The Bloodguilt of a Nation

Israel Becomes Canaan (7-10)

A deceptive merchant (7)

the word merchant in Hebrew is Canaan.

What is Hosea communicating about Israel by referring to them as Canaan?

The nation has become like a deceptive businessman who used rigged scales to conduct his business.

Israel is being compared to the Canaanites who were evicted from the land through Israel’s conquest. (Josh 3:10)

Israel had been placed in the land to serve God faithfully and delight in Him.

Egypt is brought up in verse 8, referencing Israel’s liberation from slavery. The message is clear: did I redeem you from Egypt just so that you could become new Canaanites?

A delusional people (8-10)

Israel saw their riches as the result of their own work instead of a blessing from God. Their riches became a god to them.

They were boasting in their riches. This is the same kind of offense of which the Laodecians were guilty:

Revelation 3:17 ESV

17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

Notice the Lord’s response to Israel’s misplaced independence: I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt. From the land of Egypt? Why does God describe Himself this way here?

We know that God led the people out of Egypt, but they forgot the He gave them after they were freed:

Deuteronomy 6:10–12 ESV

10 “And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, 12 then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

The Feast of Booths was meant to remind Israel of the means by which they came to have freedom: the hand of God. It was a time of celebration and worship. By living in tents or booths in the wilderness once a year, they were able to rejoice together that God had saved them.

But notice the warning in verse 9: I will again make you dwell in tents. Instead of choosing to live in tents, you will live in tents as part of God’s judgement.

The wanderings of Israel in the wilderness were used to remind them of their need for a Savior and that they were not independent but dependent upon their God.

But they are delusional. They think that how they are living is fine. They are fine with it. God is fine with it. Everyone should be fine with it (end of verse 8)

And notice what God declares in verse 10: I spoke to the prophets. In other words, the ministry the prophets had among the people was sourced in the one who sent them. Yahweh spoke to the prophets, Yahweh multiplied visions, Yahweh gave parables.

The people know what God says, what God does and some of how we works in the world, in part, through the prophets who He has sent.

So Israel displayed corruption by loving wealth above God. This love led to a deceptive way of life and a laboring under the delusion that they were self-sufficient, in need of nothing other than themselves. We move into the last few verses of Hosea 12, where another aspect of Israel’s corruption is seen.

Israel Becomes Convicts (11-14)