they have caused it themselves. God compares them with wild donkeys, as a way of emphasizing that they have forsaken their own true nature. They will serve the "mighty king" of Assyria instead of the truly mighty king who has always longed for them to know him.

Altars For Sinning (Hosea 8:11-14)

Ephraim (Israel) and Judah have both relied on their festivals and other worship activities to retain God’s favor in spite of their idolatry, wars, and other spiritual problems. Hosea now explains why this is so inadequate. God’s interest is not in their outward actions, but in their hearts. He knows that, for all of the outward activity, they have forgotten who God really is.

Human religion may accomplish fleshly goals, but it just doesn’t work in helping us to know God (Hosea 8:11-13). Hosea’s contemporaries have built plenty of altars, only to defile them* by making sacrifices without a real awareness of God’s priorities or perspective. They come simply to fulfill an outward obligation, instead of having any real desire to encounter God’s presence.

• ·    The Hebrew text of Hosea 8:11-12 is ambiguous, and the various versions translate it differently. The NIV translation might be the cleanest, and it is probably the one that makes most sense out of Hosea’s message: "though Ephraim built many altars for sin offerings, they have become altars for sinning."

Coming into God’s presence is certainly a great blessing, but it is also a responsibility. We too should not take it casually. Instead of judging unbelievers, we should purify our own hearts. When we present an example to the world of personal purity combined with a gracious, forgiving attitude towards others, we can much better help them to see God’s own nature.

To make things worse, when God wrote to Israel to communicate his will they treated his words also as something mechanical rather than something living and personal. They "regarded them as something alien" in the sense that they forced God’s Word into their own perspectives and agendas, instead of humbly allowing their own ideas and beliefs to be challenged and changed.

Hosea’s warning of a return to Egypt will prove true in a limited literal sense during the future times of exile*, but its real meaning is the spiritual bondage into which the Israelites have already fallen. When the Exodus generation faced trouble, it was common for many of the people to long for a return to Egypt (see, for example, Exodus 14:11-12; Exodus 16:3; Exodus 17:3, and Numbers 11:4-6; Numbers 14:2-4; Numbers 20:3-5; Numbers 21:4-5), with the crude sense of false security that it gave them.

• ·    When Assyria conquered Ephraim (Israel) in 722 BC, and especially when Babylon conquered Judah in 586 BC, both times large groups of refugees ended up in Egypt to flee from captivity. Even the prophet Jeremiah was part of one of these groups, being taken there against his will (Jeremiah 42-44).

In Hosea and elsewhere in the Old Testament, the desire to return to Egypt is used as a symbol for the part of us that fears spiritual truth and that prefers to return to safe worldly beliefs. Hosea will frequently use Egypt as a symbol in the last part of the book.

What Israel forgot is not a fact or a law or a method, but their Maker and Lord (Hosea 8:14). They have wandered from his presence and their hearts have drifted towards other things; yet they do not see this because their outward actions seem full of religious fervor. They are busy with projects such as building palaces for their leaders and fortified towns for themselves. But because they have forgotten their Creator, God warns of doom for the things they have made with their hands.

What was wrong with their cities, that God wanted to destroy them? Nothing - and nothing is wrong with our cities, possessions, or pastimes. If we live by grace and humility, then these things are blessings from a loving God. But we can make them unclean by adopting worldly perspectives and attitudes. Levitical law reminded Israel to keep the unclean from contact with the holy, and God’s presence also relentlessly exposes our impurities and idols - we must choose between shattering our idols or hardening our hearts to God and drifting away from him.

Questions For Discussion Or Study: How could an altar be defiled (in the old law)? Are there parallels for us? How is God’s presence a blessing? How is it a responsibility? Why does he call believers higher than unbelievers? Was this true in Hosea’s time? In what sense has Israel forgotten God? Describe the consequences in your own words.

Not Like The Other Nations (Hosea 9:1-4)

God chose Israel and called it to be different from the other nations. Today he calls not nations, but souls, to be different from the rest of humanity through the gospel of Jesus. In both cases, there are temptations to be like the rest of the world; and in both cases the spiritual risk of turning away from God is greater for the faithful than it is for those who have not known him.

"Do not rejoice, O Israel" seems harsh until we recall its spiritual disorders (Hosea 9:1-3). The people have been unfaithful, committing spiritual prostitution. Outwardly they worship regularly, but worldly attitudes dominate their thinking - and they are proud of it. God loves to see humans happy, when it is because he has blessed them - but that is not why Israel is rejoicing.

God calls us to a different concept of joy. The worldly rejoice in bending others to their will, in being proven right and seeing others proven wrong, in feeling superior to others. This is so ingrained that believers and churches can fall into the same mentality. This is human nature, and it only becomes a serious problem when we don’t realize or accept our weaknesses.

When God warns the Israelites that they will not remain in their homeland, when they are eating unclean food in Assyria, it will only reflect their inward desire to be like other nations in all the wrong ways, not wanting to live up to God’s calling to live in purity, grace, and equality.

They partially accept the prophet’s warnings, but they respond only by offering further sacrifices, which again prove ineffective (Hosea 9:4). They still have a hard time accepting that God wants to base his relationship with us on his mercy and our acceptance of it, rather than on the sacrifices and activities we perform. Because they do not grasp this, their sacrifices will merely be like the bread of mourners - bringing uncleanness* instead of purification.

• ·    The bread used by mourners would be unclean because of its proximity to the dead, and it would render unclean anyone else who partook of it. (And persons in proximity to a dead body would require certain cleansings or sacrifices before becoming clean.)

God warns them to keep their unclean sacrifices out of the temple, a holy place. The basic principles of holiness and cleanness cautioned the people not to take dangerous liberties in God’s presence. It can also help us to know God better if we take the time to understand holiness. Holiness does not come from our actions or even our character. It comes from being given to God, from belonging to God. Cleanness arises from purification or sacrifice, but holiness cannot be attained by human means. It must come from God, and we must accept it by grace.

Questions For Discussion Or Study: Why does God not want Israel to rejoice? What are good reasons for rejoicing? Are there wrong kinds of rejoicing we should avoid? Why did it not help when they responded to God’s rebuke by offering sacrifices? What should we learn from this? How can we benefit from better understanding what holiness is?

Will Egypt Gather Them? (Hosea 9:5-10)

In the days of reckoning that Israel has brought upon itself, the people will find themselves scattered - some will become refugees and others will be taken captive. This is not for any particular outward sin as much as it is because their entire perspective and priorities have become so ungodly. Yet even amidst his disappointment, God reminisces about better times.

Hosea describes a future when the festivals will be silent, and the land will be taken over by briers and thorns* (Hosea 9:5-6). Those who escape destruction will be on their way back to Egypt, either literally as refugees or figuratively as captives of a new nation. Their own homeland would be sparsely populated for some time to come**, as is depicted in the prophet’s imagery of their silver and their palaces being overtaken by briers and other wild growth. God’s presence is gone, for the people themselves have valued worldly things above knowing God.

• ·    This is a common type of image used by the prophets to indicate either the literal abandonment of the land or else a spiritual regression. Both are applicable here.

• ·    The fate of northern Israel after the Assyrian conquest of 722 BC and the fate of Judah after the Babylonian conquest of 586 BC were similar, though different in details. See, for example, 2 Kings 17:24-41; 2 Kings 25:22-26. Jeremiah 40-43 also gives an extended firsthand account of Judah after Jerusalem fell.

Though outwardly things seem relatively normal, the people’s perspectives and attitudes have become so mixed up that any true prophet of God is considered a fool* (Hosea 9:7-9). The more they hear the truth through prophets like Hosea, the more they become hostile to the truth. In their minds, they have tried to listen, even heeding his most important message by "acknowledging God" (Hosea 8:2-3), only to find that God meant something different. They continually put their faith in outward ’worship’ activity, only to find themselves drifting farther from God’s presence.

• ·    Some commentators have pointed out that the Hebrew text of these verses can be interpreted in a different way. It could be understood as Hosea criticizing the other ’prophets’ of his day for being foolish and for being hostile to the truth. In this case, of course, the applications for us would also be different.

But instead of issuing an unconditional condemnation, God reminisces and thinks about what made Israel dear to him in the first place (Hosea 9:10). Hosea uses the imagery of finding grapes - a nourishing treat - in a desert otherwise devoid of life. This is his way of expressing that believers are a rare treasure to God. God pours out so much love on the world, and gets so little understanding or appreciation in return, that even the tiniest gesture of genuine faith means a lot to him. We do not need to do anything to impress him with our faith - what means the most to God is our humble appreciation and acknowledgement of his own wonderful qualities.

This is what makes idolatry and spiritual adultery, symbolized here by what happened at Baal Peor*, such a spiritual tragedy. It is not disobedience of a specific law per se that makes God unhappy, nor is it the failure to make full use of opportunities to serve him. What hurts God more than anything is when we simply ignore his presence because we are fixated on ourselves. It hurts him, rather than pleasing him, when we divide over secondary issues. It hurts him, rather than pleasing him, when we condemn others for their sin instead of showing them grace.

• ·    This refers to the incidents described in Numbers 25, when the Israelites in the desert became infatuated with Moabite women, and besides committing rampant immorality they enthusiastically offered sacrifices to their false gods. This drastic rejection of God’s presence led to some very sad results.

This is because above all God wants us all to live in his presence. It honors God’s presence both when we humbly accept his grace and also when we graciously show others mercy and grace. God is not gloomily reminiscing about a mythical lost past that can never be recaptured - he is reminding us all of what matters most to him, and of what is also most beneficial to us, in order that we can all share in the great hope that he offers for the future.

Questions For Discussion Or Study: Why is it appropriate for the land to be left desolate and overrun by briers? What applications should we make? Is there a message to us in Hosea’s warning that the prophet is considered a fool? Why does God reminisce about how much Israel means to him? What does this tell us about how he feels about us?

-Mark Garner, April 2012

MERCY, NOT SACRIFICE:

THE PROPHETIC BOOK OF HOSEA

Notes For Week Eight:

A Fallen People In A Fallen World (Hosea 9:11 to Hosea 10:8)

This next passage is one of the most somber and severe portions of Hosea, full of warning and criticism without any promises or comfort to bring relief. It is also loaded with imagery of every kind, and the imagery is not always consistent from one line to the next. God is openly expressing his hurt and disappointment, without any attempt to pretend that he doesn’t care.

Review

The image of the wind and the whirlwind (Hosea 8:1-10) shows that sin brings its own punishment by hindering God’s presence. In God’s affection for the Israelites, he considered them like grapes in the desert (Hosea 8:11 to Hosea 9:10), yet they misunderstood what he valued about them.

Their very altars of worship became altars for sinning. Their sacrifices pushed God away, because they relied on outward worship to justify themselves even as they practiced violence and idolatry. Israel forgot the presence of God, not his laws. God did not want Israel to be like other nations, rejoicing in worldly success at the expense of others. He calls us also to a different concept of joy, based on grace and peace instead of on earthly things. We too could stand to understand holiness much better. Holiness is not an aura that surrounds those accomplished in fleshly righteousness; it is the simple status of belonging to God, available freely to all by grace.

The question in Hosea’s day was whether Egypt would (figuratively) gather the Israelites once more, because of their longing for worldly things, or whether the Israelites would humble themselves and live by grace. The Israelites were so confident in their own righteousness that they considered prophets like Hosea to be fools*. But God recalls how much it has meant to him on those rare occasions when Israel truly lived closely with him. He is not merely being wistful about a mythical lost past - he is reminding them that all they need to do is to come back to him.

* Some commentators interpret Hosea 9:7-8 differently. See last week’s notes.

God neither asks nor expects us to be perfect. He calls us by grace and asks for us to respond in humility. He hopes that we will strive to purify ourselves from violence, immorality, prejudice, idolatry, and greed; yet he calls us in turn to show grace to those who remain impure. Whatever their offenses may be, they need God more than they need judgment or punishment.

Becoming Wanderers (Hosea 9:11-17)

Ephraim (Israel) and Judah have become spiritual wanderers, seeking to be like the pagan nations because they were not content to live in God’s presence. Soon also, they will literally begin to wander among the nations, deprived of their own homeland. Notice that God’s viewpoint and the prophet’s own words get mingled together, as they express regret and warning.

Ephraim’s glory will fly away (Hosea 9:11-14). Israel is worried about fleshly glory - the strength of the nation, material prosperity, an identity as a "religious" people. But Israel’s real glory is none of these things: it is the glory of God’s presence* - and they have turned away from it. The time is coming when their fleshly glory will also disappear, but this is secondary to their real loss.

* See, for example, Exodus 24:15-17, Leviticus 9:23, 1 Samuel 4:21-22, Isaiah 60:19, and Ezekiel 10:3-19.

The prophet and God - their points of view are deliberately mixed together - foresee an Israel bereaved of children and deprived of descendants. Future (to Hosea) generations will be driven from the land; but the spiritual application is even sadder. In Israel, each generation passed along the teachings of God to a new generation - but they have done this in a shallow literal sense, passing along rituals and laws but manifestly failing to be an example of God’s values.

Hosea finds himself wanting to see them fall (Hosea 9:14). The prophet’s family experiences have taught him to identify closely with God’s feelings, and he is distressed at what the people have done to God. Yet there is a higher motivation too - for any children or descendants will be born into a spiritual morass that could consume them too. So God would ultimately allow the pagan nations to take them captive, since only captivity could give a new generation a clean start.

Israel was planted in a pleasant place (literally, Canaan; figuratively, God’s presence). But the Israelites became as discontented as any group of pagans. It was not enough for them to belong to God, and their violence and materialism implicitly denied God’s presence. God compares Ephraim to the doomed city of Tyre*, both blessed with many advantages but both devoted to worldly things. But Ephraim (and Judah) lived in God’s presence, and were still dissatisfied. Once again, Hosea cautions us that God’s presence brings us greater responsibility, not less.

• ·    Tyre was a seaport in Phoenicia, just north of Israel (Ephraim). It was legendary in ancient times for its wealth and for its impregnability. But Tyre would fall to Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC.

This is why God and the prophet (their thoughts are mixed together) hated the Israelites when they assembled to worship at the great shrine at Gilgal (Hosea 9:15-17). Gilgal was originally the site of some of Israel’s most positive memories*, but over the years it became a commercialized site of commerce and false worship. It is now a shrine for sinfulness, because whatever else the people had in their minds when they went to Gilgal, it was not God’s presence.

• ·    Gilgal was the site of the memorial to the miraculous crossing of the Jordan (Joshua 4:19-24), the place where Joshua led a mass circumcision as part of a spiritual renewal (; Joshua 5:2-12), the location where Saul’s kingship was confirmed and finally fully accepted by the nation (1 Samuel 11:14-15), and the place where David was re-acknowledged as king after the rebellion led by Absalom (; 2 Samuel 19:15 ff).

Israel is (figuratively and spiritually) full of withered roots and fruitless plants. Their spiritual promise has withered because they wandered from the presence of God. They have produced results but not good fruit, for they valued worldly things and also sought them by worldly means such as aggression and exploitation. Hosea draws a somber conclusion: God will reject them. In truth, of course, they have rejected God. Their outward disobedience is only a symptom. God himself is only accepting with sadness the decision his people have made.

Questions for Discussion Or Study: Why didn’t Israel understand true glory? Can we make the same mistake? What are the consequences for us? Why was Israel not satisfied with its "pleasant place"? Can we make the same mistake? What was wrong at Gilgal? Does God really "hate" and "reject" them? Does he ever "hate" and "reject" us?

The Senselessness Of Spiritual Adultery (Hosea 10:1-4)

Israel had no reason to be discontented or to wander from God’s presence, for he had supplied the people with all they needed. But their hearts craved worldly things instead of spiritual blessings, so they worshiped idols just as enthusiastically as they ’worshiped’ God. Even when they suffered the negative consequences of spiritual adultery, they did not understand or change.

The imagery of Israel as a spreading vine is echoed in some well-known Scriptures (Hosea 10:1-2). Jesus likely had this passage in mind in urging his disciples to remain in the true vine (John 15). Isaiah 5, known as "the song of the vineyard", provides a warning similar to Hosea’s. The prophets use this imagery to depict a people that are fruitful but clueless, while Jesus uses the imagery to try to prevent his disciples from making the mistakes that Israel made.

Israel enjoyed many times of prosperity and success, often when the people were barely faithful, if at all. Because they were fruitful but unwise, they worshiped both the living God and pagan gods indiscriminately. Since they could not distinguish one from the other, they built altar upon altar and worship site upon worship site. They lost track of their altars as places to meet God, focusing instead on their own acts of ’worship’. It was only a small step from there to the construction of places overtly used for pagan worship, such as standing stones or pillars*.

• ·    These were vertical structures ’honoring’ Canaanite gods of fertility. These and other structures such as Asherah poles were often overtly sexual in nature, since the worship of Canaanite gods often involved ritualized or organized immorality.

The problem with their false worship was not so much that it broke some rules, but that the spirit of false worship led naturally to false oaths and false, perverted justice (Hosea 10:3-4). Although Hosea previously had cause to reprove the people for idolizing their ’strong’ kings, now the people chant, "we have no king"; for they never really respected their own rulers even when they did the people’s bidding. These fallen souls view the world only in terms of what they can get from it, and their views of everything and everyone are altered accordingly.

The imagery of poisonous weeds symbolizes the way that the institutions of the land have turned into vehicles for oppressing the needy and for serving the interests of the wealthy and powerful. This is hardly unique to Hosea’s own time and place; indeed it is hard to find a time and place in human society of which this is not true. But it is much sadder when God’s name is used to justify oppressive practices. Yet it is all a mere reflection of being a fallen people in a fallen world.

Questions For Discussion Or Study: How was Israel a vine? Is there any connection with the true vine (Jesus) in John 15? What can we learn from the imagery? Why did Israel end up building so many sites of pagan worship? Was this their original intention? Do we have similar problems? How could their false worship lead to injustice?

False Fear & Godly Fear (Hosea 10:5-8)

The Israelites sense that something is wrong, and that they are in danger - but once again their perspective is distorted. They have a false, worldly fear that they may lose their outward prosperity and their idols; but they unconcerned about straying from God’s presence. And so, when the worst comes, they will experience fleshly despair instead of spiritual understanding.

Hosea illuminates an odd characteristic of this fallen people: their feeling of protectiveness for their idols (Hosea 10:5-6). They don’t want anything to happen to their precious calf-gods, yet in their false loyalty they do not draw the obvious conclusion: if their idols were real gods, they wouldn’t need any protection. It is human nature to be protective of our idols to the point of irrationality. Humans in our society cannot bear to hear criticisms of their favorite sports teams, celebrities, political figures, cultural preoccupations, or other such things. In themselves, these are mostly harmless; but when we overact to criticism of them, it means we have turned them into idols.

Ephraim’s idols of gold and silver will become a tribute* for the "great king" - the king of Assyria. Again there is the sad irony that they did not acknowledge the great king in heaven, and are oppressed by a lesser earthly king, unworthy of the false admiration they granted him. The king of Assyria looked impressive from a human point of view, but he was a common thug. Like most earthly strong men, he used his fleshly power to intimidate and destroy. Yahweh God, on the other hand, holds all the power in the universe yet uses it very sparingly and constructively.

• ·    "Tribute" is an ancient euphemism for payment (money, material goods, or slaves) that a stronger nation extorted or took by force from a weaker nation.

Idolatry and worldly values ultimately lead to despair, as is illustrated by the prophet’s memorable imagery of the people calling out, "fall on us!" to the mountains and hills (Hosea 10:7-8). He also depicts Ephraim (or Samaria*) floating away like a twig on the water. The Israelites defined their identity in terms of national strength and material prosperity. But worldly identity is inherently fragile, no matter how it appears. An identity defined only in terms of knowing God holds inherent strength - no matter how ethereal or fragile that seems to the worldly.

• ·    Samaria was the capital city of the Northern Kingdom (Israel or Ephraim). The Samaritans did not yet exist in Hosea’s lifetime, so when he refers to "Samaria", he means Israel (Ephraim).

As in Hosea 9:6, the prophet describes thorns and thistles taking over the high places*, the sites of enthusiastic but pointless worship that were such a chronic disappointment to God. Once again, this imagery combines a warning about the future physical desolation of the country with a statement about the spiritual abandonment and deterioration that has already taken place.

• ·    The "high places" were a frequent target of the prophets, especially Jeremiah and Ezekiel. They were altars or shrines built on elevated ground and used for a variety of religious activities, both for Canaanite gods and (in name only) for God. Commentators often describe such observances as "syncretistic", meaning a worship of multiple religions without regard to which of them may actually be true.

Hosea depicts Israel calling out to the mountains, in physical fear and spiritual despair. This is similar to the ways Hosea 10:8 is quoted by Jesus (Luke 23:28-31) and John (Revelation 6:15-17)*. Yet in all three instances the emphasis is not on the physical disasters involved. The focus is on the lack of hope that sets in whenever we stray from God’s presence. We can see this easily in our own time and place as well. Even in our so-called "Christian nation" it takes very little to make despair and fear set in - and in turn for these to produce anger, hatred, and prejudice.

• ·    In Luke, Jesus passes the mourners on the way to the cross, and foretells the future fall of Jerusalem. In Revelation, this is at the opening of the sixth seal, unleashing earthquakes and other calamities.

Can we learn something positive from these bleak verses? They show us how important it is to remain in God’s presence and in his grace. God critiques them not to crush them but to explain how so many persons end up in a state of spiritual desperation. The prevention and the antidote are the same: not methods, not doctrines, not activity, but only God’s pure presence, pure grace, and pure mercy. Ultimately, God would offer these things to all of us through the cross.

Questions For Discussion Or Study: Why do the people fear for the fate of their idols? What should we learn from this? What parallels to their high places might we have? Why do the people end up wanting the mountains and hills to fall on them? What lessons do we learn here about God’s nature and God’s presence?

-Mark Garner, April 2012

MERCY, NOT SACRIFICE:

THE PROPHETIC BOOK OF HOSEA

Notes For Week Nine:

Called Out Of Egypt (Hosea 10:9 to Hosea 11:4)

Both God and his prophet Hosea openly address the rampant idolatry, immorality, violence, and other sins in Israel. But they offer a response far different from the way that worldly persons - even most religious persons - respond to the world’s sins and problems. Everything God teaches us comes from his compassion; and even his rebukes are meant not to harm us but to heal us.

Review Of Recent Classes

To God, believers are like grapes in the desert (Hosea 8:11 to Hosea 9:10). The comparatively rare moments when someone truly acknowledges God, and truly recognizes the value of his presence, makes up for all the patience and grace that God must expend because of humanity’s sins.

We are a fallen people in a fallen world - and when we understand this, it helps us draw closer to God (Hosea 9:11 to Hosea 10:8). The Israelites of Hosea’s day had become spiritual wanderers, who strayed from God’s presence and lost the true glory of knowing God. Their religious activities were enthusiastic but empty, turning places like Gilgal into "shrines for sinfulness". The coming exile in foreign lands would merely be a physical echo of the spiritual reality.

God emphasizes the senselessness of their spiritual adultery, not to hurt them but to call them back. Israel was planted by grace as a fruitful, spreading vine; yet over time the people took their blessings for granted and pursued worldly agendas. Their worship intermingled acts done in the name of the living God with acts overtly celebrating pagan false gods - and their false worship quickly lead to false justice, with the land becoming full of injustice and oppression.

They had a false fear for their worldly standing instead of the godly fear that protects us from spiritual harm. Like every generation, they were protective of their idols, not realizing that this exposed the idols’ emptiness. So in times of trouble they had only fear, not hope. In their spiritual despair they call out to the hills to, "fall on us!" - a portrait grimly echoed in Luke 23:30 and Revelation 6:16. All of these Scriptures are intended not as threats, but as compassionate reminders that only the presence of the living God can truly sustain us in every trial of life.

A Heifer Gone Astray (Hosea 10:9-12)

To God, it is more important to understand the problem and to solve it than it is to punish sin or error. He will use discipline only when it is unavoidable. And so he presents yet another image of his relationship with Israel, this time representing his people as a once-contented cow that has gone badly astray - yet that can still come back to her master any time she wishes.

Israel’s problems have been ongoing "since the days of Gibeah" (Hosea 10:9-10). This is not literal, since their problems go back even farther, but the reference to Gibeah deliberately recalls some nauseating events. The sequence of incidents that started at Gibeah (see Judges 19-21) included murder, gang rape, mutilation of the dead, civil war, and mass abduction. It is at first reading a seemingly senseless passage of Scripture*, yet it contains a key point Hosea emphasizes now.

• ·    This passage is a favorite of some atheist commentators, who claim it as an example of the Bible’s poor moral standards because of its depiction of violence against women, homosexuality, and other such things.

The point of the revolting Gibeah narrative in Judges is to illustrate what happens when we withdraw from God’s presence. Both then and now, God’s presence in our world protects us from the worst of our human nature. In ancient Israel, the sacrificial system allowed God to maintain a limited but steady presence, and so Israel was generally spared from the worst of the kinds of horrors that went on elsewhere in the ancient world. But, as in the Gibeah events, when idolatry and pride pushed God’s presence away the consequences were quite visible*.

• ·    Consider also the troublesome question of why God allows so many awful things to happen - God’s presence probably prevents far more horrors from happening; and we see only a small proportion of the bad things that would happen if human nature were not continually restrained by God’s grace and compassion.

Returning to Hosea’s time, the prophet accuses the people of being guilty of a double sin. While he does not explain exactly what this means*, the implication is that they have compounded their sins by ’remaining at Gibeah’, that is, by adding stubbornness and pride to their original offenses, and implicitly rejecting God’s grace. Because God is so gracious and eager to forgive, it is not our specific sins per se that pushes God away from us - it is our defensiveness and pride that hinders his presence, by rejecting the grace that is essential to any relationship with our Creator.

• ·    Because of this, some commentators prefer to see Hosea 10:10 as merely promising "double punishment" for Israel’s sin, instead of trying to interpret the phrase "double sin". But see also the notes to Hosea 10:13.

So when Hosea returns to imagery of plowing and sowing, the focus is on knowing God and on how our attitudes and actions affect our relationship with God (Hosea 10:11-12). He describes Israel in earlier times as a trained (domesticated) heifer*, contented and in a healthy relationship with her master. The heifer is pulling a threshing sledge to provide useful work for her owner, and in turn her owner is observing the law** by allowing the cow to nibble as much grain as she wishes to.

• ·    A heifer is a (female) cow that has not yet had her first calf - an image of youth, potential, and innocence.

• ·    Deuteronomy 25:4 required farmers to do this as a gesture of compassion and appreciation to the animals who did their work. Later, Paul applied this to humans in 1 Corinthians 9:9 and 1 Timothy 5:18.

The image describes God’s ideal relationship with his people in any era. Israel had a special role in the ancient world, and believers in Jesus have a special role today. In both cases, God calls simply for humility, gratitude, and grace. He calls us to purify ourselves - not to prove we are worthy of him but to present the world with an example of gracious living. "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?" (Matthew 5:13)

The call to sow righteousness is not so much a "command" as a personal appeal from God to accept his blessings by grace and serve him in humble gratitude. Hosea appeals to the people to "break up your unplowed ground", that is, to make a fresh start. We too can have a fresh start with God any time that we wish, no matter how badly we may have strayed. Our acceptance does not rest on our goodness or accomplishments, but on God’s compassion and mercy.

The Israelites Of Hosea’s generation cannot undo their sins, and they cannot make up for them. But they can simply "seek the Lord until he comes." God stands ready to take them back into his presence at any moment, if only they will realize their need for his grace. And so once again Hosea anticipates the gospel’s call: "let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" (Hebrews 4:16).

Questions For Discussion Or Study: Why does Hosea refer to Gibeah? What should Christians learn from the horrible events at Gibeah? How are we like a heifer? Can we return to this state after we stray or sin? How do we ’"break up your unplowed ground"?

Misguided Sowing & Misguided Faith (Hosea 10:13-15)

Hosea’s generation had indeed been busy sowing seed, and in their own way they had plenty of faith - but their sowing and their faith were both misguided. Everyone is sowing something, and everyone has faith in something. It is merely human nature to become so busy with our worldly affairs and our religious activities that we lose sight of our original motivations and perspectives.

Israel started as the contented heifer that Hosea has described, but then made a mistake - in fact a whole series of mistakes that compounded themselves (Hosea 10:13). Not content with the simple but powerful blessings that come from knowing God, Israel began to be tempted by worldly things, and thus they planted and sowed bad seed. Hosea has already taught us that when we sow the wind we reap the whirlwind - and this is what will happen, as long as we understand this principle spiritually and not in a crass materialistic sense.

The Israelites have planted wickedness (idolatry, immorality, and violence), and will eat the fruit of deception. They have often deceived others, yet most of all they have deceived themselves. They have sacrificed closeness with God and healthy relationships with each other to pursue worldly gains of dubious value. God let them have many of the things they craved; but they were not satisfied, and instead of realizing their mistake they continued to fight. Many worldly persons get what they strive for, only to find that it merely produces insecurity and new cravings.

This is another form of "double sin", since they pursued the wrong things and used sinful methods to get them. Their faith in fleshly power, and their use of force and deception, pushed them even farther away from God. The desire for wealth or fame or other worldly treasures is not the problem in itself - the real problem comes when we turn to worldly means to get them. We ought instead simply to share our desires with God, and then allow him to decide which things to give us by grace and which things would be unwise for us to have.

In this case, to the spiritual consequences will also be added - much later - disastrous outward consequences (Hosea 10:14-15). The roar of battle, which once excited them and attracted them, is not always so thrilling. In days to come, Israel will find itself on the other end of oppression and atrocities*. God will not enjoy this, and Israel’s oppressors will face their own judgment; but God will have to allow it to happen because Israel has insisted on living outside of his presence.

• ·    This would be especially true when the Assyrians conquered northern Israel in 722 BC. The Assyrians enthusiastically invented and practiced horrifying means of torture, rape, and humiliation, in addition to killing or enslaving large numbers of their conquered victims.

Questions For Discussion Or Study: What forms of deception had the Israelites practiced? What ’fruit’ did they bear? What does God want us to learn from this? Is there a positive way to deal with our own desires for worldly things? Are there times when our own desires can be fulfilled but still harm us? Can we prevent this?

When Israel Was A Child (Hosea 11:1-4)

God again returns to the basis of his relationship with Israel. If the Israelites realize what they once had, then they can return to God’s presence any time that they wish to. The same principles have parallels in our own relationship with God. Each of us, as a soul, has been called out of the "Egypt" of the world, and each of us has been offered God’s cords of kindness and ties of love.

God "called my son" from Egypt on several levels (Hosea 11:1-2). The "out of Egypt" concept applies on a historical level, a Messianic level, and a spiritual level. Hosea’s audience most clearly understood the historical level, since the exodus from Egypt was one historical event that Israel never lost sight of. But they often lost sight of their ongoing need for God’s providence and grace. The prophet’s repeated mentions of Egypt are designed to call attention to this.

The Messianic parallel is emphasized in Matthew 2:13-15*. When Herod the Great was trying to kill the newborn Messiah, an angel directed Joseph to take his family to Egypt for safety; then, when Herod died, God called the family back to Judea (Matthew 2:19-23). God could easily have protected his only begotten Son in some other way, but the family’s sojourn in Egypt was a deliberate echo of the ancient stay in Egypt, emphasizing the deeper spiritual needs that Jesus the Messiah would fulfill. The historical and Messianic applications also remind us of the spiritual parallels, for we have all been called out of the "Egypt" of worldly desires, by God’s grace.

• ·    The Messianic foretelling is deliberate in Hosea, as the reference to Israel as God’s "son" in Hosea 11:1 is very unusual. Israel is otherwise invariably portrayed figuratively as female. The only other exception in the Old Testament is in Exodus 4:21-23, which also contains a deliberate reason for the male imagery.

But the more God called Israel, the more they took him for granted and began to feel self-sufficient. As Hosea repeatedly emphasizes, all God asks is that they stay close to him and remain humbly in his grace. But by turning to idols, by ascribing their blessings to idols or to their own goodness or achievements, they implicitly returned to the spiritual slavery of Egypt.

God taught his people to walk, and they and we are still - and shall always be - learning to walk spiritually (Hosea 11:3-4). God’s way of leading is to take us by the hand, to lead us personally, by helping us to know him and nurture a relationship with him. Whatever laws or warnings or sacrifices he sometimes uses are always and only incidental to his main priority of knowing him.

But because God usually chooses the subtle and personal over the overt and forceful, "they did not realize it was I" who healed them of their sin and provided them with the things they needed. God so often allows us to ignore him and forget him, without punishment or even rebuke, because he does not wish to force either himself or his presence or his blessings on us. He does so much for us, and in return only asks - or indeed merely hopes - "that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us" (Acts 17:27).

God hopes that his ’heifer’, after straying and tasting the fruits of worldly living, will return to the true security and contentment of living in his presence. He does use us a yoke to keep us close to him, but it is an easy yoke, put in place with cords of kindness and ties of love. His Son assures us: "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:29-30).

Questions For Discussion Or Study: Why does God use the idea of "out of Egypt" in so many different ways? What should this image mean to us? In what ways do we need to learn to walk? How can we remember to acknowledge God more often? What kind of "yoke" does Jesus place on us? How is it held in place, in practical terms?

-Mark Garner, April 2012

MERCY, NOT SACRIFICE:

THE PROPHETIC BOOK OF HOSEA

Notes For Week Ten:

How Can I Give Your Up? (Hosea 11:4 to Hosea 12:8)

For all of God’s distress over the idolatry and other sins that his people have indulged in, there is no possible way that he can just abandon them. They may push him away themselves, but he will never leave them. He may have to allow them to undergo severe discipline, but he will always be there, ready to take them back to his heart as soon as they desire it.

Review Of Recent Classes

To God, believers are like grapes in the desert (Hosea 8:11 to Hosea 9:10) - the few humans who acknowledge God make up for all of those who don’t. All of us belong to a fallen people in a fallen world; yet when we understand this, it can help us to draw closer to God (Hosea 9:11 to Hosea 10:8). God doesn’t expect us to be perfect - he will supply the grace if we humbly trust him.

God called his people out of Egypt, historically and spiritually (Hosea 10:9 to Hosea 11:4). Israel was a contented heifer, doing useful work and treated well, but went astray in search of something better. It is a double sin to indulge in idolatry and immorality and then deny the need for mercy. Using the image of plowing and sowing, Hosea calls God’s people simply to make a fresh start.

But Israel’s sowing was misguided, for they pursued worldly things instead of God’s presence; and their faith was misguided, as it rested on things of the world and their religious observances, not on God’s compassion and mercy. They willfully pursued worldly goals by worldly means, pushing God’s presence away and leading to unpleasant spiritual and historical consequences.

When Israel was a child, God called the nation out of bondage in Egypt and into the Promised Land. He also called his only-begotten Son Jesus from safe-keeping in Egypt. And spiritually he calls every soul to escape from the slavery of sin in the "Egypt" of the world. God helps each of us to learn to walk spiritually, not by iron rules or threats but by cords of kindness and ties of love. The world uses crass and manipulative methods, and too often we respond eagerly to them. But God will remain patient, merciful, and compassionate as he waits on each one of us.

God’s Compassion Is Aroused (Hosea 11:5-9)

God has no illusions about his people’s nature or their behavior. He has endured countless acts of idolatry, immorality, and violence from them. His righteous nature is constantly distressed, and his presence must often withdraw in the face of their blatant sins. But the strongest emotion of all is his love and affection, even towards the most sinful and foolish of humans.

God’s people can seem determined to turn away from his presence (Hosea 11:5-7), even when he shows the most grace and love: "the more I called Israel, the further they went from me" (see Hosea 11:2). God’s call and his methods are subtle and quiet, yet human nature prefers the loud and the overt. In the power politics that Ephraim and Judah have been practicing, both sought alliance with the rival powers Egypt and Assyria*. This ’choice’ pre-occupied their leaders, but the real question now is whether they will end up as refugees in Egypt or slaves in Assyria (or Babylon).

• ·    Notice that Hosea 11:5 has been translated in a number of different ways because of the odd placement of the word "not" in the original Hebrew. Literally it reads, "they will not return to Egypt", but this does not fit the overall context. The NIV’s, "will they not return to Egypt" keeps the literal meaning and puts it in context.

The distance they have strayed from God is emphasized by Hosea’s statement that even when they call out to God, addressing him as the Most High and other fine-sounding titles, they do not exalt him* in their hearts. This is the problem that Hosea has repeatedly addressed (for example, in Hosea 8:2-3) - they keep thinking that God will accept an enthusiastic or well-performed ritual or sacrifice in lieu of truly acknowledging him by valuing what he values.

• ·    The NIV’s translation of this verse, "Even if they call to the Most High, he will by no means exalt them," is an anomaly. All other major translations translate the verse to say something along the lines of, ’even when they call to the Most High, they do not exalt him.’

Yet whenever God contemplates the possibility of withdrawing from his people forever, his heart is changed (Hosea 11:8-9). As fearful as God’s wrath is when unleashed, he has emotions even stronger than anger - and these emotions are the ones that save us.

Our human nature makes it difficult for us to control our emotions - and most of the time we do not even try. But "I Am God and not man" - Yahweh the living God can and does allow the gracious side of his nature to restrain his wrath. Indeed, at any given moment he is restraining his wrath to the benefit of sinning believers and sinning unbelievers alike. If we just allow God the chance, then his grace and compassion will rule our relationship with him.

We can all learn from God’s priorities. Some believers think too highly of themselves, foolishly considering that correct beliefs or righteous actions give them a superior standing with God. But only God’s grace and love give us a truly secure standing with God. Conversely, many believers are tormented by the worry that they have not done enough, that they may hold erroneous beliefs, or that they may have done something that makes it impossible for God to forgive them. For such struggling believers, there is also only one true remedy - God’s grace and compassion.

What God values about you is your soul, your consciousness that can choose to acknowledge him or not. You are never spiritually inferior or superior to any human who has ever lived.

Questions For Discussion Or Study: Do we know what, specifically, it means to turn away from God? Why do humans so persistently do so? Why does God allow his grace to triumph over his wrath? What should this tell us about our relationship with him? Are there things we should do or believe differently as a result?

They Will Come Trembling (Hosea 11:10 to Hosea 12:2)

God can reconcile his righteous nature with his overpowering desire to keep his people close to him - but the tension between the two sometimes causes some sparks. If we wish to know God, then we have no alternative but to acknowledge both his amazing grace and our deep dependence on it. We can only remain in his presence by staying humbly dependent on his mercy.

Because God’s people strayed from his presence, he must "roar like a lion*" to call them back (Hosea 11:10-11). They will come trembling, not because God wishes to hurt them, but because they themselves so badly misunderstand God’s nature. He only seems like a frightening predator because their sin has separated them from God. In reality, he is trying as always to be gracious.

• ·    When a lion is used symbolically in the Scriptures, it is usually as a symbol of danger, rather than authority or strength per se. See, for example, Numbers 23:24; Numbers 24:9, Job 10:16, Psalms 7:2; Psalms 10:9; Psalms 22:13, Proverbs 19:12; Proverbs 20:2 (but see Proverbs 28:1, which is an exception), Isaiah 15:9; Isaiah 31:4, and Hosea 5:14.

When God’s people hear the lion’s roar, they will come like birds and doves, fearful and uncertain, from their places of captivity in Egypt and Assyria. But this time the lion has called them not to destroy them but to settle them in new homes. God never wanted to harm them - they brought most of their troubles on themselves through idolatry and other blunders.

This is both historical and spiritual. It describes the historical sequence of captivity and return* that would later take place, but more importantly it describes the spiritual experience of believers who stray. Our fleshly nature responds to the realization of its sins by putting even more distance between itself and God, from fear of punishment. But if we can get past our negative expectations of God (and the foolish misrepresentations of God we so often encounter), we see how graciously, lovingly, and eagerly he takes us back.

• ·    After the final fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC, for a while neither Israel nor Judah existed as a nation. But in 536 BC the process of returning to Judea began, eventually resulting in the nation being reestablished.

God’s dilemma is that his own righteous nature requires that there be a cost to uncleanness and sin (Hosea 11:12 to Hosea 12:2). It is not a question of punishment or of vengeful false ’justice’, but rather the natural consequence of God’s own nature, which prevents him from having fellowship with uncleanness. The unclean cannot come into the presence of the holy without drastic results. And so cleansing must be made. Ultimately this dilemma was resolved once for all through the cross.

Moving from the glorious - if imposing - nature of God back to the reality of this world, we are reminded that even God’s own people can be deceitful and unruly when they are guided by fleshly passions and loyalties. Hosea depicts them foolishly pursuing the east wind, indulging in pursuits that are both pointless and dangerous*, especially their attempts to use the more powerful nations of Assyria and Egypt to their own advantage. Note that God never rebukes these pagan nations for being what they are - his reproofs are for his own people, who should know better than to play games with such dangerous playmates.

• ·    Since the desert was to the east of the entire nation, any east wind was invariably hot, uncomfortable, and often dangerous. No one would voluntarily remain exposed to it.

When Christians today use politics or force or money or guilt to try to get their way, they are making the same mistakes that Hosea warns about. Too often, so-called Christians simply join the pagan world as one more group that uses aggression to pursue a self-interested agenda under the guise of self-righteousness. The worldly do not need to be forced to change; they need to see the presence of God. Sinners and pagans do not need to be told that they are condemned; they need to see that God values grace and mercy more than correctness and punishment.

Questions For Discussion Or Study: In what ways is God really like a lion? In what ways is he only apparently like a lion because of our misconceptions? How can we help one another see God more accurately? Why does Hosea so persistently rebuke Israel for its interactions with Assyria and Egypt? Could there have been positive ways to interact with these countries? What lessons should we learn from this?

Straying & Returning (Hosea 12:3-8)

Israel’s history and spiritual condition parallels the life of their patriarch Jacob, who embodied both the best and the worst of human nature. Our lives too combine a genuine faith with some excruciating mistakes and misunderstandings. It would take any honest human a lifetime to unravel and correct all of his/her sins and wrong beliefs - fortunately, God does not ask for this.

A simple history lesson describes the typical strengths and weaknesses of God’s people (Hosea 12:3-5). From the time he left the womb, Jacob grasped for everything he could get in this world*, and as a man he even contended with God**. This is just human nature - even those closest to God will still have fleshly characteristics while in this life. Historically, Israel often paralleled these qualities of their namesake patriarch; and spiritually, believers have always had to contend with the tension between their fleshly desires and their spiritual needs.

• ·    His birth name Jacob commemorated the fact that he came out of the womb grasping his twin brother’s heel, symbolic of his persistent desire to have what belonged to Esau (see Genesis 25:24-26).

• ·    He was named Israel after wrestling with an angel and demanding a blessing (Genesis 32:22-32).

But whatever other qualities Jacob had or lacked, he talked with God: God was real to Jacob, Jacob truly acknowledged God’s presence, he conversed with God. Even his contentions with God showed that God was real to him. This is the one thing God most values in those who seek him, above morality and above doctrine and above ministry and above accomplishments.

Talking with God, and being with God, is the one thing that characterizes the Abrahams, the Jacobs, the Davids, whom God lavishes with grace, love, and blessings despite their most horrendous sins. And it is the one thing that we can all give to God - it takes no talent or learning and does not require us to live in any particular time or place. It is the one thing God most wants, and it also shows his absolute fairness.

And so Hosea repeats the simple request for Israel to "return to your God", to acknowledge him not in word but in truth (Hosea 12:6-8). To "wait for your God always" was a difficult challenge for ancient Israel, and it is also difficult for today’s Israel, the church. Our fleshly nature prefers to act willfully and aggressively, as Jacob and even Abraham did, leaving messes that God must graciously and mercifully clean up. Our fleshly nature also resists the call to depend on grace, for the flesh always leaps to justify itself by knowledge or morality or accomplishments.

Ephraim’s dangerous boast - claiming that their wealth protects them from accusations of sin - finds many echoes in our own time. It is human nature to seek the false security of wealth, numbers, conformity, status, culture, religious observance, or other such things. None of these can help at all with our need for God’s grace. It is much more dangerous to deny our sins and weaknesses than it is simply to acknowledge them humbly and accept God’s forgiveness.

God always allows us to make our own choice. Even most believers choose to attempt to justify themselves by something other than grace, yet God is patient and gracious with them also. His grace is strong, and he lovingly waits for those who are humble and trusting enough to live by it.

Questions For Discussion Or Study: How does Jacob’s nature parallel the nation of Israel? How does he parallel believers in general? Why is his willingness to talk with God so significant? How can we apply it? What does it mean to "wait for your God"? How does it connect with Hosea’s overall lessons about grace and God’s nature?

-Mark Garner, May 2012

MERCY, NOT SACRIFICE:

THE PROPHETIC BOOK OF HOSEA

Notes For Week Eleven:

Ransomed From The Grave (Hosea 12:9 to Hosea 13:14 a)

God constantly reminds his people of their need for his grace and of his eagerness to grant it. His grace covers a multitude of sins when we are humbly dependent on him and humbly aware of his presence. Sadly, Hosea’s fellow Israelites have strayed so far from God’s presence that they are in danger of spiritual death. But fortunately, God can bring us back from the grave.

Review Of Recent Classes

God called his people out of bondage in Egypt, symbolically called Jesus out of safe-keeping in Egypt, and now calls each soul out of the "Egyptian" slavery to sin (Hosea 10:9 to Hosea 11:4). God is often distressed by his people’s idolatry and other sins, but when he considers their destruction, he realizes that his own nature prohibits him from ever giving them up (Hosea 11:5 to Hosea 12:8).

God’s compassion is aroused even by the suffering his people bring on themselves. In Hosea’s time, it upset him that they foolishly debated whether Egypt or Assyria would make a better ally. God’s righteous nature makes it impossible for him to have fellowship with sin, and he must see that a price is paid for sin, yet his grace and compassion are ultimately stronger than his wrath.

Someday the Israelites will come trembling to God. He will roar like a lion - yet those who trust him need not be terrified; only our sin and pride make God seem dangerous. But God also knows the reality that his people are weak and prone to sin. But when they stray, he asks only that they return, for he desires mercy and not punishment. Israel’s patriarch Jacob serves as a history lesson. He deceived his family and even contended with God, but he often talked to God and always acknowledged the reality of God’s presence. Jacob’s example (both positive and negative) teaches us to wait for our God in humility, not to become hard-headed and prideful.

I Am The Lord Your God (Hosea 12:9-14)

Knowing that his audience takes great pride in their heritage and their history, Hosea uses these to remind them of what God desires for them and of how much they need God. Like us, they often thought that perhaps they had grown strong enough or wise enough or wealthy enough that they were no longer so dependent on God. But we all shall always need God’s grace and mercy.

Hosea presents a collection of images from the past, ranging from tents to prophets (Hosea 12:9-10). He reminds them of their deliverance, and of the many years that they lived in tents in the desert, dependent on God for their daily needs. They are dangerously close to repeating this in the days ahead; and God will allow it to happen because they need the lesson in humility. They are so engrossed in their worldly agendas that even the law’s "built-in" reminders* mean little to them.

• ·    The end of Hosea 12:9 ("as in the days of your appointed feasts") refers to the annual Feast Of Tabernacles, during which the people were supposed to recreate their ancestors’ nomadic experience, as a living reminder of their own ongoing dependence on God. But, as with so many of the spiritual reminders in the law, the people had gradually changed this into something different that ignored the original point.

Through the centuries, God provided his people with prophets who brought them visions, figures of speech, and numerous other reminders to try to keep them focused on God’s presence and on his desire to live among them. Just as the prophets spoke both literally and figuratively, both prophetically and factually, so also Jesus and the apostles used a wide variety of forms of communication, from parables* to direct instruction to historical lessons, to teach us the gospel.

• ·    The word in Hosea 12:10 that the NIV and NASB translate as “parables" means something more general than the kinds of parables we know from the New Testament. Some older versions translate it as "similitudes".

God makes sure to keep his Word from becoming stereotyped or pigeonholed as a form of mere human communication. If we listen, he will tell each one of us what we need to hear. Sayings that may mean little to someone else can speak clearly to our hearts, and vice versa. But we do have to listen. We have to let the gospel of truth replace our preconceptions and human agendas.

There are numerous spiritual parallels between the patriarch Jacob, the people of Israel, and the present-day (then) nation of Ephraim (Hosea 12:11-14). The reference to Gilead and Gilgal highlights the chronic problem of misguided worship - the belief that rituals and observances in themselves earn favor with God, and can make up for a lack of grace and peace in the rest of our lives.

To deal with the equally chronic problem of hero-worship, he reminds them of a humbling time in Jacob’s life, when "Israel served to get a wife" (Genesis 29:14-30). He deliberately calls him Israel to emphasize that the nation as a whole was never meant to deal with powerful worldly nations on their own terms*. We are called to be dependent on God, to bring their needs to God, and to allow God to choose both what to give us by grace and also what we do not need.

• ·    In the episode in Genesis 29, Jacob had to perform many years of toil in order to obtain his wife, and he was also crudely outsmarted by Laban - even though Jacob had previously been so successful in outsmarting and deceiving others, the time came when his worldly skills let him down badly.

Later, God provided for their spiritual needs through his relationship with Moses, who was a prophet in an important sense of the word - not so much by predicting the future as by explaining the present. Because God could not yet fully manifest his presence to each believer, the people were heavily dependent on Moses - yet only on rare occasions did they have any appreciation for Moses at all. Most of the time they denigrated his humble leadership style.

Returning to the (then) present, Ephraim (Israel) reflects these historic spiritual problems. This does not excuse what Hosea’s contemporaries are doing - rather, it reminds us how persistent our human nature can be. We have a tendency to think that we can reach a level of spiritual growth at which we are no longer as vulnerable or as dependent on God - but in fact, this feeling in itself makes us vulnerable to the kinds of spiritual ills that Hosea repeatedly addresses.

Questions For Discussion Or Study: Why does God remind them of the time when their ancestors lived in tents? Is there a parallel message for us? Why does God emphasize all the ways that he has spoken to his people? What would the parallel message to us be? What lessons should they have learned from past history? Are there parallels for us?

Causes Of Spiritual Decline (Hosea 13:1-6)

Hosea is not merely rebuking the fallen so as to condemn them. He wants both them and us to understand some of the causes of spiritual decline, both to help us avoid them and also to help us come back to God when we do stray from him. Idolatry and pride are two of the leading causes of spiritual decline - both are strong temptations, but both are also avoidable.

Idolatry of any kind is an act of folly, but no one would worship idols if they were not such a strong temptation (Hosea 13:1-3). The allure of idols - whether the Canaanite idols that openly tempted the Israelites with their promises of pleasure or plenty, or our own idols that make the same promises more subtly - is hard to resist when we are unable or unwilling to see their end results.

God exalted Ephraim, but the land was debased by idolatry. Things seemed fine on the outside, but the decay was there for the discerning to see. Rather than emphasize idolatry’s sinfulness or evil, Hosea describes its folly. Their idols were cleverly crafted with time and skill, but made by foolish persons who failed to see the inherent silliness of bowing down to one’s own creation*.

* See also Isaiah’s more detailed discussion of the same principles in Isaiah 44:9-23.

We do the same thing with our idols, though in less obvious ways. We declare someone to be a hero or a role model or a leader, even though he or she is a mere human like us, and we then are outraged when our idol fails to meet our expectations. Or we spend our lives in pursuit of material things that can neither satisfy us nor appreciate how hard we worked to get them. These and other follies are little removed from the crudest form of idolatry of Hosea’s day.

What few positive fruits idols produce last only as long as the morning mist, the early dew, chaff on a threshing floor, or smoke dissipating*. God’s repeated warnings against idolatry are as compassionate as they are firm. Even the idols themselves get little, in the long run, from our worship. Sports heroes, successful politicians, popular celebrities, and other human idols must constantly feed their fragile egos with new successes or adorers, or they become discontented. And their worshipers are fickle, always demanding more and new things from their idols.

• ·    Some commentators point to Hosea 13:3 as one of the high points of Hosea from a literary viewpoint, because the original Hebrew packs so many vivid images into such a brief passage.

Idols give little of real value and rarely last, but Yahweh the living God is still, always has been, and always will be the Lord our God (Hosea 13:4-6), our true Savior. Everyone, no matter how strong or intelligent he or she seems, is utterly dependent on God. We all need unconditional, unearned grace; and we can do nothing to save other humans except remind them to seek God. Other humans need neither idolatrous worship nor angry criticism - they need love and God’s grace.

God has always happily cared for and fed humans, from miraculously caring for Israel in the desert to providing us all with water, air, food, and other essentials without us even noticing. We do not have to earn these or any other blessings, and we usually do not even have to ask for them. God does not expect us to notice it all - he just wants us to know that he cares about us.

There is really only one ’wrong’ response to his care: to think we have earned what he gives us. Pride and ingratitude began Israel’s slide into idolatry and materialism; and the same problems can derail us in a moment. Instead of pushing each other to prove worthy of God’s blessings, we should instead encourage one another to remain humble and grateful in God’s presence.

Questions For Discussion Or Study: What temptations do idols offer? Do Hosea’s descriptions of Israel’s idols apply also to our own? Are there any ways we can be more aware of the ways that God takes care of us? What spiritual benefits might this have?

Death & New Life (Hosea 13:7-14 a)

Israel’s idolatry, pride, and other rampant sins can lead only to death. Because they have so willfully resisted God’s words and his grace, God’s continued presence now threatens danger and death instead of blessing and peace. But fortunately, God’s nature also has one more feature that will come into play - he can ransom and restore even the dead.

As God warns the people of the consequences of their idolatry, he compares himself to predators such as lions, leopards, and bears (Hosea 13:7-13). This is not a direct threat so much as a reminder of the hazards of God’s presence. Believers should watch their own lives, not the lives of unbelievers, who are not yet in God’s direct presence. It is our uncleanness, not theirs, that is dangerous. This is why Paul said, "what business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside" (1 Corinthians 5:12-13).

The prophet challenges them, "where is your king?", as this was one of their less tangible forms of idolatry. From the days of Samuel when the nation demanded a king so that they could be like the pagan nations, to the time of Hosea when the people took pride in having strongman rulers who used force to get their way, this was a chronic problem that pushed them away from God.

Israel is a child without wisdom. Their problem is not a lack of factual knowledge, but the lack of proper priorities and perspective. They frantically pursue their fleshly agendas without realizing that they not only are hurting others, but are also harming themselves without getting anything lasting in return. They are still alive outwardly, but they are spiritually dead.

But in God death does not have to be the end (Hosea 13:14 a*). God has been redeeming humans from death since he created the first ones. Whenever humans sin, they die spiritually - but God can always bring us back to life if we are faithful and humble. Even when we die physically, our souls still live. The question is not whether we shall live forever, for we shall - the question is whether we shall live forever in God’s presence or out of God’s presence. And this depends not on our knowledge or accomplishments, but on our humble acceptance of God’s mercy.

• ·    The Hebrew for this verse is ambiguous, which leads to different translations. These notes are based on the NIV’s rendering. Versions such as the NASB and NLT interpret the verse much more negatively, connecting it (via the phrase "I will have no compassion") with the negative thoughts in verse 15. The NIV’s positive translation seems to fit in better with Hosea’s pattern of alternating rebukes or warnings with extremely positive promises. It also matches the way that the verse is quoted in 1 Corinthians (see below).

So Hosea rejoices in the destruction of death’s power. Of all the things that humans fear, death is usually the most frightening because of its finality and inevitability. But Hosea almost taunts death, pointing out its inability to do any permanent harm to those whom God has redeemed. The fearful power of the grave is rendered powerless by God’s grace and compassion.

In Jesus, our hope of a resurrection is more clearly and deeply defined for us (1 Corinthians 15:54-57)*, so we have even more reason not to fear death. Death has already been defeated, so we don’t have to worry about the result. Death was not defeated by human wisdom or goodness, but by the freely-flowing grace of God and his willingness to do anything to bring us to him.

• ·    The way that Hosea 13:14 is used in 1 Corinthians 15 could suggest that the intended meaning of the original is the positive encouragement about God’s triumph over death (see note above).

Questions For Discussion Or Study: Why does God compare himself to a predator? Does this imagery imply that God will deliberately harm his people, or does it mean something else? Can God’s presence ever become a hazard to us? In Hosea’s lifetime, what would the sayings in verse 14 have meant? What should we learn from them?

-Mark Garner, May 2012

MERCY, NOT SACRIFICE:

THE PROPHETIC BOOK OF HOSEA

Notes For Week Twelve:

Healing The Wayward (Hosea 13:14 to Hosea 14:9)

To a large degree, the Israelites have determined future events by their own previous actions, since trouble from Assyria is now almost certain. But in a more important way, the future can be whatever they wish it to be. More important than the fate of the physical nation is the spiritual future of its inhabitants - and on that subject Hosea is full of encouragement and good news.

Review Of Recent Classes

No matter how badly his people go astray, whenever God contemplates their destruction, he realizes that, "how can I give you up?" (Hosea 11:5 to Hosea 12:8). And so, even though our sins lead to spiritual death, God ransoms us from the grave (Hosea 12:9 to Hosea 13:14 a).

God repeatedly reminds them that, "I am the Lord your God," appealing to them to remember all that he has done for them, in contrast to their useless idols. At times in the past they have had to live in tents, completely dependent on God’s providence; and meanwhile he has sent them many prophets to teach them in every conceivable manner. Hosea uses further history lessons to teach them to learn humility, gratitude, and faith, not pride and self-righteousness, from their past.

There are many possible causes of spiritual decline, but some of them occur over and over. Idols are very tempting, and so Hosea does not dwell so much on how evil they are as on how foolish they are. We have always been dependent on God for care and feeding, both literally and spiritually. He does not ask for us to earn this, but to receive it with gratitude and humility.

To the world, death comes as the end; but in God death can always be followed by new life. God’s presence can be a hazard to the prideful, whose willful resistance can lead to spiritual death. But death’s power is destroyed by God’s grace and his redemptive powers. Paul used Hosea 13:14 to assure the Corinthians of the lasting truth of the resurrection, and even in the Old Covenant God always held out the promise of spiritual rebirth for those who desired it.

A Final Warning (Hosea 13:14-16)

No matter what the Israelites do now, some degree of trouble with Assyria is inevitable. And it will be remarkably unpleasant when the brutal Assyrians invade. Hosea gives them a last chance to avoid the very worst, if they can humble themselves and return to God’s gracious presence. We know that they chose otherwise - yet let us learn the right lessons from their mistakes.

Hosea uses the image of the east wind* to warn of coming danger from the nation’s ill-advised flirtations with Assyria (Hosea 13:14-15). Will God really have no compassion when his people suffer at the hands of the cruel Assyrians? Not literally, for he will mourn over those killed by the Assyrians as well as those who suffer at the hands of Babylon when Judah falls in 586 BC.

• ·    He previously used the image in Hosea 12:1. The east wind came from the desert, so it was always hot and unpleasant, and was usually dangerous to those exposed to it. Hosea uses it as a metaphor for Assyria, the great power to the east, which the Israelites have so foolishly involved in their affairs.

But while he will grieve for them, neither will he intervene. They themselves have pushed God’s presence from them with their idolatry and aggression; and they have turned this into a "double sin" by becoming prideful and boastful. They have not allowed him to intervene in their affairs or to live close to their hearts. The coming disaster is not a vindictive punishment concocted by a vengeful God - rather, it illustrates what happens when God must withdraw his presence.

The nation is thriving and fruitful* now, but this is only in appearance, and it will not last. It is easy to see this from our perspective - the challenge for us is to apply it wisely. In our own time, numerous prophets of doom predict disaster not for genuine spiritual reasons (though many claim to speak for God) but because it fits their own agendas for obtaining power or other worldly goals. The warnings of genuine prophets like Hosea ask listeners only to become more humble, more caring, and more gracious, rather than telling them that they must follow a particular program or leader to avoid trouble.

*The word in Hosea 13:15 translated in the NIV as "thrives" and in the NASB as "flourishes" is literally the word for "fruitful" (which is the KJV reading). This is a play on words using the name "Ephraim", which means "twice fruitful" (see Genesis 41:52).

Because the Israelites have turned away from God’s grace, they must bear their guilt and endure the consequences (Hosea 13:16). God allows each of us the free will to choose from many different options in life, rarely if ever forcing us to do his will. The implications of our choices eventually become clear, and God is well aware of our need to learn from experience. He warns us and then allows us to heed him our not as we will - an extraordinary display of grace and patience.

Many Christians do not understand the point of God’s warnings in Scripture. God does not demand punishment or even outward results. He will do anything to bring his people back to living contentedly in his presence and spreading his grace and compassion to others. He calls us to deal with our fears about the future and with disasters in the present not through guilt or vengeance, not through methods or agendas, but by growing in our awareness of the need for patience, graciousness, and humility.

The gruesome prospects Hosea describes are only a brief hint of what will happen when the Assyrians invade*. Neither God nor his prophet takes satisfaction in this, nor are they speaking out of spite or pique - they simply know what will happen if the people push God’s presence too far away for God to be able to help them when the real crisis finally comes.

• ·    Ripping open the wombs of pregnant women and dashing the bodies of small infants against hard surfaces are two of the many horrifying torments that the Assyrians notoriously inflicted on defeated nations. Some of the other tortures and punishments were even more grisly.

Questions For Discussion Or Study: How could a compassionate God allow his people to suffer for their mistakes? Is there a difference between God deliberately harming them, versus allowing them to suffer at the hands of others? Was there any chance for Israel to avoid these consequences at this point? What should we learn from this final warning?

Return, O Israel (Hosea 14:1-3)

After his final warning, Hosea issues his final appeal for the Israelites to return to God. He clarifies the simple and generous terms that God offers them - they do not have to do anything; they need only acknowledge the truths that they have so unnecessarily rejected for so long. Moreover, this offer will remain open - it is best if they return now, but they can still return later.

As he prepares to close his book of prophecy, Hosea returns to his key theme of "mercy, not sacrifice" (Hosea 14:1-2). All of the warnings and critiques in Hosea were never to inflict pain or fear in themselves. The prophet has constantly, and consistently, called his listeners not to try to excuse or deny their sins and mistakes, and not even to try to make up for their sins, but rather to accept God’s grace and to return to him in humility, with a readiness to accept what matters to God instead of willfully pursuing their worldly agendas.

This is seen in his odd-sounding instruction to "take words* with you". The prophet essentially says that the situation is so hopeless that no possible action can in itself save them. Of course, he is not asking for mere outward eloquence or for a specific magic phrase, but for sincere words from the heart. Specifically, God wants his people to come seeking his forgiveness and grace.

• ·    The standard versions translate Hosea 14:2 as, "take words with you", "take with you words", or something very similar. Some more modern, less literal versions use "confessions" or "prayers" instead of "words"; but this is an interpretation on the part of these translators - the original Hebrew simply says, "words".

This is why right now he wants them to come with words only - to offer sacrifices, actions, or even promises of future actions would show that they miss the point entirely. They are being offered the chance for a completely fresh start in spite of their many mistakes. God wants them finally to trust him, to believe that he truly can and will forgive, forget, and erase their past sins. He asks us also to trust that his grace really is as complete and thorough as he promises.

So at present, all that God wants is for them to accept his grace and, and if they want to offer something, it should be "the fruit of our lips," humble expressions of thanks and gratitude. We can get so fixated on our attempts to prove ourselves worthy that we completely forget how much it means to God when we humbly and sincerely praise him without trying to earn our relationship with him. "Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that confess his name." (Hebrews 13:15)

If they do this, they can also reach an overdue but welcome realization (Hosea 14:3). They will be able to see Assyria for what it is, and indeed shall be able to see many other things in the right light. When we are intent on fulfilling our own desires, it is hard to see the emptiness behind the use of force and the worship of idols. Aggressive behavior and worldly idols seem tempting, even glorious, when our focus strays from God’s presence and his grace. Even the "Assyrians" seem like a wonderful way to fulfill our desires, instead of a brutal and dangerous problem to avoid.

There will be some who heed Hosea’s words and find spiritual rebirth, yet who will also have to live through the downfall of the nation as a whole. His message to them is not to be resentful towards the sinful, but to seek comfort in God’s care. The fatherless, like the friendless and the homeless and the rejected of every kind, can count on finding compassion from God when they seek him in humility, even if the world responds to their humility with coldness and indifference.

Questions For Discussion Or Study: What does it men to "return" to God? Why does Hosea ask them to take only "words" when they return? How should we apply this? How could this help the Israelites to see Assyria as it really is and to abandon their idols? What things might we be able to see more clearly if we valued God’s grace more highly?

A Final Assurance (Hosea 14:4-9)

In comparison with the few humble acknowledgements that God asks for, Hosea now details the lavish promises that God makes to those who return to him. His full love and absolute spiritual protection are available to all who value them. Most of all, God offers full and true life to those who put their faith in his grace - or as Jesus called it, life to the full.

God promises to heal their waywardness and to love them freely (Hosea 14:4). He is ready - and has always been ready - to allow mercy and grace to triumph over his own anger and judgment. The question is not whether he will really do this when we come to him humbly seeking his grace - the question is whether we really appreciate and understand that having God’s love, and having the chance to know God, are of greater value than any of the things he gives us in this world.

Yahweh the living God is much more than a giver of blessings - he is the source of all life, physical and spiritual (Hosea 14:5-8). This collage of images emphasizes nourishment, blossoming and flourishing* because God started and sustains all life on our planet. He did not do this only to help us score debating points against atheists - he did it to show his love and compassion for all, believers and unbelievers alike; and he did it to humble us all, believers and unbelievers alike. Until we see his creation from his viewpoint, we can hardly ask unbelievers to do the same.

• ·    Other prophets, especially Isaiah, use the same type of imagery with similar meaning. See, for example, Isaiah 35:5-7; Isaiah 41:18-19; Isaiah 55:10-13.

Amongst these vivid images is a picture of us dwelling in his shade. This combines the idea of God’s presence with an emphasis on him as the provider of life. All of these images remind us of the harmony God seeks between himself, his creation, and the souls he made in his image.

The rejection of idols is essential to this harmony, not because it is a rule, but because the whole picture only works when we are in God’s presence. Idols - anything from which we seek what only God can provide - draw us away from God’s presence. We are afraid to discard our worldly idols because we fear the loss of the blessings they seem to give us - but in reality, all of the worthwhile blessings came from a gracious God to begin with; and when we seek him instead of idols, we can receive greater and more lasting blessings to go with the things he already gave us.

Hosea closes with a simple epilogue that resembles a passage from Proverbs (Hosea 14:9). Rather than re-emphasize any specific lesson or point, it merely appeals to the discerning to consider the alternatives Hosea has presented. Our idols make promises they cannot fulfill, but we worship them anyway because they tell us what we want to hear. God doesn’t tell us what we want to hear, and he gives us what we need instead of what we desire, yet he is the true giver of life.

If we humbly seek to live by grace in God’s presence, then he will give us true life, "life to the full," not necessarily filled with earthly blessings but filled with the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). God can give life in the most unfavorable circumstances, in the most inhospitable environments, and in face of the highest odds. He can even give life after death, both spiritual and physical. And he asks only for us to realize that he does it by mercy, not sacrifice, and that he simply asks us to acknowledge him as our Creator and Redeemer.

Questions For Discussion Or Study: What has made God now so willing to love and forgive his people? What kind of life is promised by the images in this passage? Why can idols have no place in it? How does he want us to respond to Hosea’s epilogue?

-Mark Garner, May 2012

Hosea’s Wayward Wife - Hosea 1:1 to Hosea 3:5

Open It

1. If someone were to select a spouse for you, whom would you trust to make the best choice?

2. What do you like about your name?

3. What qualities do you cherish about the person who loves you most?

Explore It

4. Who was Hosea? (Hosea 1:1)

5. When did the Lord speak to the prophet? (Hosea 1:1)

6. What did the Lord instruct Hosea to do? (Hosea 1:2 to Hosea 2:1)

7. What was the symbolism of Hosea’s family? (Hosea 1:2 to Hosea 2:1)

8. How did Hosea feel about Gomer? (Hosea 2:2-13)

9. What did God say to Israel through Hosea’s words? (Hosea 2:2-13)

10. What did the Lord plan to do to win Israel back to himself? (Hosea 2:14-15)

11. By what name would renewed Israel acknowledge her Lord? (Hosea 2:16)

12. What would God prohibit? (Hosea 2:17)

13. What would accompany Israel’s return to the land? (Hosea 2:18)

14. What would mark the new relationship between the Lord and Israel? (Hosea 2:19-23)

15. What commands did the Lord give Hosea? (Hosea 3:1)

16. How did Hosea respond to the Lord? (Hosea 3:2-3)

17. What did Gomer’s lengthy probation portray? (Hosea 3:4)

18. What would happen after Israel’s period of isolation? (Hosea 3:5)

Get It

19. What do you expect from God when you "betray" Him repeatedly?

20. How do you tend to deal with a loved one who has wronged you in some way?

21. How should Christians deal with people in the church who commit adultery?

22. How is God’s faithfulness to us an example of the way we should treat others?

23. What are the "idols" in your life from which you should turn away?

24. What bruised or broken family relationship of yours needs the healing touch of the Lord?

25. What does this passage say to you about the consequences of sin?

26. In what ways do you think people’s attitudes toward morality have changed over the past ten years?

27. How would you describe the influence of the church on the morals of our society?

28. How can you intervene in someone else’s life to be a force of renewal?

Apply It

29. What step can you take each day to help maintain your faithfulness to the Lord?

30. What loyalties, things, or relationships do you need to hand over to God?

31. How can you show love and acceptance to someone in your church in desperate need of forgiveness or affirmation?

Israel’s Sinfulness - Hosea 4:1 to Hosea 5:15

Open It

1. If you were treated unjustly by someone in your community, how would you want to respond?

2. How do you usually handle feelings of guilt?

3. If you were to write your local newspaper about a thorny social problem, what would you write about and how would you like the issue resolved?

Explore It

4. What charge did God bring against Israel? (Hosea 4:1-2)

5. What would result from Israel’s sin? (Hosea 4:3)

6. How were the priests implicated in God’s indictment? (Hosea 4:4-11)

7. How had God’s people sinned? (Hosea 4:11-14)

8. What warning did God give Judah? (Hosea 4:15)

9. What had hindered God from shepherding Israel? (Hosea 4:16-19)

10. To whom was God’s pronouncement of guilt addressed? (Hosea 5:1-5)

11. What would God withdraw because of Israel’s unfaithfulness? (Hosea 5:6-7)

12. Why would the sound of battle be heard among God’s people? (Hosea 5:8-9)

13. What was God’s charge against Judah? (Hosea 5:10)

14. How had the process of judgment against Israel already started? (Hosea 5:11-14)

15. What was the ultimate purpose of the Lord’s judgment on His people? (Hosea 5:15)

Get It

16. How should a Christian handle criticism or unsolicited advice from others?

17. What commands from God are difficult for you to obey?

18. When have you experienced God’s hand of discipline in your life?

19. How is our society like rebellious Israel?

20. How would you describe the spiritual health of your church community?

21. In what way might the Church be partly responsible for the breakdown of morality in our culture?

22. In what ways do you hold yourself accountable to other Christians?

23. How has suffering helped your walk with the Lord?

Apply It

24. This week what can you do in your community to show the love and righteousness of the Lord?

25. For what Christian leaders in your community can you pray?

26. In what practical way can you be involved in the spiritual restoration of Christians you know who have turned away from the Lord?

Israel’s Punishment - Hosea 6:1 to Hosea 10:15

Open It

1. What are some childhood friendships that went sour by the time you were an adult, and what drove you apart?

2. If a close friend betrayed you, how would you tend to respond (for example, tell others about it, keep it close to your heart, deny that it happened, write down your feelings, etc.)?

3. When do you usually like to say what you think and show your feelings, and when do you prefer to keep your thoughts and emotions to yourself?

Explore It

4. How would a penitent Israel respond to the Lord? (Hosea 6:1-3)

5. What was the Lord’s answer to Israel? (Hosea 6:4-11)

6. What did God want from His people? (Hosea 6:6)

7. What were Israel’s crimes against the Lord? (Hosea 6:11 to Hosea 7:16)

8. What had happened to Israel’s kings? (Hosea 7:6-7)

9. To whom had Israel turned for help? (Hosea 7:8-9; Hosea 7:11; Hosea 7:16)

10. How did God’s people show that they had forgotten Him? (Hosea 8:1-14)

11. How was Israel’s hostility punished? (Hosea 9:1-9)

12. What were the consequences of Israel’s idolatry? (Hosea 9:10-17)

13. What was at the heart of affluent Israel’s religion? (Hosea 10:1-8)

14. How severe was God’s judgment against His people? (Hosea 10:9-15)

15. Why did God hold out the possibility of repentance and blessing? (Hosea 10:12)

Get It

16. Why did Israel deserve God’s judgment?

17. How often do we need to confess our sins to the Lord?

18. Why is God’s mercy and grace important?

19. Why is God’s mercy and grace important to you personally?

20. In what ways do we always struggle against sin in our life?

21. What does God want us to learn from Israel’s negative example of disobeying to the point of needing to be punished?

22. In your view, how does the church today compare with faithless Israel?

23. What are some of the "idols" you encounter in your own experience?

24. What "idols" do you need to give up in order to serve the Lord?

25. How would you describe your walk with the Lord in the past few weeks?

26. What is your heartfelt attitude toward your ministry and service in the church?

27. How have you ultimately benefited from the Lord’s discipline and judgment in a specific instance?

Apply It

28. How can you work on improving your closeness and devotion to the Lord this week?

29. What can you do each day this week to remind yourself of God’s hold on your life?

30. For what act of grace or mercy do you want to thank God?

God’s Love for Israel - Hosea 11:1 to Hosea 14:9

Open It

1. What is one good way to express angry feelings?

2. What do you value most in a friendship?

3. Would you prefer to be known as "loving" or "just"? Why?

Explore It

4. How did God express His love for Israel? (Hosea 11:1-4)

5. Why did the nation not deserve mercy? (Hosea 11:5-7)

6. How did God show that He was torn between love and justice? (Hosea 11:8-11)

7. What did God say in chastising His prodigal people? (Hosea 11:12 to Hosea 13:16)

8. What lessons from history did God mention? (Hosea 12:3-6; Hosea 12:12-13)

9. What fierce doom did Israel face? (Hosea 13:1-16)

10. How could Israel avoid the fire of judgment? (Hosea 14:1-3)

11. What was the promise of restoration? (Hosea 14:4-6)

12. How would the Lord protect and prosper His people? (Hosea 14:7-8)

13. What was Hosea’s concluding word of wisdom? (Hosea 14:9)

14. What final challenge did Hosea leave the people? (Hosea 14:9)

Get It

15. In what ways did Hosea show compassion and loyalty?

16. What lessons do you find in the prophet’s message?

17. How has God shown fatherly love to you?

18. In what variety of ways have you responded to God’s love?

19. How have past events affected your present walk with the Lord?

20. When has godly discipline been a blessing in your life?

21. What place does the Lord have in the life, ministries, and focus of your church?

22. What does facing the Lord’s anger mean to you?

23. Why is justice an important part of being a Christian?

24. What do you desire most from the Lord?

25. What good things happen in your life when you consistently walk in the ways of the Lord?

Apply It

26. How can you show compassion and loyalty to a troubled friend or family member this week?

27. What gifts, talents, abilities, or resources can you use to show Christian love and justice toward others?