HOSEA—PROPHET OF GRAPHIC INTROSPECTION
#682 HOSEA—PROPHET OF GRAPHIC INTROSPECTION
Scripture Hosea 2:1-23, NIV
Orig. 10/26/1977
Passage: [a]“Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’ and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’
Israel Punished and Restored
2 “Rebuke your mother, rebuke her,
for she is not my wife,
and I am not her husband.
Let her remove the adulterous look from her face
and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.
3 Otherwise I will strip her naked
and make her as bare as on the day she was born;
I will make her like a desert,
turn her into a parched land,
and slay her with thirst.
4 I will not show my love to her children,
because they are the children of adultery.
5 Their mother has been unfaithful
and has conceived them in disgrace.
She said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
who give me my food and my water,
my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink.’
6 Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes;
I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.
7 She will chase after her lovers but not catch them;
she will look for them but not find them.
Then she will say,
‘I will go back to my husband as at first,
for then I was better off than now.’
8 She has not acknowledged that I was the one
who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil,
who lavished on her the silver and gold—
which they used for Baal.
9 “Therefore I will take away my grain when it ripens,
and my new wine when it is ready.
I will take back my wool and my linen,
intended to cover her naked body.
10 So now I will expose her lewdness
before the eyes of her lovers;
no one will take her out of my hands.
11 I will stop all her celebrations:
her yearly festivals, her New Moons,
her Sabbath days—all her appointed festivals.
12 I will ruin her vines and her fig trees,
which she said were her pay from her lovers;
I will make them a thicket,
and wild animals will devour them.
13 I will punish her for the days
she burned incense to the Baals;
she decked herself with rings and jewelry,
and went after her lovers,
but me she forgot,”
declares the Lord.
14 “Therefore I am now going to allure her;
I will lead her into the wilderness
and speak tenderly to her.
15 There I will give her back her vineyards,
and will make the Valley of Achor[b] a door of hope.
There she will respond[c] as in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
16 “In that day,” declares the Lord,
“you will call me ‘my husband’;
you will no longer call me ‘my master.[d]’
17 I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips;
no longer will their names be invoked.
18 In that day I will make a covenant for them
with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky
and the creatures that move along the ground.
Bow and sword and battle
I will abolish from the land,
so that all may lie down in safety.
19 I will betroth you to me forever;
I will betroth you in[e] righteousness and justice,
in[f] love and compassion.
20 I will betroth you in[g] faithfulness,
and you will acknowledge the Lord.
21 “In that day I will respond,”
declares the Lord—
“I will respond to the skies,
and they will respond to the earth;
22 and the earth will respond to the grain,
the new wine and the olive oil,
and they will respond to Jezreel.[h]
23 I will plant her for myself in the land;
I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.[i]’
I will say to those called ‘Not my people,[j]’ ‘You are my people’;
and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”
Introduction
Approximately half a life-time would pass between the death of Jeroboam II and the Assyrian invasion that would spell the end of the northern kingdom. Hosea, then, probably reached adulthood soon before the death of that king. He was sensitive enough to know what was going on among the people. Little could he imagine, however, that he would be called upon to be the prophet of graphic introspection. Hosea would be called upon to do things for the purpose of spiritual introspection for the nation.
Because they [would be] unfaithful brides, Hosea would be called upon to wed a woman of harlotry. Because God’s spiritual children were being directed to the gods of the nations, the prophet’s children, at least the children of the prophet’s wife, would be given names by which Hosea would call them, that proved that they were not his children. Because the nation had chased off after other lovers, Hosea would stand by helplessly as his wife left him to return to his lovers of the past. It would be commonly accepted knowledge the wife of the prophet was unfaithful to him and publicly flaunted it.
Finally, because God was in the business of bringing His people to repentance, and because He would willingly receive them back to Himself again, the prophet would willingly open his life again to this woman without virtue who comes back to him only when she has nowhere else to go. And Hosea would do it all gladly, so that the people would understand the love of God.
I. Hosea’s Marriage: The Symbol of Crisis, Chapters 1-3.
Hosea’s character is questioned. Gomer was his chosen bride. Her harlotry could have preceded. It could have followed her marriage.
The children of the union [were] Jezreel (“God shall sow”), Lo-ruhamah (“not loved” [or] “no mercy”), and Loammi (“not my people”).
The names of the two children are called back to our attention in chapter 2. “Say to your brothers, ‘My people’; to your sisters, ‘Objects of my mercy.’” 2:22f, “The fruit of the earth shall answer for Jezreel. Israel shall be my new sowing in the land, and I will show love to Lo-ruhamah, and say to Loammi, ‘You are my people,’ and he will say, ‘Thou art my God’” (NEB). And in 14:3, “Neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, ‘Ye are our gods’; for in Thee the fatherless find mercy.”
No way this could be an allegory. Certainly much can be made of the symbolic names. No symbolism in using "Gomer.” A prophet was chosen in whose life and experience the sin of the nation could be revealed.
Dealing with sin realistically: Gomer has sinned and she must pay. The nation likewise. Only after proper restitution is paid will restoration be made. The offended party goes in search of the offending one. Love finds a way.
Jeremiah 3 has an interesting parallel.
II. Israel’s Sin—The Indictment of Evidence, Chapters 4-7.
Hosea 4:1, The Lord has a controversy with the people of the land because there is no truth, mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. Religious leaders—“Like people, like priest” (4:9). Princes—“Give ear, O house of the king” (5:1). People—“They sacrifice on the top of the mountains, and make offerings upon the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth because their shade is good” (4:13). Their foreign policy—“Ephraim is like a silly dove. . . . They call to Egypt, they go to Assyria” (7:11).
II Kings 15:19, Menahem; 17:1, Hoshea; 18:13-15, kings of Judah (Hezekiah).
III. Israel’s Punishment—The Judgment of Compromise, Chapters 8-10.
The judgment upon Samaria’s false religion, Hosea 8:6. The calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces. Jeroboam I had arranged to keep them away from the temple.
Judgment upon their lifestyle, Hosea 9:6. Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver; thorns shall be in their tents. Hosea 10:1, Israel is a luxuriant (empty) vine that yields its fruit. The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built.
IV. Israel’s Restoration—The Yearning of Covenant Love, Chapters 11-14.
The love of the father for his child. Hosea 11:1, When Israel was a child, I loved him.
Love of the husband for his wife. Hosea 11:4, How shall I give thee up?
Love of the parent in the regret of necessary punishment. Hosea 12:9, I that am the Lord thy God from the Land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles.
It is the Love of One who has chanced all on the outcome of love and has won. Hosea 14:8, Ephraim shall say, what have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him and observed him: I am like a green fir tree, from me is thy fruit found.
AS THE HEBREW WORLD TURNED
#681 AS THE HEBREW WORLD TURNED
Scripture Hosea
Recapitulation, 10/19/1977
Introduction
With the coming of Hosea upon the scene, we approach the end of an era. It was pointed out last week that Hosea would be the last prophet to the people of the Northern Kingdom, called Israel or Samaria (the capital). Before we conclude the history of the prophets as related to the ten northern tribes, an overview of the contemporary scene is in order. We need to understand, before Israel is phased out, what was happening in the world of the Hebrew complex.
Our study will move into a neutral gear at this point: The contemporary Hebrew complex tonight; the prophet Hosea next Wednesday, the Lord willing; and a review of the structure as related to the prophets the week after that. We may well be taking a break at that point. Wednesday nights during November and December have a preliminary priority. There will be an extra business night, a mission emphasis, Thanksgiving, some Christmas music, etc. We will probably continue after the first of the year, and Isaiah will be our first subject. I will be happy to have the extra time to capsulize such a prophet as he.
Let me encourage you to read ahead. Hosea for next Wednesday. (Pass out outlines.) Start Isaiah for completion in December. If the interest is sustained, we will continue with the other eleven prophets.
I. The Political Scene: From Stability to Chaos.
Following the great years of the united kingdoms under David and Solomon, came division, 922BC. Next, a century and a half of deterioration. In 786BC, Jeroboam II became Israel’s king. 783BC, Uzziah became Judah’s king. These two men would reverse the trend.
It was a time of peace and prosperity. No foreign nation strong enough. The only warfare of the period was Israel and Judah in expansion rumblings. Prosperous trade agreements. Forward reaching agricultural progress. 2 Chronicles 26:10 Uzziah—towers, wells. Amos “winter and summer house.” External peace and prosperity overshadowed internal spiritual sickness.
It would do the Western nations much good to consider their own plight. Amos: For 3 transgressions and for 4. Amos 3:2, You only have I known, therefore I will punish you.
Hosea 4-7, Israel’s sin. 4:1, Hear the Word of the Lord ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
II. A Pinpoint of Political Upheaval.
You can mark down the year, 746BC. As long as even the corrupt Jeroboam lived, there was stability. In twenty-six years—six kings total, unrelated—most assassinated. Each with his own foreign policy (Hosea 5:13 / 7:11 / 12:1). Religious inequities undermined (Hosea 4 / 8:13 / 13:1-3).
But don’t overlook what happened outside. 745BC Tiglath-Pileser III (Pul) seized the Assyrian throne. Within two years he was secure and ready to conquer the world. Pact between Syria-Rezin and Israel-Pekah (2 Kings 15:29-16:10 / 2 Chronicles 28 / Isaiah 7). Ahaz-Judah appeals to Tiglath-Pileser. Assyrian record indicates Hoshea who was assassin.
Pekah was in fact appointed by Tiglath-Pileser. He was a proper vassal king until Tiglath-Pileser’s death. He tried to pull away (II Kings 17:1f).
Shalmaneser summoned and imprisoned Hoshea and marched on Samaria [in] 724BC. Late in 722BC, Samaria fell. Records indicate 27,290 leaders [were] deported. Captives from Babylon, Hamath came in. Hosea 5:7 [shows] dealt treacherously.
Conclusion
The circumstances of these years caused the prophets to wear heavily the judgment of God. Moral corruption, social injustice, religious ritualism demand the prophetic message. Israel’s sin is intolerable—God is Holy. Israel’s sin shall be punished—God is just. Israel shall be restored—God is Love.
The ten tribes will be definitive no more. The Northern Kingdom will cease. The remnant will survive.
· Amos 3:12, “As a shepherd rescues from the lion’s [mouth only two leg bones or a piece of an ear, so will the Israelites living in Samaria be rescued].”
· Hosea 13:8, “Devour like a lion.”
· Hosea 14:4, “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.”
· Hosea 14:7, “They that dwell under his shadow shall return.”—God, Messiah, but probably is a reference to the kingdom promise of covenant. The repentant of any age and clime and circumstance can believe that God will restore the penitent.
THE PROPHECY OF HOSEA
#572 THE PROPHECY OF HOSEA
Scripture Hosea 1:2-5, NIV
Orig. 8/22/1971; Rewr. 6/21/1989
Passage: 2 When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” 3 So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. 5 In that day I will break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel.”
Purpose: Continuing a Prayer Meeting study in the Old Testament prophets, here examining background material as it relates to a prophet and his call.
Keywords: Bible Study Love of God Judgment Unfaithfulness Restoration
Timeline/Series: Sequential
Introduction
Though Hosea appears first among the minor prophets, called the “twelve,” chronologically, he does not appear until after Joel, Jonah, and Amos have already appeared. They were more or less contemporary, called the “Eighth Century prophets.”
Joel prophesied to the people of the Southern Kingdom. Jonah was sent from the Southern Kingdom to address the sins of an up-and-coming power that would confront the Northern Kingdom. Amos went up from the Southern Kingdom to proclaim God’s word to the people in Samaria.
Hosea only of the prophets was native to the Northern Kingdom. He joins Amos as the only other who would prophesy to the people of the Northern Kingdom—Israel or Samaria.
You, perhaps, are aware that his name means “Yahweh delivers,” and as such is identical with the name “Joshua.”
What is unique about Hosea is not so much his message as his method. He was chosen, out of a context of marital infidelity, to be an example to the people of their unfaithfulness to God. When he lived is no problem. He, himself, describes the time (V1). He is mentioned only here. His father is mentioned nowhere else. Some describe him to be the fruit of some other prophet’s imagination. He is merely an allegory put to use to make a point. Not so! It is the story of compromised love under the stress of the times.
We have described previously the time of Joel and Jonah and Amos. It was a time of material imbalance. The rich grew richer. The poor, poorer. God’s word must touch the lives of all of them.
I. Examining the Prophecy in Profile. V1, “The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, son of Joash.”
There were no more than fifty years between the death of Jeroboam and the Assyrian invasion. Hezekiah was on the throne in Judah. A kind of renewal was taking place. But in the north, debauchery was everywhere.
George Adam Smith, “It is not only as in Amos, the sins of the luxurious, of them that are at ease in Zion, which are exposed; but literal bloodshed, highway robbery/murder, abetted by the priests . . . . Israel’s self-reliance is gone. She is as fluttered as a startled bird; ‘They call to Egypt, they go to Assyria,’ (Hosea 7:11). But everything is hopeless. Kings cannot save. For Ephraim is seized in the pangs of a fatal crisis.”
One named Jehu had been the instrument of judgment upon the earlier sins of Israel. Jehu’s sons to the fourth generation were to come to the throne. II Kings 10:30; II Kings 15:12: “And so it came to pass.” Jehoahaz (17), Jehoash (16), Jeroboam II (4), and Zechariah (6 mo.) From the time of Jeroboam II, a grim picture comes into view. Of Jehu and his descendants evil “departed not from the sins of Jeroboam.” II Kings 10:31, 13:2, 13:11, 14:24, 15:9 (6 mo.) The rest of the story is one of assassination. Zechariah (6mo), Shallum (1mo), Manahem (10 y died), Pekahiah (2y), Pekah (20y), Hoshea (9y captivity).
“Things were even worse morally and spiritually than they were politically. Ever since the days of the first Jeroboam, when the ten tribes had disrupted from the house of David to form a separate kingdom, the worship of the golden calf at Bethel had been a snare to Israel. Although the Bethel calf was supposed at first to represent Jehovah, yet more and more the idol itself became the object of worship. . . . Thus the way was paved for the coarse, cruel nature-worship associated with the names of Baal and Ashteroth, with all the attendant abominations of child sacrifice and revolting licentiousness.”
II. Hosea’s Marriage Became the Symbol of the Crisis. V2, “Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms.”
Thus is established the insensibility of sin. Hosea is pictured as from a faithful remnant of spiritual people. He chooses a woman named Gomer as wife. He is directed to take a prostitute for a wife.
Zanah—fornicate, apostatize; or, he is told to take a woman out of such a culture.
Eretz—land (with its inhabitants).
He chooses one with a propensity to moral failure. Some thus call it an allegory. The marriage produces three children: Jezreel—“God sows”; Lo-ruhamah—“not loved” (uncertain); Loammi—“not my people” (no doubt).
God will assess their sin and punish it: They will respond as a people not loved (Proverbs 13:24); separated from God they become foreigners. But the heart of God is revealed here and the intent of the book. V6, “I will have mercy, . . . I will take them away.” V10, “In the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people. . . .”
The guilt of sin at every age is going to be measured and manifested. Gomer was guilty as charged. She pays. Her sin is like the sin of the nation. They, too, must pay for their sin. Once restitution has been made, restoration is in order. Hosea 2:23, “And I will say to them which were not my people, ‘Thou art my people’; and they shall say, ‘Thou art my God.’”
The supreme criterion of relationship is love. Gomer accepts Hosea’s proposal. For a time the marriage is wholesome, v3. In boredom she seeks other pursuits, 2:5. Hosea seeks her out and redeems her from so-called friends who enslaved her. He seeks to do, not as the law allows, but as love demands. Jeremiah 3:1, “. . . ‘Thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me,’ saith the Lord.”
III. Israel’s Sin: The Indictment of Circumstance. Hosea 4:1, “Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.”
It is with the nation. Four of last five commandments (4:2). The land will be affected by this human distraction (4:3).
It is with the religious leaders: striving between people/priest (4:4); priests have forgotten the law; prophets “fall” used both figuratively and in relation to their roles; people/priests (4:9) instead of strengthening are enticing to ruin. Hosea 5:1, “. . . and my people love to have it so.”
There is a mediating word to Judah (Hosea 4;15). Be different in worship (v15). Be different in obedience (v16).
Stopped at Animal Land near Dallas. Children’s zoo revealed a pesky goat trying to feed anywhere, whatever. A lamb nearby waiting docilely to be fed.
The next chapter reveals that Judah will not heed this warning (Hosea 5:5).
They have therefore sinned and are marked for judgment. God waits for sincere repentance (Hosea 5:15). He is not moved by their insincerity. Hosea 6:4, “goodness as a morning cloud”; 6:6, “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.” Three things in Israel that God hates: Compromise (7:7,8a), limited development (7:8b), unconscious decay (7:9).
IV. Israel’s Punishment: The Judgment of Compromise. Hosea 8:4-10, “They have set up kings,, but not by me. They have made princes, and I knew it not: . . . they have made them idols. . . . Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off. . . .”
There is judgment on compromise in political life. Hosea 8:4, “They have set up kings, but not by me; they have made princes, and I knew it not. We will do well to remember that we do not surprise God. The sense of “knew it not” is that God had not been sought for direction.
There was judgment on compromise in religious life. 8:5, “Thy calf, O Samaria.” 8:11, “Ephraim hath made many altars to sin.” 8:12, “I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.”
There was judgment on compromise in economic betterment. 8:14, “Judah hath multiplied fenced cities: but I shall send a fire . . . and it shall devour the palaces thereof.” 9:2, “The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her.”
There was judgment on compromise in family life. 9:12, “Though they bring up their children yet I will bereave them.” 9:16, “Though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb.”
V. Israel’s Restoration: The Yearning of Covenant Love.
It is the passionate love of a true father for the child. Hosea 11:1, “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.” Same word “love” used by God of Abraham for Isaac (Genesis 22:2). The weight of spiritual/moral things should be pressed upon parents. Getting them involved in drug alert.
More, it is the burning love of a husband for his wife. See 11:7-12 picture of betrayal and rebellion. 11:8, “How shall I give up, Ephraim?” Isaiah 62:4,5, portrays this idea. The pastor is allowed to look in on great love affairs.
It is the love of a parent in the deep regret of some necessary punishment. This is going to hurt me more than you. Tough love. Hosea 12:9, “And I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles.”
It is the love of one who has chanced all on the outcome of love. 14:8, “Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree: from me is thy fruit found.”
Isaiah 58:11, “And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden.”
Links and References
Smith https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Adam-Smith
#572 THE PROPHECY OF ISAIAH
Scripture Hosea 1:2-5, NIV
Orig. 8/22/1971; Rewr. 6/21/1989
Passage: 2 When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” 3 So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. 5 In that day I will break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel.”
Purpose: Continuing a Prayer Meeting study in the Old Testament prophets, here examining background material as it relates to a prophet and his call.
Keywords: Bible Study Love of God Judgment Unfaithfulness Restoration
Timeline/Series: Sequential
Introduction
Though Hosea appears first among the minor prophets, called the “twelve,” chronologically, he does not appear until after Joel, Jonah, and Amos have already appeared. They were more or less contemporary, called the “Eighth Century prophets.”
Joel prophesied to the people of the Southern Kingdom. Jonah was sent from the Southern Kingdom to address the sins of an up-and-coming power that would confront the Northern Kingdom. Amos went up from the Southern Kingdom to proclaim God’s word to the people in Samaria.
Hosea only of the prophets was native to the Northern Kingdom. He joins Amos as the only other who would prophesy to the people of the Northern Kingdom—Israel or Samaria.
You, perhaps, are aware that his name means “Yahweh delivers,” and as such is identical with the name “Joshua.”
What is unique about Hosea is not so much his message as his method. He was chosen, out of a context of marital infidelity, to be an example to the people of their unfaithfulness to God. When he lived is no problem. He, himself, describes the time (V1). He is mentioned only here. His father is mentioned nowhere else. Some describe him to be the fruit of some other prophet’s imagination. He is merely an allegory put to use to make a point. Not so! It is the story of compromised love under the stress of the times.
We have described previously the time of Joel and Jonah and Amos. It was a time of material imbalance. The rich grew richer. The poor, poorer. God’s word must touch the lives of all of them.
I. Examining the Prophecy in Profile. V1, “The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, son of Joash.”
There were no more than fifty years between the death of Jeroboam and the Assyrian invasion. Hezekiah was on the throne in Judah. A kind of renewal was taking place. But in the north, debauchery was everywhere.
George Adam Smith, “It is not only as in Amos, the sins of the luxurious, of them that are at ease in Zion, which are exposed; but literal bloodshed, highway robbery/murder, abetted by the priests . . . . Israel’s self-reliance is gone. She is as fluttered as a startled bird; ‘They call to Egypt, they go to Assyria,’ (Hosea 7:11). But everything is hopeless. Kings cannot save. For Ephraim is seized in the pangs of a fatal crisis.”
One named Jehu had been the instrument of judgment upon the earlier sins of Israel. Jehu’s sons to the fourth generation were to come to the throne. II Kings 10:30; II Kings 15:12: “And so it came to pass.” Jehoahaz (17), Jehoash (16), Jeroboam II (4), and Zechariah (6 mo.) From the time of Jeroboam II, a grim picture comes into view. Of Jehu and his descendants evil “departed not from the sins of Jeroboam.” II Kings 10:31, 13:2, 13:11, 14:24, 15:9 (6 mo.) The rest of the story is one of assassination. Zechariah (6mo), Shallum (1mo), Manahem (10 y died), Pekahiah (2y), Pekah (20y), Hoshea (9y captivity).
“Things were even worse morally and spiritually than they were politically. Ever since the days of the first Jeroboam, when the ten tribes had disrupted from the house of David to form a separate kingdom, the worship of the golden calf at Bethel had been a snare to Israel. Although the Bethel calf was supposed at first to represent Jehovah, yet more and more the idol itself became the object of worship. . . . Thus the way was paved for the coarse, cruel nature-worship associated with the names of Baal and Ashteroth, with all the attendant abominations of child sacrifice and revolting licentiousness.”
II. Hosea’s Marriage Became the Symbol of the Crisis. V2, “Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms.”
Thus is established the insensibility of sin. Hosea is pictured as from a faithful remnant of spiritual people. He chooses a woman named Gomer as wife. He is directed to take a prostitute for a wife.
Zanah—fornicate, apostatize; or, he is told to take a woman out of such a culture.
Eretz—land (with its inhabitants).
He chooses one with a propensity to moral failure. Some thus call it an allegory. The marriage produces three children: Jezreel—“God sows”; Lo-ruhamah—“not loved” (uncertain); Loammi—“not my people” (no doubt).
God will assess their sin and punish it: They will respond as a people not loved (Proverbs 13:24); separated from God they become foreigners. But the heart of God is revealed here and the intent of the book. V6, “I will have mercy, . . . I will take them away.” V10, “In the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people. . . .”
The guilt of sin at every age is going to be measured and manifested. Gomer was guilty as charged. She pays. Her sin is like the sin of the nation. They, too, must pay for their sin. Once restitution has been made, restoration is in order. Hosea 2:23, “And I will say to them which were not my people, ‘Thou art my people’; and they shall say, ‘Thou art my God.’”
The supreme criterion of relationship is love. Gomer accepts Hosea’s proposal. For a time the marriage is wholesome, v3. In boredom she seeks other pursuits, 2:5. Hosea seeks her out and redeems her from so-called friends who enslaved her. He seeks to do, not as the law allows, but as love demands. Jeremiah 3:1, “. . . ‘Thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me,’ saith the Lord.”
III. Israel’s Sin: The Indictment of Circumstance. Hosea 4:1, “Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.”
It is with the nation. Four of last five commandments (4:2). The land will be affected by this human distraction (4:3).
It is with the religious leaders: striving between people/priest (4:4); priests have forgotten the law; prophets “fall” used both figuratively and in relation to their roles; people/priests (4:9) instead of strengthening are enticing to ruin. Hosea 5:1, “. . . and my people love to have it so.”
There is a mediating word to Judah (Hosea 4;15). Be different in worship (v15). Be different in obedience (v16).
Stopped at Animal Land near Dallas. Children’s zoo revealed a pesky goat trying to feed anywhere, whatever. A lamb nearby waiting docilely to be fed.
The next chapter reveals that Judah will not heed this warning (Hosea 5:5).
They have therefore sinned and are marked for judgment. God waits for sincere repentance (Hosea 5:15). He is not moved by their insincerity. Hosea 6:4, “goodness as a morning cloud”; 6:6, “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.” Three things in Israel that God hates: Compromise (7:7,8a), limited development (7:8b), unconscious decay (7:9).
IV. Israel’s Punishment: The Judgment of Compromise. Hosea 8:4-10, “They have set up kings,, but not by me. They have made princes, and I knew it not: . . . they have made them idols. . . . Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off. . . .”
There is judgment on compromise in political life. Hosea 8:4, “They have set up kings, but not by me; they have made princes, and I knew it not. We will do well to remember that we do not surprise God. The sense of “knew it not” is that God had not been sought for direction.
There was judgment on compromise in religious life. 8:5, “Thy calf, O Samaria.” 8:11, “Ephraim hath made many altars to sin.” 8:12, “I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.”
There was judgment on compromise in economic betterment. 8:14, “Judah hath multiplied fenced cities: but I shall send a fire . . . and it shall devour the palaces thereof.” 9:2, “The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her.”
There was judgment on compromise in family life. 9:12, “Though they bring up their children yet I will bereave them.” 9:16, “Though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb.”
V. Israel’s Restoration: The Yearning of Covenant Love.
It is the passionate love of a true father for the child. Hosea 11:1, “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.” Same word “love” used by God of Abraham for Isaac (Genesis 22:2). The weight of spiritual/moral things should be pressed upon parents. Getting them involved in drug alert.
More, it is the burning love of a husband for his wife. See 11:7-12 picture of betrayal and rebellion. 11:8, “How shall I give up, Ephraim?” Isaiah 62:4,5, portrays this idea. The pastor is allowed to look in on great love affairs.
It is the love of a parent in the deep regret of some necessary punishment. This is going to hurt me more than you. Tough love. Hosea 12:9, “And I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles.”
It is the love of one who has chanced all on the outcome of love. 14:8, “Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree: from me is thy fruit found.”
Isaiah 58:11, “And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden.”
Links and References
Smith https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Adam-Smith
HINDS FEET IN HIGH PLACES
#298 HINDS FEET IN HIGH PLACES
Scripture Habakkuk 3:17-19, NIV Orig. 9-20-89
Passage: Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength, he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights. (For the director of music, on my stringed instruments.)
Purpose: Continuing a series on the Old Testament prophets, here examining Habakkuk’s change from perplexity to praise.
Keywords: Bible Study
Timeline/Series: Sequential/Old Testament Prophets
Introduction
The guide sheet covering the prophets of Israel and Judah shows Habakkuk as a contemporary of Jeremiah. The same prevailing injustice that Jeremiah railed against, is the contention driving this prophet to deep consternation.
Nothing about this man is known other than the historical setting that surrounded him. His name appears only here in this book of three chapters. He was of the tribe of Levi, for he identifies himself as one of the temple singers (3:19)
Paul knew him and so should we. He three times extols his great statement of faith, “the just shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4).
Romans 1:17 “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”
Galatians 3:11 “Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”
Hebrews 10:38 “But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.”
I. Note his perplexity. Habakkuk 1:1 “The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see”: Invasion coming from without—the Battle of Carchemish in 605 B.C., in which the Babylonians claimed total dominance, and corruption arising within—Josiah has been dead a few years and his sons have come to the throne (Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah).
He raises three questions. How long? V2 “How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save?” Why? V3 “Why do you make me look at injustice: Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.” These questions assert both the evil of foreign powers, but also the corruption of religious/political leaders. He pauses, and God answers these questions in a way unsettling to Habakkuk. V5-6 “For I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you. For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans.” Remember Jonah’s struggle with Nineveh.
Habakkuk responds with his third question, V 13b “Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously?” V12 He remembers who he is addressing, and V12b he extols God’s promise: Israel will live and her enemies will die. God’s holiness will not allow Him to betray His word.
II. Next, see what persuades him. Habakkuk 2:1 “I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.” God’s three-fold plan for his prophet: He is to wait (2a, 3c), he is to watch (2a), and he is to write (2b). Again God answers the prophet’s question with a recordable vision of five parts. Woe against their insatiable greed (V6-8)—“because”; woe against their overarching ambition (V9-11)—“for”; woe against their cruelty (V 12-14)—“for”; woe against their inhumanity toward other people (V15-17)—“”for”; woe against their idolatry (V18-20)—“but.”
Habakkuk concludes ashamed that he has so rudely doubted. 2:20 “But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him.”
III. Finally, we hear the call to prayer and praise. 3:2 “O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath, remember mercy.” He stands convicted and convinced. Nothing will stay him from faith.
Habakkuk 3:17-19 “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength, he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.”