The Roar of the Lion
Notes
Transcript
Context
Context
The past several chapters we have considered statements of judgement from God to the people of Israel. Statement like:
12 As they go, I will spread over them my net;
I will bring them down like birds of the heavens;
I will discipline them according to the report made to their congregation.
8 Israel is swallowed up;
already they are among the nations
as a useless vessel.
14 For Israel has forgotten his Maker
and built palaces,
and Judah has multiplied fortified cities;
so I will send a fire upon his cities,
and it shall devour her strongholds.
7 The days of punishment have come;
the days of recompense have come;
Israel shall know it.
The prophet is a fool;
the man of the spirit is mad,
because of your great iniquity
and great hatred.
11 Ephraim’s glory shall fly away like a bird—
no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!
12 Even if they bring up children,
I will bereave them till none is left.
Woe to them
when I depart from them!
2 Their heart is false;
now they must bear their guilt.
The Lord will break down their altars
and destroy their pillars.
13 You have plowed iniquity;
you have reaped injustice;
you have eaten the fruit of lies.
Because you have trusted in your own way
and in the multitude of your warriors,
14 therefore the tumult of war shall arise among your people,
and all your fortresses shall be destroyed…
So for the past several weeks, we have been making our way through these chapters, and it’s been hard because of all this sin and God’s pronouncement of judgement through the prophet Hosea.
Tonight, the message is different. This not to suggest that the seriousness, and offense of Israel’s sin has lessened. Nor that God’s judgement will not come to fruition against Israel. God however, speaks as a father to Israel in chapter 11. He expresses a fatherly concern for His people. That God is Father to His people is not unfamiliar to us, but for this emphasis to break through in the midst of the sobering prophecies we have considered is a welcomed change in tone.
God shows certain manifestations of fatherly love for His people in this chapter. God shows His children:
Affection (1-2)
Affection (1-2)
It’s important to remember that God has always loved… had affection towards His people:
21 And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. 22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son, 23 and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’ ”
The affection of a father is clear here. God refers to the nation of Israel as His son.
You may know that Hosea 11:1 is quoted in the NT. It appears in Matthew after Jesus was born. The angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and instructed him to take Jesus and Mary to Egypt to evade Herod until Herod dies. Joseph listened to the angel, and Matthew makes this comment:
15 … This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
So the question quickly becomes, if Hosea 11:1 refers to Israel’s exodus from Egypt, in what sense can Matthew mean that Jesus’ return to the land of Israel fulfilled this text? Some considerations:
Jesus is often presented as the antitype (the opposite) of Israel. So for example, Jesus’ temptation after 40 days of fasting in the wilderness was the antitype of the forty years’ trial of Israel in the wilderness.
We could also go to Isa 5 where Israel is the vine that does not bring forth the expected fruit, but when we get to the NT and specifically John 15, Jesus by contrast is the True Vine.
Hosea 11, as we have suggested, picture YAHWEH’s fatherly love for Israel, and although judgement and disaster has been prophesied against Israel, yet we need to remember what we are reminded of in Hosea 11:9.
9 I will not execute my burning anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim;
for I am God and not a man,
the Holy One in your midst,
and I will not come in wrath.
God looks to a time when in compassion in compassion He will roar like a lion and His children will return to Him (see Hosea 11:10-11).
In light of what we see in Matthew, I suggest that Hosea looks forward to a saving visitation by the Lord that points to the Messiah. This does not mean necessarily that Hosea understood that this particular prophecy was Messianic, but the NT’s usage of Hosea’s prophecy makes this clear.
The son language builds on existing revelation that makes clear there is messianic nuances that has already been applied to Israel and David’s promised heir.
Hosea provided one small part of the revelation of salvation history, and what he did know was that this pictured divine, redeeming love.
… for Matthew, Jesus Himself is the locus of true Israel. This does not necessarily mean that God has no further purpose for racial Israel; but it does mean that the position of God’s people in the messianic age is determined by reference to Jesus, not race.
Guidance (3-4)
Guidance (3-4)
Notice the language of a parent here.
God taught His people to walk (3)
I took them up in my arms
They were so engrossed in their sin that they did not know it was God who healed them (end of v. 3)
God takes joy in caring for His children… in providing what we cannot acquire for ourselves.
Judgement (5-7)
Judgement (5-7)
Refusing to repent is always disastrous.
Notice in verse 7: on the one hand, the people are bent on turning away from me but on the other they call out to the Most High. Why would a people who do not turn to God cry out to Him?
Forbearance (8-9)
Forbearance (8-9)
God is anguishing at the thought of Israel’s judgement (8)
Admah and Zeboiim were cities that were destroyed with Sodom and Gomorrah .
23 the whole land burned out with brimstone and salt, nothing sown and nothing growing, where no plant can sprout, an overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger and wrath—
Israel was facing the same kind of fate as these cities.
God is conveying that His heart is broken over what He must (has determined) to do.
Faithfulness (10-12)
Faithfulness (10-12)
God will be faithful to His people despite their unfaithfulness.
God summoning of His people is described like that of the roar of a lion. What are we meant to understand about God’s summoning here?
Israel will come back trembling. If where they will come back to is a place of safety, why trembling?
Only God’s summoning roar will move His people to come.
The rebellion does not prevent or inhibit God’s plan for His people.
