Faithful God (Part Seven): The Lord States His Case

Transcript

JROT 7
11/22/2022
Faithful God (Part Seven): The Lord States His Case
Hosea 4:1-19
Jesse Randolph

Alright, well, we are into our seventh message in this series through the book of Hosea. The series titled “Faithful God” and I’ve given this series that title because if there’s a thread that I’d like everyone to hang on to as we continue to work our way through this book, it’s this. That though the people of Israel in Hosea’s day, that the so-called “golden age” of the divided kingdom were faithless; God remained faithful. Though the people in various other gilded eras of history have been faithless; God has remained faithful. The days Christ walked the earth there were many who were faithless, but God remained faithful. The days of the church fathers. There were many who were faithless, but God remained faithful. In the days of the Reformation there were many who were faithless, but God remained faithful. In the days of the First and Second Great Awakenings though there were many great men in those days there were many who were faithless; God remained faithful. In the days of Moody and Spurgeon, the days of Lloyd-Jones, in the days of Ryrie and Walvoord, and MacArthur and Rugh there were many who were faithless, but God remained faithful.

And now, in our day. A day in which down is up. A day in which wrong is called right. A day in which evil is called good. A day in which darkness is promoted as light. A day in which sin is celebrated and championed. A day in which pastors are caving. A day in which churches are compromising. A day in which the culture is decaying. There are many who are faithless, but God has remained faithful.

God has remained faithful. God has been, is today, and forever will be a faithful God. If you cling to that simple, biblical truth as we continue to march our way through Hosea everything that I say up here tonight and everything I say up here in the weeks ahead will fall into place and make sense as we work our way verse-by-verse through this text.

The text we’ll be in tonight by the way marks this major transition in the book of Hosea. In the first three chapters of the book, we’ve been on this rollercoaster ride. We’ve been sitting, you could say at the kitchen table of Hosea and Gomer. We’ve had the opportunity to witness first-hand, front row seat in chapters 1-3, all of their familial strife. We’ve seen how all that was happening in the home of Hosea and Gomer. The prostitution. The adultery. The contention. The heartache. The grief. The ups and the downs. The highs and the lows. All were representative of Yahweh’s own relationship with His bride, the people of Israel.

Back in Hosea chapter 1 we saw how Hosea’s household was initially formed as God commanded Hosea to take a harlot, Gomer, a prostitute to be his wife. We saw how God gave this instruction to Hosea so that he could teach a lesson to Israel about her own spiritual whoredom and idolatry. We saw that Hosea immediately followed the Lord’s command. There was no hesitation. There was no delay. There was no dragging of his feet as he took Gomer, the prostitute, to be his wife. We saw that Gomer, Hosea’s wife, gave birth to three children, only one of whom was Hosea’s, and the other two of which came from her other lovers. We saw that God directed Hosea to give the children specific names. Jezreel meaning “bloodshed,” or “scattered.” Lo-Ruhamah meaning, “no mercy”, and Lo-Ammi meaning, “not my people.” That was all in chapter 1. This very dark picture was painted in that first chapter about not only Hosea and Gomer’s marriage in real life there in Israel, but the marriage between God, Yahweh, and Israel. Then as we rounded the curve into chapters 2 and 3 of Hosea there was still much turbulence. There were still many choppy waters both in the Hosea-Gomer relationship and in the God and Israel relationship. But there were yet these promises of future reconciliation. These promises of future restoration and these promises of future redemption. Those promises served as this thin scarlet cord to cling to as Israel prepared to go into exile. Captured and taken away by the Assyrians for her spiritually adulterous and wholly unrepentant ways. I won’t do the full review of chapters 2 and 3 here this evening but suffice it to say that in those chapters, we see this glimmer of hope for Israel. Yes, her immediate future is that she’ll be taken away into a foreign land. And yes, she will experience being estranged from her God. Yes, she was stiff-necked and stubborn and rebellious; but not forever. Better days were ahead. Glorious days were ahead. Glorious days are ahead.

That brings us now to the front door of our text for this evening, Hosea chapter 4. As we move into the fourth chapter of this book, we’re all done with the Hosea and Gomer saga. The Hosea and Gomer account served as the runway for what the rest of this book contains. Now, in chapter 4 we’re up in the air. The Hosea and Gomer account served as the dock leading out into the water to what the rest of this book contains. But now, we’re off the dock. We’re shoved off and now we are into these deep waters.

In the remaining eleven chapters of this book the focus will be entirely on God and Israel. God’s words of warning to Israel. God’s rebukes of Israel. God’s reminders to Israel. God’s pleas with Israel. God’s threats to Israel. As we’ll see tonight, God’s contention with Israel. In fact, if you’re not there already please go ahead and turn with me in your Bibles to Hosea 4. Because we are going to be covering so much territory tonight, I’m quite ambitious this evening, I’ve got 19 verses in the dock for tonight. We covered 4, I think, this morning. So, we’ll be out by 11:30 or so. Nineteen verses, but no, we’ll go fast. I’m not going to do what I typically do which would be read the entire passage before we get into it. But rather we’ll read through it as we work through each of these points and passages, line-upon-line, and verse-upon-verse.

Now, the title for tonight’s message is “The Lord States His Case.” I’ve given the sermon that title because here in chapter 4 we’re moving from Hosea’s house. From that household dispute between Hosea and his wayward bride, all the discussion, all the contention about the prostitution and the adultery and the out-of-wedlock children and the threats of divorce and the talking through the children because they’re not getting along. The picking up of Gomer from her lovers’ house and that awkward car ride home that we went through last time. We move from Hosea’s house and all its brokenness and all its ugliness and all of its sin which typifies again the brokenness and the ugliness between God and Israel at this time. We move from that household to the courthouse with God now serving as the prosecutor, as the judge, and as the jury all at once. As He levels various charges, we’re going to see there are these legal charges against His apostate nation, Israel. Charge number one that God levels against His people, if you’re going to outline this tonight or take notes tonight. Charge number one against His people is that they’re careless people. Charge number one, claim one. Israel is a careless people. We’ll see that in verses 1-3. Charge number two is that there are corrupt priests. We’re going to see that in verses 4-10. Then charge number three is that the people have compromised priorities which we’ll see in verses 11-19. So, charge one, careless people. Charge two, corrupt priests. Charge three, compromised priorities. I knew my legal training would come in handy in my preaching one of these days. We have a lot of material to cover this evening so fasten your seat belts. I’m going to be working through this text a bit more quickly than usual tonight and we will start with charge number one, careless people.

Charge one, picking it up in verse 1. “Listen to the word of the LORD, O sons of Israel, for the LORD has a case against the inhabitants of the land, because there is no faithfulness or kindness or knowledge of God in the land.” With these first few words “Listen to the word of the LORD, O sons of Israel.” these words “Listen to,” “Hear,” Shimru in Hebrew are the words of a legal summons. The words of a divine subpoena. No one wants to check the mail and as you’re walking back and thumbing through the catalogs and bills suddenly you see a court summons in that stack with your name on it ordering you to show up at court or in court for a certain day or time. Well, that’s exactly what’s happening here. The Israelites are being summoned. They’re being hauled into court. But they are not being hauled into just any court, they are being hauled into the ultimate court if there ever were a “Supreme Court” this would be it. They are being called in to stand before the bar of God’s justice. Then come these words “for the LORD has a case against the inhabitants of the land.” The word “land” there, eretz in Hebrew is a reference to the people, the people of Israel. Meaning, the Lord’s “case” is not against the shrubs and bushes and the wadis of Israel. His case is not against the flora and fauna of Israel. His case against Israel, the people of Israel. The same LORD who set His love upon Israel. The same Lord who set them apart as His holy nation. The same LORD who gave certain covenant promises to Israel and protected them and was patient with them and was longsuffering toward them is now saying He is “against” them. He has, verse 1 says, a “case against” them. When you bring a lawsuit you not only give it a title, here it would be something like “God versus His people” or in the matter of Yahweh versus Israel. You also lay out your charges. You lay out your allegations. You lay out your accusations.
Which is exactly what we see happening as we continue here in verse 1. As we see in verse 1 God lay out three immediate charges, right up front, against Israel. First, we’ll see there’s “no faithfulness.” He says, “For the Lord has a case against the inhabitants of the land because there is no faithfulness.” The word there literally means “truth” which signifies the absence of any stability, or firmness, or candor in Israel’s commitment to God. God, we saw from Hosea 2:20 had betrothed Israel to Himself “in faithfulness” but Israel wasn’t faithful to God. Though the Israelites were the recipients of God’s covenant promises going all the way back to the days of Abraham it apparently meant nothing to them by this point in their history. They didn’t reciprocate the faithfulness they had been shown by God. Quite the opposite actually. The Israel of this day was marked by the worship and whoring other “gods.” In fact, the terms “adultery” and “harlotry” are mentioned a dozen times in chapter 4 of Hosea alone! Which is a sad testimony to Israel’s spiritual unfaithfulness as a nation, as a theocracy. The people of Israel during Hosea’s day were guilty of the highest form of treason possible. Spiritual infidelity toward God.

The next accusation that’s leveled against Israel here in verse 1, is that they had “no kindness.” So, it’s no faithfulness or kindness. That word is actually hesed meaning “love” or “lovingkindness.” A term that refers to loyalty, devotion. A term that refers to covenant commitment or steadfast love. A term that refers to affection and commitment to keeping one’s promises. A trait that is modeled perfectly by God alone. We all have heard at some point I am sure Exodus 34:6 “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness,” hesed. This was also a trait that Israel was failing to model in her own relationship with the Lord.

So, no faithfulness, no kindness, next we see in verse 1 there’s “no knowledge of God in the land.” Now that word for “knowledge” there means something more than cognition. That word refers to more than just knowing more about the Torah. Rather, this word “knowledge” refers to a personal relationship. Which is a transcend truth applicable to our day that knowing God is more relational than it is informational. And here, what Hosea means when he says that Israel had “no knowledge” of God is that they have no relationship with God. In fact, all three of these terms here in verse 1, “faithfulness,” “kindness,” “knowledge” they are all relational terms. They are covenant terms. They are marital terms. We can easily imagine a distraught spouse bringing up these very charges in a marriage that is broken. In a marriage that is on the rocks. “He’s not being faithful to me.” “She doesn’t love me.” “He’s not being kind to me.” “She doesn’t get me.” Now on a much greater scale that’s what God is accusing Israel of here. God knew Israel. God was faithful toward Israel. God was kind toward Israel. Psalm 25:10 says, “All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth to those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.” But Israel did not return the favor.

The charge continues though in verse 2. The charge against God’s careless people. Verse 2 says “There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing, and adultery. They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed.” Israel, in other words was not only adrift from God in terms of their heart posture toward Him, they were not only unfaithful, unkind, and lacking relational knowledge of Him. They had directly broken His laws; and they had openly broken His rules. See what we have here in verse 2 actually are five direct violations of the Ten Commandments. Just as one would do in court the statutes, the law, the standards are laid before the fact finders, the judge, the jury and then a spotlight is then shone on the conduct of the accused to show how they have violated the laws. Israel was bound by the Ten Commandments. Israel was bound by the Decalogue. Again, they were violating those Commandments left and right. Taking them one by one verse 2 says “There is swearing,”. That means making an oath. In this context using the Lord’s name. That’s a violation of the third commandment, Exodus 20:7. Then it says, “There is deception,” lying. That’s a violation of the ninth commandment, Exodus 20:16. Next it says, “There is murder.” That’s a violation of the sixth commandment, Exodus 20:13. Next it says, “There is stealing.” That’s a violation of the eighth commandment, Exodus 20:15. Then “There is adultery.” That’s a violation of the seventh commandment, Exodus 20:14. Note that each violation of the Ten Commandments here mentioned in Hosea 4:2 has to do with the horizontal relationships between men.
Which means that, on account of their lawbreaking, on account of this ugly catalogue of their sins society in Israel was starting to break down. So much so, that Hosea ends with those words we’ve already read in verse 2 where it says, “They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed.” Those words, put together and the repeated use of the word “bloodshed” really emphasized just how far down the spiritual and moral drain Israel had gone.

Now, before we move on, I want you to note this important link already between verses 2 and 1; and that link is this. The violations of the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments that are listed here in verse 2 were the direct result of the lack of “knowledge of God” that we saw back in verse 1. Whenever there is a lack of knowledge of God in any land, we’re going to see a similar slide toward immorality and apostasy and outright law-breaking. It happened in each and every godless culture this world has ever known including the nation of Israel during Hosea’s day and sadly, the world in which we live today. I mean is this not a picture of what we see later in revelation in Romans 1:28-32 speaking of our day. Romans 1, I’ll read it for you. Verse 28 says “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful,” and get this, “and although they knew the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.” In other words, while the times change people, and their proclivities don’t. God and His holy standards don’t.

Well, the charge against God’s careless people continues in verse 3 where it says, “Therefore the land mourns, and everyone who lives in it languishes along with the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky, and also the fish of the sea disappear.” See going back to the days of Moses as God was making various covenant promises to the people of Israel while they wandered around the peninsula there at Sinai among the things God revealed to His people before they entered the Promised Land was that they would receive blessings for obedience, and they would be cursed for being disobedient. While at the heart of that curse was the ultimate threat that Israel would eventually be removed from its land there were also curses related to the land itself that would come along with disobeying God. One is in Deuteronomy 28:24, this is a curse statement which says, “The LORD will make the rain of your land powder and dust.” The rain will turn into powder and dust. Or Leviticus 26:32 says, “I will make the land desolate so that your enemies who settle in it will be appalled over it.” Now that’s what we see going on here. The people of Israel had been given the land of Canaan, the Promised Land to live on as tenants, but they were bad tenants. They had broken their tenancy agreement and now their tenancy was in jeopardy. Israel had been redeemed and set apart. Israel had been given this beautiful land to care for and tend, a land flowing with milk and honey; but Israel rebelled against God and, as result, the land was about to come under a curse. Because of that the “land” here in verse 3 is being personified and is said to be “in mourning.” Not only that, it says, “everyone who lives in it,” meaning the land, “languishes,” meaning, because of Israel’s sin severe drought would sweep over the land causing people to waste away and perish which we see not only predicted, but which we see happen as we continue to read on in scripture as Israel was eventually carted off into exile.

But we can’t, again, take our eye off the ball here because knowing what we know already about Hosea having studied the first three chapters, we do know there is going to be and still is hope. We must remember even what God said to Israel back in Hosea 2:18. In fact turn over there with me to Hosea 2:18. In the Hosea-Gomer account look what God says in Hosea 2:18. He says, “In that day,” that’s a future day, “I will also make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds of the sky and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword and war from the land, and will make them lie down in safety. I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, in lovingkindness and in compassion, and I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will know the LORD.” In other words, the dire set of circumstances described here in Hosea 4:3 is not the end of the story for Israel. There is a day coming, a future day where Israel will be restored. But for now, in Hosea’s day the land is weak, the land is threatened, the land is debilitated, and the land is cursed.

We are still in this courthouse scene. We are still working through God’s lawsuit against Israel; the charges He’s leveling against Israel. What we’ve just covered in verses 1-3 is charge number one that Israel is a careless people. Hopefully we are all tracking and following along so far. Now we move into charge number two that Israel has corrupt priests, corrupt priests. Look at verse 4. It says, “Yet let no one find fault, and let none offer reproof; for your people are like those who contend with the priest.” Now commentators and interpreters have thrown fits about what is actually being said here. Even in the English it’s a little bit clunky and the translators of the NASB I think have done a faithful job at taking a stab at what is said here in the Hebrew. I’m now going to give it my best stab of explaining what I think is happening here. What appears to be happening here in verse 4 is that the priests of Israel have heard charge number one. God’s accusations against His people in verses 1-3; and now the priests here are affirming the words of this lawsuit brought by God against the people. They are, you could say, sort of nodding in agreement. They are giving their hearty “amen” to the words of accusation brought by God against the people. Something like “That’s right, Hosea.” “You tell them.” “We’ve been trying to tell the people, but they just won’t listen to us.” But, through Hosea, what’s being said effectively here, what God is saying effectively here is “Nice try.” See, the Lord here in these next few verses has some words for the priests, too. They are no different from the people. So, in effect, what He is saying here in verse 4, through Hosea is “Don’t accuse your people, priests because you are no different.” “Who are you to be a faultfinder”? “Pot, meet kettle.” “Speck, meet log.” “Priests of Israel, you’re about to get it next.”

These leaders, these priests of Israel, they were held to the highest level of accountability in the nation and that’s because of what they were entrusted with and who, the people, they were entrusted with as the religious gatekeepers of the land. Malachi 2:7 says, “The lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he, meaning the priest, is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.” See the priests of Israel had this very special level of responsibility and a special level of accountability and when they failed to meet their responsibilities and led God’s people astray, they faced a special degree of judgment.

Now obviously, it’s in a different context and for a different group of God’s people, namely the church, but I can’t help but think of James 3:1 and the stricter level of accountability and judgment that attaches to those who teach God’s word. James 3:1 says, “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.” I also can’t help but think of the heightened degree of responsibility that pastors and elders in the modern-day church age have as overseers and shepherds of the flock of God. Hebrews 13:17 says “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account.” A similar thing is happening in the days of Israel in Hosea 4:4. The people had slipped spiritually and certainly were accountable themselves for that slip, for their own slide into immorality and decay. But the priests of this day also had a special degree of accountability and judgment for the role they played in the spiritual slide of Israel as a whole.

As we move into verse 5 though we see some of these specific words of judgment falling on the priests. Look at verse 5. It says, “So you will stumble by day, and the prophet also will stumble with you by night; and I will destroy your mother.” The demise of the religious class of Israel, the priests is brought into full color here. To say that they are going to “stumble” is a reference to their moral shortcomings and their corrupt downfall. The priests of Hosea’s day had grown detached from their allegiance to God. To the One to whom they were to give their primary allegiance. Instead, they had become more loyal to human kings and human courts. The priests of this day in both the north and the south, in Israel and in Judah, were marked by their own pursuit of self-gratification. Isaiah 28:7 says, “The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, they are confused by wine, they stagger from strong drink; they reel while having visions, they totter when rendering judgment.” That’s in the north. Then in the south, Jeremiah 23:11 says “For both prophet and priest are polluted.” They were also, the priests were, marked by greed. Jeremiah 6:13 says “Everyone is greedy for gain, and from the prophet even to the priest; everyone deals falsely.” Micah 3:11 says “her priests instruct for a price.” As if that weren’t bad enough, to make matters worse, the priests of this day had also failed to discharge their duties to faithfully communicate the law of God to the people of Israel. Malachi 2:8 speaking to priests says, “But as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by the instruction.” Now back to Hosea, the judgment was coming. The priests along with the unfaithful prophets of this time would “stumble.” In other words, they would be brought down.

Verse 5 ends with these words, “And I will destroy your mother.” Now, that could be taken to mean that because of their part in the peoples’ moral ruin the physical mothers of the priestly class would literally be destroyed. I know it sounds harsh a bit unusual, we actually do see a similar judgment pronounced upon Judah in Jeremiah 22:26. Or, as others have done, this “mother” reference in verse 5 can be taken to be a statement about Israel which would mean that what is being described here in verse 5 is Israel being destroyed of which her people, the Israelites, her children are the children. I actually believe, if I had to pick between those two, that that latter interpretation is the more likely one. So, I take “I will destroy your mother” here to be a reference to the coming destruction of Israel as she prepares to go off into captivity. I do so actually because of how the end of verse 5 fits in with the beginning of verse 6 which says, “My people are destroyed,” same verb there, “for lack of knowledge.”
In other words, in the overall context here which is that of an entire people being destroyed, not the narrower subset of the priest’s mothers being destroyed, Israel here is being portrayed as the “mother” while individual Israelites are her children and Israel will be toppled with her children, the people, eventually being taken away.

Now speaking of verse 6, the words of judgment of the priests of Israel continues there. We’ve already read the first part, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” But then it goes on to say, “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.” Now back in verse 1 the people were accused of not having knowledge of God. We saw that in the very beginning. It said there is no “knowledge of God in the land.” They had forgotten God. They had turned their backs on God. They had started to go their own way. Here in verse 6, that idea continues on when it says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Only this time, the blame is laid at the feet of the priests. God here says, “Because you have rejected knowledge,” specifically, of Him, “I will also reject you from being My priest.” Building on the same thought and to emphasize the main idea here He says, “Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.” This is a double pronouncement, a parallel pronouncement of judgment on the priestly class, those who had been entrusted to provide spiritual care for the people of Israel. As the rest of this apostate nation, the priests had gone wayward. So now as punishment for their rejection of knowledge, the knowledge of God, the priests themselves would be rejected by God. That means being put out of office by God and their children would be rejected by Him, too. The Lord should have been these priests’ portion. Their source of satisfaction and joy. Their true source of status and reputation, but He wasn’t. So, they would no longer be His priests. They were about to be thrown out of office. The words of judgment continue in verse 7 where it says “The more they multiplied, the more they sinned against Me.” Now, one would think that when there’s an increase in the number of priests in these days that would have a positive impact on moral climate in Israel. Just like we might think the more pastors that are put out by seminaries the more faithful the land will be. But that’s not what we see here. In these days, more priests meant more sin. The priestly class had grown in number and size, but they hadn’t grown in holiness. Rather than being models of holiness for the people the priesthood had become corrupted. In fact, they had contributed to this sinful state of the people. In doing so, it says here in verse 7, “they sinned against Me.” In other words, the priests were sinning against the God they claimed to represent and for that, at the end of verse 7, it says, “I will change their glory into shame.” Israel’s glory was that it, as a people, knew God; and the priests of this day had a particularly glorious responsibility in being allowed to impart knowledge of that God to the people and by serving as a representative of that God to the people. But through their own moral and ethical compromise the priests failed. They rejected God. There was no “knowledge of God in the land” as we saw back in verse 1. That scene there in Israel is reminiscent of what Jeremiah had described about what was happening in Judah. Jeremiah 2:11 says “My people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.” The scene in Israel I would also say is reminiscent of what the Apostle Paul would later describe about the era in which we live, again back in Romans 1. We live in a time, according to Paul in Romans 1 where people have “exchanged the glory,” Romans 1:23, “of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.” Now we live in a time, also Romans 1, God has given people over to their “lusts” and “degrading passions” and “desires.” We live in a time, also in Romans 1, in which people have “exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served creature rather than the Creator.”

Back to Hosea. The people of his time bore their own responsibility for their spiritual apostasy. But make no mistake, the priests of the day had failed them and had misled them and bore a significant degree of responsibility for the spiritual adultery that Israel was now engaged in. As Israel was preparing to be hauled off into captivity by the Assyrians, the priests, verse 7 is telling us, would face this unique form of shame and dishonor. The Lord was going to take away the honor, the “chabod,” the glory which they received because of their position. He was going to change their religious positions of prominence and prestige into marks of disgrace. They were about to be humiliated as the Lord “changed their glory into shame.”

The accusations keep piling up. Look at verse 8. It says, “They feed,” he’s still on the priests here, “they feed on the sin of My people and direct their desire toward their iniquity.” Now the first half of that verse where it says, “they feed on the sin of My people,” that’s actually a pun because the word for “sin” there, it’s just one word, is also the same word for “sin offering.” It’s the same word for sin or sin offering. Under the old Levitical system of offerings, the priests had a right to a portion of the animals that were offered as a sin offering in sacrifice. So, what’s happening here is the corrupt priesthood of Hosea is both feeding on the sin of the people in that the more the people sinned the more offerings the priests received and the more they got to eat. They were feeding on the sin offerings themselves as they ate their portion of the offerings that were received. In other words, the priests of this day were gorging themselves both on the sin of the people and on the sin offerings the people made. The more sin in Israel. The more the priests ate. Meaning, the priests were perversely incentivized and motivated to see more sin in Israel because it meant a heaping helping of meat for themselves. They were truly abusing the system. Not only did they feed on the sin of God’s people, but it also says they “direct their desire toward iniquity.” That simply reinforces what we’ve already seen in this passage which is that the priests of Hosea’s day were active catalysts in the sin of the people. They had become greedy for larger portions for themselves. They were encouraging the people to make more sacrifices. Sacrifices were made in response to what? Sin. So, the priests of Israel, they were culpable for encouraging whether directly or indirectly, the peoples’ sin. These were godless and greedy men by this time. These were godless and greedy men who were acting under the guise of a divinely sanctioned religious practice. These were spiritually blind priests who weren’t focused on God or on godliness but instead on what they could get from their very distinguished roles.

God, through Hosea, brings down the final gavel of His judgment on these wicked priests in verses 9-10. It starts by saying in verse 9, “And it will be, like people, like priest.” That is, the people and the priests will be equal in sin and in judgment. The people would not be exempt from the judgment that was coming upon the priests and the priests would not be exempt from the judgment that was coming upon the people. The words of judgment continue, in verses 9 and 10 where it says, “So I will punish them for their ways and repay them for their deeds.” That’s language of payback. That’s language of righteous divine retribution. The Lord goes on to explain what some of those punishments will look like. Verse 10, “They will eat, but not have enough.” They’d be given food. The Lord wasn’t going to entirely wipe them out through famine. But because of the period of drought and waste that was coming the food would be scarce and their stomachs would be growling.

Next, he says, “They will play the harlot, but not increase.” That charge of harlotry is typically metaphorical in this part of Hosea in that it represents infidelity to the Lord. But here it appears to point to some sort of physical illicit sexual activity between the priests and cultic temple prostitutes which would not result in pregnancy or childbirth or the continuation of the priest’s line. In other words, the corrupt priests would eat, but not be filled. They’d have sexual relations with these cultic prostitutes, but not be fulfilled in that their line would not continue. The major point here is that the priests who should have been calling Israel back from their spiritual harlotry were themselves now playing the whore. It’s horrifying. It’s worthy of judgment. Judgment that was sure to come; and now very sure to come and the reason why that coming judgment on the priests would come is given here at the end of verse 10. “Because they have stopped giving heed to the LORD.”

Alright. We’ve seen God bring charge one in verses 1-3, God’s charge against the careless people of Israel. We’ve seen charge two, verses 4-10 against the corrupt priests of Israel.
Now, in verse 11 through verse 19 we get charge number three against the compromised priorities of Israel. The people of Israel, they were mixing various aspects of false worship, of false “gods” with true worship, of the living God. That’s what we mean here by compromised priorities. They are mixing. It’s a syncretism that the Lord despises.

Well, it starts in verse 11, charge number three. He says, “Harlotry, wine and new wine take away the understanding.” See various sensual pleasures are listed here. “Harlotry, wine, and new wine” and these sensual pleasures had robbed the people of their senses leaving them without understanding. “Harlotry” here could refer to a few things. The Israelites of this time were engaged in a variety of pagan worship practices. Even though Moses had commanded Israel to destroy the old Canaanite shrines to false “gods” as they were getting ready to enter the promised land back in Deuteronomy, the second giving of the Law. Those shrines were still located on hills and under various types of trees throughout the Northern Kingdom of Hosea’s time. God had commanded them back in the 1440’s B.C. to get rid of that. Now you get to about the mid-750’s B.C. and those shrines are still there. 2 Kings 17:10-11 testifies to that. It says, “They set for themselves sacred pillars and Asherim,” this is during the time of Hosea, “on every high hill and under every green tree, and there they burned incense on all the high places as the nations did which the LORD had carried away to exile before them; and they did evil things provoking the LORD.” They were committing the worst form of harlotry imaginable. Spiritual harlotry. Spiritual adultery. With the aggrieved party being none other than God Himself. The “wine and new wine” mentioned here in verse 11, it only further dulled the senses of the people. Only further impaired their mental faculties. Like gasoline being thrown on the fire. The wine that they were drinking only aroused their passions causing the flames of their sinful passions to lick higher and higher.

As we see in verse 12, their impaired mental faculties, their dulled senses only made them more stupid. Verse 12, “My people consult their wooden idol, and their diviner’s wand informs them; for a spirit of harlotry has led them astray, and they have played the harlot, departing from their God.” Here, Hosea is taking up this common prophetic condemnation of the stupidity of idolatry. Though they were God’s people, His set-apart people, His chosen people, the people of Israel, in Hosea’s day, were consulting these little wooden figurines. Like Merlin waving these magic diviner’s wands. Items that were formed by human hands to determine what God’s will for them might be rather than consulting with God Himself, the One who formed the hands that made the wands and that made the statues. They were opting to communicate with the so-called “gods” of the land through statues and sticks rather than with the true God. I mean how foolish is that? To consult a piece of wood for advice. To ask a stick to tell you about your future. But that’s exactly what was happening here in Israel during Hosea’s day. There are a bunch of cross references I can give you. Isaiah 44:9, Jeremiah 10:1, Habakkuk 2:18 where other prophets similarly mock that sort of idolatry. How did Israel come to be so foolish? How did Israel come to be so foolish? Well, we get our answer at the end of verse 12. “For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray, and they have played the harlot, departing from their God.” There’s that common theme again, spiritual harlotry, spiritual adultery, spiritual whoredom. That word is used again twelve times in this chapter alone. Israel has been led astray by a mysterious spirit of whoring instead of being led by a spirit of wisdom, and most importantly being led by the Spirit of God.

Then verse 13. The focus now here shifts to the locations of these idolatrous worship practices that Israel was engaged in. It says “They offer sacrifices on the tops of the mountains and burn incense on the hills, under oak, poplar and terebinth, because their shade is pleasant. Therefore, your daughters play the harlot, and your brides commit adultery.” Hilltops and groves of trees were favorite places during these times for idolatrous worship in these days. Jeremiah 3:6, this is now the south looking at the north almost mockingly saying “Have you seen what faithless Israel did? She went up on every high hill,” this is Hosea’s country, “and under every green tree and she was a harlot there.” And then at the end of verse 13, this reference to “your daughters playing the harlot and your brides committing adultery.” That’s just the generic picture of Israel’s idolatry and spiritual adultery. Hosea here is critiquing all forms of misguided worship that were being offered in his day.

In verse 14 he says, “I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot or your brides when they commit adultery, for the men themselves go apart with harlots and offer sacrifices with temple prostitutes; so, the people without understanding are ruined.” Now there have been some who have thought that what this means is that though the women here are described as guilty that God would overlook their transgression since men, too, were engaged with prostitutes in that activity. But that doesn’t really make sense. Because nowhere else in the immediate context of this passage is forgiveness offered or transgression overlooked. Quite the contrary, judgment is the theme here and judgment is being forewarned and promised in this section. A better understanding then of what we see here in verse 14 then is that although all who sin will be judged, the Lord would not punish only the women who were committing harlotry while leaving the men who patronized them to go free. No, the men, too, would be punished and would receive the most severe punishment because they had set such a bad example by their engagement with cult prostitutes.

Then, verse 14 ends with these words, “So the people without understanding are ruined.” The heedless people. The people without knowledge were coming to their end. What’s being portrayed here is coming judgment on a people without discernment. A people who had been ignoring God’s Word. A people who had been ignoring God’s pleas; and a people who are about to pay a heavy price, the price of exile.

Now we have verse 15. It says, “Though you, Israel, play the harlot, do not let Judah become guilty; also, do not go to Gilgal, or go up to Beth-aven and take the oath: ‘As the LORD lives!’ Israel is already condemned, and here, God warns Israel against causing her southern neighbors, Judah to stumble into the same sins. That’s what’s meant by “Do not let Judah become guilty.” “Don’t allow them to be contaminated and stained like you are, Israel.” Which implies that at this time the Southern Kingdom had not yet devolved to the point of spiritual apostasy that the Northern Kingdom had. The second half of verse 15, it singles out these two worship locations which had shifted from being places in their heyday of legitimate worship to places that had, by Hosea’s day, become corrupted. “Gilgal” and “Beth-aven.” It says also “do not go to Gilgal or go up to Beth-haven and take the oath ‘As the LORD lives!” Gilgal was located between Jordan and Jericho in the area of Samaria. It was once a holy place to God. This place of memorial location after Joshua had led the people into the Promised Land. We see it in Joshua 5. However, by Hosea’s day, this very place had become desecrated by the idol worship that took place there. The same was true of this name “Beth Aven.” That name, “Beth Aven.” It literally means “house of wickedness” or “house of deceit.” But that wasn’t always its name. In fact, this place had once been sacred to God. Its former name was called Bethel, “house of God.” It was the very location of Jacob’s infamous dream involving a ladder in Genesis 28. It was only later in Israel’s history during the days of Jeroboam that this place, Bethel, became a place of false worship, specifically, of golden calves and then went from being a “house of God” to this Beth Aven, “house of wickedness.” This is about the most damning indictment that God could render against His apostate people. To say that Bethel, the “house of God” is now the place of wickedness. The depths of Israel’s depravity and specifically how desensitized they had become to their own sin is magnified even further at the end of verse 15 where in these houses of false worship they are trying to take the oath “As the LORD lives!” In response to all that Yahweh is saying “Don’t do it, Israel.” “Don’t drag Judah into this.” “And cut out your own fake and false worship of Me in places like Gilgal and Beth-Aven.”

Next, we see the LORD ask this question in Verse 16. He says, “Since Israel is stubborn like a stubborn heifer, can the LORD now pasture them like a lamb in a large field?” The word “stubborn” there refers to a rebellious attitude. An attitude which the Lord finds deplorable. It’s a word we see the Lord used many times in the Old Testament to refer to the Israelites. Jeremiah 5:23 says, “But this people have a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and departed.” Isaiah 65:2 says, “I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people.” hat God is saying here in verse 16, through His use of this rhetorical question at the end of verse 16, is “I’ve had enough of their stubbornness.” “No longer will I try to corral them or pasture them or care for them.” “Like a lamb,” it says, “in a large field.” “Instead, because of their refusal to repent I’m turning them loose into the vast wilderness where they will no longer be under My protective hand of care.” verse 17 next, it says, “Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone.” “Ephraim” was a prominent tribe in the Northern Kingdom. It is in fact mentioned 36 times in the book of Hosea. When it’s used in the book of Hosea, its referring, not necessarily to that tribe but rather to Israel as a whole. And that word “joined” there is again a covenantal term. A matrimonial term so that the sense here is that Israel, Ephraim, “is wedded to idols.” Israel had chosen who she’d be wedded to and it wasn’t her God. Instead, it was her sticks and statues. Because of Israel’s foolish and sinful choice, God here says, “Let him alone.” That’s an expression of God’s total abandonment of Israel. Israel was to be left to herself. Allowed to go off into her own doom and destruction. We see that idea picked up in Psalm 81:11-12. It says, “But My people did not listen to My voice, and Israel did not obey Me. So, I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart, to walk in their own devices.” Again, I’ve referenced it a couple of times tonight, but that’s Romans 1 type language giving them over. In essence, here back in Hosea in the time of Hosea, God is saying “You want it; you got it.” “I’m turning you over.” “I’m done with you, Israel.”

As we turn to verse 18. The accusation concludes as it began by referring to the carousing and immorality which characterized the people and their rulers in this day. It says, “Their liquor gone, they play the harlot continually; their rulers dearly love shame.” That word for “rulers” is literally “shields.” A term which suggests the positive, protective role which a nation’s leaders should play but which Israel’s rulers had failed to play and in doing so, had failed miserably. The rulers of this nation didn’t protect their people. They didn’t shield their people. They didn’t love their people. Rather, the rulers of Israel at this time, only loved their vices, their liquor, their harlotry and all other forms of unbridled lust. They “dearly,” it says, “loved shame.” Meaning, all these shameful things and soon as we know, they were going to pay for it as a consequence of their ever-deepening plunge into depravity.

Lastly, we get to verse 19. It says, “The wind wraps them in its wings; and they will be ashamed because of their sacrifices.” That expression, “The wind wraps them in its wings” is a picturesque way of describing the judgment that is coming upon Israel as they are swept away as though by a wind as they are taken into captivity as judgment for their sin as they are swept away. As the “wind wraps them in its wings” on their way to Assyria. It says, “They will be ashamed because of their sacrifices.” With their sin exposed, with their heads hung low, with their pride finally crushed, with their cheeks flushed, with their neighbors watching and pointing they will be led away, swept away into captivity. Faithless Israel would get what it deserved.

But as we’ve seen and said over and over in this study that’s not the end of the story. Turn, with me as we close to Psalm 106. Psalm 106, we’ll pick it up in verse 34. Psalm 106:34. It says “they did not destroy the peoples, as the Lord commanded them. But they mingled with the nations.” This is sort of a broad historical statement about Israel. “And learned their practices and served their idols which became a snare to them.” I’m now in verse 37, “They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons and shed innocent blood. The blood of their sons and their daughters whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. And the land was polluted with the blood thus they become unclean in their practices and played the harlot in their deeds. Therefore, the anger of the Lord was kindled against His people, and He abhorred His inheritance, and He gave them into the hand of the nation and those who hated them ruled over them. Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were subdued under their power. Many times, He would deliver them. They, however, were rebellious in their counsel and so sank down in their iniquity. Nevertheless, He looked upon their distress when He heard their cry, and He remembered His covenant for their sake and relented according to the greatness of His lovingkindness. He also made them objects of compassion in the presence of all their captors. Save us, O Lord, our God and gather us from among the nations to give thanks to Your holy name and glory in Your praise. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel from everlasting, even to everlasting and let all the people say amen, praise the Lord. You remember what that scarlet thread in the book of Hosea is that I asked that you remember as we make our way through this series? “Though Israel was faithless, God is faithful.” Though we are faithless, He remains faithful. It was true of Hosea’s day. It’s true of ours as well.

Let’s pray. God, we thank You so much for this evening and this chance to study Your word. I know it’s been a jet tour through a very deep and complicated chapter but pray that Your word was honored this evening. I pray that You would help us through this study of Hosea to remember the history of what You did and what You accomplished and how You accomplished Your perfect purposes and will through the people of Israel in their day, in that part of the world, in this particular century that Hosea was writing. I do pray as I’ve been asking our people that each and every Sunday evening to remember that there are timeless truths that we can cling to as Christians in the twenty-first century now, from this great book such as the fact that though when we are faithless, You are always and ever will be, faithful. I pray that that would continue to be a source of our joy and strength to remember Your faithfulness not only to the people of Israel, not only to Hosea, but to us, the Church, in this generation in this part of the world, in this century. Help us to rest in Your faithfulness and help us to live out a faithful life knowing the faithfulness we’ve been shown by You. We give You thanks and praise for this day and ask You would be glorified in our weeks. In Christ`s name, amen.