Hosea: God's redeeming love, Pt. II
Notes
Transcript
Handout
God’s redeeming love
God’s redeeming love
From a narrative to an overview we have looked at God’s redeeming love the last couple of weeks, here is a reminder or two before we get into this mornings lesson.
(Insert God’s-redeeming-love picture here)
Hosea was a prophet to Israel (Northern kingdom)
Hosea came on the seen as Amos was leaving the scene (about 750-725BC)
Through picture of Hosea and Gomer it is a picture of God and unfaithful Israel.
It was an expression of God’s redeeming love
What we have looked at beyond the narrative we have seen.
Israel’s rejection symbolized by Hosea and Gomer’s children’s names (1:2-9)
Name son Jezreel “God Scatters” (1:4)
Daughter of harlotry Lo-Ruhamah “No mercy” (1:6)
Son of whoredome, Lo-Ammi “Not my people” (1:8-9)
Israel’s restoration was foretold (1:10-2:1)
The restoration of the unfaithful people was going to happen, they will return to God (1:10-11)
Israel’s unfaithfulness described (2:2-13)
Harlotry (2:2, 5)
Children of harlotry (2:4)
Idol worship (2:12-13)
Israel’s restoration described (2:14-23)
i will allure (draw her) to Me (2:14)
I will make covenant for them (2:17); I will betroth forever to Me (2:19)
I will bring in those who were not My people (2:23)
Israel’s restoration symbolized (3:1-5)
God will love even the unlovable (3:1-2)
The unfaithful will return and seek the Lord and His goodness (3:5)
(Transition) so today as we continue our series and our focus for the next few weeks in Hosea here is what we are looking at.
A quick overview of what is coming in the next three weeks.
God’s Indictment (4:1-7-16)
God’s warning (8:1-10:15)
God’s promise (11:1-14:9)
Our passage is long and we want to break it down as we go and pull a few things from it, so grab your bible and let’s survey together.
The Indictment
The Indictment
An indictment is the a formal charge, accusation of a serious crime. A thing that serves to illustrate a system or situation that is bad and should be condemned. (Oxford dictionary)
Charges against the nation (4:1-3)
1 Listen to the word of the Lord, O sons of Israel, For the Lord has a case against the inhabitants of the land, Because there is no faithfulness or kindness Or knowledge of God in the land. 2 There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing and adultery. They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed.
3 Therefore the land mourns, And everyone who lives in it languishes Along with the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky, And also the fish of the sea disappear.
What are the charges that you see (vv.1-2)?
(No faithfulness, no kindness, no knowledge of God, swearing, deception, murder, stealing, adultery, violence, bloodshed.)
For there is no truth, no mercy or knowledge of God
All forms of wickedness are rampant
Charges against the priests (Hos4:4-14)
4 Yet let no one find fault, and let none offer reproof; For your people are like those who contend with the priest. 5 So you will stumble by day, And the prophet also will stumble with you by night; And I will destroy your mother.
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
7 The more they multiplied, the more they sinned against Me; I will change their glory into shame. 8 They feed on the sin of My people And direct their desire toward their iniquity.
9 And it will be, like people, like priest; So I will punish them for their ways And repay them for their deeds. 10 They will eat, but not have enough; They will play the harlot, but not increase, Because they have stopped giving heed to the Lord.
11 Harlotry, wine and new wine take away the understanding. 12 My people consult their wooden idol, and their diviner’s wand informs them; For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray, And they have played the harlot, departing from their God.
13 They offer sacrifices on the tops of the mountains And burn incense on the hills, Under oak, poplar and terebinth, Because their shade is pleasant. Therefore your daughters play the harlot And your brides commit adultery.
14 I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot Or your brides when they commit adultery, For the men themselves go apart with harlots And offer sacrifices with temple prostitutes; So the people without understanding are ruined.
Question: Why do you think God is bringing an indictment against the priest, the prophet’s?
The priests have rejected knowledge, to their own destruction.
The priest live off the sin of the people, the more sin, the more they benefit for the sacrifices, while yet they are spiritual adulterers too.
Charges, word of judgment to Judah (4:15-19)
15 Though you, Israel, play the harlot, Do not let Judah become guilty; Also do not go to Gilgal, Or go up to Beth-aven And take the oath: “As the Lord lives!”
16 Since Israel is stubborn Like a stubborn heifer, Can the Lord now pasture them Like a lamb in a large field?
17 Ephraim is joined to idols; Let him alone. 18 Their liquor gone, They play the harlot continually; Their rulers dearly love shame. 19 The wind wraps them in its wings, And they will be ashamed because of their sacrifices.
In looking at (vv.15-19) do you see the warning?
Do not become like them (v.15)
Do not go up there (v.15)
Let them alone (v.17)
A word against the priests, rulers and the people (Hos5:1-7)
1 Hear this, O priests! Give heed, O house of Israel! Listen, O house of the king! For the judgment applies to you, For you have been a snare at Mizpah And a net spread out on Tabor. 2 The revolters have gone deep in depravity, But I will chastise all of them.
3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me; For now, O Ephraim, you have played the harlot, Israel has defiled itself. 4 Their deeds will not allow them To return to their God. For a spirit of harlotry is within them, And they do not know the Lord.
5 Moreover, the pride of Israel testifies against him, And Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity; Judah also has stumbled with them. 6 They will go with their flocks and herds To seek the Lord, but they will not find Him; He has withdrawn from them.
7 They have dealt treacherously against the Lord, For they have borne illegitimate children. Now the new moon will devour them with their land.
This is now going back to Israel, but with Judah in sight too as a warning to them.
Listen, give heed for this judgment is against you (v.1)
You are revolters, in deep depravity, I will chastise you for playing the harlot. You have defiled yourself (vv.2-3)
They do not know the Lord, they have a spirit of harlotry upon them, their pride is evident and will keep them from returning, and it is making Judah to stumble too. (vv.4-5)
They will look for the Lord, but they will not find Him, He has withdrawn Himself. They have dealt treacherously against the Lord (vv.6-7)
A word about the impending sentence (5:8-15)
8 Blow the horn in Gibeah, The trumpet in Ramah. Sound an alarm at Beth-aven: “Behind you, Benjamin!” 9 Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke; Among the tribes of Israel I declare what is sure.
10 The princes of Judah have become like those who move a boundary; On them I will pour out My wrath like water. 11 Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, Because he was determined to follow man’s command.
12 Therefore I am like a moth to Ephraim And like rottenness to the house of Judah. 13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, And Judah his wound, Then Ephraim went to Assyria And sent to King Jareb. But he is unable to heal you, Or to cure you of your wound.
14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim And like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear to pieces and go away, I will carry away, and there will be none to deliver.
15 I will go away and return to My place Until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.
What is the promised judgment (v.9); then in (v.14) too?
They are going into judgment, they will be left in desolation, it is going to be, and cannot be escaped.
they were going to be torn into pieces like a lion kills it’s prey and then leave the rest
What is the promise found in (v.15)?
I am going to leave you until you repent of the guilt of your sin, and then you will earnestly seek Me.
(Transition) From the charges to a rejected appeal now (6:1-7:16) - this too is too big a section, we will break it down into a couple of portions in context.
Appeal rejected (6:1-3)
There are several views on this section.
Hosea is calling for Israel to repent
Israel is using words of repentance without a heart of repentance, let’s look together.
1 “Come, let us return to the Lord. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. 2 “He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, That we may live before Him.
3 “So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, Like the spring rain watering the earth.”
Either way it shows the shallowness of Israel in need of repentance or lack of heart toward repentance.
Appeal rejected because of heart condition of Israel (6:4-7:16)
4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning cloud And like the dew which goes away early. 5 Therefore I have hewn them in pieces by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth; And the judgments on you are like the light that goes forth.
6 For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. 7 But like Adam they have transgressed the covenant; There they have dealt treacherously against Me.
8 Gilead is a city of wrongdoers, Tracked with bloody footprints. 9 And as raiders wait for a man, So a band of priests murder on the way to Shechem; Surely they have committed crime.
10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing; Ephraim’s harlotry is there, Israel has defiled itself. 11 Also, O Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you, When I restore the fortunes of My people.
I want to press on with all of it, then will draw a few points from it, so stay with me.
1 When I would heal Israel, The iniquity of Ephraim is uncovered, And the evil deeds of Samaria, For they deal falsely; The thief enters in, Bandits raid outside,
2 And they do not consider in their hearts That I remember all their wickedness. Now their deeds are all around them; They are before My face. 3 With their wickedness they make the king glad, And the princes with their lies.
4 They are all adulterers, Like an oven heated by the baker Who ceases to stir up the fire From the kneading of the dough until it is leavened. 5 On the day of our king, the princes became sick with the heat of wine; He stretched out his hand with scoffers,
6 For their hearts are like an oven As they approach their plotting; Their anger smolders all night, In the morning it burns like a flaming fire.
7 All of them are hot like an oven, And they consume their rulers; All their kings have fallen. None of them calls on Me. 8 Ephraim mixes himself with the nations; Ephraim has become a cake not turned.
9 Strangers devour his strength, Yet he does not know it; Gray hairs also are sprinkled on him, Yet he does not know it. 10 Though the pride of Israel testifies against him, Yet they have not returned to the Lord their God, Nor have they sought Him, for all this.
11 So Ephraim has become like a silly dove, without sense; They call to Egypt, they go to Assyria. 12 When they go, I will spread My net over them; I will bring them down like the birds of the sky. I will chastise them in accordance with the proclamation to their assembly.
13 Woe to them, for they have strayed from Me! Destruction is theirs, for they have rebelled against Me! I would redeem them, but they speak lies against Me. 14 And they do not cry to Me from their heart When they wail on their beds; For the sake of grain and new wine they assemble themselves, They turn away from Me.
15 Although I trained and strengthened their arms, Yet they devise evil against Me. 16 They turn, but not upward, They are like a deceitful bow; Their princes will fall by the sword Because of the insolence of their tongue. This will be their derision in the land of Egypt.
Their loyalty is not long lasting, it is like a morning cloud, early dew (6:4)
They offer sacrifices but they did not truly know God, they were just going through the motions (6:5-6)
They have broken covenant (6:7)
The bring violence (6:8-9)
Hold on Judah, there is a harvest coming when there is restoration (v.10-11)
When there would/could be healing there was no for transgressions progressed (7:1-3)
In (vv.4-12) there is more description of the sin
The sin is great and heartbreaking to God bringing on God’s wrath (vv.13-16)
I would redeem them, but they speak lies.
They cry but not the God, but for they want more things (new wine, grain, etc)
I gave them strength, but they used it to devise evil against Me.
they turn, but not upward to Me, this is going to be their downfall, for they are like a deceitful bow, and will fall by the sword.
(Transition) in a quick summary of all that we looked at in 2 minutes or less:
My people are destroyed by lack of knowledge (4:1,6) - don’t be caught dead without true knowledge, know God’s word and apply it (think of Jm1:21)
Let them alone, Ephraim (Israel) is joined to Idols (consider Hos4:17)
There are times of withdrawing so the flesh can be destroyed and the soul be saved (see 1Cor5:11-13)
Your faithfulness is like the morning cloud, the morning dew, it is not lasting (Hos6:4)
Many can claim repentance but do not put that repentance into action so there is no real repentance. Sounds good up front but there is no change of direction
I desire mercy and not sacrifice (Hos6:6) even quoted by Jesus (Mt9:13, 12:7) He wants the heart not just the hands
some other scriptures you can note down on this (Pro21:1) and Micah expounded on this too (Mic6:6-8 ).
They do not consider in their hearts that I remember (Hos7:2)
People sin as there is no God or that God does not see what they are doing.
Israel (Ephraim) has mixed with other peoples (Hos7:8)
They had been corrupted by association with wrong people. Remember bab company corrupts good morals (1Cor15:33)
I think that is plenty to think on to consider in our survey of these chapters from Hosea.
These words we can take as words of admonition and learning!
(Prayer) (Exit)