Sermon Tone Analysis

MESSAGE OF HOSEA

 

*Theme:  *Yahweh’s love spurned but constant

 

Hosea is a message from the heart of God.

In it, Yahweh responds to Israel’s rejection (spurning) of His covenant love.

Perhaps more than any of the other Minor Prophets, Hosea gives us a glimpse of God’s heart for His people.

Hosea reminds us of the astounding truth that God deeply loves His wayward people and that their repeated unfaithfulness to Him breaks His heart.

!!! I.

He who first loved loveth still:  God’s initiating, constant, covenant love

 

!!!! A.       He first loved

 

1.

Pictured in Yahweh’s command to Hosea to take a wife (Hos.

1:2)

 

Like Hosea, Yahweh had initiated the relationship (covenant) with Israel.

2.

Pictured in the Exodus (11:1-4; 12:9; 13:4)

 

Everything in the Exodus from Egypt demonstrates that initiating love of God.

He raised up a human deliverer (Moses).

He stretched out His mighty hand upon the Egyptians.

He parted the Red Sea.

He brought them miraculously to Mt. Sinai.

Everything was of God.

W/hile we were yet sinners, Christ died for us /(Rom.

5:8)/.

/W/e love Him because He first loved us /(I John 4:19).

/ /

!!!! B.       He loveth still

 

1.

Pictured in Yahweh’s command to Hosea to love his unfaithful wife (Hos.

3:1)

2.       Seen in Yahweh’s “wooing” of His unfaithful bride (Hos.

2:14)

3.       Revealed by His heart-grief over Israel’s sin and impending judgment (11:8)

 

Hosea 11:8 is a cry from the heart of God.

It is as if His heart is torn—between judgment, which sin has made a moral necessity, and His love, which longs for His peculiar treasure (Exod.

19:5).

This reveals a depth of emotion that we might find surprising in the Infinite One.[1]

Perhaps this should remind us that we were made in His image.

Our emotions are a mere reflection of His /infinite ones/, suggesting His infinite capacity for compassion, love, and grief.

!!! II.

Spurned love:  Israel’s covenant unfaithfulness

 

Hosea pictures Yahweh as taking His people to court (Hos.

4:1).

The word “controversy” (/rib, /4:1; KJV) is the language of a lawsuit—Yahweh has a legal complaint, a court case, to file against His people.

A look at the sins catalogued in Hosea reveals that Israel had broken almost every one of the Ten Commandments—the foundational stipulations of the Covenant.

But even worse than violating the Ten Words was Israel’s rejection of the God of the Covenant.

In this way, Hosea differs from Amos.

Both prophesied to the Northern Kingdom.

Both condemned its sins.

Both proclaimed its judgment.

Amos, however, pictured Israel’s transgression primarily as a lack of social injustice.

Hosea pictured Israel’s transgression primarily as unfaithfulness to their covenant agreement with Yahweh.[2]

/A.

//The covenant stipulations spurned/ (4:6; 6:7; 8:1, 12)

 

1.

Sins against their fellow man (4:2; 7:1-5; 10:13; 12:7)

 

In His opening complaint against Israel (4:1), God indicts Israel for a lack of “faithfulness” (“truth,” KJV) and “loyal kindness” (“mercy,” KJV).[3]

No one could be trusted.

There was no truthfulness.

No one was faithful to his words—promises meant nothing (cf.

10:4).

The kindness and graciousness expected in relationships (/hesed!/) between fellow kinsmen were entirely lacking.

The result was the catalog of sins listed in Hosea 4:2:  swearing,[4] lying, murder, stealing, and adultery.

In this one verse alone, God indicts Israel for breaking five of the Ten Commandments.

2.

Spirit of violence and revolt (6:8; 7:6-7; 8:4)

 

Hosea ministered during the closing years of the Northern Kingdom (753-25).

During these years, assassination, violence, and revolt permeated the land.

Six kings ruled in the last thirty years of Israel’s history (753-722).

Four of those last six kings were assassinated.[5]

Hosea surely refers to this rapid succession of rulers punctuated by “bloodbaths”[6] when he writes, “They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen” (7:7) and “They have set up kings, but not by me:  they have made princes, and I knew it not” (8:4).

The reference to Gilead being “polluted with blood” (6:8) may be a reference to II Kings 15:25, where Pekah employs 50 men of Gilead in his coup against Pekahiah.[7]

Violence also characterized the reign of Menahem (752-742).

Menahem not only slaughtered Shallum on his way to the throne, but he also ravaged the town of Tiphsah and savagely mutilated its pregnant women (II Ki. 15:16).

/B.

//The Lord of the covenant spurned (6:7; 8:14; 11:12;*[8]* 13:6)/

/ /

Hosea reveals that breaking the covenant stipulations constitutes unfaithfulness to God Himself (6:7).

1.

Israel had committed adultery against her “Husband” (1:2; 2:2, 5, 7; 4:15; 5:3-4; 9:1)

 

Hosea repeatedly pictures Israel’s unfaithfulness as adultery.

Of course, Hosea’s marriage was a living illustration of adultery.

Israel had committed adultery against Yahweh in that they had a “spirit of prostitution” that caused them to go a whoring after false gods (4:12; cf.

1:2).

The nature of this adultery is clearly presented in Hosea 4:13:  “They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms...”  Israel had gone after many lovers (2:5, 7), receiving and enjoying her “earnings” from harlotry (2:12; 9:1).[9]

One of these “lovers” included Baal, the Canaanite god of fertility and rain (2:8, 13, 17; 11:2; 13:1).

Israel practiced much of this spiritual “adultery” at Dan and Bethel, where Jeroboam I had set up golden calves for the people to worship (13:2).

Hosea reserves special condemnation for Bethel.

In a play on words, Hosea refers to Bethel (lit.

“house of God”) as Beth-Aven (“house of wickedness”; 4:15; 5:8; 10:5).

What was a “house of God” for Jacob had become a “house of wickedness” for Israel.

The charge of adultery against the people of God is not confined to the Old Testament.

In the New Testament, James reminds his recipients that /worldliness/ is a form of adultery (James 4:4).

2.

Israel had failed to “know” Him (4:1, 6; 5:4; 6:6)

 

In God’s opening charge against Israel, He indicts her for a lack of knowledge of God (4:1).

Knowledge here refers not so much to their theology (although that was surely faulty) as to their relationship with God.

In His covenant with Israel, God sought to secure the affections of His people, not just their obedience.

Hosea joins many other prophets in noting that one can offer gifts and sacrifices without having any true relationship with God (6:6; cf.

8:13).

God intended burnt offerings to be an /expression/ of one’s relationship with Him, not a substitute for it.

God does not desire cold-hearted, mechanical obedience.

God desires a heart relationship; He is unsatisfied with anything else.

3.

Israel had sought God for self-serving motives (7:14)

 

Furthermore, Hosea notes that when Israel had sought God, they had not /really sought Him/ (7:14; cf.

11:7).

They cry upon their bed, but it is not in true repentance.[10]

They assemble to fill their bellies, not their hearts.

Thus, God describes Israel as a “deceitful bow” that does not shoot where one aims (7:16).

Israel returns, but they do not return to the most High.

To seek God for self-serving motives is not to seek Him at all (cf.

John 6:26-27).

4.

Israel had turned to other nations (5:13; 7:8-11; 8:9-10; 12:1)

 

Biblical and secular history documents Israel’s turning to Assyria for help.

Menahem sought peace by making an alliance with King Pul (Tiglath-pileser III) of Assyria (II Ki. 15:19; cf.

Hos.

5:13).[11]

Hoshea, Israel’s last ruler, came to the throne with the help of Assyria,[12] claiming allegiance to Tiglath-pileser III.

Hoshea’s fickle political policy definitely resembled that of a silly dove (Hos.

7:11) that cannot make up his mind.

At least once, perhaps twice,[13] Hoshea rebelled against Assyria, looking to Egypt for help (II Ki. 17:4; Hos.