Hosea

(344) December 10: Hosea 1-4 & Jude 1

Ask God to open your mind, heart and will to understand, delight in and obey what you read.


To discover:­
As you read consider how Israel’s unfaithfulness to God was expressed.

To ponder:
God’s word came to Hosea from around 760-790BC during the time of the kings recorded in 2 Kings 15-20 (1v1). This was a time in which Assyria were the great threat, but also a time when Israel were in danger of a false confidence of being in favour with God because of some military successes.
When first beginning to speak to him, God told Hosea to symbolise the people’s spiritual unfaithfulness by marrying an adulterous wife. This may mean someone known to have had sex before marriage, as this would have been considered adulterous. Alternatively, it may refer to the kind of women Gomer would be. Whatever the case, it means that Hosea’s children would therefore be somehow tainted by that as “children of unfaithfulness.” So when Gomer bore him a son, he was told to call him Jezreel as a prophetic announcement that God was soon going to punish the northern kings descended from Jehu for his massacre there (2 Kgs 9), and put an end to their kingdom (the exile by Assyria). The sense is that this exile would be the “child” of Israel’s spiritual unfaithfulness (1v2-5). Likewise with Gomer’s next child – Lo-Ruhamah (meaning “not loved”), who symbolised that God would no longer show love and so forgiveness to the northern kingdom, but would love Judah (the south), saving them without military might (1v6-7, as 2 Kgs 19v35-37). Next was Lo-Ammi (“not my people”) signifying that the Israelites (the north) were no longer considered God’s people as they had been since the covenant of Sinai (1v8-9). This is serious indeed, implying they are totally abandoned. However, God immediately adds that, as was promised to Abraham (Gen 22v17), they will be as numerous as the sand on the seashore, eventually called “sons of the living God” and be united with Judah under one leader. The note they will come up out of the land may refer to them returning to Jerusalem from the exile. And so the “day of Jezreel” is one of hope, in which the punishment on the northern kingdom (1v4) is reversed. And so Hosea is told to address his fellow Israelites as brothers and sisters: “my people” and “my loved one,” reversing the sense of the other two names too (2v1). This all points to how the descendents of the scattered northern kingdom would eventually join those from the south in putting their faith in Jesus as their King, as began at Pentecost. And so, God’s promise to Abraham is fulfilled and they regain the privileges of being God’s covenant people, as God’s adopted children with an eternal inheritance. The encouragement for us, is that we share in this. So the status we lost in Adam’s sin is regained and more too.
            From 2v2, Hosea could be telling his children to rebuke their mother as a prophetic picture of Israel. But the language implies Hosea is being told to rebuke Israel as his mother, by telling her she is no longer God’s wife, and that she must remove her adulterous look and unfaithful acts. Otherwise God will strip her naked – which is to make her like a desert, presumably knowing the spiritual and physical barrenness she knew before inheriting her land (2v2-3). God therefore says he will not show his love to her children (the people), because they’ve come in her disgrace. Her unfaithfulness is said to be with many lovers and in order to gain from them – ie. she sought false gods thinking they could provide what only God could. But God will wall her in with thorns so she can no longer chase her lovers - perhaps a reference to coming hardships. Without catching or finding them, she will then say she will return to God for she was better off with him than now (as did the prodigal son). But God states she hasn’t acknowledged that he was the one who gave her good things, that she used in worshipping Baal. So he will remove them, expose her lewdness before her false gods, cease her religious celebrations, ruin her vines and fig-trees which she saw as pay from her gods, and punish her for forgetting him and worshipping the Baals (2v2-13). The lesson is to turn to no-one but God for provision and care, nor presume that received comes ultimately from any god but him.
            Yet again, hope immediately follows, as God promises to restore this, in a sort of second Exodus (from Egypt into the desert, 2v14-15). Then she will call him husband, and he will remove the name of the Baals from her. Indeed, with echoes of Eden, God promises to make a covenant agreement with the creatures, no doubt to ensure they don’t attack them or ruin their crops (2v16-18, compare v12). He will ensure they enjoy safety from enemies too. And this marriage will stem from his righteousness and justice (ie. commitment to do right by his promises), love, compassion and faithfulness. She will acknowledge him as her God and he will love her as his people – and he will ensure she enjoys the covenant blessings of prosperity in the land (2v19-23).
It’s an intimate picture of forgiving reconciliation, in which the unfaithful wife is given everything as if she had proved faithful. This is grace, reminding us that no matter how far we have turned from the Lord, he is willing to receive us back. To illustrate this, God tells Hosea to love his wife again, even though she has committed adultery in a way that has caused her to be enslaved. He therefore buys her – meaning that he is redeeming her. And he tells her she must live with him and not be intimate with anyone. The sense is that she isn’t to be intimate with Hosea either as a picture of Israel being without true religion or idolatry for a time, until they return and seek the LORD their God and David their king in the last days (3v1-5). This is an accurate prediction of the dissolution of the northern kingdom in the exile, and then their descendents seeking God in Christ
            Chapter 4 records God’s charge against the people. There is no faithfulness, love or even acknowledgement of God, but only the breaking of the commandments, so the land mourns and its people waste away – a reference to the covenant curses (Deut 28-30, contrasting 2v18-23). The meaning of verse 4 is uncertain, but the sense in context is that the priests and prophets stumble because they lack knowledge, causing the people to be destroyed because of their ignorance that results from this. Its an indictment on ministers who fail to believe and teach the scriptures today. For this reason, God rejects the priests, punishing them as well as the people. Their sin is to ignore the law, disgrace their glorious position, and feed on the people’s spiritual prostitution without ever having enough (4v1-10). This idolatry and the immorality that accompanied it is then outlined, and Judah are warned not to go to two key sites of idolatry become guilty by doing the same. The stubbornness of Israel in sticking to her idols is then noted, as God declares it means they cannot be pastured in a meadow, but will be swept away by a whirlwind for their shameful sacrifices (4v11-19). Like Judah we should heed this warning.

Praying it home:                                                    
Praise God for his immense grace in being prepared to reconcile us to himself. Pray for preachers in the church who would preach scripture rather than teach blindly.

Thinking further:
To read the NIV Study Bible introduction to Hosea, click here.

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(345) December 11: Hosea 5-8 & Revelation 1

Ask God to open your mind, heart and will to understand, delight in and obey what you read.


To discover:­
As you read consider what provokes God about the people.

To ponder:
God’s word continues against priests, everyday Israelites and the line of its kings (5v1). God affirms he sees what they’ve done, judges them guilty and will discipline them. They are corrupt and unfaithful rebels, who have engaged in slaughter – whether of violence or child sacrifice. This may be why they are said to be a “snare.” They are so enslaved by their sin that they literally cannot return to God, perhaps because they are addicted to what they do. We’re told this is arrogance, no doubt in presuming they don’t need or know better than God. And we read that Judah stumbles in sin with them. The consequence is that when they go to make sacrifices to God, he will find he has withdrawn and so is unwilling to forgive or bless. And so they give birth to illegitimate children, in the sense that the children are not born into a covenant relationship with the LORD. So the festivals will devour them and their fields in bringing judgement not blessing because of their hypocrisy (5v1-7). This is shocking when one considers Israel’s privileges were to belong to God from generation to generation. Those who ponder turning from Christ should realise the impact it has on their children’s relationship with God.
            As to the punishment: key cities in Israel are told to ready themselves for battle on their day of reckoning. But wrath is said to be coming like a flood on Judah too, and so Benjamin is told to lead on into battle against the foe God is bringing too. God describes himself like a moth or rot, so eating away at the northern and southern kingdoms (5v1-7). It seems the battle may be against a number of foes (including Assyria), causing Ephraim and Judah to seek the protection of Assyria. But God is clear that even this “great king” won’t be able to help, because God is against them like a lion, tearing them to pieces. Perhaps compacting the future he speaks of carrying them off like a lion (the exile of the north by Assyria and the south by Babylon), and then returning to his place, ie. distancing himself from them until they seek him in repentance (5v8-15).
            This repentance is the wonderfully vocalized as returning to God for healing and reviving after being torn to pieces by him. As so often, the third day is the day of salvation, here, on which the people will be restored to his presence. One cannot but think of Christ experiencing judgement on behalf of his people and then being restored to his father by resurrection on the third day. The people urge one-another to acknowledge God, confident he will come like the sun or rain that revives the earth (6v1-3).
            God next expresses his despair over Ephraim and Judah’s sin. He asks what he can do, as their love is so fleeting causing him to cut them to pieces in judgement. He desired mercy and acknowledgement of him and so his will, but they simply went through the motions of sacrifice. 6v7 may imply God made a covenant with Adam in Eden, when he required obedience and promised life. Like Adam, the people have proved unfaithful and quick to turn away in their violence and spiritual prostitution conducted even by priests (6v4-10).
            6v11 states a harvest for Judah has been appointed and so is certain. This implies they will be restored after judgement in a way that brings fruit – looking to Christ coming to them. As for the north, God declares that whenever he would restore them, more sins are revealed – deceit, theft, robbery. They forget God always remembers their sin. And the king and princes are delighted with the people’s sin, as they themselves burn with their adulterous desires. Moreover, the sense is that when the princes are inflamed with wine at the very festival intended to celebrate the king, they mock and plot to overthrow him. So kings fall, yet none call out to God (7v1-7, see 2 Kgs 15).
            7v8-12 portray Ephraim as compromised in mixing with the nations, uncooked in terms of what God desires from him, weakened by the tribute required of him, arrogantly thinking he is in his prime and not recognizing he is ageing, and so not turning to God. Like a dove he flies to Egypt and then Assyria for help only to be caught in God’s net. Again, through Hosea God declares they will be destroyed for their rebellion, whilst stating how he longs to redeem them. But they just carry on speaking lies against him (perhaps that he is not angry), crying at their fate but not crying out to him, seeking his blessing on their harvest whilst in reality turning from him. There may be hints here to crying out to God but in a pagan way. Whatever the case, it’s a reminder that only the sinner is to blame for his judgement. God longs to redeem, but they just refuse to repent, often whilst still engaging in things like prayer. God continues, stating how he trained and strengthened them – presumably by teaching them to obey and enabling them to take the land. The point is this proves he can help. Yet they plot evil, not turning to him. Like a faulty bow they will not be able to resist their attackers, and so their leaders will fall and the people have to flee to Egypt (where God first redeemed them from), meaning their ridicule in having failed to keep all God had given (7v13-16). Likewise, those who turn from Christ return to the state they were at before coming to him, and often a worse one (Heb 10v26-31).
            Chapter 8 provides another warning. This refers to the threatening nation as an eagle over the temple, ready to attack. The reason is that Israel have broken the covenant. They say they acknowledge God but break his law, choosing kings without his consent, and making and worshipping idols that will be destroyed because they are not God. They sow what is insubstantial (wind, ie. alliances that mean nothing), but reap it back but with destruction (whirlwind, ie. their allies actually attacking them). So 8v7 implies Israel has nothing good to offer her allies, but is being swallowed up by them anyway. She is like a wild donkey wandering aimlessly, selling herself in her alliances to these nations as lovers. So God says, he will gather Israel up for judgement under the mighty Assyrian king (8v1-10). He then continues his charge against her. The altars she built for sin offerings have become those for sinning. The idea of multiple altars itself was a Canaanite pagan practice, and the people carried out idolatry at them. But the context implies the key issues was that the people’s breach of the law made even right sacrifices hypocritical. God will therefore punish them by returning them to Egypt and consume the fortresses built in both north and south (8v11-14).  Here we see Israel’s spiritual unfaithfulness isn’t just about worshipping idols, but being unfaithful to her covenant commitment to love, obey and trust God in general. So when we treat or rely on others as we should only God, we do the same. And if we do this as we go about the things of worship, they are worse than meaningless, being hypocritical and so sinful.

Praying it home:                                                    
Praise God for his reluctance to punish. Pray that you would not be hypocritical in your worship.

Thinking further:
None today.

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(345) December 12: Hosea 9-11 & Revelation 2

Ask God to open your mind, heart and will to understand, delight in and obey what you read.


To discover:­
As you read consider how God’s love is expressed.

To ponder:
Israel are told not to rejoice like other nations – whose joy might have been in their harvests. Her unfaithfulness has actually been evident at the floor where the harvest is threshed and religious celebrations often took place. So God declares her crops will fail and the people will lose the land, either fleeing to Egypt or being exiled in Assyria. On that day they will have no wine to pour out to God, their sacrificial feasts will be like a funeral meal, and they will be unclean – perhaps because of the death that will surround them. Moreover, because they will be in exile, their food offerings will not come to God’s temple (or its equivalent used in the northern kingdom). So God asks what the people will then do for their feasts and festivals. It all signifies their alienation from God (9v1-5).
            In what follows it is stressed that those fleeing to Egypt will die there, their treasures will be replaced by troubles, and all because of the greatness of their hostility to God. This is seen not only in considering prophets, God’s watchmen, fools, but in being hostile to them - and in the temple too. We might consider those in the church who mock and oppose those who teach the scriptures (9v5-9).
God then describes the contrast between the early fruit of Israel’s fathers (perhaps the Patriarchs, or those who obeyed in the desert) and the idolatry when they then offered themselves to Baal (Num 25v1-5). He declares her glory (the greatness of her numbers) will fly away, so childbirth will effectively cease, and children raised will die. It seems Hosea then cries out a prayer to this effect (9v14). The point is that Israel’s increase was a sign of God’s blessing. Because of their sin they will therefore experience the equivalent curse - withering, being fruitless, and wandering amongst the nations (9v15-17). 
This idea is now developed. Israel had spread, bearing fruit in numbers, but as that increased, so did the people’s idolatry, as they deceived themselves as to what was right worship. So God will destroy the means of their idolatry until they feel utterly desperate. They will recognize that they will have lost their king for not revering the LORD, but see that even if they had one it would now make no difference (10v1-3). Of course we know the only king that would, is the one who could give his life for their sin. What follows is an outline of the people’s dishonesty, followed by an affirmation that the people’s means of idolatry will be carried off and destroyed so that they mourn it. They will then be disgraced, presumably because their idols will be shown to be impotent. Samaria (the northern capital) and its king will also float away like a twig – helpless in the currents of God’s purposes, and the people will call on mountains to cover them because of their terror at what is happening (10v4-8). This all pictures the futility of modern idolatry, and how all that is relied on will be destroyed at the judgement.
Israel’s sin is now said to be “since” Gibeah (Jud 20) where the tribe of Benjamin was almost destroyed. The point is that then sin led to war and similar destruction. So God will use the nations to fully punish the people for their double sin – perhaps that of the north and south (10v9-10). Yet at this point the sense changes. Ephraim (Israel) is described in her youth as a heifer that loved to thresh – ie. bring about the harvest. And so God is going to ensure Judah and Jacob (Israel) plough in order to sow righteousness and reap love, seeking the LORD and his transforming rain. The sense of putting a yoke on Ephraim may imply using the burden of the coming punishment to discipline the people to bring this righteousness into existence. It is often through hardship that we learn godliness. But we are reminded this cannot come, but for seeking it from the Lord. For now, however, we are told the people planted wickedness and reaped evil and deception. And because Israel relied on her warriors and not God, as was the case at a previous battle (10v14) her fortresses will be devastated and her king destroyed (10v11-15).
Again, in 11v1, God looks back to Israel’s beginnings, when he called him out of Egypt as his son – ie. the one he loved and would give an inheritance to. Yet the more he called, the more Israel strayed into idolatry. Matthew pictures Jesus’ return to Israel from Egypt as patterned on this (Matt 2v15). The difference is that Jesus then resisted the temptations that followed, so achieving the righteousness Israel always lacked. Through Hosea God continues in describing how he taught Ephraim to walk according to his commands and healed them from the judgements they should have faced for their sin (Ex 15v26) – but they didn’t realise it was him. In love and kindness he also led them and fed them, freeing them from their slavery – no doubt references to his leading them in the pillar of cloud and fire, and providing manna and quail. Yet after all that, because of their refusal to repent, they will return to Egypt and be ruled by Assyria, because God will not act now even if they call to him (11v2-7). We should not forget the kindnesses of God to us – recognizing we are dependent on him for godly living, healing from sin, guidance and provision too.
At this point God’s love for his people famously governs his response to their sin. He cries out “how can I give you up” and treat them like two cities that were destroyed with Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 10v19, 14v2-8). He therefore says his heart is changed and compassion aroused. Whereas a mere man would not turn back his wrath, God declares that he is God “the Holy One” – and so set apart from man, and by implication, therefore, supremely more compassionate. So he will not carry fully devastate Ephraim. Instead rather than roaring like a lion about to devour, after their exile he will roar to call his children trembling from Egypt and Assyria (the west) to resettle in the land. As in other prophets, we therefore see God’s incredible and unsurpassable love expressed in refusing to forsake his people no matter how terrible and worthy of irreversible destruction their sin is. Certainly, Jesus is clear that not all are saved. But the fact that a great multitude are is testimony to just how much more loving, compassionate and gracious God is, compared to even the best of human beings.

Praying it home:                                                    
Praise God for his great love expressed in chapter 11. Pray that you would keep mindful daily of God’s kindness to you.

Thinking further:
None today.

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(346) December 13: Hosea 12-14 & Revelation 3

Ask God to open your mind, heart and will to understand, delight in and obey what you read.

Read Hosea 12-14 & Revelation 3

To discover:­
As you read consider what God promises Israel/Ephraim.

To ponder:
Israel is again condemned for “his” deceit and unruliness against God. The deceit seems to be self-deceit in pursuing alliances with Egypt (west) and Assyria (east) that are like pursuing wind, as they will actually not benefit them. The unruliness is historic, patterned on Jacob (renamed Israel) who grasped his brother’s heel and struggled with God at Bethel. So where Jacob there hung onto God and begged for his favour, Israel should turn to God, maintaining love and justice, and waiting for him to act in favour in response (12v1-6). Further deceit is then outlined as merchants use dishonest scales, leading Ephraim (ie. Israel) to boast in his wealth and deceive himself by assuming he is free from sin (12v7-8). This reminds us of our tendency to self-deceit, assuming we are without sin, not subject to judgement, or able to find what we need elsewhere than with God.
            Again, God declares Israel will be returned to what the nation was when just out of Egypt – living in tents as was celebrated at the feast of tabernacles. Perhaps as a sign they are without excuse God then tells how he spoke to them through prophets in various ways, and then condemns the wickedness and idolatry of Gilead and Gilgal. The sense of 12v12-14 is unclear. The point may be that just as Israel came into existence because Jacob cared for sheep for 14 years in a foreign land to get his wife, so Israel were brought from Egypt only when God sent a prophet (Moses) to care for them like sheep. The care for sheep, then, is a picture of God’s care for his people. Yet in response, they have gone astray from Moses commands, provoking God to anger so that he will leave the guilt of their bloodshed on them. The point for us is to see God’s commands as a reflection of his care, and so keep them.
            13v1-3 now looks to the past of the actual tribe of Ephraim, rather than the northern kingdom in general which it came to represent. He was once the greatest in Israel (see Gen 49), but turned to Baal and died – implying that the tribe became insignificant. They made idols and it was said even sacrificed humans, so God declared they would disappear like smoke – just as happened when conquered by Assyria. Here God reminds the people he is their God who redeemed them from Egypt and commanded they have no God except him. He cared for and fed them in the desert. Yet because they forgot him, rather than care, he will now devour them like a wild animal (13v4-8). He therefore declares Israel is destroyed asking where are his rulers, that they may save him. Just as God gave them Saul in anger at them wanting a king for the wrong reason, so in wrath he also took him away – just as he would Hoshea (2 Kgs 17). The point is that Israel’s kings can’t save the nation as they are part of the problem. Indeed, God’s very supply of their original king was an act of judgement because the people wanted to be like the nations just as they did in following their gods.
            In response to all this, God declares that Ephraim is held to account for his sins, experiencing labour pains without actually being born to life. In context 13v14 is therefore more likely negative than positive. Its sense would be of asking if God would redeem Ephraim from death, only for God to call its plagues and destructive power against him. So God continues, stating that he will not have compassion on Ephraim, but an east wind (Assyria) will blow so he dries up as he is plundered, and the people of Samaria fall to the sword in the most terrible way describable (13v9-16). We should remember the harshness of this judgement is because of the great advantages Ephraim turned from and the depth of sin the people were prepared to engage in (as 13v1-2).
            In the light of this devastation God calls Israel to return to him. They are to call on him to graciously forgive them, promise to offer him praise, and acknowledge their trust in their alliance with Assyria, their military might, and their idols was pointless and futile, and that instead they should have trusted God who shows compassion to the weak and needy. It’s a picture of sincere repentance in which we not only seek mercy but confess our sin in detail. In response, as with us, God promises to heal Israel from his waywardness. He promises to love them freely because his anger has turned away, and be like dew, causing Israel to grow and blossom like a beautiful, fragrant and majestic tree in which men will find shade. He adds that Israel’s (Ephraim’s) fame will spread and he will have nothing more to do with idols as God will care for him. Indeed, it will be as if God is a fir tree (stressing the constancy of his life) upon which the people will bear fruit – the equivalent of Jesus stating his people bear fruit by remaining in him as the vine (Jn 15). The point is that it is in and through the LORD that the people will change (14v1-9).
            This end to Hosea is somewhat confusing as God seems to be saying Ephraim will be utterly destroyed, yet promising life for Israel, to which Ephraim refers. The harmony is found in the fact that the northern kingdom as a kingdom was utterly destroyed. However, some of its people settled in Judea displaying a desire to be faithful to the LORD. And those from their descendents who came to faith in Christ, together with those who were exiled throughout the world, would also receive the life that is found in him.
            Hosea’s final words hint at the need to ponder these things. He asserts that those who are wise and discerning will understand what he says. The righteous will walk accordingly, displaying the repentance God calls them to. But the rebellious will stumble over what he says, no doubt by denying its truth and charging God with wrongdoing (14v9). These are much needed words for us as we weigh the same call to repentance in the light of coming judgement.           

Praying it home:                                                    
Praise God for the life that is found in him. Pray that you would be always ready to confess your sin and seek forgiveness.

Thinking further:
None today.


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