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Hosea 1-4
Amazing Grace in the OT
Psalm 105:16-45 Delivered from Difficulties to Delight
16.He called for a famine on the land. He destroyed the food supplies.17.He sent a man before them. Joseph was sold for a slave.18.They bruised his feet with shackles. His neck was locked in irons,19.until the time that his word happened, and Yahweh’s word proved him true.20.The king sent and freed him; even the ruler of peoples, and let him go free.21.He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all of his possessions;22.to discipline his princes at his pleasure, and to teach his elders wisdom.23.Israel also came into Egypt. Jacob lived in the land of Ham.24.He increased his people greatly, and made them stronger than their adversaries.25.He turned their heart to hate his people, to conspire against his servants.26.He sent Moses, his servant, and Aaron, whom he had chosen.27.They performed miracles among them, and wonders in the land of Ham.28.He sent darkness, and made it dark. They didn’t rebel against his words.29.He turned their waters into blood, and killed their fish.30.Their land swarmed with frogs, even in the rooms of their kings.31.He spoke, and swarms of flies came, and lice in all their borders.32.He gave them hail for rain, with lightning in their land.33.He struck their vines and also their fig trees, and shattered the trees of their country.34.He spoke, and the locusts came, and the grasshoppers, without number,35.ate up every plant in their land; and ate up the fruit of their ground.36.He struck also all the firstborn in their land, the first fruits of all their manhood.
37.He brought them forth with silver and gold. There was not one feeble person among his tribes.38.Egypt was glad when they departed, for the fear of them had fallen on them.39.He spread a cloud for a covering, fire to give light in the night.40.They asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of the sky.41.He opened the rock, and waters gushed out. They ran as a river in the dry places.42.For he remembered his holy word, and Abraham, his servant.43.He brought forth his people with joy, his chosen with singing.44.He gave them the lands of the nations. They took the labor of the peoples in possession,45.that they might keep his statutes, and observe his laws. Praise Yah!"
Observation
105:16-45.The psalmist recounts all that God did for His people, detailing the history in Egypt and the plagues, right up to possession of the promised land. God was orchestrating all the events, from the slavery of Joseph to the famine in the land, etc, all for the good of His people. We sometimes have difficulty recognizing the good hand of God behind what looks like evil, but it's always too soon to say the story is over in the present. God's going to fulfill His holy promises to Abraham, and his descendants (which includes everything written in the OT and NT), then it will be over. In the meantime, take a close look at verse 45, which tells us why God protected and prospered His people: so they might be careful to do what is right in His sight. That is not only what is best for them, it's the prerequisite to receiving His promised blessings.
Application
God delivers from difficulties (some of which He's deliberately planned) to delight us with His promises; so we need to be careful to do what's right in His sight, according to His purposes.
Prayer
God, I praise You that I can trust You to work all things (dangers, difficulties, and disappointments) together for my good, as I am careful to do what is right in Your sight. Thanks. Amen.
Proverbs 24:13-14 The Sweet Life
13.“My son, eat honey, for it is good; the droppings of the honeycomb, which are sweet to your taste:14.so you shall know wisdom to be to your soul; if you have found it, then there will be a reward, your hope will not be cut off.“Observation
24:13-14.Those who have sought and found wisdom will find it to be as good and sweet to their soul, as honey is to their taste buds. God rewards those who seek His ways, and their hopes and expectations will be fulfilled.
Application
Seek and find wisdom for the sweet life.
Prayer
God, thanks for making wisdom accessible in Your word; may I daily experience its benefits in my life. Amen.
Hosea 1-4 Amazing Grace in the OT
One of the three pre-exilic minor prophets (with Jonah and Amos), Hosea ministered primarily to the northern kingdom of Israel in the years before they were taken into captivity by Assyria in 722 BC (another “unsuccessful” prophet). The book uses Hosea's marriage to an unfaithful wife (chapters 1-3) to illustrate God's covenantal loyalty to an unfaithful Israel. However, Israel needs to repent of their unfaithfulness (outlined in chapters 4-13) in order to be blessed by future restoration to the land (chapter 14).The first three chapters are arranged chiastically, centered in 2:13 The major points (there's a lot more correspondence if you look for it) are:
A 1:1-8 Rejection illustrated by Hosea's marriage
B 1:9 “You are not my people and I will not be your God”
(followed by punishment)
C 2:13 I will punish her for the days of the Baals to which she burned incense.
She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry, and went after her lovers;
But Me she forgot," says Yahweh.
B' 2:23 “You are my people’; and they will say, ‘My God!’"
(preceded by merciful grace, ie, 2:14 " Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
will bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfort to her.”)
A' 3:1-5 Reconciliation illustrated by Hosea's marriage
Hosea 1 The Case of the Unfaithful Spouse
1.The word of Yahweh that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.2.When Yahweh spoke at first by Hosea, Yahweh said to Hosea, "Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and children of unfaithfulness; for the land commits great adultery, forsaking Yahweh."3.So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived, and bore him a son.4.Yahweh said to him, "Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease.5.It will happen in that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel."6.She conceived again, and bore a daughter. Then he said to him, "Call her name Lo-Ruhamah; for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, that I should in any way pardon them.7.But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and will save them by Yahweh their God, and will not save them by bow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen."
8.Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived, and bore a son.9.He said, "Call his name Lo-Ammi; for you are not my people, and I will not be yours.10.Yet the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which can’t be measured nor numbered; and it will come to pass that, in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’11.The children of Judah and the children of Israel will be gathered together, and they will appoint themselves one head, and will go up from the land; for great will be the day of Jezreel.
Observation
1:1-11.God tells Hosea to marry a woman who was or would become a harlot, to mirror His relationship with Israel. One can make arguments for or against her being a prostitute before he married her, and make the same arguments for Israel in Egypt (or even Abram). Since the argument of the book is that Hosea's marriage relationship with Gomer mirrors God's relationship with Israel, there's a stronger case her becoming unfaithful after the marriage, because Israel is viewed as departing from the “marriage covenant” entered into at Mt. Sinai (Jer 2:2-3). It's also true that Ezekiel portrays Israel as promiscuous in Egypt (23:3).- Gomer bears three children with significant names. Chapter 2 doesn't view them as Hosea's children, but the first two appear to be his in chapter 1.“Jezreel” (“God scatters”) is the valley where Jehu wiped out the line of Ahab (2Kg 9:14-37; 10:1-11), a task which God instructed Elijah to anoint him to do. By leaving the idols in Bethel and Dan, and not walking in the ways of Yahweh, Jehu set up his house for a similar judgment he had executed on Ahab.
2Kings 10:29 However from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin, Jehu didn’t depart from after them, the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan. 30 Yahweh said to Jehu, "Because you have done well in executing that which is right in my eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel." 31 But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of Yahweh, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He didn’t depart from the sins of Jeroboam, with which he made Israel to sin.
“No Mercy” Because of their infidelity in worshiping in the northern kingdom and not worshiping Him in Jerusalem, God would have not have mercy on Israel, but would on Judah, supernaturally saving them.
“Not Mine” God disowns Israel as a result of their disowning of Him (see chiastic center in 2:13).
These verses introduce a promise of restoration to the very spot from where Assyria had taken them captive (and begin chapter 2 in the Hebrew Bible). Harkening back to the promise God made to Abraham (Gen 15:5). The nation will be united under one head, probably a near reference to Zerubbabel (Haggai 1:1) leading a return from the exile, but also a more distant reference in light of verse 10 to the Messiah or Davidic descendant.
Ezekiel 34:23 And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.
Application
God justly disciplines the habitually unfaithful, yet graciously has mercy on the repentant who seek Him.
Prayer
God, You are always loyal to Your promises; may I always be loyal to You and known as a child of the living God. Amen.
Hosea 2 Abandoned and Accepted
1."Say to your brothers, ‘My people!’ and to your sisters, ‘My loved one!’2.Contend with your mother! Contend, for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her prostitution from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts;3.Lest I strip her naked, and make her bare as in the day that she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and kill her with thirst.4.Indeed, on her children I will have no mercy; for they are children of unfaithfulness;5.For their mother has played the prostitute. She who conceived them has done shamefully; for she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’6.Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she can’t find her way.7.She will follow after her lovers, but she won’t overtake them; and she will seek them, but won’t find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.’8.For she did not know that I gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied to her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.9.Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my new wine in its season, and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness.10.Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of my hand.11.I will also cause all her celebrations to cease: her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies.12.I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, about which she has said, ‘These are my wages that my lovers have given me; and I will make them a forest,’ and the animals of the field shall eat them.13.I will visit on her the days of the Baals, to which she burned incense, when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgot me," says Yahweh.
14."Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.15.I will give her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she will respond there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.16.It will be in that day," says Yahweh, "that you will call me ‘my husband,’ and no longer call me ‘my master.’17.For I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth, and they will no longer be mentioned by name.18.In that day I will make a covenant for them with the animals of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creeping things of the ground. I will break the bow, the sword, and the battle out of the land, and will make them lie down safely.19.I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in hesed/loyal covenantal love, and in compassion.20.I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know Yahweh.21.It will happen in that day, I will respond," says Yahweh," I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth;22.and the earth will respond to the grain, and the new wine, and the oil; and they will respond to Jezreel.23.I will sow her to me in the earth; and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; and I will tell those who were not my people, ‘You are my people’; and they will say, ‘My God!’"
Observation
2:1-23.God describes the pending “divorce” and judgment against Israel the unfaithful spouse. Although He had enriched and blessed her, she attributed all her benefits to her foreign “lovers” (pagan gods). Therefore, God will expose her folly and strip her of all her blessings, which He had given her. Verse 13 is the center of a chiastic structure spanning from 1:9 “You are not my people” to 2:23 “You are my people.”
After disciplining her, God displays incredible grace in not only accepting her back, but actually alluring/winning her, and blessing her again. The New Covenant blessing are alluded to, but not by name. The character and covenant of God is manifested in not totally rejecting, but in accepting back, once Israel honors the terms of the covenant. Note that the relationship can not be restored unless Israel changes. God wants an intimate loving relationship with her. The bulk of the book (chapters 4-13) will specify the ways in which she needs to change.
Question
How can anyone say the God of the OT is not a God of love and mercy?
Application
It's far better to honor our obligations to be loyal to God and experience His blessings, than have to be painfully and justly disciplined for our unfaithfulness.
Prayer
Lord, keep me conscious of how dependent I am upon You for the blessings of my life so I don't wander from loyalty to You; and thanks for Your gracious forgiveness when I stupidly stray. Amen.
Hosea 3 Seeking Amazing Grace
1.Yahweh said to me, "Go, again love a woman loved by another, and an adulteress, even as Yahweh loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods, and love cakes of raisins."2.So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley.3.I said to her, "You shall stay with me many days. You shall not play the prostitute, and you shall not be with any other man. I will also be so toward you."4.For the children of Israel shall live many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without sacred stone, and without ephod or idols.5.Afterward the children of Israel shall return, and seek Yahweh their God, and David their king, and shall come with fear/trembling to Yahweh and to his blessings in the last days.Observation
3:1-5.Hosea gets told to again love a woman loved by another, his adulterous wife, to show how God loves Israel, His adulterous people. Israel pursued sensuous pagan worship (cakes of raisins were part of pagan fertility rituals - Jer 7:18; 44:19; SoS 2:5 {sexual connotation}). So Hosea buys his wife for the price of a dead slave (Ex 21:32). He admonishes her to be faithful to him and he will be faithful to her. Hosea prophesies that the children of Israel would go for a many days without national sovereignty, or the sacrificial cult, or priesthood (ephod), or household idols (apparently her discipline would cleanse her from such things). Then they would return to the land, seek God and the Davidic covenant. In the last days, they would live in the fear of the Lord (which was a major lack in the historical books) and they would thus experience His blessings (which He always wanted to give them).
Application
It's a demonstration of amazing grace that God would still want a relationship with those who are as useful as a dead slave, yet He not only accepts back those who fear and seek Him, but blesses them as well.
Prayer
God, You are unbelievably gracious in loving Your people; may I fear displeasing You, and diligently seek You, so I delight You, and You can bless me as You desire to do. Amen.
Hosea 4 Offenses of Israel
1.Hear the word of Yahweh, you children of Israel; for Yahweh has a charge against the inhabitants of the land: "Indeed there is no faithfulness, nor hesed/loyal covenantal love, nor knowledge of God in the land.2.There is cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break boundaries, and bloodshed causes bloodshed.3.Therefore the land will mourn, and everyone who dwells therein will waste away. all living things in her, even the animals of the field and the birds of the sky; yes, the fish of the sea also die.4."Yet let no man bring a charge, neither let any man accuse; For your people are like those who bring charges against a priest.5.You will stumble in the day, and the prophet will also stumble with you in the night; and I will destroy your mother.6.My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you may be no priest to me. Because you have forgotten your God’s law, I will also forget your children.7.As they were multiplied, so they sinned against me. I will change their glory into shame.8.They feed on the sin of my people, and set their heart on their iniquity.9.It will be, like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and will repay them for their deeds.10.They will eat, and not have enough. They will play the prostitute, and will not increase; because they have abandoned giving to Yahweh.11.Prostitution, wine, and new wine take away understanding.
12.My people consult with their wooden idol, and answer to a stick of wood. Indeed the spirit of prostitution has led them astray, and they have been unfaithful to their God.13.They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and burn incense on the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because its shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the prostitute, and your brides commit adultery.14.I will not punish your daughters when they play the prostitute, nor your brides when they commit adultery; because the men consort with prostitutes, and they sacrifice with the shrine prostitutes; so the people without understanding will come to ruin.15."Though you, Israel, play the prostitute, yet don’t let Judah offend; and don’t come to Gilgal, neither go up to Beth Aven, nor swear, ‘As Yahweh lives.’16.For Israel has behaved extremely stubbornly, like a stubborn heifer. Then how will Yahweh feed them like a lamb in a meadow.17.Ephraim is joined to idols. Leave him alone!18.Their drink has become sour. They play the prostitute continually. Her rulers dearly love their shameful way.19.The wind has wrapped her up in its wings; and they shall be disappointed because of their sacrifices.
Observation
4:1-19.As in a courtroom, God indicts Israel for their offenses of idolatry, iniquity, and ignorance. There is no faithfulness, nor hesed/loyal covenantal love, nor knowledge of God in the land. These themes get developed in reverse order:
- Ignorance will be elaborated upon in the rest of this chapter, and the next one.
- Lack of loyalty or covenantal faithfulness (hesed) occupy the bulk of the book (chapters 6-11).
- Idolatry or unfaithfulness end the indictment in chapters 12-13.
No one knows what God wants and so they do not do it. Therefore His people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. God can't bless His people as He desires because they refuse to live in relationship with Him, a prerequisite for blessing. As a result they will reap the consequences of their actions. They didn't fear God:
Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Application
Failure to fear God leads to fatal ignorance through stupid and stubborn disobedience.
Prayer
God, I want to know You and Your ways, deeply and intimately, so I may do what pleases You, the only true source of blessing in life. Amen.
Digging Deeper
God in a nutshell: God displays righteousness, justice, hesed, compassion and faithfulness in dealing with His people so they will intimately know Him. He justly disciplines the habitually unfaithful, yet graciously has mercy on the repentant who seek Him. He is incredibly gracious in accepting back those who repent and seek Him. He will work out His plan to bless Israel in the future, in spite of their rebellion against Him.Us in a nutshell: By failing to fear God and be faithful to Him, we bring upon ourselves massive amounts of discipline and pain. Knowing God and His ways lead to blessing. Ignorance leads to destruction. He desires that His children fear Him, and display His characteristics of righteousness, justice, hesed, compassion and faithfulness in dealing with others. If we fear Him and seek Him, we can be accepted by Him.