Mid
Week • Hosea 1-4
We
will be covering most of the 12 minor prophets in one week each.
The last two, Zechariah and Malachi we’ll take a few weeks to cover,
but for the rest, we’ll take only one week to cover each one.
Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, & Daniel are called the Major prophets, while the
12 who close out the OT are called the Minor prophets.
The reason for the difference is not the substance
but the length of their books; the minor prophets are much shorter
than the major prophets.
Their prophecies also tend to focus on a more narrow
subject field than the major prophets as well – their scope is more tightly
defined.
Hosea,
the one we’re looking at this evening, is the longest of the minor prophets
with 14 chapters.
We’ll be summarizing some of what’s here.
Let’s get right in to it then we’ll do a little background to
understand the historical setting for the book.
1The word of the LORD that
came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and
Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of
Israel.
Some 200 years before the time of Hosea, when King Solomon’s son
Rehoboam came to the throne of Israel, the northern 10 tribes sent a petition
to the new king asking that he lighten the tax burden imposed by his father
Solomon.
As you know, Solomon had engaged in extensive building of military
fortifications and other public works.
These had put a tremendous strain on the economy of
the nation.
With Solomon’s death, those building programs came
to an end and the people asked that the taxes be reduced lest the economy of
the nation be irreparably harmed.
Rehoboam’s
experienced counselors, the ones he had inherited from his father’s cabinet,
told him it was indeed the right move to reduce the tax burden on the people.
But his young and in-experienced friends said that if he showed
weakness at the beginning of his reign, he would have nothing but problems from
then on.
Rehoboam foolishly listened to these inept counselors and told the leaders
of the tribes that if they thought Solomon’s taxes had been steep, they
hadn’t seen anything yet.
The reaction of the 10 northern tribes was
immediate and decisive – they seceded from the southern 2 tribes and formed
their own nation under the leadership of a guy named Jeroboam I.
This new nation retained the title Israel
while the southern kingdom was renamed Judah because it was comprised mostly of
the tribe and territory of Judah.
Jeroboam, the new king of the north – grew concerned that if the people
of the north continued to travel to Jerusalem in the south to worship God at
the temple, then they would eventually regret their decision to secede and
would petition to be reunited with their southern brothers.
That of course, would mean and end to his
dynasty.
So he devised a means of keeping the people
of the north from traveling to Jerusalem.
He set up two idols, two golden calves, one
in Bethel in the southern part of the nation and the other in the north at Dan.
He said that these idols were ancient
representatives of Yahweh – and pointed out the story in Exodus of Aaron’s
fashioning the golden calf at the foot of Mount Sinai.
So, the people didn’t need to travel all the
way to Jerusalem, they could go to the more convenient locations of Dan
and Bethel to worship God.
A new priesthood was developed to facilitate this new and improved
worship of Yahweh.
This attempt to make religion easier and more convenient had the effect
of totally corrupting the people of the northern kingdom.
It wasn’t long before they turned away from
God altogether and began worshiping Baal, the Canaanite god of war.
God then brought the Assyrians against them and Israel became a vassal,
a puppet state of Assyria.
But then the Assyrians had an internal
shake-up and for a short time, Israel managed to regain it’s independence.
They laid claim to new territory and within a
short time under the reign of Jeroboam II they entered a period of prosperity
and peace.
This is the period that Hosea lived and ministered in.
The Assyrian threat has been temporarily removed, Israel is thriving
and economically, everything looks rosy.
But the peace and prosperity that marked the times only served as a
façade to the terrible corruption that was eating away at the foundations of
the northern kingdom.
Hosea was sent to speak against this
corruption and to foretell a resurgence of the Assyrian power that would spell
ruin for Israel if she refused to repent.
In v. 1, we find the name of 4 kings that ruled in the southern kingdom
of Judah, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.
Only one northern king is named – Jeroboam
II.
The fact is, Jeroboam ruled for 41 years, but
then was succeeded by 6 kings who all reigned shorter periods of time.
They were either deposed or murdered in quick
succession because this was a time of moral chaos and political
upheaval in Israel.
Hosea’s task was an inordinately difficult one because he was called to
be a prophet announcing judgment on the Northern Kingdom at a time of apparent
prosperity.
When things are going well by appearances, people
generally aren’t too open to listen to the forecasts of doom.
Such was the case with Hosea.
What made things even harder for him was that the Lord called him to live
out his prophecy through his marriage!
You
may remember how several of the prophets were called to preach their
messages through action sermons – living out the content of their
prophecy by doing some strange things.
For three years, Isaiah walked the streets dressed like a prisoner of
war.
For several months, Jeremiah carried a yoke on his
shoulders.
The Prophet Ezekiel acted like a little boy and
“played war,” and once used a haircut as an object lesson.
All
of these were meant to wake the people from their complacency and shock them
into listening to the message of the prophets.
But no action sermon was as painful as Hosea’s.
Israel’s relationship with God was like a marriage.
The terms of the covenant God made with Israel at
Sinai was like a marriage agreement.
Faithfulness to God was like fidelity in marriage –
while the worship of idols was akin to spiritual adultery.
Hosea was called to marry a harlot and his life with her was to be an
object lesson to the people of their waywardness of heart as they turned their
backs on God and went whoring after the idols of Baal.
2When the LORD began to speak
by Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea:
“Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry And
children of harlotry, For the land has committed great harlotry By departing
from the LORD.”
God
told him to marry a prostitute named Gomer.
She bore him three children, and each of their names were prophetic of
what was to happen to Israel.
Gomer then left him for another man, and Hosea had the humiliating task
of buying her back from the slave market where she ended up.
3So he went and took Gomer
the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. 4Then
the LORD said to him: “Call his name Jezreel, For in a little while I
will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, And bring an end to
the kingdom of the house of Israel.
5 It shall come to pass in that day That I will break the bow of
Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”
The
first son was named Jezreel, which means “God sows” or “God scatters.”
The
City of Jezreel was the scene of a massacre that King Jehu had executed on the
family of wicked king Ahab.[1]
But Jehu had gone way overboard and killed many
innocent people besides the guilty of Ahab’s household.
For this, Jehu’s house would also be judged.
Through the birth of Hosea’s son, God
announced that He would avenge the innocent blood shed by Jehu and put an end
to Jehu’s dynasty in Israel.
6And she conceived again and
bore a daughter. Then God said to him: “Call her name Lo-Ruhamah, For I
will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, But I will utterly take them
away.
7 Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah, Will save them by the
LORD their God, And will not save them by bow, Nor by sword or battle, By
horses or horsemen.”
The
second child was a daughter named Lo-ruhamah, which means “unpitied” or
“not loved.”
The days of mercy and tender love between God and the people of the
Northern Kingdom are at an end.
Their unchecked idolatry has grown too great and now
there is nothing left but judgment.
God’s love is unconditional, but our enjoyment
of that love is conditional and depends on our faith and obedience.[2]
Since the Jews of Israel had sinned without remorse
or let up, in spite of the prophets warnings, there was nothing left now but
judgment through the Assyrians who were once again on the rise.
The Northern Kingdom was doomed, but God promised to
protect the Southern Kingdom of Judah from the invaders.
8Now when she had weaned
Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. 9Then God said:
“Call his name Lo-Ammi, For you are not My people, And I will not be
your God.
Lo-ammi was the third child, a son,
and his name means “Not My people.”
Not only would God remove His mercy from His people, but He would also
renounce the covenant He had made with them.
It was like a man divorcing his wife and turning his
back on her, or like a father rejecting his own son.[3]
Understand the incredible severity of this statement – the Jews are
known as the Chosen people.
Here God is saying He is unchoosing them!
This is a divorce!
These
first 9 verses are the first half of Hosea’s whole message.
God is divorcing His wife, Israel.
As a result of that divorce, she will be sent out of
His house – the land of Canaan.
The last 2 verses of chapter 1 present the last half of Hosea’s message
. . .
10 “Yet the number of the children of Israel Shall be as the sand of
the sea, Which cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass in the
place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There
it shall be said to them, ‘You are sons of the living God.’
11 Then the children of Judah and the children of Israel Shall be gathered together, And appoint for
themselves one head; And they shall come up out of the land, For great will
be the day of Jezreel!
Though
Israel has passed the point of no return as far as judgment is concerned, the
day will come when she will be restored and the breach between the northern and
southern kingdoms will be healed.
They will be restored not only to the land as one nation, but they will
be restored to their covenant with God.
1 Say to your brethren, ‘My people,’ And to your sisters, ‘Mercy is
shown.’
This
looks forward to the day when the northern and southern kingdoms are reunited.
When the nations split, they ended up becoming enemies and had frequent
wars between them.
The future restoration would heal the rift and they
would become one family.
God now speaks through Hosea to the people about
their need to rebuke the nation for it’s idolatry . . .
2 “Bring charges against your mother, [meaning
the nation]
bring
charges; For she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband! Let her
put away her harlotries from her sight, And her adulteries from between her
breasts;
3 Lest I strip her naked And expose her, as in the day she was born,
And make her like a wilderness, And set her like a dry land, And slay her with
thirst.
God
had found the nation of Israel as a destitute and weak little family of people
struggling to eek out an existence in the wilderness.
His love had adopted them and turned them into a mighty nation.
The
picture being painted here is like this . . .
Imagine
a rich and powerful king.
His wealth and power are simply beyond comprehension.
He is attended by a long retinue of powerful and
majestic servant.
One day as he is traveling through an arid and dry wilderness, he looks
out of his car and sees a dirty little, emaciated maid tending some pitiful,
flea-bitten sheep.
Her garment is a ragged mess of stains. Her hair is straggly and caked
with dried mud.
She is dark brown from the brutal sun that beats
down on her all day, and flies buzz round the corner of her mouth.
He sees her, and orders the train to stop.
Leaving his car, he walks over to her, takes her face in his hand, and
calls for water.
She takes a long drink at the jug, then he pours the
rest over her head and washes away the filth.
He invites her to ride with him in his car and
assigns several of his servants to take charge of her sheep.
When they arrive at his palace, he gives orders that
she is to be bathed, perfumed, given new royal clothes, decorated with the
finest of his jewels, and feasted at his table.
After a week of the royal fare and more baths in
herbs and spices, she takes on some flesh and becomes a real babe.
The callouses are made soft, and her skin takes on a
healthy glow.
Her hair becomes luxurious and soft.
Her training in the palace teaches her the manner and bearing of
royalty.
And when the transformation is complete – the king takes her as his
wife.
But then one day, as she is traveling through the fields of her
husband’s kingdom in her own car, she looks out and sees a rough shepherd boy
who looks very much like she did when she was a humble shepherdess.
In a sudden and unreasoned passion of lust, she longs to lie with this
dirty shepherd boy and orders the car to stop.
She takes him by the hand and runs with him to a
secret room where she violates her marriage covenant with the King.
But that is not the end of her treachery.
She makes it a habit to go riding every day and looks for more such
illicit affairs with dirty shepherd boys.
This is the story of Israel and what is being described here.
God is saying he knows all about her
treachery and will now turn her back to her wretched beginnings.
4 “I will not have mercy on her children, For they are the
children of harlotry.
Gomer’s
first child was Hosea’s, but it appears the second and third children weren’t
his!
5 For their mother has played the harlot; She who conceived them has
behaved shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, Who give me
my bread and my water, My wool and my linen, My oil and my drink.’
Gomer
had committed adultery, not for the love her illicit lovers had promised, but
purely as a form of income – simply stated- she was a whore and used sex as a
means of making money.
It wasn’t that Hosea her husband hadn’t provided for
her, it’s just that she wanted more and she had a wicked heart that was
unreasoning in it’s sin.
And so it was with Israel.
God had done nothing but blessed Israel.
But Israel wasn’t content with God’s blessing – she
wanted more!
So she prostituted herself with the pursuit of more
by worshiping Baal.
It is easy for us to look with disgust at what Israel did – but don’t
we do the same?
God
has promised to take care of us, and in fact He does.
But we aren’t satisfied, we aren’t content.
We want more or other than what God gives and in our
desire, we stray from God.
6 “Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, And wall
her in, So that she cannot find her paths.
7 She will chase her lovers, But
not overtake them; Yes, she will seek them, but not find them. Then she
will say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, For then it was
better for me than now.’
8 For she did not know That I gave her grain, new wine, and oil, And
multiplied her silver and gold— Which they prepared for Baal.
9 “Therefore I will return and take away My grain in its time And My
new wine in its season, And will take back My wool and My linen, Given
to cover her nakedness.
10 Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, And no
one shall deliver her from My hand.
11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, Her feast days, Her New
Moons, Her Sabbaths— All her appointed feasts.
12 “And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, Of which she has
said, ‘These are my wages that my lovers have given me.’ So I will make
them a forest, And the beasts of the field shall eat them.
13 I will punish her For the days of the Baals to which she burned
incense. She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry, And went after her lovers; But Me she
forgot,” says the LORD.
God
has had enough of Israel’s spiritual adultery in worshiping Baal – the time for
judgment has come.
But after judgment, when they have learned their lesson, God will
restore them . . .
14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, Will bring her into the
wilderness, And speak comfort to her.
15 I will give her her vineyards from there, And the Valley of Achor
as a door of hope; She shall sing there, As in the days of her youth, As in the
day when she came up from the land of Egypt.
16 “And it shall be, in that day,” Says the LORD, “That you
will call Me ‘My Husband,’ And no longer call Me ‘My Master,’
17 For I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals, And they
shall be remembered by their name no more.
18 In that day I will make a covenant for them With the beasts of the
field, With the birds of the air, And with the creeping things of the
ground. Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth, To make them lie
down safely.
19 “I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me In
righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy;
20 I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the
LORD.
21 “It shall come to pass in that day That I will answer,” says
the LORD; “I will answer the heavens, And they shall answer the earth.
22 The earth shall answer With grain, With new wine, And with oil;
They shall answer Jezreel.
23 Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, And I will have mercy
on her who had not obtained mercy; Then
I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’
And they shall say, ‘You are my God!’”
This
looks forward to the future when Israel is regathered in her land and living at
peace.
Idolatry will forever be a thing of the past and the nation will be
pledged to continual faithfulness to God.
1Then the LORD said to me,
“Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing
adultery, just like the love of the LORD for the children of Israel, who look
to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans.”
2So I bought her for myself
for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley. 3And
I said to her, “You shall stay with me many days; you shall not play the
harlot, nor shall you have a man—so, too, will I be toward you.”
4For the children of Israel
shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred
pillar, without ephod or teraphim. 5Afterward the children of Israel
shall return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They shall fear
the LORD and His goodness in the latter days.
Gomer
had left Hosea and was living with a lover, but really, it was even worse than
that.
God tells Hosea to go and reclaim her from her place and restore her as
his wife.
Why
would Hosea have to buy her with 15 pieces of silver and about 10
bushels of grain?
When
Gomer first left Hosea to go practice the life of a prostitute, she had lived
off the proceeds of having sex.
But as her value as a harlot declined because of the
nasty effects of sin, men were willing to pay less and less for her services.
Things got so bad, she ended up having to sell
herself into slavery in order to survive.
She ended up being sold to some guy as nothing more
than a sex-slave.
This was as low as a human could go – and it reminds
us that sin is progressive.
It always takes us lower and lower – trying to erase
the image of God in which we’ve been created.
Gomer ended up being worth even less than the value of a slave, which
was 30 pieces of silver!
She was worth only 15, and some baskets of cheap grain!
But God told Hosea to go redeem her!
He reclaimed her, and told her her days of slavery to sin were over.
Though she did not deserve it, she would be his wife once again and
enjoy His love and affection.
All of this was prophetic of Israel.
Though her history has been one long story of God’s love and blessing
and her waywardness, the day would finally come when waywardness was a thing of
the past and she would settle down to be his faithful wife.
No matter how far a person sinks in sin –
they are not past the power of God to reclaim and restore and turn into
something of incredible value.
The Old Violin[4]
'Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
Thought it was scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin
But held it up with a smile.
"What am I bidden, good folks," he cried,
"Who'll start the bidding for me?
"A dollar, a dollar," then, two! Only two?
"Two dollars, and who'll make it three?"
"Three dollars, once, three dollars, twice;
Going for three..." But no,
From the room, far back, a grey-haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow;
Then, wiping the dust from the old violin,
And tightening the loose strings,
He played a melody pure and sweet
As a caroling angel sings.
The music ceased, and the auctioneer,
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said: "What am I bid for the old violin?"
And he held it up with the bow.
"A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two?
"Two thousand! And who'll make it three?"
Three thousand, once, three thousand, twice;
And going and gone," said he.
The people cheered, but some of them cried,
"We do not quite understand
What changes its worth?" Swift came the reply:
"The touch of the master's hand."
And many a man with life out of tune,
And battered and scarred with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd,
Much like the old violin.
A "mess of potage," a glass of wine;
A game--and he travels on.
He is "going" once, and "going" twice,
He's "going" and almost "gone."
But the Master comes and the foolish crowd
Never can quite understand
The worth of a soul and the change that's wrought
By the touch of the Master's hand.
V.
4 foretells the current age of Israel’s national existence . . .
4For the children of Israel
shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred
pillar, without ephod or teraphim.
Having
rejected Jesus as their Messiah and King, they have now gone without one for
the last 2000 years.
The destruction of the temple in 70 AD has resulted in the loss of the
sacrifices and the ruin of the family records has meant and end to the
priesthood.
But v. 5 foretells a future day of restoration . . .
5Afterward the children of
Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They
shall fear the LORD and His goodness in the latter days.
1 Hear the word of the LORD, You children of Israel, For the LORD brings
a charge against the inhabitants of the land: “There is no truth or mercy Or
knowledge of God in the land.
Hosea’s
action sermon with Goner is now over.
The rest of the book contains prophetic messages Hosea delivered at
different times.
Chapter 4 comes as a list of charges God makes as the Heavenly Judge.
Because the people have rejected God, even though things are going well
economically, morally the nation is falling apart.
It’s just a matter of time before the economic health of the nation
shows the same ruin as the moral arena.
It all begins with this . . .
“There
is no truth or mercy Or knowledge of God in the land.”
Morality can only have one of two foundations – either it rests on the
unchanging revelation of a Holy God, or it lies on the preferences of fallen
man.
When a culture rejects God, then it will come to
define right and wrong by personal preferences – and people will do what’s
right for themselves, regardless of how it affects others.
Man cannot be good without God!
Israel had rejected God, and as a result, they fell
apart -
2 By swearing and lying, Killing and stealing and committing
adultery, They break all restraint, With bloodshed upon bloodshed.
3 Therefore the land will mourn; And everyone who dwells there will
waste away With the beasts of the field And
the birds of the air; Even the fish of the sea will be taken away.
Mankind’s
rejection of God eventuates in the destruction of the physical creation!
Pollution, and ecological ruin come about as the result of sin and
selfishness.
Any environmental movement that rejects God is
doomed to failure.
4 “Now let no man contend, or rebuke another; For your people are
like those who contend with the priest.
5 Therefore you shall stumble in the day; The prophet also shall
stumble with you in the night; And I will destroy your mother.
When
God’s holy standard is rejected and morality is determined by personal
preference, then there’s no basis for rebuking or correcting another – it’s a
moral free-for all and no one can judge another!
In
ancient Israel, people used to go to the priest to discover what God said. That settled all disputes.
But when the people rejected God, His word no longer
carried authority and priests were considered to have no more insight than a
used chariot salesman.
The result? Social chaos!
This
is the problem with our laws and courts today!
As we’ve rejected God from the public square, law has lost it’s
transcendent base.
One of the common things you heard during the
impeachment last year and during the recent Florida recount debacle is that
this is a nation of laws!
Quite frankly, recent events ought to prove to us
that that is no longer the case.
Current
law is decided by the whim of some judge, based on something like community
standards or majority rule.
The whole situation in Florida with the recount is proof that
government by law is quickly becoming a thing of the past.
It was the legislature of Florida which is entrusted
with making laws – but they were bypassed by the Florida Supreme Court
who made law, not based on the work of the legislature, but on the basis of
their own machinations.
Florida out to serve as a warning that the basis for our laws – the
unchanging Word of God, has been cashed in for something else.
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have
rejected knowledge, I also will reject
you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I
also will forget your children.
7 “The more they increased, The more they sinned against Me; I will
change their glory into shame.
God
had chosen Israel to be the agent of His revelation to the nations.
But they had turned from that revelation and so God would turn from
them.
8 They eat up the sin of My people; They
set their heart on their iniquity.
9 And it shall be: like people, like priest. So I will punish them
for their ways, And reward them for their deeds.
10 For they shall eat, but not have enough; They shall commit
harlotry, but not increase; Because they have ceased obeying the LORD.
11 “Harlotry, wine, and new wine enslave the heart.
12 My people ask counsel from their wooden idols, And their
staff informs them. For the spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray,
And they have played the harlot against their God.
13 They offer sacrifices on the mountaintops, And burn incense on the
hills, Under oaks, poplars, and terebinths, Because their shade is good.
Therefore your daughters commit harlotry,
And your brides commit adultery.
14 “I will not punish your daughters when they commit harlotry, Nor
your brides when they commit adultery; For the men themselves go apart
with harlots, And offer sacrifices with a ritual harlot. Therefore people who do not understand will be trampled.
Things
just went from bad to worse as the people rejected God and turned to worship
Baal.
In
vs. 15-19, God turns Israel loose into the fullness of her sin since she is
determined to have it.