2025.09.28 Hosea: This ... is ISRAELITE Idol!
Notes
Transcript
1 “Sound the alarm! The enemy descends like an eagle on the people of the Lord, for they have broken my covenant and revolted against my law.
2 Now Israel pleads with me, ‘Help us, for you are our God!’
3 But it is too late. The people of Israel have rejected what is good, and now their enemies will chase after them.
4 The people have appointed kings without my consent, and princes without my approval. By making idols for themselves from their silver and gold, they have brought about their own destruction.
5 “O Samaria, I reject this calf— this idol you have made. My fury burns against you. How long will you be incapable of innocence?
6 This calf you worship, O Israel, was crafted by your own hands! It is not God! Therefore, it must be smashed to bits.
►►►CLICK [title]
Hosea: This … is ISRAELITE Idol!
Hosea: This … is ISRAELITE Idol!
“How long will you be incapable of innocence?” Wow!
Last week, we went line-by-line only skipping a few spots. From this point forward, it would be far too tedious and horribly repetitive to walk line-by-line, so we will jump around. To start, you’ll want to be open to Hosea 8.
The remainder of this prophetic writing follows a very familiar pattern:
Introductory statement or introduction of new theme
Accusation and supporting evidence – Israel sinned
Announcement of impending judgement matching the nature of the sin (cross-ref the Pentateuch)
SOMETIMES – Hosea includes an announcement of blessing after the judgement
Before we tackle the meat of this passage, I’d like to remind everyone of the nature of prophetic writing with a series of non-rhetorical questions:
What does a prophet do? [speaks for God - SOMETIMES it involves telling the future, but not always]
Were prophets popular people? [NO WAY!]
Why not? [Because they pronounced God’s judgment - and bluntly!]
When someone is telling us how very very wrong we are … it’s hard to hear them isn’t it?
It’s so difficult to get past their message and hear their heart!
Here’s what Jesus said about prophets:
►►►SLIDE [1st half]
37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.
He calls out Jerusalem for stoning God’s messengers, the prophets. “GOD SENDS YOU PEOPLE TO HELP YOU STAY ON TRACK WITH HIM, AND YOU SCOFF AT THEM, REJECT THEM, AND EVENTUALLY KILL THEM! I’M NOT SURE WHETHER TO CALL YOU JERKS OR IDIOTS!” (I may have taken some license with my paraphrase.
And when someone is dressing you down … well, it’s easy to miss their motive. So, Jesus let’s them see behind the curtain:
►►►SLIDE [either all or 2nd half - if all won’t fit]
37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.
“WITH EVERY PROPHET, I’VE TRIED TO GATHER YOU IN TO PROTECT YOU LIKE A HEN GATHERS HER CHICKS. BUT YOU WOULDN’T LET ME.”
God is not sending prophets to preach doom and gloom because he’s a buzzkill. He’s not having prophets read people the riot act because he wants them to feel worthless. He’s not beating his people down for fun or for his health. He doing it for THEIR HEALTH … for OUR HEALTH!
►►►CLICK [title]
Hosea: This … is ISRAELITE Idol!
Hosea: This … is ISRAELITE Idol!
So, let’s start a list of the accusations found in the next few chapters, and if there are any announcements of blessings, and see if there’s any application to us today:
Chapter 8
Verse 4 The Ten Tribes rebelled against David’s family and set up their own line of kings.
Why is that a big deal? [Because God setup David’s family to rule]
Why would they go against God’s arrangement? (several possibilities)
Because at some point, they liked somebody better than David’s next descendent
Because they thought there was a better leader (human standard of measurement)
Ultimately … Because they thought they knew better than him
No pronouncement of blessing for this one … anybody wanna guess why?
Because God’s still stuck on David’s line — because JESUS is in David’s line. He wants to connect their king to their Messiah. He has a wider picture than they do … than WE do!
Israel put their chosen kings on a pedestal, and God is not happy with that … because he knows more than they do.
Verse 9
We see the cheating lover language again.
What is the accusation in verse 9?
Most translations say something like “They have gone up to Assyria.”
Before I ask my next question, I want you to know that Ephraim is another name for Israel.
So what does it mean that they’ve “paid for lovers”?
WAIT! In the context of “going up to Assyria”, what does it mean that they’ve “paid for lovers”?
King James Version may actually be helpful here: “Ephraim has HIRED LOVERS!”
You see, Israel had signed treaties with all of their neighbors, but now … they’ve PAID ASSYRIA for their protection!
They’ve placed ASSYRIA on a pedestal, and God is not happy with that … because they’re making alliances with his enemies!
Verse 11
They’ve built many altars to take away sin.
Surely taking away sin is a good thing, right?
Why is God not happy about this?
Because those “many altars” are not all to HIM!
They no longer trust Yahweh to take care of their sin.
They’re trying to cover all their bases by bowing down to the neighbors’ gods.
They’re placing rival gods on a pedestal alongside Yahweh and He is FURIOUS about it, because he is more than capable of taking away their sin!
Are you starting to see the connections yet?
They’re making huge decisions based on their feelings and emotions instead of relying on what they know - that Yahweh is the God of gods and he will care for his people … if only they remain ‘his people’!
His plan runs through David’s family … and eventually, that plan involves MESSIAH taking away our sin.
“Our sin not in part, but the whole … is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more … praise the Lord … praise the Lord … O my soul!”
Chapter 9 continues the same approach. I don’t feel the need to run down every accusation or threat … just a few key points God makes in Chapter 9 ...
Verse 7 - Why is the prophet thought a fool?
BECAUSE ISRAEL’S SINS ARE SO MANY!
I’ll come back to this in just a minute:
Israel is corrupt in verse 9
They’re connected with Baal - Peor in verse 10. This is the same ole Baal, but the location Peor is a very specific reference from the book of Numbers. Israelite men started sleeping with Moabite women, and they adopted one of their gods Baal and worshiped him alongside Yahweh.
In Chapter 10 we get a weird reference to a Samaritan calf idol in Beth-aven. God says, this idol will be carted off to Assyria as a gift!
One infraction after another … God lays out his case like a high dollar attorney in a lawsuit against the Israelites.
As Hosea records God’s accusations, let’s return to Hosea 9:7.
We look back and see how crazy they are, but they seem blind.
Why?
►►►SLIDE [Hosea 9:7]
7 The time of Israel’s punishment has come; the day of payment is here. Soon Israel will know this all too well. Because of your great sin and hostility, you say, “The prophets are crazy and the inspired men are fools!”
Why did we say they treated the prophets so badly?
►►►SLIDE [HIGHLIGHTED Hosea 9:7]
7 The time of Israel’s punishment has come; the day of payment is here. Soon Israel will know this all too well. Because of your great sin and hostility, you say, “The prophets are crazy and the inspired men are fools!”
We’ve stumbled into something! We’ve stumbled into something big!
I’ve been asked before something along the lines of: “Now, Pastor Chris, I’ve said the Sinner’s Prayer. I’m born again. I love Jesus. Why should I be so concerned with a little bit of sin?”
Look at what “a little bit of sin” does!
The nation of Israel didn’t start out with “great sin”! They started with a little sin. And they thought, “I don’t really need to waste my time repenting of that ‘little white sin’, right?”
One small sin is indeed undangerous ... except for one characteristic.
It fools you into believing it’s not sin at all.
Then, it multiplies.
Continuing in sin leads down a path that denies what sin is.
Your life in Christ is like a windshield.
Throughout the Summer, we’ve all driven around and enjoyed some free time going to events. In many ways, we’re oblivious to our windshields. They’re there to catch bugs and keep us dry, but their see-through so we don’t notice them … until the change of season!
This time of year, we can find ourselves driving on a sunny day, and we may turn a corner where the sun hits the windshield and we’re instantly blinded. We can easily find ourselves wrapped around a tree before we even realize what happened.
The angle of the sun in Fall hits the dirt and muck that’s gathered on the inside of our windshield and it explodes light into our face. We don’t have time to react. We’re off the road and didn’t even know the windshield needed attention.
That muck on your windshield, is like repeated sin in your life. Even “little sins” build up. And they build up silently and covertly … until their exposed to the light. Then, they scatter God’s light and we end up off the road without even realizing it.
Friends … we all need to clean our windshields.
In this verse, the nation refuses to listen to the prophets because their sin has built up a residue on their windshields and they’ve become blind to what is and is not sin. They’re off the road, and blaming God’s messengers for it.
So … what’s on the inside of your windshield?
What ‘small sin’ have you dismissed and convinced yourself that it’s not really sin?
I could apologize for several convicting sermons in a row … but I won’t. I believe there’s a reason God put Hosea in front of me several weeks ago. I don’t fully know why … but I believe he has a plan, and he’s asked me to be his messenger.
You can dismiss the truth of His Word if you like … but I’ll warn you that you should pull over and let the Holy Spirit clean off your windshield.
What needs to be removed from your life today?
Let’s pray.
►►►CLICK [title]
Hosea: This … is ISRAELITE Idol!
Hosea: This … is ISRAELITE Idol!
