1 Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. 3 For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. Psalms 95:1-3 (NIV)
The end of Hosea Five gives us a glimmer of hope that God and His Israel, despite their sin and His wrath, might yet be happily reconciled together once again if they would but admit their guilt and turn and seek His face. God states in their misery they would earnestly seek Him:
15 “Then I will go back to my place until they admit their guilt. And they will seek my face; in their misery they will earnestly seek me.” Hosea 5:15 (NIV)
Isn’t it sad but oh so true that we often don’t earnestly seek Him unless our circumstances become so unbearably miserable that we finally realize we can’t handle it? When all the while what we need to realize is we can NEVER handle it apart from His power and strength! Whenever I teach I am always looking for take-a-ways and applications we can make to our lives so that we will be a changed people both for our good and His glory. We should never study the Word of God and remain unchanged rather we are to be ever conforming ourselves to the image of Jesus. My approach to Hosea is no different.
We discover in the beginning of our passage for today that Chapter Six carries God’s glimmer of hope a bit further. The words written in verses 1-3 could be the words of the Prophet to the people calling them to repentance or as the words of the people calling one another to repentance. Either way, it appears at first blush to be a call to return to the Lord for healing, restoration and a pressing forward to know Him further:
1 “Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. 2 After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. 3 Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.” Hosea 6:1-3 (NIV)
This is such an important point for us as well. Jesus tells us all:
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)
37 On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” John 7:37-38 (NIV)
37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. John 6:37 (NIV)
I am also reminded of Paul’s words to the Philippians regarding his pursuit of knowledge of Jesus:
7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Philippians 3:7-11 (NIV)
“It would be hard to find a more forceful refutation of human effort to please God than what Paul presented here. In exchange for confidence in the flesh, Paul gained the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus personally. Christ was now his Lord. His former ‘gains’ he considered ‘rubbish’ (which can mean food scraps or dung) so that he might gain Christ. Nothing else really mattered to him any longer. Having Christ as his Savior and Lord so far surpassed anything he had in Judaism.” Bible Knowledge Commentary
This, of course, is the position Christ desires in each of our lives. He is to be number one and all else falls under His Lordship. This is freedom btw ladies and out of it flows abundant life – the life Jesus died to give us. In the same sense, God was to be number One in the Israelites life. It was He that was to be their Power, Strength, Rock, Sufficiency and their all in all.
God is ever looking for the repentant heart. The Israelites were steeped in sin – cursing, lying, murder, stealing, adultery, drunkenness, evil and treachery, assassinations, failure to seek God’s faith, slander against Him – and to make matters worse, the people seemed to think that if they went through formal religious rituals God would sweep all their sin under the carpet and pour out His richest blessings upon them. Indeed, one of the most precious promises in the Word of God states:
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:8-9 (NIV)
The key word to take note of is the word “confess”, which literally means “to say together with”. Confession of sins means agreeing with God’s verdict on them and admitting them to Him in specific detail. The people were to “take words” to God, not merely vague concepts. They were to name their sins, not smother them under religious phrases and their response fell woefully short of this. At first glance in verses 1-3 seems fine and appears to speak of genuine turning to God. Yet vital elements are missing. There is no sense of guilt and no confession of sin, but merely acknowledgement of the mess and pain that sin has caused. To make matters worse, there is the presumption that in response God would come running and take care of all their problems. They were confident that if they went through the motions of worship God would respond very quickly. They were equally sure that God’s forgiveness was as certain as the rising of the sun and the coming of spring rains. Isn’t it interesting that we are so ever ready to claim His promises and blessings yet ever slow to change our ways to His ways. Many promises of Scripture carries with them “if” clauses and are conditional to our hearts. Oftentimes, we disregard that. What God is looking for and will not despise is a broken and contrite heart over our sin not merely a broken heart over the consequence:
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Psalms 51:17 (NIV)
It was the Israelites rebellion for which He had smitten them and they could not expect to be rightfully reconciled to Him until they turned from their rebellion to Him. It is always in our willful decision to turn to Him that He indeed will turn us. He will bind up our wounds and He will heal us, revive us and restore us that we may live in His presence. Some think that this points particularly to the return of the Jews out of Babylon but this seems also to have a further reference to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ by foreshadowing Christ’s rising on the third day, for all the Prophets testified of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that would follow. Though they might not be aware of this mystery in the words, yet now they are fulfilled to the letter in the resurrection of Christ. It is suitable that a prophecy of Christ’s rising should be thus expressed, as He will revive us and restore us in His presence as we stand in His imputed righteousness. When Christ returns in mercy to His people He will give us more knowledge of Himself as the Prophet Isaiah states:
9 They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Isaiah 11:9 (NIV)
Our knowledge will one day be perfected and yet be eternally increasing as well. Christ has gone back to His place yet He will return to us like the winter and spring rains which water the earth, refreshing it and making it fruitful. Their one day deliverance from captivity would have its full accomplishment in Christ and the grace of the Gospel. When it states in verse three “let us press on” it literally means to pursue or chase suggesting intensity of a newfound devotion. That is exactly what Jesus wants from each of us – a pursuit of Him because of devotion to Him.
In verses four through eleven of Hosea Chapter Six, God charges Ephraim (Israel) and Judah for two evil things: being unstable and being unfaithful. God asks: “What can I do with you?” Their love to Him was like the morning mist demonstrating how unstable and fickle it was. They called on Him when they needed Him. The good that would sometimes appear in them would vanish like the morning mist and the early dew. This fickle and feigned love will never be either pleasing to God or profitable to ourselves. When men promise well and do not perform, when they are unsteady, uneven, and inconstant it makes them as early dew which vanishes. We are to watch our walks well. It matters greatly how we live our lives. Are we capricious in our love for God? Do we walk the fence between the world and the Lord? Remember we cannot serve two masters. Jesus tells us:
24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” Matthew 6:24 (NIV)
The word rendered “Money” here is a comprehensive word for every kind of valuable or material good. Again, it is priority that God is teaching us. He is to be number One.
“Living for his own pleasure is the least pleasurable thing a man can do; if his neighbors don’t kill him in disgust, he will die slowly of boredom and lovelessness.” Joy Davidman (wife of C.S. Lewis)
“The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this, and could not contradict him, but they sneered at him. Let us consider this as their sin, and the fruit of their covetousness, which was their primary sin. Many who make a great profession of religion and abound in the exercise of devotion, are yet ruined by the love of the world. These covetous Pharisees could not bear to have that touched, which was their Delilah, their darling lust; for this they derided him, they turned up their noses at him, or blew their noses on him. It is an expression of the utmost scorn and disdain imaginable. They laughed at him for going so contrary to the opinion and way of the world. It is common for those to make a joke of the word of God who are resolved that they will not be ruled by it.” Matthew Henry
And this is true. It has been said that the only cure for hedonism (the pursuit of pleasure as the chief good) is to try and practice it. It is living horizontally not vertically. It is a worldview that omits God. When we see God for Who He is we will see the world for what it is.
Read Michael Youssef’s handout.
God states that He will cut them into pieces. The hearts of sinners are as rough as stone, which requires a great deal of pains to bring them into shape, or as knotty timber, that is not squared without a great deal of difficulty. God’s Word rebukes the wayward sharply. The Word cuts and often flies in the face of the reproved because the Word is Truth and Light and penetrating:
12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Hebrews 4:12-13 (NIV)
Our reaction to Truth is to change not to stop reading and turn from it. Scripture states:
6 Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses. Proverbs 27:6 (NIV)
Notice God states that “I killed you with the Words of My mouth”. Our actions are held in the light of God’s Word. We do not want to be weighed on the scales and found wanting sweet ones. The prophets had taken great pains in speaking Truth to the Israelites but the means used did not have the desired effect which is a changed heart. Now they could not charge God with severity if He brings upon them the miseries He threatened. We may not always follow through as parents, but God always follows through.
The Israelites and Judah had not remained faithful to God’s covenant with them. He desired mercy (love), the reigning love of God and our neighbor. The fleshing out of the power of Godliness is the main thing God looks at and requires. It is not so much what we espouse but what we flesh out. Without it, the form of rituals i.e. sacrifices and burnt offerings are of no use. A perfect example of this is found in Jeremiah:
3 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. 4 Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!” 5 If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, 6 if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, 7 then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever. 8 But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless. 9 “‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, ‘We are safe’--safe to do all these detestable things? 11 Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching!” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 7:3-11 (NIV)
21 “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves! 22 For when I brought your forefathers out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, 23 but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you. 24 But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.’” Jeremiah 7:21-24 (NIV)
The Israelites and Judah wrongly assumed that the Temple was their safety net because God was there. It became almost as an idol for them in their hearts. Much akin to the grace abusers of our day, they wrongly assumed they could live however they chose and remain safe to do the detestable and God says “No Way!” That’s not how it works. He did not want them to be related to Him merely in a ritualistic way, rather inwardly – in their hearts - to obey because they desired to, because they trusted Him, and because they trusted His ways as the best for their lives. Yet, they remained unwilling to listen to Him, unwilling to walk in His ways or heed His warnings rather they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. Oh Lord keep us from this and help us to keep our accounts short! Remember the words of the Prophet Micah:
8 He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8 (NIV)
“How little they had regarded this covenant! There were good things entrusted to them to keep, the jewels of mercy and piety, and the knowledge of God, in the cabinet of sacrifice and burnt offering, but they betrayed their trust, kept the cabinet, but pawned the jewels for the gratification of a wicked lust, and this is that for which God has justly a quarrel with them.” Matthew Henry
“We are never in greater danger than when we assume that God will always forgive us as long as we go through the outward forms of repentance.” James Montgomery Boice
Like Adam they had broken the covenant as he had broken the covenant of innocence, so they broke the covenant of grace. Sadly, man’s propensity is to be unfaithful. Dealing treacherously with God is here called dealing treacherously against Him, for it is both an insult and an opposition.
Widespread physical violence was just one example of the people’s unfaithfulness. These cities refers to the worst sort of men, who actively oppose righteousness and are the objects of God's hatred. In this case they were guilty of murder. The city streets are pictured as being tracked with blood from the murderers' sandals. The figurative language emphasizes both the extent and certainty of their guilt. They were workers of iniquity and also guilty of oppressing the poor. The priests failed to teach and were also involved in social exploitation.
Ramoth Gilead and Shechem are well chosen. Joshua had designated that both of these towns to be cities of refuge, where manslayers could find asylum until found guilty or non-guilty. In this way the land would be spared outbreaks of bloodshed, and justice would be promoted. Ironically in Hosea's day these cities had become associated with bloodshed and injustice.
The priests’ crimes were shameful. Elsewhere the word translated “shameful” is used of the vilest sexual sins, including incest, cult prostitution, rape, and adultery. This sexual connotation is probably applicable here because the priests' breach of covenant is likened to prostitution in verse 10 of Chapter Six.
The nation's sin is described in powerful figurative language. The widespread breach of covenant was a horrible thing. Jeremiah used a related term to describe rotten figs that are inedible. Israel had become defiled by her prostitution, that is, her unfaithfulness to the Lord. Sadly, the comparison of judgment to a harvest emphasizes its certainty (appointed) and its thoroughness.
In the beginning of Chapter Seven we see what God had graciously planned to do for them. He would have healed Israel. He would have reformed them. He would have purged out the corruptions that were among them. He would have delivered them out of their troubles, and restored them their peace and prosperity. It was their own folly which prevented His best. Oh Lord keep us from this as well. They fought against His best. When endeavors were used to reform them vice grew more outrageous. They pretend with God in their profession of repentance. To say “I’m sorry” yet remain the same is not true repentance. True repentance demands change – a turning from the sin back to God. In all actuality it essentially denotes movement back to the point of departure. Theologically, to repent is to undergo a moral reorientation of the soul in which one acknowledges the error of his ways and turns toward the divinely prescribed way of truth and righteousness. Paul states in Acts when speaking to King Agrippa:
19 “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. 20 First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.” Acts 26:19-20 (NIV)
A practical disbelief of God’s omniscience and government was at the bottom of their wickedness. They did not realize that God remembered all their evil deeds. He simply doesn’t conveniently forget or wink at unrepentant sins. This is the sinner’s atheism; it is the same to say that there is no God as to say that He is either ignorant or forgetful. Yet the time will surely come when those who thus deceive themselves shall be undeceived.
13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Hebrews 4:13 (NIV)
Robbing one another stood as an example of their wickedness as well as a punishment of their sin as they became infested with secret thieves among themselves and bandits who with open violence robbed in the streets. Their adultery burned like an oven whose fire need not be stirred. Kings and princes were pleased with the wickedness of their subjects and drunkenness and reveling abounded much at the court as we discover in verse 5:
5 On the day of the festival of our king the princes become inflamed with wine, and he joins hands with the mockers. Hosea 7:5 (NIV)
Remember a fish rots from the head down. Here we see that he who was entrusted with the government became intoxicated and enflamed with wine and joined hands with the mockers thereby sadly losing the government of himself. Proverbs states:
28 Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control. Proverbs 25:28 (NIV)
Adultery and uncleanness prevailed much among the leaders spoken of in verses 4, 6, and 7. And the charge of drunkenness comes in the midst of this as wine is the oil to the fire of lust. Adulterers are again compared to an oven heated by the baker. An unclean heart is like an oven heated. The baker kindled a fire in his oven and laid sufficient fuel in it. In the morning he finds his oven well heated, and ready for his purpose. So these wicked people, when they have formed a plot for the gratifying of some covetous or unclean lusts, have their hearts so fully determined to do evil that, though they may stifle them for a while, yet the fire is still glowing within, and, as soon as there is an opportunity for it, their purposes break out into open acts, as a fire flames out when it has vent given it. Interestingly, we seem so quick to put out the Spirit’s fire yet we fan our lusts into flame. This is so reminiscent of James’ words:
13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. James 1:13-15 (NIV)
They resisted the proper methods of reformation by devouring the few good judges and rulers among them who would have quenched those evil fires. All their kings had fallen one after another and their families with them which had to have put the kingdom into a total confusion and in the middle of all this disorder, Scripture states, there is none among them that calls on God.
Instead of being separate they blend with the surrounding nations of which God had warned them again and again against doing. They mingled, associated closely and became like them losing their distinct character and they went up and down the nations seeking help from their arms of flesh. They became strangely insensitive to the judgments of God which slowly drew them to the ruin of their state. Like a frog in boiling water they seem to remain arrogant and unaware of God’s pending judgment their hearts remaining unhumbled. Indeed Scripture tells us they are as a flat cake not turned over.
Spurgeon June 23 Morning
Although they suffer from going astray and continue to have dealings with those who dealt cruelly with them, they do not think of turning to God in genuine repentance. They seem to be without understanding drawing alliances with neighboring nations who brought about their ruin. They threw themselves out of God’s protection and called on Egypt and Assyria for aid and became ensnared. They rebelled against God despite the methods He took to retain them running away from Him as if He were the dangerous enemy. How foolish! Deuteronomy tells us:
39 “See now that I myself am He! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand.” Deuteronomy 32:39 (NIV)
The Psalmist writes:
7 They say, “The Lord does not see; the God of Jacob pays no heed.” 8 Take heed, you senseless ones among the people; you fools, when will you become wise? 9 Does he who implanted the ear not hear? Does he who formed the eye not see? 10 Does he who disciplines nations not punish? Does he who teaches man lack knowledge? 11 The Lord knows the thoughts of man; he knows that they are futile. Psalms 94:7-11 (NIV)
God had given the Israelites His laws, which were all hoy, just, and good, by which He intended to keep them on the right path – for their good and His glory – but they transgressed against Him. They rejected His messages sent to them through His prophets. In their hypocritical professions of religious faith and promises of a reformed life, they lied to the Lord. He had good intentions for them, but they imagined mischief against Him. Sin is evil and troublesome; it is troublesome against God; it is treason. Punishment is assured.
They pretended to be devout but this devotion was insincere. When they were suffering personal troubles and called on God it was without sincerity. They perhaps used good words but it was not a cry of their hearts therefore God did not consider it a true crying out to Him. They basically just wanted relief from their woes. They howled from their beds suggesting the noisiness of their prayers. These prayers were not to take away their sins but to restore their wine and corn. Worldly hearts seek only temporal mercies and dread nothing except temporal judgments. They act as if they were going to return to God yet their pretense made them as a deceitful, faulty bow which is thought to be fit for use yet breaks when pressure is placed on it. Jeremiah tells us of true repentance:
1 “If you will return, O Israel, return to me,” declares the Lord. “If you put your detestable idols out of my sight and no longer go astray, 2 and if in a truthful, just and righteous way you swear, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’ then the nations will be blessed by him and in him they will glory.” Jeremiah 4:1-2 (NIV)
10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.” The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity. 11 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; 12 let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; 13 they will sing before the Lord, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth. Psalms 96:10-13 (NIV)
These are Beth’s personal notes, due to this fact sources are not often stated.