Read Hosea
5-8 & Revelation
1
To discover:
As you read consider what
provokes God about the people.
To ponder:
God’s word continues against priests, everyday Israelites
and the line of its kings (5v1). God affirms he sees what they’ve done, judges
them guilty and will discipline them. They are corrupt and unfaithful rebels,
who have engaged in slaughter – whether of violence or child sacrifice. This
may be why they are said to be a “snare.” They are so enslaved by their sin
that they literally cannot return to God, perhaps because they are addicted to
what they do. We’re told this is arrogance, no doubt in presuming they don’t
need or know better than God. And we read that Judah
stumbles in sin with them. The consequence is that when they go to make sacrifices
to God, he will find he has withdrawn and so is unwilling to forgive or bless.
And so they give birth to illegitimate children, in the sense that the children
are not born into a covenant relationship with the LORD. So the festivals will
devour them and their fields in bringing judgement not blessing because of
their hypocrisy (5v1-7). This is shocking when one considers Israel ’s
privileges were to belong to God from generation to generation. Those who
ponder turning from Christ should realise the impact it has on their children’s
relationship with God.
As to the
punishment: key cities in Israel
are told to ready themselves for battle on their day of reckoning. But wrath is
said to be coming like a flood on Judah
too, and so Benjamin is told to lead on into battle against the foe God is
bringing too. God describes himself like a moth or rot, so eating away at the
northern and southern kingdoms (5v1-7). It seems the battle may be against a
number of foes (including Assyria ), causing Ephraim and
Judah to seek the protection of Assyria . But God is
clear that even this “great king” won’t be able to help, because God is against
them like a lion, tearing them to pieces. Perhaps compacting the future he
speaks of carrying them off like a lion (the exile of the north by Assyria
and the south by Babylon ), and then
returning to his place, ie. distancing himself from them until they seek him in
repentance (5v8-15).
This
repentance is the wonderfully vocalized as returning to God for healing and
reviving after being torn to pieces by him. As so often, the third day is the
day of salvation, here, on which the people will be restored to his presence.
One cannot but think of Christ experiencing judgement on behalf of his people
and then being restored to his father by resurrection on the third day. The
people urge one-another to acknowledge God, confident he will come like the sun
or rain that revives the earth (6v1-3).
God next
expresses his despair over Ephraim and Judah’s sin. He asks what he can do, as
their love is so fleeting causing him to cut them to pieces in judgement. He
desired mercy and acknowledgement of him and so his will, but they simply went
through the motions of sacrifice. 6v7 may imply God made a covenant with Adam
in Eden , when he required obedience
and promised life. Like Adam, the people have proved unfaithful and quick to
turn away in their violence and spiritual prostitution conducted even by
priests (6v4-10).
6v11 states
a harvest for Judah
has been appointed and so is certain. This implies they will be restored after
judgement in a way that brings fruit – looking to Christ coming to them. As for
the north, God declares that whenever he would restore them, more sins are
revealed – deceit, theft, robbery. They forget God always remembers their sin.
And the king and princes are delighted with the people’s sin, as they
themselves burn with their adulterous desires. Moreover, the sense is that when
the princes are inflamed with wine at the very festival intended to celebrate
the king, they mock and plot to overthrow him. So kings fall, yet none call out
to God (7v1-7, see 2 Kgs 15).
7v8-12
portray Ephraim as compromised in mixing with the nations, uncooked in terms of
what God desires from him, weakened by the tribute required of him, arrogantly
thinking he is in his prime and not recognizing he is ageing, and so not
turning to God. Like a dove he flies to Egypt
and then Assyria for help only to be caught in God’s
net. Again, through Hosea God declares they will be destroyed for their
rebellion, whilst stating how he longs to redeem them. But they just carry on
speaking lies against him (perhaps that he is not angry), crying at their fate
but not crying out to him, seeking his blessing on their harvest whilst in
reality turning from him. There may be hints here to crying out to God but in a
pagan way. Whatever the case, it’s a reminder that only the sinner is to blame
for his judgement. God longs to redeem, but they just refuse to repent, often
whilst still engaging in things like prayer. God continues, stating how he
trained and strengthened them – presumably by teaching them to obey and
enabling them to take the land. The point is this proves he can help. Yet they
plot evil, not turning to him. Like a faulty bow they will not be able to
resist their attackers, and so their leaders will fall and the people have to
flee to Egypt
(where God first redeemed them from), meaning their ridicule in having failed
to keep all God had given (7v13-16). Likewise, those who turn from Christ
return to the state they were at before coming to him, and often a worse one
(Heb 10v26-31).
Chapter 8
provides another warning. This refers to the threatening nation as an eagle
over the temple, ready to attack. The reason is that Israel
have broken the covenant. They say they acknowledge God but break his law,
choosing kings without his consent, and making and worshipping idols that will
be destroyed because they are not God. They sow what is insubstantial (wind,
ie. alliances that mean nothing), but reap it back but with destruction
(whirlwind, ie. their allies actually attacking them). So 8v7 implies Israel
has nothing good to offer her allies, but is being swallowed up by them anyway.
She is like a wild donkey wandering aimlessly, selling herself in her alliances
to these nations as lovers. So God says, he will gather Israel
up for judgement under the mighty Assyrian king (8v1-10). He then continues his
charge against her. The altars she built for sin offerings have become those
for sinning. The idea of multiple altars itself was a Canaanite pagan practice,
and the people carried out idolatry at them. But the context implies the key
issues was that the people’s breach of the law made even right sacrifices
hypocritical. God will therefore punish them by returning them to Egypt
and consume the fortresses built in both north and south (8v11-14). Here we see Israel ’s
spiritual unfaithfulness isn’t just about worshipping idols, but being
unfaithful to her covenant commitment to love, obey and trust God in general.
So when we treat or rely on others as we should only God, we do the same. And
if we do this as we go about the things of worship, they are worse than
meaningless, being hypocritical and so sinful.
Praying
it home:
Praise God for his
reluctance to punish. Pray that you would not be hypocritical in your worship.
Thinking
further:
None today.
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