“Order in the Court”

Series: “God Speaks”

Text: Hosea 12

Introduction: (What?)

When a person is taken to court, the Judge will first read the charges against them and then ask, “How do you plead?”. In this passage God presents the charges against both the Northern and Southern kingdoms of Israel. The charges encompass the history of Israel up to this point. Included in the charges are the judgments that God enacted upon Israel. We must pay attention to what God judged in Israel and how He judged Israel. He has not changed. He still judges the same sins, but perhaps in different ways.

Examination: (Why?)

1. Hear Ye, Hear Ye! (vv 1-8)

Hosea 12:1-8 “Ephraim chases the wind and pursues the east wind. He continually multiplies lies and violence. He makes a covenant with Assyria, and olive oil is carried to Egypt. The Lord also has a dispute with Judah. He is about to punish Jacob according to his conduct; he will repay him based on his actions. In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel, and as an adult he wrestled with God. Jacob struggled with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favor. He found him at Bethel, and there he spoke with him. The Lord is the God of Armies; the Lord is his name. But you must return to your God. Maintain love and justice, and always put your hope in God. A merchant loves to extort with dishonest scales in his hands. But Ephraim thinks, “How rich I have become; I made it all myself. In all my earnings, no one can find any iniquity in me that I can be punished for!””

Idolatry didn’t pursue Ephraim, it was the other way around. Although God had blessed them, delivered them and prospered them, they looked at the pagan nations and began to yearn for what they had. “Pursuing the east wind” had to do with their seeking aid from Egypt, rather than trusting God as their provider. One translator uses the phrase “herds the wind”. In other words they were kow-towing to these pagan nations, seeking their favor. To kow-tow means “to kneel and touch the ground with the forehead”; a Chinese act of worship and extreme abeyance. We do this today as we adopt the behaviors and even the worship of pagan nations. We love to copy the exercise programs of the Chinese and Japanese and Koreans without realizing that many of them are part of their worship of their pagan gods.

The worship that pleases God is the same today as it was the day that Jesus told the woman at the well; John 4:23 “But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship him.” When we worship this way, we do not emulate any other individual or any other people group other than those God has approved. We are led by the Spirit of God to worship God in ways that please Him, regardless of what anyone else may be doing.

God then equated the nation Israel with Jacob, their spiritual father. Although he started out as a selfish, deceitful man, all that changed when he had a personal encounter with God in Gen 32: 22-31 “During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two slave women, and his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, along with all his possessions. Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he could not defeat him, he struck Jacob’s hip socket as they wrestled and dislocated his hip. Then he said to Jacob, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” “What is your name?” the man asked. “Jacob,” he replied. “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” he said. “It will be Israel because you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he answered, “Why do you ask my name?” And he blessed him there. Jacob then named the place Peniel, “For I have seen God face to face,” he said, “yet my life has been spared.” The sun shone on him as he passed by Penuel—limping because of his hip.”

John McArthur noted that in this passage from Hosea God is exhorting Israel to follow the example of Jacob of persevering in prayer. I wonder how many of us give up when it seems that our prayers are not being answered. In Luke 18:1 Jesus told His disciples a principle that He highlighted through the story of the woman who would give the judge no rest. “Now he told them a parable on the need for them to pray always and not give up.” Had Jacob given up when God struck his hip, his name would not have been changed to Israel and the history of the nation Israel would be much different from what we know today.

In Hos 12:7-8 we see a picture of our own country today. “A merchant loves to extort with dishonest scales in his hands. But Ephraim thinks, “How rich I have become; I made it all myself. In all my earnings, no one can find any iniquity in me that I can be punished for!”” Just as Israel did in that day, America has become materialistic and proud of it.

2. The Verdict is in (vv 9-11)

Hosea 12:9-11 “I have been the Lord your God ever since the land of Egypt. I will make you live in tents again, as in the festival days. I will speak through the prophets and grant many visions; I will give parables through the prophets. Since Gilead is full of evil, they will certainly come to nothing. They sacrifice bulls in Gilgal; even their altars will be like piles of rocks on the furrows of a field.”

In Lev 23:39-43 God established an annual festival to help Israel remember the Exodus. ““You are to celebrate the Lord’s festival on the fifteenth day of the seventh month for seven days after you have gathered the produce of the land. There will be complete rest on the first day and complete rest on the eighth day. On the first day you are to take the product of majestic trees—palm fronds, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook—and rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. You are to celebrate it as a festival to the Lord seven days each year. This is a permanent statute for you throughout your generations; celebrate it in the seventh month. You are to live in shelters for seven days. All the native-born of Israel must live in shelters, so that your generations may know that I made the Israelites live in shelters when I brought them out of the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.””

This celebration is still carried on in Israel today. It is called Sukkot which means “temporary hut or dwelling”. It brings to mind both God’s provision for Israel during the Exodus and the practice of Jewish farmers of dwelling in tents near their crop when harvest time was upon them. It is celebrated every year 5 days after Rosh Hoshanna (during the time of the fall harvest). In 2021 it was celebrated Sept. 20-27. When I was in Israel it was just before Sukkot. Already people were setting up booths or tents on their balcony or on the roof of their houses. We passed a store where you could buy a tabernacle made from PVC pipe and linen cloth.

I think the principle here is that “if we don’t learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it.” (Santana). God wanted Israel to remember His protection and provision for them during the Exodus to remind them that He is the same protector and provider today. Instead Israel chose to trust pagan nations rather than God. Israel did not sin out of ignorance. God had sent his prophets to remind them of His Words and activity on their behalf. Their sin, like ours today, was out of defiance of God’s revealed Word.

in Hosea 12:10b-11 God exposed the idolatry of Israel. “Since Gilead is full of evil, they will certainly come to nothing. They sacrifice bulls in Gilgal (heap of stones); even their altars will be like piles of rocks on the furrows of a field.” When you see a field in Israel today, you will find piles of rocks that have been removed so the ground could be cultivated and crops planted. God, through Hosea was reminding them that their “altars” were no more than piles of rocks, and no good could come from them.

We have holidays that we celebrate that at one time reminded us of the goodness of God; His protection and provision (Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, Independence Day, etc.) Unfortunately we have forgotten why the celebrations were established. We use them as an excuse for partying, excessive eating and drinking and binge watching sports. In Deut 6:12 God said,“be careful not to forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.” In our day perhaps it should read, “be careful not to forget the blessings that God has poured out on America.”

3. No Place to Hide (vv 12-14)

Hosea 12:12-14 “Jacob fled to the territory of Aram. Israel worked to earn a wife; he tended flocks for a wife. The Lord brought Israel from Egypt by a prophet, and Israel was tended by a prophet. Ephraim has provoked bitter anger, so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him and repay him for his contempt.”

God reminded Israel of Jacob being on the run lest his brother Esau find him and take revenge for Jacob’s deceit. Also God reminded them of the 14 years that Jacob (Israel) worked as a shepherd (a lowly position) for his wives. Then He shifted to Moses leading them out of bondage in Egypt. Although this should have caused Ephraim (Israel) to acknowledge their total dependence on God, instead they were so puffed up with pride that they did not repent.

In America today we love to laud the “self-made” person. We like to celebrate our accomplishments and wealth without acknowledging that God either allowed or enabled us to be successful.

Application: (How and what can I learn from this message?)

We must learn from God’s Word to Israel in this passage. Especially we must recall Hosea 12:5-6 “The Lord is the God of Armies; the Lord is his name. But you must return to your God. Maintain love and justice, and always put your hope in God.”

We must...

cease using God’s name as a by-word or oath. Stop texting OMG.

Return to God in repentance.

Love and seek justice for everyone. Remember Micah 6:8 “Mankind, he has told each of you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.”