Relationship Scandal - the Prophets

Hosea 2 ESV

Say to your brothers, “You are my people,” and to your sisters, “You have received mercy.” “Plead with your mother, plead— for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband— that she put away her whoring from her face, and her adultery from between her breasts; lest I strip her naked and make her as in the day she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and make her like a parched land, and kill her with thirst. Upon her children also I will have no mercy, because they are children of whoredom. For their mother has played the whore; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’ Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths. She shall pursue her lovers but not overtake them, and she shall seek them but shall not find them. Then she shall say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now.’ And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal. Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my wine in its season, and I will take away my wool and my flax, which were to cover her nakedness. Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one shall rescue her out of my hand. And I will put an end to all her mirth, her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her appointed feasts. And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she said, ‘These are my wages, which my lovers have given me.’ I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall devour them. And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals when she burned offerings to them and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry, and went after her lovers and forgot me, declares the Lord. “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt. “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord. “And in that day I will answer, declares the Lord, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth, and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel, and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’ ”

Sin has consequences, God offers hope.

Sin’s Consequences

Israel was to experience judgement for turning away from the covenant. Sin has consequences.

For us today, what are those consequences? We experience suffering, or problems, because there are consequences for sin. Sometimes because of what we have done to others or what they do to us, sometimes as a result of living in a fallen world. Sin has consequences. This should cause us to be careful to walk according to the Word, and not the World. Do not allow Satan to gain a foothold.

Notice, the goal of these consequences is also restorative - God wants to have right relationship with His people! The hope is that people will turn and repent! So we read that the people should heed the warning - rebuking their “mother” Israel and turning to God. The warning of judgement and call to repentance are intertwined. Israel will have to face her consequences, yet there is a call still to return to the Lord. So too we should heed this call. If you have not accepted God’s grace and forgiveness, it is not too late!! Turn and repent!

Basic outline:

What’s happening then? What have the people done, and what is God’s call to them?

Hosea portrays a courtroom scene, with a hurt husband and an adulterous wife. The call here is for her to repent, while also signalling the judgement upon Israel for breaking the covenant. This whole scene shows us how God plans to deal with Israel.

There is a dual call here: both for the nation to turn, but also for individual people to turn. This is where the idea of children and mother come in. God calls to people to draw themselves away from their whoring mother (Israel). Do we draw ourselves away from the world?

The children of Israel thought they were God’s people because they were Israelites. But God desired relationship, not empty religion.

So now we must ask, are we in a church because we have a saving faith and relationship with the living Savior, or because we think that just being there is what it takes?

How about now?

Now, are we careful to stay in step with God? Do we realize the seriousness of sin and the call to repent?

Hosea, Joel Warning of Judgment (2:2–4) [B]

He is saying that they must set themselves apart from their mother lest they suffer the same fate she does

God’s Hope

What’s happening then?

Hosea offers hope for a new covenant.

What about now?

Now we are new covenant believers, and we have been grafted into the family of God. The restoration we see in this passage we also look forward to.

Therefore, God offers hope. For Israel, He proclaims a new day - a new covenant even - that will again see the people of God dwelling in relationship with their God. Though God could forsake, He does not. We praise Him because He can keep us from stumbling now, and gives us hope for eternity. Note: I am not seeing anything here that would be different from the eternity and even new covenant experienced by NT and Gentile believers. This is not to suggest replacement theory, but simply that we can see the things in this passage backed up by a general understanding of eternity, and even new covenant living now.

Conclusion

Sin has consequences - God offers grace.