God's Argument with His People
Notes
Transcript
I. The Breach of The Covenant, 4:1-3.
I. The Breach of The Covenant, 4:1-3.
The LORD stated His charges against Israel in 4:1–3 and then developed these charges in reverse order.
Here are the serious charges God is bringing through His prophet, Hosea, against Israel.
The first accusation is there is no faithfulness (truth, trustworthiness) in the land. Hosea develops the message in chapter 11:12-13:16.
The second accusation is there is no kindness (love) in the land. Hosea develops this message in chapter 6:1-11:11.
The third accusation is there is no acknowledgment of God in the land.
The three accusation the LORD brings are because they failed to pursue truth, love, and to acknowledge the LORD. These things the LORD had ordered them to pursue when He reached out in love to them, choosing to covenant with them at Sinai.
What God observed in Israel was the following:
“swearing” - Misusing the LORD’s name in oaths; imprecations; calling down calamity on another person.
“deception” - the active denial of truth
“murder,” “stealing,” “adultery” - along with this is “violence” and “bloodshed.” These observations demonstrated the violation of five of the Ten Commandments. The Hebrew form used here is very vivid and expresses that these sins were continual, that it was all sin and nothing besides.
God’s response is that God will not bless Israel. He is bringing curses on the land. Every living thing is suffering as a result with drought being the primary form of chastisement in view.
Is God Just in His dealing with Israel?
II. The Evidence of Israel’s Breach of Covenant, 4:4-14.
II. The Evidence of Israel’s Breach of Covenant, 4:4-14.
In our text today, God begins to bring the evidences of Israel’s heart attitude toward Himself. He begins by declaring the guilt of the priests in verses 4-10.
A. The Guilt of Israel’s Priests, 4:4-10.
A. The Guilt of Israel’s Priests, 4:4-10.
Israel could give no response; the LORD forbade them from denying His charge against them. It is most likely that God was charging a priest—perhaps the chief of the priests—with dereliction of duty.
As a result not only would the priests have great difficulty in life but often stumble. False prophets would err. These two groups of spiritual leaders were guilty before God. Along with this, the LORD promised to destroy the “mother” of the Israelites. This is probably a reference to the nation as a whole.
The leaders’ lack of knowledge of the LORD would be the cause of their destruction. They had failed to acknowledge Him as their God, so He would reject them as priests. A priest’s responsibility was to mediate the knowledge of God to the nations, Exodus 19:6
and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”
He would forget their children because they had forgotten His Law. This concept of corporate guilt and punishment was common in ancient Israel, frequently reflected in the Hebrew Bible.
When God had blessed the Israelites by increasing their numbers, their response had been to increase their sinning against Him. SO God would not only reduce their numbers, but would also withdraw from them.
The priests continued sinning by feeding on the sin offerings brought to the pagan altars by the people; in essence the priests fed on the people’s sins. Their desire was for these offerings, wanting more sacrifices so they could eat more meat. King Jeroboam I established a priesthood for the Northern Kingdom, appointing priests that came from any tribe and from all walks of life in the nation.
And he made houses on high places, and made priests from among all the people who were not of the sons of Levi.
After this event Jeroboam did not return from his evil way, but again he made priests of the high places from among all the people; any who would, he ordained, to be priests of the high places.
God would respond by punishing the unfaithful priests of Israel as He would the unfaithful people of Israel. After all, both groups were sinning so God promised to punish them for their sinful ways and repay them for their idolatrous works.
Punishment to come was a drought and scarcity of food so the priests would eat, “but not have enough.” Their harlotry with false gods through pagan temple prostitutes would be judged, God reducing their fertility so that would be no increase in their number.
Why? The LORD will do this because they had ceased listening to and obeying Him by observing His law.
The guilt of Israel’s people follows in verses 11-14.
B. The Guilt of Israel’s People, 4:11-14.
B. The Guilt of Israel’s People, 4:11-14.
The people practice idolatry, thereby practicing spiritual harlotry, with its emphasis on drinking wine. This turned the heart of the Israelites from the LORD, and they rejected what was best for them, which the LORD had revealed to them.
They would rather consult wooden idols and seek revelations through the use of a diviner’s rod rather than seek the LORD and His revealed Word. Their spiritual harlotry led them away from their true husband, the LORD.
By worshipping their idols on the tops of hills, they believed themselves nearer to heaven and the deity. Cf. Deut 12:2
“You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.
They worshipped where it was convenient to them, so they worshipped under shade trees. Cf. 2 Kings 17:10-11
They set for themselves sacred pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree,
and there they burned incense on all the high places as the nations did which the Lord had carried away to exile before them; and they did evil things provoking the Lord.
Their daughters even practiced harlotry and adultery with male cult prostitutes as part of worship of pagan gods. Deut 23:17
“None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, nor shall any of the sons of Israel be a cult prostitute.
There were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord dispossessed before the sons of Israel.
God would punish both males and females who were both guilty, committing immoral acts with pagan temple prostitutes. When God humbled them with punishment, they would come to ruin.
God would turn them over “to prosper in their sins and in those things which help them to sin” (Pusey). Thus they will come to ruin before the Judge, these who are lacking in understanding, who have rejected the LORD and His Word.
III. Israel’s Idolatrous Worship Judged, 4:15-19.
III. Israel’s Idolatrous Worship Judged, 4:15-19.
Now the LORD warns the Israelites not to pollute the Southern Kingdom of Judah with their unfaithfulness. Pure hypocrisy would be to go to their pagan temples and take an oath in the name of the LORD because they did not really worship Him. Places like “Gilgal” and “Beth-aven (Bethel)” were pagan cultic sights.
Hosea starts referring to Bethel (House of God) by the name Beth-Aven (House of iniquity or House of Wickedness). It had become one of the main centers of idolatrous worship since the time of the first king of the Northern Kingdom, Jeroboam I.
Is it any wonder that the LORD asks rhetorically if He could continue to guide Israel as its Shepherd, when they had become stubborn and obstinate? The answer is No, He could not.
Ephraim, whose name means “fruitful,” is here used to stand for the whole nation of Israel, being the largest tribe in the Northern Kingdom. Ephraim has abandoned its Shepherd for idols, so the LORD calls for others to leave her alone, for He will abandon Ephraim to judgment, inevitable because of their active pursuit to sin. Ephraim has become incorrigible. Matthew Henry states:
“Those that are not disturbed in their sin will be destroyed for their sin” — Matthew Henry
Israel had no one to blame but herself. Even when they were not under the influence of liquor, they still chose to play the harlot continually. Rulers, who were to be like shields protecting the people, joined in to love the sins that brought great shame to the nation.
When the LORD sends His whirlwind of judgment to sweep the kingdom away, the Israelites would finally feel shame for sacrificing to idols.
God will judge but He will not utterly destroy His people. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Israel’s waywardness could not change the promises of God to the patriarchs, nor could it change the love He has for His wife, Israel.
For us,
“Surely, nothing should have so powerful an effect upon our ways, as the fact that our waywardness has not, cannot, quench His love. No change in us results in any corresponding change in Him.” — Dr. Ironside