Committing to God's Ways
Philadelphia Baptist Church
4/22/2007 Sun. a.m.
Committing to God’s Ways
Hosea 4:1–4; 7:1, 2; 12:6–9; 14:1.
Hosea 14:1 O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
Introduction:
Hosea’s focus of his book is on the relationship between God and His people. (In this context, Israel refers to the northern kingdom of God’s divided people as distinct from the southern kingdom of Judah.)
To put Hosea’s words in context, it will be helpful to understand what the people of Israel had done to their religion. In some cases they had rejected God and their traditions outright. In other cases they had merged the religion of the one true God with a regional religion that worshiped a god named Baal (Hosea 2:8). This greatly disturbed Hosea and the other prophets.
Hosea probably began his prophetic ministry just as Amos’s ministry was drawing to a close. Hosea thus prophesied between about 760 b.c. and the fall of the northern kingdom in 722 b.c.
This period of time was a time of prosperity, but the rich took advantage of the poor. There were religious observances, but they were corrupted by paganism and sensuality.
Hosea’s name means “salvation,” and he certainly preached that the people were in need of that! Yet the people did not see themselves as vulnerable—“Salvation from what?” they probably asked themselves. The relatively stable reigns of Uzziah in the south and Jeroboam II in the north bred complacency in the people.
Hosea’s tumultuous family life, as noted in Hosea 1:2–11; 3:1–3, was an example of what was happening between God and His people. God had commanded Hosea to marry a whore who would prove to be unfaithful. This was so that Hosea’s family could be an example of God’s willingness to love and take back His faithless people.
I. Serious Charges (Hosea 4:1–4)
A. Absence of Goodness (v. 1)
Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
The opening phrase hear the word of the Lord begins the indictment. What follows is an example of things the people were lacking. We may call these sins of omission.
First, the Lord says there is no truth. The word used for truth carries the idea of faithfulness, fidelity, honesty, or reliability.
Neither is there any mercy in the land. Mercy is one of the most beautiful and interesting words in the Bible. It is sometimes translated love, loving-kindness, goodness, etc. The Hebrew words translated truth and mercy in this passage occur together (translated in various ways) in dozens of other Old Testament passages. One interesting example is Exodus 34:6: “The Lord, the Lord God … abundant in goodness and truth.” What the Lord himself abounds in is precisely what His people disdain!
Third, Hosea says there is no knowledge of God. This does not mean that there is no knowledge that God exists. Rather, the word knowledge is used to describe an intimate mindfulness of God and His requirements under the covenant. In place of this knowledge, the people have substituted meaningless ritual. “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6).
Do we see any of these omissions in our own age? Truth is certainly under attack.
Church leaders who preach one thing but do the opposite can find themselves in public scandal. There is a word for this: hypocrisy.
Jesus reserved some of His strongest criticism for those who neglected right practice (Matthew 23:23). Faith is dead if it is not put to work (James 1:22; 2:17).
There is too little mercy. While there are few genuine atheists in the world, there is still a shortage of the knowledge of God. God has made knowledge of himself available, but many suppress it (Romans 1:18–23).
B. Presence of Wickedness (v. 2)
By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
Here Hosea describes the presence of serious sins. We would call these sins of commission. He describes a decay that is illustrated by the people’s ignoring basic morality and decency, such as what is given in the Ten Commandments.
At least four of those commandments are mentioned here by use of the words (1) lying, and (2) killing, and (3) stealing, and (4) committing adultery. The word swearing probably does not refer to using obscenities but to pronouncing a curse on someone. Break out is the idea of violating boundaries (1 Samuel 25:10). The expression blood toucheth blood probably means that one murder quickly follows another.
This corrupt society can trace its problems to a single cause: the rejection of God. The kinds of qualities that are missing (v. 1) are foundational to a healthy society. The serious sins that are present inevitably serve to weaken a society. Since Hosea is a resident of the land, this must fill him with both anger and sorrow.
That is the result of a community that does not know God. When there is no knowledge of God, morals and social stability disappear just as quickly as the outward formalities of religion.
C. Presence of Mourning (v. 3)
Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.
The infidelity of God’s people is to be punished by a drought—that is a secondary meaning of the word mourn in this context. This same Hebrew verb is used in Jeremiah 4:28; 12:4; Joel 1:10; and Amos 1:2. Hosea’s description is of an environment in the process of ruin. All creatures that live in the land will waste away or, literally, wither. Even the fishes of the sea are threatened.
Isn’t it interesting that God associates judgment for sin as being the occasion for general decline even in nature? Paul speaks of creation groaning as a result of sin (Romans 8:20–22).
D. Absence of Integrity (v. 4)
Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for thy people are as they that strive with the priest.
At first glance you would think that God is forbidding the readers to reprove one another with regard to the moral decay—which is exactly what we need to do! The idea, rather, is that finger-pointing and blaming others will not solve the problems. Great revivals begin not when we put the spotlight of the sins of others but when we dare to indict ourselves.
Hosea condemning his readers for being the kind of people who would dare to bring charges even against a priest!
II. Rejected Offer (Hosea 7:1, 2)
A. Healing Was Rejected (v. 1)
When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood; and the thief cometh in, and the troop of robbers spoileth without.
The name Ephraim is another way to refer to the northern kingdom of Israel. Ephraim is a prominent tribe in the northern kingdom. Adding the word Samaria to the mix serves to emphasize the entirety of the 10 tribes that are situated north of Judah. God is saying to them that He is willing to heal all Israel. But as God makes this attempt, the sins of the people become even more apparent.
The primary way God attempts to heal Israel is by sending them prophets. Rather than causing the people to repent, the work of the prophets just reveals more and more sin and guilt. The prophets are persecuted, not welcomed Acts 7:52.
The last line speaks of being robbed inside one’s own house (the thief cometh in) as well as while out on the city streets (the troop of robbers spoileth without).
B. Repentance Was Rejected (v. 2)
And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness: now their own doings have beset them about; they are before my face.
The people of Israel erroneously assume that God does not know or care about the evil they are doing. How often human beings have deceived themselves into thinking they can hide their sins from God! Yet God knows everything. He is Omniscient.
Though we intellectually know from our study of Scripture that God is everywhere and that He knows all things, we can still fool ourselves into believing that God will not care about our sin. One way we do this is simply to deny that what we have done is sin. We have ways of rationalizing sins to the point where we feel we have not sinned. We convince ourselves of this, and thereby think we’ve convinced God.
Sometimes we hide behind the feeling that we have not committed a “major” sin. As long as our sin is not as bad as someone else’s, we are OK. We can also try to hide our sins by making ourselves the victims, blaming others for.
III. Stern Command (Hosea 12:6–9; 14:1)
A. Turn for a Blessing (v. 6)
Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually.
This verse follows a discussion of Jacob’s encounter with God at Bethel. Hosea is highly critical of what has been going on at Bethel. Hosea 10:5, which refers to Beth-aven, a sarcastic name for Bethel. While Bethel means “house of God,” Beth-aven means “house of wickedness, or house of idols.”
In Hosea 12:4, the prophet reminds his audience that Bethel was once a holy place. The people needed to return to the kind of religion first celebrated there.
Turning to thy God involves repentance. The people are also to wait on God. Why the delay? They need for God to bless them again. They need the blessing that God once gave to Jacob.
God is able to bless us abundantly beyond what we can ever ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). He has sustained His people, His church, through 2,000 years.
There have been congregations seemingly on the verge of extinction, but God, by His grace, has pulled them through. As God led Israel through the wilderness wandering, so He leads us through our difficult times. God has led us out of our “Egypt”—out of our bondage to sin—and is faithfully leading us to the promised land of Heaven. God has even provided for us in His promise that this tabernacle in which we live, this tent, this body of flesh, will one day be redeemed and we will receive a new body.
B. Turn for Perspective (vv. 7, 8)
He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress.
The Hebrew word translated merchant is literally Canaanite. Canaanites are known as shrewd traders, thus the translation merchant captures the sense very well. Canaanites inhabited the promised land before the Israelites arrived Exodus 3:8.
Greedy merchants are known for their dishonest balance scales (balances of deceit). This is very offensive to God (Deuteronomy 25:13–16). The children of Israel think they are quite superior to the previous inhabitants of the area, but the message is that they have become the same as them. They love to oppress.
And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance: in all my labors they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin.
In a state of arrogant pride, Ephraim believes itself to be rich and righteous. The people are indeed rich in a material way in the manner of unjust merchants. Not only do they see themselves as rich, they do not see that they had committed any sin. “What harm did we do in accumulating these riches?” the Israelites ask themselves.
C. Turn or Face Judgment (v. 9; 14:1)
And I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast.
The word tabernacles refers to the tents that the Israelites lived in while in the wilderness wanderings after they had left the land of Egypt. Thus the Lord promises a severe reduction in Israel’s standard of living: they will give up their cozy houses for tents.
The solemn feast here probably refers to the Feast of Tabernacles. During this festival, people set up booths or tents as a reminder of wilderness wanderings (Leviticus 23:33–44). How sad: the Israelites will return to tents not as a memorial but as a punishment.
O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Hosea 14:1
It is the sin of the people that causes them to stumble. If they return to God, He can lift them up and help them walk in the right paths.
Conclusion:
Evil affects the fabric of society. We see in Hosea God’s sense of hurt, betrayal, and disappointment. God suffers when His people sin. Hosea also discovered and taught that God is both holy and merciful. God thundered against sin, but He could be warm and forgiving to the repentant sinner.
Unfaithfulness toward another human and toward God can be forgiven, but it takes sincere repentance and profound love. Hosea’s love for his wife was a picture of God’s love for His people.
No Christian looking at this can fail to see that Jesus did something similar for us. He paid a price to bring us back home. He did this even though we did not deserve it. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
“For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).