Contents:
Hosea preached and prophesied in the northern kingdom of Israel for nearly 40 years. He started in 760 BC at about the same time as Amos came up from Judah and probably also Joel. These very different prophets with the same message were God's final appeal to Israel to repent before their permanent exile to Assyria in 722 BC. The last 6 kings of Israel spanned 31 years - 4 were murdered and none are mentioned by Hosea. Of the 20 kings of Israel, not even one is recorded as being righteous. When did the rot start? The first king, Jeroboam I, won a civil war against Reheboam and made two golden calves in 930.
The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel. 11
Israel was prosperous, proud, indulgent and wicked. 42 Amos 26-8,12 No one cared a fig. No one sought the Lord. Amos 66 The rich became richer, second homes etc, while others had no shelter, status symbols everywhere, coveting, 7 day trading, bribery, alcohol, sexual laxity ...
What had happened to religion? It flourished!! 211 811 101 Amos 521
National traditions were honoured, but the reason for them vanished. e.g. At Passover few sought deliverance from the slavery of sin. 2 Tim 35 They focussed on the creation, not the Creator; 'Mother Nature', Baal, Astarte and Fertility cults, and the two golden calves than Jeroboam I had made and had ensnared Israel for nearly 200 years. O yes, religion florished. But the Lord Almighty was way out of the frame for the citizens of N.Israel. Just like today, where outside the new stock-exchange in Frankfurt (the centre of European finance)there is a golden calf! and the parliament building at Strasberg is built to depict Babel with the blasphemous caption "Many nations - one voice".
Hos 1-3 Hosea's personal experience. Same as God with Israel.
Hos 4-14 God is broken-hearted and his love is ignored or rejected.
These chapters reveal much of the heart of God.
His love and his Judgement. His longing to pour out mercy and grace on a stubborn rebellious people.
Concerning the man, Hosea:
Hosea was a young man with all the ideals, hopes and passion of youth.
He was a man with a sensitive spirit.
He loved: The God of Abraham who first received God's covenant,
the God of Moses, who miraculously delivered them from Egyptian slavery,
the mighty God of David, who enabled his son Solomon to build the Temple.
He was deeply moved by the stories of Elijah and Elisha just 100 years earlier.
He may well have heard the preaching of Amos who had come up from Judah.
He certainly knew it was right: but the outspoken warnings went totally unheeded.
Even the priests condemned and rejected him.
Hosea knew the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
He knew that he is the one, mighty and holy creator God.
But no one else seemed to know, or even care.
What was his response?
It troubled him greatly. And God showed him what he would do!
God had already sent some warning disasters! Amos 46-11
But they were ignored.
Murder was common, adultery was rife, bribery was the norm.
It was rule by the rich and strong, at the expense of the weak and vulnerable.
Everyone sought their own pleasure and profit.
Many worshipped Baal and the fertility gods
hoping for ever greater prosperity, sex and fun. Hos 25,8
Costly compassion was rare.
Very like the U.K. today!
And they worshipped the golden calves at Bethel and Dan.
It is obvious that God hated this blatant evil,
Men knowingly transgressed the first two commandments - and all the other eight.
What would God do? What was his verdict? That's what really mattered.
Like Elijah, Habakkuk, Daniel and others, Hosea was determined to find out.
1 Kg 171 Hab 12,3 Dan 92,3
There seemed so little that Hosea could do. It all seemed so hopeless.
What do we do today as we see the U.K. (and the world) in such a mess?
Hosea sought God - earnestly.
And faithful to his promise, God spoke to him ... Deut 429 Jer 2913 Lu
119,10
Hence this book - one that is full of surprises!
Hosea's Personal Experience Hos 1-3
"Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord." So he married Gomer ... 12,3a
As a keen young Christian how would you respond to such a command?
Hosea's young, idealist heart must have missed about 5 beats!
This was certainly not what he wanted to hear - from God!
But ... he obeyed.
He had heard God clearly; there was no mistaking his voice.
Whether he liked what he heard was irrelevant.
If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Lu 923
So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. Then the Lord said to Hosea, "Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. In that day I will break Israel's bow in the Valley of Jezreel." 13b-5
Gomer was a lovely young bride, and Hosea loved her.
That first year was 'heaven on earth'
But he knew that it would not remain so for long.
For God told him to call their first son Jezreel = 'for I will punish/scatter'
Gomer wasn't too happy about the name!
Who would be? Do you know any children called 'Jezreel'?!
Gomer also knew what Jehu had done to the house of Ahab. 2 Kg 1011
Now some 60 years on would God do the same thing to Jeroboam II?
By the end of their first year the initial harmony had became strained.
They seemed to be on different wavelengths - they were!
Hosea had to carry a heavy cross.
Every time he spoke his son's name he was reminded of what God had said.
'I will punish'. It was hard to bear.
For Hosea knew that God was faithful, he always kept his word.
"O God, why are you doing this to me?"
Slowly the penny dropped. His life was to be a parable, a sermon to all Israel.
But his anguish was a pale reflection of the agony and tears in heart of God.
Hosea knew his life with Gomer so accurately portrayed the relationship of Israel with her God.
And God did just what any loving husband would do. 26-15
He tried everything to warn her, to restrain her, to keep her faithful.
But at every step she had spurned him.
Like when God sent his own Son to his chosen people - But his own received him not Jn 111
And They hated him without reason Jn 1525
Finally they plotted to kill him. Jn 1153
And they succeeded too. The Son of God was crucified.
God showed Hosea that even this was the plan that Father and Son had agreed.
For Jezreel not only means 'to scatter' but also 'to sow'.
God would later 'sow' his seed, Jesus Christ.
The seed who was willing to fall into the ground and die.
Hosea longed for that day;
though he obviously did not know exactly how or when it would happen.
A little over a century later and in very similar circumstances, down in Judah,
God would reveal the same prophecy to Jeremiah. Jer 110
Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter.
Then the Lord said to Hosea,
"Call her Lo-Ruhamah, for I will no longer show love to the house of Israel, that I should at all forgive them." 16
Their second child was a daughter.
But Hosea was not sure that she was his child.
His wife had being going out a lot recently, enjoying the 'bright lights' in the local town.
Hosea's company was probably not much fun.
He was always bearing the message that God had given him.
He could not give her the carefree laughter,
and the sensuous, indulgent joy that she sought.
The child was named Lo-Ruhamah = 'I will no longer show love or mercy'
If the first name, Jezreel, caused ructions in the family, this was the end!
But God, 'Love' is your name. Everyone knows that.
How can you say that you will not show love?
But Jesus said, "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil." Jn 319
"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him." Jn 336
Israel, and Gomer, had chosen to ignore God, because they loved what God called sin.
The more they enjoyed their sin, the more they ignored God.
And the more they ignored God, the more they sinned.
Some seed fell among thistles, which choked the new growth.
How many youngsters have become ensnared by sex, drugs, 'heavy metal'?
Or maybe the lure of money, popularity, power, success,
or even just wrong ungodly priorities ... ?
Each can displace the goal of God to be put on the back burner,
and eventually off the cooker altogether! Math 1310-18
Israel, and Gomer, stubbornly refused to seek the mercy of God:
'Why bother? Life is good!'
So God gave them their desires.
But beware, there is a high price to pay, usually now and certainly later!
There comes a day when it is too late. Ro 124,25 Jn 318
Too late for love. Too late for mercy. The door is shut. Gen 716
The opportunity is then lost; shut out for ever. Rev 2117 2215
These are not idle words! They warn rather than threaten.
Yet I will show love to the house of Judah;
and I will save them -
not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but by the Lord their God. 17
'Yet ...' What a precious word!
Israel would be forsaken, and Judah would be saved;
not by sword or might, but by the Lord.
By the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Even in these darkest hours of a sinful nation God reveals his promised intention
to save repentant, believing people, redeeming us by the blood of Jesus.
God has never had any other way for a man to be saved.
At the Passover, the Hebrews were spared only when the angel saw the blood.
At the Seder meal every year the youngest in the Jewish family is asked,
"What do these things mean?"
And once again the story of their deliverance is told.
No wonder many looked forward with such longing for their Messiah.
But for the northern tribes of Israel there would be no national deliverance.
However, many Samaritans (their descendants) would be saved. Jn 439
Act 814
After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son.
Then the Lord said, "Call him Lo-Ammi, for you are not my people, and I am not your God." 18,9
Then they had a son. Or more correctly, Gomer had a son. 'They' didn't.
This time Hosea knew for sure that he was not the father. 24,5
He was again obedient and called him Lo-Ammi = 'You are not my people'.
God intended to show them, and all Israel, the awful truth.
It was now all so obvious - to all who had their eyes even half open.
Gomer had now left him. Israel had left God. So has the UK.
We can no longer even remotely be called a Christian country.
So God speaks the truth, "You are not my people."
Not because I don't want you to be, but by your own foolish choice.
No one can become 'people of God' by circumcision or Bar-mitzvah,
Not by going to church. And not even just by being baptised.
Hosea is left alone - with God. Like Jacob at Peniel. Gen 3224 and Ezek 1415-24
Hosea's heart was in torment - wouldn't yours be?
Hosea knew that he had heard correctly.
God had clearly shown what he was about to do.
His family was an accurate picture. A living, heart-rending disaster.
Is there any solution?
Is there any answer?
Can nothing be done to reverse the awful judgement of Almighty God?
Again, Hosea earnestly sought God's answer. And God told him.
"Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.' The people of Judah and the people of Israel will be reunited, and they will appoint one leader and will come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel. Say of your brothers, 'My people,' and of your sisters, 'My loved one.'" 110-21
Yes, God does have an answer.
It would not be in Hosea's day, but over 700 years later.
The tearful Jeremiah would repeat the same answer 150 years later. Jer 3131-34
God would offer a new covenant, and many would receive it.
Indeed there would be a multitude who would do so.
As many as the sand on the shore, or stars in the sky! Gen 155,6
These great prophets each saw that God would provide a Saviour, a Redeemer, who would truly enable forgiveness and a new relationship with God.
So God reveals the real situation with Hosea's family and with the nation.
Rebuke your mother, rebuke her, for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove the adulterous look from her face and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts. 22
Hosea now applies his home-life experience to God and Israel.
God rebukes Israel and commands repentance.
What was the response of Gomer, and of Israel? And of UK.?
'I will do whatever I want. I'm free.
Who are you to tell me what is right or wrong?'
How arrogant and deceived most men are?
They think they know better than God, our Maker, what is best!
And like Gomer, Israel and UK refuses to repent.
So God issues a stern and accurate warning.
Otherwise I will strip her naked and make her as bare as on the day she was born; I will make her like a desert, turn her into a parched land, and slay her with thirst. I will not show my love to her children, because they are the children of adultery. Their mother has been unfaithful and has conceived them in disgrace. She said, 'I will go after my lovers, who give me my food and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.' 23-5
'Otherwise ...' God warns them what will happen. Rev 216
And God always does what he has promised - good or bad!
On the political scene, cracks were beginning to show -
In 743 Damascus started to pay tribute to Tiglath-pileser III,(Assyria)
The following year Menahim (Israel) had to do so too. 2 Kg 1519,20
In 732 all Galilee was annexed by Assyria. Hos 78,9
Hoshea's appeal to Egypt for help had failed. Hos 93 115 121 Is 301-3,7
Just as 120 years later Judah's plea for Egypt for help would also failed.
As Jeremiah prophesied it would. Jer 236,37)
God's hope is that chastening, disaster and need will cause repentance;
like with the 'prodigal son.' Lu 1518 'I will go back ...' 27
But nearly all refused. The nature of man has not changed much!
Strangely, Gomer and Israel still thought it was Baal who provided the harvest!
How wrong can you be?
They were deceived and bewitched.
So God tries three ways to save his broken marriage with Israel:
1. He tried to keep his wife at home and away from the 'bright lights', hoping that the attraction would become dull with time. "Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. Then she will say, 'I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now.' She has not acknowledged that I was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil, who lavished on her the silver and gold - which they used for Baal." 26-8 But it failed. She chose Baal - more fun than God!
2. God then causes the harvests and prosperity to fail, and thus discredit Baal. Therefore I will take away my grain when it ripens, and my new wine when it is ready. I will take back my wool and my linen, intended to cover her nakedness. So now I will expose her lewdness before the eyes of her lovers; no one will take her out of my hands. I will stop all her celebrations: her yearly festivals, her New Moons, her Sabbath days - all her appointed feasts. I will ruin her vines and her fig trees, which she said were her pay from her lovers; I will make them a thicket, and wild animals will devour them. I will punish her for the days she burned incense to the Baals; she decked herself with rings and jewellery, and went after her lovers, but me she forgot," declares the Lord. 28-13 But it failed.
3. God tries one last way. Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. 214,15 "What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him." Lu 2013 But sadly, even this failed. Neither the stick nor the carrot would persuade her to change her ways.
The people took no notice of God's warnings.
They had so diminshed God that they never even considered that it was God who was sending the disasters. They continued to do whatever they pleased.
Why are we so slow to heed? Does the Church today say, 'God is love. Judging is an old-fashioned idea - a Victorian threat - we know better now.'
What else could God do but fulfill his promise - of punishment?
Hosea's 3 children reveal God's answer:
Jezreel - "I will punish"
Lo-Ruhamah - "I will no longer show love"
Lo-Ammi - "You are not my people"
In 722 Assyria drove Israel into permanent exile.
So God punished Israel and Judah.
If God did this to his chosen, what will he do to England?
When we have enjoyed such privilege and opportunity.
We have Circuits and Parishes throughout the land.
The Scriptures, God's Word, is readily available everywhere in English.
We have a greater privileged history than any country in the world ... YET
The Sabbath rest is violated.
Parents are hated, not honoured.
Inter-marriage, Inter-faith etc is welcomed.
More babies are aborted than are born in U.K.
Of those who make marriage promises to each other, over ⅓ break them and divorce.
We have legalised homosexuality, which God so hated that he destroyed Sodom.
Back in Israel, Hosea wept, and Amos wept;
grieved over the ruin of Joseph. Amos 66
Jeremiah in Jerusalem wept when Judah was about to be exiled to Babylon.
In Babylon, Ezekiel and Daniel wept.
Each in their own day were deeply 'grieved'.
God saw all their tears.
God still desires to have mercy and to spare his people.
God has a plan.
And he tells these grieving prophets what it is:
Hosea ch 2 closes as Hosea ch 1 closed; with the promise of eventual repentance and restoration.
"In that day," declares the Lord, "you will call me 'my husband'; you will no longer call me 'my master.' I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips; no longer will their names be invoked. In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety. I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord. "In that day I will respond," declares the Lord - "I will respond to the skies, and they will respond to the earth; and the earth will respond to the grain, the new wine and oil, and they will respond to Jezreel. I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called 'Not my loved one.' I will say to those called 'Not my people,' 'You are my people'; and they will say, 'You are my God.'" 214-23
God is so full of mercy. So absolutely amazing.
What can we say? It is so undeserved.
Mixed with the warning of judgement there is such compassion, such reluctance to punish.
God reveals his promise of the new Kingdom.
'Not my loved one' will stand utterly amazed at the warmth of God.
And her name is changed to 'Chosen, Betrothed.'
With great compassion God gives Hosea a vision of righteousness, justice, love and faithfulness. How else could he have survived his deep personal grief?
Jezreel that means 'scatter' also means 'to sow'.
Seed that dies and grows in good ground yields good fruit.
The fruit of righteousness, justice, faithfulness.
Every day orthodox Jews recite 219,20 as they don their tefillin and tie the ring of leather around their middle finger (i.e. marriage). For most there needs to be added the revelation of Jesus' sacrifice.
But back to Hosea and his personal situation.
He too had tried every means of saving his marriage - and failed. The fact that God had warned him that she would be an adulteress did not diminish his love for her. She had gone off with a another man. What was he to do? God had told him that it would happen. But that did not make it much easier!
He could legitimately have had her stoned but he would have to cast the first rock.
He could legally divorce her.
He could do nothing and just hope that she would one day return.
But God said, 'no' to each of these options.
He had another plan: A most revealing plan!
"Go and buy her back!"
The Lord said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes." So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. 31,2
Sin is not ignored. It never can be.
It is revealed as rejection and unfaithfulness - and conquered.
God shows that his timeless and only solution requires redemption.
And again Hosea chooses to obey.
Jesus obeyed too.
He always did what he knew his Father wanted. Jn 827-29 Lu 951 2242
He came to this earth and bought us.
And not just for £20 of silver and 12 cwt (£60 worth) of barley.
Jesus paid the price for my sin with his life.
He 'paid in full.' Rev 217
With Hosea, God wanted to reveal the extent of his love for us.
His willingness to forgive. He will do anything to save us.
Salvation is free, but it is not cheap!
Jesus had to die and we do have to repent and admit our helplessness.
Did Gomer think Hosea was a soft-hearted fool?
or did she fall into his arms and weep out her sorrow and sin?
We don't know. Nothing more of their family life is revealed.
Scripture just says, Then I told her, "You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will live with you." 33
And concerning the nation?
For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days. 34,5
Though Israel would cease to be quite soon, Judah would have a king for another 150 years, and sacrifices for 750 years. Today the Jews, after 2750 years, have yet to come trembling. They have lived nearly 2000 years without sacrifice (from 70 AD) and without Jesus as their King. But many in these last days are beginning to seek the Lord - trembling before him.
Is this another sign that the end is near?
As Isaiah says: In that day you will say: "I will praise you, O Lord. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation." With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. In that day you will say: "Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you." Is 121-6
The world has so much to be grateful for to the Jews.
Why have all 'Christian' nations consistently treated them so badly?
We have persecuted, expelled and murdered them, and today we still conspire against them. Why?
True, they have been unfaithful to the Lord God.
Yes, they have rejected the Messiah.
Yes, they have twice been exiled by God.
But No, this is not the end of the story.
The Lord remains faithful and will save the house of Israel.
We do well to remember this promise of God.
Israel's Fatal Choice. Hos 4 - 14
With God, there is always ample warning before judgement.
In all the remaining chapters of Hosea the Lord reveals the direct consequences of sin. Violence follows greed. The additional warnings. e.g. Failed harvests. And the final judgement of those who refuse God's time of opportunity.
We are also given a revelation of hope for a future repentance and restoration.
These chapters are not a formal treatise like Romans, nor a historical diary.
They are series of repeated graphical and practical sermons.
The Root Problem:
The Result:
The Judgement:
False Confidence:
The Agony of God:
Sin Cannot be Ignored
No faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgement of God. 41
Priests (and therefore people) ignore the law of God (by choice) and relish their wickedness. 46,8
A spirit of prostitution (sex) leads them astray. 412 54
They consult a wooden idol (for prosperity) and are unfaithful to their God. 412
The Israelites are stubborn (and they are not the only ones)! 416
There is cursing, lying, murder, stealing, adultery, bloodshed.
And because of this the land mourns. 42,3
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. 46
Wine takes away the understanding of my people. 411
A people without understanding will come to ruin. 414
They will eat but not have enough. (widespread dissatisfaction). 410 Hag 15-11
A whirlwind will sweep them away, (also Is 4024 Jer 2317-20)
and their sacrifices will bring them shame. (instead of forgiveness) 419
Sound the trumpet ... 58 Ensure everyone knows.
I know all about Ephraim, nothing is hidden from me. 53
Israel's arrogance testifies against them. 55 Prov 813 Is 1311
When they go with their flocks (for sacrifices) to seek the Lord,
they will not find him ... 56,15 Is 556 Amos 812
I will go back to my place until they admit their guilt. 515
Assyria is not able to cure you. 513 (they will not even be able to defend you)
Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets. 65
(But note) I will not punish your daughters, prostitutes and adulterers, 414
but the men who consort with them. Jn 81-11
The people say - The Lord will heal us ... after (just) two days he will revive us. 61-3
God reveals the folly of Israel's false hope in this sarcasm.
He tells Israel that their love is like the morning mist. 64
I desire mercy, not (insincere) sacrifice. 66 Math 127
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit ... Ps 5117
But they sacrificed with pride, not repentance. Is 98-12
Men often hope to win approval by their gifts/actions,
but salvation is only by God's gift of the blood of Jesus.
We cannot even begin to do what he has done for us.
See how religious they were. 'Sabbaths, appointed feasts' etc 211 101 811,13
All to no avail, for God hated their many offerings. 66 Is 111-17 Amos 521 c.f. Ps
406-8
Prosperity often leads to false religion.
Just as true Puritanism that encouraged an earnest desire to fully obey God,
but sometimes became false religion that was largely 'show'
Why were their many sacrifices of no value?
God expects to see 'the fruit of repentance'. Lu 38
They were without righteousness or justice. Amos 521-24
Arrogance and false confidence are easy brothers. 710
With one voice they deny the need for the power of God
And rarely feel the guilt of sin or long to break the enticement of sin. 2 Tim 35
Pagans and 'other faiths' can be religious like the Sadducees.
They subtracted and compromised the Word of God.
While the Pharisees added to and failed to keep the Word of God.
Frequently it could be said, ... 'but they forgot me', declares the Lord."
No man can fool Almighty God who even knows every thought.
Whenever I would heal Israel, the sins of Ephraim are exposed. 71 64
I long to redeem them but they speak lies against me. 713
But their sins engulf them; they are always before me. 72
Deceit and robbery. 71
Adultery. 74
Drunken mockery. 75
None call on me. 77,16
Arrogant. 710
Easily deceived. 711
Rebelled. 713
Mixed with the idolatrous nations. 78
Only occasional remorse. 714
How can God forgive such sins with nothing to 'cover' them?
No real repentance and no relying upon a mighty Advocate in heaven.
There is always a price to pay:
It is merely a question of who pays it!
God says, "I remember all their evil deeds." 72a 813 99 Amos 87 Jer 1410
Only when God forgives, does he then also forget. Lev 1622 Heb 1016-18
The people have broken my covenant and rebelled ... 81
They make idols for themselves to their own destruction.
Throw out your calf-idol ... My anger burns against them. 84,5 915
Therefor:
They will reap the whirlwind. 87
Israel is swallowed up; now she is among the nations, a worthless thing. 88
They will not remain in the Lord's land. 93
Ephraim will be disgraced; Samaria and its king will float away. 106,7
They will begin to waste away ... 810
Now the Lord will remember their wickedness and punish their sins. 813
I will send fire upon their cities that will consume their fortresses. 814
The days of punishment are coming, the days of reckoning are at hand. 97,9
(so bad that) they will call on the mountains to cover them. 108 Rev 616
Woe to them when I turn away from them! 912 Ro 126,28
My God will reject them because they have not obeyed him. 917
Their heart is deceitful, and now they must bear their guilt. 102
You have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil,
because you have depended on your own strength. 1013
Bethel (image of golden calf), because your wickedness is great,
the king of Israel will be completely destroyed. 1015
Now they sin more and more ... Therefore they will be like the morning mist that disappears. 132,3
They forgot me. So I will come upon them like a lion. I will devour them. 136-8
The people of Samaria must bear their guilt, because they have rebelled against their God.
They will fall by the sword. 1316
The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them. 149
Sin is Exposed:
God's prophets are often given this unpleasant task; and Hosea was no exception.
Put the trumpet to your lips! An eagle is over the house of the Lord. 81 Rev 813
You love the wages of a prostitute at every threshing floor. 91
The priests were rich from temple prostitute earnings. Mic 17b
Your hostility (to God) is so great, the prophet is considered a fool. 97
As his fruit increased he built more altars. 101
They make many promises, take false oaths; therefore lawsuits spring up. 104
Because you depended on your own strength ... all your fortresses will be devastated. 1013,14
Ephraim has surrounded me with lies ... and with deceit. 1112
He makes a [useless] treaty with Assyria. 121
The merchant uses dishonest scales. 127
The wicked prospered, but ... Jer 121
Ephraim boasts, 'I am very rich ... [but a day comes when they leave it all behind.]
They boast - they will not find in me any iniquity or sin.' 128 Rev 187
I spoke to the prophets and gave them many visions.
(But with contempt the people ignored them.) 1210-14
Ephraim became guilty of Baal worship and died.
Now they sin more and more. 131,2
I cared for you in the desert, I fed them ...
but when they were satisfied they became proud; then they forgot me. 135,6
Infidelity - no loyalty or faithfulness, temple prostitutes
Independent - proud, 'only old women and weak need God'!
Intrigue - lying, pretence, bribery for selfish gain
Idolatry - coveted wealth, worshipped Baal and Astarte (fertility)
Ignorance - careless, ignored God, 'not important, we know better now'
Ingratitude - thought they deserved their prosperity - reward for ability
Impatient - anger, violence, misuse of power, 'me, now!'
Priests - encouraged idolatry, made rich from fertility/prosperity rites
Prophets - all false. Sought popularity not truth.
Princes - enjoyed abuse of power, injustice maintained their privileges
People - sought easy profit and a superstitious religion without repentance.
As Ezekiel said, "This was the sin of your sister Sodom: she was arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me." Ezek 1649
God is no more pleased with us than he was with them.
We know what he did to Sodom, and to Israel! But who will listen? Jer 253
And Yet ... :
When Israel was a child, I loved him ... I taught Ephraim to walk ...
I healed them ... I led them ... I lifted the yoke ... and fed them.
(But) They refuse to repent ... my people are determined to turn from me.
(Yet) How can I give you up, Ephraim ... all my compassion is aroused.
(So the day will come when) They will follow the Lord ...
They will come trembling ... I will settle them in their homes. 111-11
I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death.
Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction? 1314 1 Co 1555
(God has to pay the ransom price; no one else can.) 32
The Result of Real Repentance:
Return to the Lord. Say to him, 'Forgive all our sins ... Assyria cannot save us;
We will never again say, 'Our gods' to what our hands have made,
for in you the fatherless find compassion.' 142,3
I will heal their waywardness and love them freely. 144
Hosea did not live to see that day - except by faith -
Like Abraham, he saw it then, shining in the distance, and he still speaks of it.
Hosea, thank you for being obedient to such difficult instructions.
Thank you for being faithful and loving to your unfaithful wife.
For refusing to divorce her, even though you had every cause to do so.
You graciously did what Jesus would later come and do perfectly.
You redeemed her.
Lord, thank you for loving us while we were yet enemies! Ro 58
And thank you that Israel is still a living witness - a constant reminder that:
you will remain faithful to your covenant to the chosen people
and to all believers.