Hosea 6:4-7:16 | The problem with unsteady loyalty
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
The people are a mess. They’ve been brought out of Egypt, given a land flowing with milk and honey, and best of all they are God’s chosen people. But they’re a mess.
There’s no faithfulness. No love. No acknowledgment of God in the land.
“What can I do with you?!” exclaims God.
That’s where we are up to in the story of Hosea. A story you could picture as a marriage that is on the rocks. A story that is pictured by God as a marriage between Hosea and a woman called Gomer.
And this story has a pattern to it. You have the charge. You then get the judgement. And then you get the hope of restoration.
We’ve seen that with the charge of ‘lack of knowledge’ over these past few weeks. We saw the judgement - a death for the nation. But we also saw the hope of resurrection.
And now we move into the next charge. You can see it back in 4:1, that verse that structures the book. There’s no ‘love’.
Now love there does not mean the mushy love we see on TV. I know valentine’s day has passed recently. Love here is the Hebrew word ‘hesed’. That’s good for clearing your throat eh!
Love here is the Hebrew word ‘hesed’. That’s good for clearing your throat eh!
Hesed is a word meaning covenant faithfulness, or steadfast love, or as I’ll use this evening the idea of loyalty.
You can see that idea in the first 3 verses.
‘What can I do with you, Ephraim?
What can I do with you, Judah?
Your love is like the morning mist,
like the early dew that disappears.
What can I do with you
The people’s love - their covenant loyalty - to God is like the morning mist. It’s like the early dew. It’s fleeting. It just disappears.
God had sent prophets to the people. Prophets calling the people back to their covenant with God. But the people didn’t listen. The Prophets proclaimed God’s words to the people. His judgments - which are like the sun to them. But in that sun, the mist faded. The dew evaporated. Their loyalty is fleeting.
And God wants their loyalty - verse 6, or in this translation mercy - same word again - over sacrifice. He’s not saying that sacrifice is a wrong thing to do. But on it’s own, separated from loyalty, it’s useless. God wants acknowledgment over burnt offerings.
You can feel the heart of God here can’t you?
“What can I do with you Ephraim? What can I do with you Judah?”
That’s the question. That’s the question that this section raises. In fact, you can see this same exclamation at the end of this section. Just flick to 11:8:
‘How can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, Israel?
How can I treat you like Admah?
How can I make you like Zeboyim?
My heart is changed within me;
all my compassion is aroused.
Like two pieces of bread that make a sandwich.
What can God do with this people and their loyalty problems?
Well lets look at this charge. The lack of love. The charge of unsteady loyalty.
What is the problem with unsteady loyalty?
What is the problem with unsteady loyalty?
So what’s the problem with unsteady loyalty? As with other parts of this book, God through Hosea shows the issue and the evidence. We’re going to look at just 3 pictures that Hosea uses to show what this is like.
It is like Adam (6:7-7:2)
It is like Adam (6:7-7:2)
The first picture is that of Adam
The New American Commentary: Hosea, Joel Sins of Adam, Gilead, Shechem (6:7–9) [B]
I desire devotion and not hymn-singing, service and not sermons
It’s like Adam (6:7-7:2) (Historical)
It’s like Adam (6:7-7:2) (Historical)
So the first picture. Unsteady loyalty is like Adam. You can see that in chapter 6 verse 7 through to 7 verse 2.
As at Adam, they have broken the covenant;
they were unfaithful to me there.
Unsteady loyalty is like Adam. We know Adam right? He’s from the very start of the Bible. In their unsteady loyalty, God is saying that the people are like Adam.
Adam was given everything. He was literally the king of the world. He had unparalleled access to God. He was the son of God. But he threw it all away. He was unsteady in his loyalty and turned to listen to the snake. And unsteady loyalty lead to him being kicked out of the garden. Kicked out of the life-giving presence of God. He lacked a love for God.
And that story sadly continued, like father like son. Murder, wickedness.
Fast forward a bit to Jacob, the one Israel is named after. He had a sordid history in the region of Gilead. His sons, Simeon and Levi, committed wickedness in Shechem.
God, through Hosea, connects the people to unsteady loyalty throughout their history. All the way back to Adam.
And these names appear to be places too. Hosea may be using a pun to connect these places. Adam, being the name of the first man, but also the name of a place in Israel - like Gilead and Shechem. The people are unsteady all over the land. And it runs deep, all the way back to Adam. The first covenant breaker.
You can see a similar idea in 6:10
God remembers all of the people’s evil deeds. Nothing is hidden from Him. They may not realise it, verse 2, but God does.
They may do the right things on the surface: sacrifices, burnt offerings. But under the surface there is no love. No loyalty.
Application
Application
And it’s still possible today to have unsteady loyalty like this. To do the right thing on the surface, but lack love underneath. As the Pharisees showed about themselves when Jesus had dinner with tax collectors and other sinners. “How dare he do that”? Or as Jesus and his disciples plucked grain on the Sabbath. “How dare they?”
Both times Jesus quoted to them. Both times the Pharisees failed to show mercy. Instead they showed religiosity, but not love. They took the gift, but ignored the giver.
Can we fall into the same trap? Perhaps as we look at the people around us today?
So, what’s the problem with unsteady loyalty? It’s like Adam.
It’s like a hot oven and a burnt scone (7:3-10) (Heart)
It’s like a hot oven and a burnt scone (7:3-10) (Heart)
Onto our next picture. In the middle of this section, we get a comparison with an oven.
Verse 4:
They are all adulterers,
burning like an oven
whose fire the baker need not stir
from the kneading of the dough till it rises.
What’s the problem with unsteady loyalty? It’s like a hot oven.
What’s the problem with unsteady loyalty? It’s like a hot oven.
Hosea shows that this unsteady loyalty runs through all the people. It’s even reached the top of society. As the people sin, as their wickedness is on the display, the King is delighted.
The King is meant to lead the people in loyalty before God, but we see here that he is just like the rest.
All the people, including the king, are adulterers before God. Like a hot oven.
Usually an oven would need stoking to get it hot enough for the baker to bake his bread. But the oven here is already hot.
You can see that in the poetry of verse 6. Their passion smoulders all night. In the morning it blazes like a flaming fire. This adulterous heart of the people is on fire every minute. There’s no letting up.
And that causes them to fall away from God. To be unsteady.
Verse 7, their kings fall, their rulers are devoured. And yet none of them call to God for help.
The baking picture continues in verse 8:
‘Ephraim mixes with the nations;
Ephraim is a flat loaf not turned over.
The people’s unsteady loyalty results in them mixing with the nations. And this makes them like a flat loaf not turned over.
And this makes them like a flat loaf not turned over.
Paul Hollywood wouldn’t give any awards for that. Doughy on one side, and burnt on the other. Too much on one side, not enough on the other. Totally inedible. Uneven. Disgusting.
Throughout this section, there are signs the people should be picking up on. Signs that should cause them to turn to God. But they refuse to do so.
If you were to
Even though, as verse 10 says, their arrogance testifies against them, to their face, they will not return or search for God. Hosea said that exact phrase back in the previous charge, yet they still refuse.
Application
Application
Just imagine eating that burnt loaf for a moment. Even the sound of it makes me want to spit it out. God calls his people to be steady. Not a mixture. He desires a people who know him, and whose actions are motivated by love for him.
Distraction from the world was a problem for Israel. A problem they didn’t even realise they had. They needed to return to God. Daily.
As God’s people today, let’s do that, and come to God daily. Not being hot on one side, and cold on the other. But steady in our love for God, and showing that in our day to day.
The people here - their loyalty is unsteady. They’re like a hot oven and a burnt loaf.
It’s like a silly bird (7:11-16a) (Loyalty)
It’s like a silly bird (7:11-16a) (Loyalty)
And finally, the third picture. Unsteady loyalty is like a silly bird - verses 11-16.
‘Ephraim is like a dove,
easily deceived and senseless—
now calling to Egypt,
now turning to Assyria.
We might say that Israel is running around like a headless chicken.
The literal translation there is ‘without heart’. Without commitment. Unsteady loyalty.
The people are running to Egypt one moment for help, and then to Assyria the next. Their loyalty flutters between the two. When instead they should be turning to their King, their protector, God.
So God is going to capture that bird. Verse 12. He will pull it from the sky.
God is willing to redeem them. But it’s like the people have shut the doors to him, and bolted them from the inside. Although God has been faithful to them, and still wants to be, the people won’t. As verse 16 says, they turn everywhere but not to the Most High.
God has shown steady loyalty to this people. But they will not show it to him.
They instead mutilate themselves, crying out to the false gods they have jumped into bed with. Even though God had trained them. Even though God had strengthened their arms. They plot against him.
They’re dangerous to themselves. They’re like faulty bow. Instead of a defence, they have become a danger to themselves. They fail to respond to the archer’s commands.
Application
Application
The question to ask, as we have before, is where do we turn in trouble? When things go wrong, do we turn this way and that? Do we run around like a headless chicken?
God still calls us to turn to him today. To find in him our all in all. To trust fully in him. Let’s continue to check our hearts and remind each other of that.
What is the problem with unsteady loyalty? It is like a silly bird. Fluttering every which way.
And so the
Conclusion
Conclusion
And that will lead to their downfall. As the passage ends, the leaders will fall by the sword, and as the leaders fall, the people will no doubt follow.
And notice the very last sentence of this passage:
For this they will be ridiculed in the land of Egypt.
It’s not a coincidence that Egypt is mentioned there. It’s not a random country plucked out of the air.
God had rescued Israel from Egypt. God had formed Israel as a people out of Egypt. God had given his people a covenant out of Egypt. And now, since they have rejected that covenant. They have shown unsteady loyalty, it’s as if they’re back at square one. Right back under the taunts and derision of that nation.
We’ll see
That’s the charge and the evidence laid out. What do we learn from this? Plain and simple that God requires covenant loyalty from His people. It really matters.
The people need someone who can show loyalty to God in their place. They need someone who is not like Adam. They need someone who is steady, who isn’t burnt on one side, a king who would lead the people in loyalty. And they need to trust in God wholeheartedly, not like a bird who flutters this way and that.
They need to have covenant love. Steady loyalty.
And that’s what we find in Jesus. Two times Jesus quotes this passage of Hosea. Two times where
That’s what we need too. God doesn’t change, and so his demands do not change. But the difference for us is that God has given us someone who has done what is needed. Jesus.
And so, we should put our full trust in him. We should rally behind our King, who is the better Adam. Behind our King who leads the people truthfully. And behind our King, not turning to the left and right.
Let’s pray that God would enable us to do that, and seek grace for when we fail in that.