The Church of Divine Guidance (CDG) Sunday morning adult bible study group is studying the book of Hosea. Israel's unfaithfulness to the Lord is depicted by Hosea in terms of a wife who has turned her back upon a faithful husband in order to follow evil lovers. These posts are my notes for each session. Please study with us. You can participate by asking your questions or making comments below. We welcome your thoughts, questions, comments, and prayers.
Review
Hosea and Gomer
Last week as we started our study of Hosea we learned that we know little about Hosea as a person other than he was the son of Beeri who some Jewish writers say was the man taken into exile by Assyria;
1 Chronicles 5:6 (NKJV)6 and Beerah his son, whom Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria carried into captivity. He was leader of the Reubenites.
We did learn that he was a prophet primarily to Israel although there are references to Judah in his prophecies. Hosea's prophecies begin during the forty-one-year reign of Jeroboam II in the eighth century B.C. Jeroboam's rule, militarily successful but religiously corrupt
Hosea's prophetic ministry extended over a fifty-year period and may have included the fall of Israel to Assyria in 722 B.C. It was a time of prosperity, with Israel and Judah controlling the international trade route. But it was also a time of idolatry and corruption as the Israelites, seeking success and security, adopted practices of the surrounding pagan cultures.
God used Hosea’s marriage to a woman, who Hosea describes as a harlot, or adulteress, or prostitute to describe Israel's relationship to him. In fact God tells Hosea to marry this woman Gomer. Now the belief is that Gomer wasn’t immoral, or at least had not exhibited immoral behavior before the marriage but she became that way after she and Hosea were married.
Hosea goes back and forth between God's judgment on the nation of Israel and his mercy for them. It’s sort of like God arguing with himself about Israel—not that God has trouble deciding what to do, but he feels the pain of conflict between what he wants for Israel and what he must do because of their sin.
Pain among people who love each other—or once loved each other—is a common human experience. It is not new. God used it in the life of the prophet Hosea to dramatically demonstrate something about God himself and his love for Israel. But first God had to have Hosea's cooperation in obeying a hard command.
Hosea and Gomer had three children, two boys and a girl, and their names indicated the state of the relationship between Israel and God. The children’s names were Jezreel (God sows’, a son ), Lo-ruhah (No Compassion or not-pitted, a daughter), Lo-ammi (not my people, a son).
Last week as we started in chapter one we read about God telling Hosea to marry Gomer and about the birth and names of the first two children, a son Jezreel whose name means God sows or scatters ( and Israel would soon be scattered in exile by an conquering Assyrian army), and Lo-ruhah, a daughter whose name means no compassion, or no pity (Every call to this child with the unfortunate name would remind Hosea and everyone else of coming judgment and exile.
Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah: The army of Assyria that destroyed Israel also attacked Judah, but they did not conquer them. Instead, God miraculously fought on behalf of Judah against Assyria when the angel of the LORD killed 185,000 soldiers in the camp of Assyria in one night. We looked at the story in 2 Kings 18 about what happened to the Assyrian army during the reign of Hezekiah king of Judah). We are going to continue today starting at verse 8 of chapter one with the second son Lo-Ammi.
This Week We Start With Verse 8 of Chapter 1
Hosea 1:8-9 (HCSB)8 After Gomer had weaned No Compassion, she conceived and gave birth to a son.9 Then the LORD said: Name him Not My People, for you are not My people, and I will not be your God.
The name Lo-Ammi means "Not My People." Every call to this unfortunately named child reminded Hosea and everyone else that the people of Israel had pushed away the Lord God, and should no longer be considered His people.
Since Gomer did not give up her prostitution, there may have been a cruel irony in the name Lo-Ammi. Perhaps this son really was not the son of Hosea, but of another man. Perhaps the appearance of the child made this evident. The message God had to deliver to Israel through Hosea was hard enough, but God also made Hosea have to live it.
For you are not My people, and I will not be your God: This is not so much of a sentence or a penalty, as it is a simple stating of fact. It isn't as if the people really wanted to be the people of God, yet God will not have them. Instead, the people of Israel rejected God, and here the LORD simply recognizes that fact. He won't play "let's pretend": "You pretend to be My people and I will pretend to be your God." The time for those games is over.
Hosea 1:10- 2:1(HCSB)10 Yet the number of the Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. And in the place where they were told: You are not My people, they will be called: Sons of the living God.11 And the Judeans and the Israelites will be gathered together. They will appoint for themselves a single ruler and go up from the land. For the day of Jezreel will be great. 1 Say to your brethren, 'My people,' And to your sisters, 'Mercy is shown.'
Though God has promised judgment, the days of judgment won't last forever. After judgment, there will come a day of prosperity, increase, and blessing.
God would fulfill the promise of Lo-Ammi (Hosea 1:9), but the judgment would not last forever. One day Israel will return to the LORD, and once again be called sons of the living God.
Then the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together: God promised a restoration so complete that the division caused by the civil war of Rehoboam and Jeroboam I - a division that stood for 170 years - would one day be erased.
We can say that one way this promise is fulfilled is in the church, where God brings together Israel, Judah - and even Gentiles - into one body (Ephesians 2:14-16).
Ephesians 2:14-16 (HCSB)14 For He is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. In His flesh,15 He made of no effect the law consisting of commands and expressed in regulations, so that He might create in Himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace.16 ⌊He did this so⌋ that He might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross and put the hostility to death by it.
For great will be the day of Jezreel! The first child of Hosea and Gomer was named Jezreel as a sign of judgment. But God promises a restoration so complete that Jezreel will once again be a name of greatness, not judgment.
Say to your brethren, "My people," and to your sisters, "Mercy is shown": This shows that the redemption is complete. The child named Jezreelhas his name redeemed, and now the next two children (Lo-Ruhamah, "No Mercy" and Lo-Ammi, "Not My People") have their name redeemed as Israel is once again regarded as "My People" unto the LORD and "Mercy is shown"unto them. What was a sign of judgment is now evidence of redemption.
In the passage Hosea 1:1-2:1, which we talked about last week and this God proclaimed to Israel both his justice and his mercy. What conflicts arise when a person has the intentions to be both just and merciful?
Read Hosea 2:2-13
Hosea 2:2-13 (HCSB) 2 Rebuke your mother; rebuke ⌊her⌋. For she is not My wife and I am not her husband. Let her remove the promiscuous look from her face and her adultery from between her breasts. 3 Otherwise, I will strip her naked and expose her as she was on the day of her birth. I will make her like a desert and like a parched land, and I will let her die of thirst. 4 I will have no compassion on her children because they are the children of promiscuity. 5 Yes, their mother is promiscuous; she conceived them and acted shamefully. For she thought, “I will go after my lovers, the men who give me my food and water, my wool and flax, my oil and drink.” 6 Therefore, this is what I will do: I will block her way with thorns; I will enclose her with a wall, so that she cannot find her paths. 7 She will pursue her lovers but not catch them; she will seek them but not find ⌊them⌋. Then she will think, “I will go back to my former husband, for then it was better for me than now.”8 She does not recognize that it is I who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil. I lavished silver and gold on her, which they used for Baal. 9 Therefore, I will take back My grain in its time and My new wine in its season; I will take away My wool and linen, which were to cover her nakedness.10 Now I will expose her shame in the sight of her lovers, and no one will rescue her from My hands.11 I will put an end to all her celebrations: her feasts, New Moons, and Sabbaths— all her festivals.12 I will devastate her vines and fig trees. She thinks that these are her wages that her lovers have given her. I will turn them into a thicket, and the wild animals will eat them. 13 And I will punish her for the days of the Baals when she burned incense to them, put on her rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, but forgot Me. ⌊This is⌋ the LORD’s declaration.
Hosea 2:2-3 (HCSB)2 Rebuke your mother; rebuke ⌊her⌋. For she is not My wife and I am not her husband. Let her remove the promiscuous look from her face and her adultery from between her breasts.3 Otherwise, I will strip her naked and expose her as she was on the day of her birth. I will make her like a desert and like a parched land, and I will let her die of thirst.
God paints Israel as an adulterous wife, who is no longer worthy to be compared to a wife. This shows that relationship is broken.
The prophet's wife had separated herself from him, and with a broken heart he recognized that their marriage ties were severed. The words are reminiscent of the formula used in divorce. In like manner God now addresses Israel. -The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
Israel lewdly offered herself to other gods, in the way that a woman lewdly offers herself to lovers. This is communicated by the phrase her adulteries from between her breasts. "The reference to her 'breasts' may imply that she had laid bare her bosom to entice her lovers … If she did not change, she would be stripped naked." (Hubbard)
God warns Israel that if she will not put away her harlot-like ways, she will be judged. Though relationship is broken, blessing continues - but will be taken away if Israel does not turn.
This punishment for adultery is attested in Scripture
Ezekiel 16:38 (HCSB)38 I will judge you the way adulteresses and those who shed blood are judged. Then I will bring about your bloodshed in wrath and jealousy.
Also in the Nuzi tablets from northern Mesopotamia. The words here apply to Israel, who would become a prey to her enemies when left desolate and naked by her God.
When Israel was born in the wilderness, she needed God.
Exodus 19:3-7 (HCSB)3 Moses went up ⌊the mountain⌋ to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain: “This is what you must say to the house of Jacob, and explain to the Israelites:4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Me.5 Now if you will listen to Me and carefully keep My covenant, you will be My own possession out of all the peoples, although all the earth is Mine,6 and you will be My kingdom of priests and My holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to say to the Israelites.”7 After Moses came back, he summoned the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the LORD had commanded him.
Deuteronomy 14:1-2 (HCSB)1 “You are sons of the LORD your God; do not cut yourselves or make a bald spot on your head on behalf of the dead,2 for you are a holy people belonging to the LORD your God. The LORD has chosen you to be His own possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.
This is from Solomon’s prayer when the temple was dedicated.
1 Kings 8:53 (HCSB)53 For You, Lord GOD, have set them apart as Your inheritance from all the people on earth, as You spoke through Your servant Moses when You brought their ancestors out of Egypt.
But when she "grew up", she worshiped false gods and they started right away.
Exodus 32:1-6 (HCSB)1 When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who will go before us because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!”2 Then Aaron replied to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters and bring ⌊them⌋ to me.”3 So all the people took off the gold rings that were on their ears and brought ⌊them⌋ to Aaron.4 He took ⌊the gold⌋ from their hands, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it into an image of a calf. Then they said, “Israel, this is your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!”5 When Aaron saw ⌊this⌋, he built an altar before it; then he made an announcement: “There will be a festival to the LORD tomorrow.”6 Early the next morning they arose, offered burnt offerings, and presented fellowship offerings. The people sat down to eat and drink, then got up to play.
Hosea was specifically talking about Baal and other gods associated with it.
Baal was the name of the supreme god worshiped in ancient Canaan and Phoenicia. The practice of Baal worship infiltrated Jewish religious life during the time of the Judges
This idol worship became widespread in Israel during the reign of Ahab
1 Kings 16:31-33 (HCSB) 31
Then, as if following the sin of Jeroboam son of Nebat were a
trivial matter, he married Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal king of the
Sidonians, and then proceeded to serve Baal and
worship him. 32 He set up an altar
for Baal in the temple of Baal that he had built in Samaria. 33 Ahab also made an Asherah pole. Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel than all the kings of
Israel who were before him.
This idol worship also affected Judah
2 Chronicles 28:1-2 (HCSB) 1
Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king and
reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the LORD’s sight like his ancestor David,
2 for he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and made cast images of the Baals.
2 for he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and made cast images of the Baals.
The word baal means “lord”; the plural is baalim. In general, Baal was a fertility god who was believed to enable the earth to produce crops and people to produce children. Different regions worshiped Baal in different ways, and Baal proved to be a highly adaptable god. Various locales emphasized one or another of his attributes and developed special “denominations” of Baalism. Baal of Peor (Numbers 25:3) and Baal-Berith (Judges 8:33) are two examples of such localized deities.
Hosea 2:4-5 (HCSB)4 I will have no compassion on her children because they are the children of promiscuity.5 Yes, their mother is promiscuous; she conceived them and acted shamefully. For she thought, “I will go after my lovers, the men who give me my food and water, my wool and flax, my oil and drink.”
I will not have mercy on her children: If Israel as a whole is represented as an unfaithful wife, then her children represent the individual people of Israel. If they do not turn back to the LORD, they will personally experience His judgment.
 |
| Gomer follow her lovers |
I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my linen: Israel justified her harlotry because she received things from her "lovers." She looked at all the good she seemed to get from her sin, and it seemed like a good deal. Israel didn't understand the passing pleasures of sin
Israel's lovers were the Baals. This was as bad as a woman who is not true to her husband. God decides to punish her. He will make sure that she cannot go where she wants. Walls and other things will stop her. Then she will want to return to God.
Hosea 2:6-8 (HCSB)6 Therefore, this is what I will do: I will block her way with thorns; I will enclose her with a wall, so that she cannot find her paths.7 She will pursue her lovers but not catch them; she will seek them but not find ⌊them⌋. Then she will think, “I will go back to my former husband, for then it was better for me than now.”8 She does not recognize that it is I who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil. I lavished silver and gold on her, which they used for Baal.
God was angry because Israel’s holidays became days of Baal
Hosea 2:11 (NKJV)11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, Her feast days, Her New Moons, Her Sabbaths-- All her appointed feasts.
God wanted people to rest on the Sabbath. But this, too, became a holiday for eating
Amos 8:4-5 (HCSB)4 Hear this, you who trample on the needy and do away with the poor of the land,5 asking, “When will the New Moon be over so we may sell grain, and the Sabbath, so we may market wheat? We can reduce the measure while increasing the price and cheat with dishonest scales.
I will hedge up your way with thorns: This wasn’t the kind of hedge that God had around Job.
Job 1:9-10 (HCSB)9 Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing?10 Haven’t You placed a hedge around him, his household, and everything he owns? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
To bring Israel to repentance, God promised to set a hedge of thorns on the sides of her path, so that it would hurt whenever Israel went off the correct path, and so the wrong paths would be hard to find.
When God hedges our way with thorns, we usually don't like it. We sometimes think God is against us when the thorns hurt and we can't find the wrong paths. But it is really one of the sweetest expressions of God's love to hedge up your way with thorns and to wall us in.
I will go and return to my first husband: When God allows the passing pleasures of sin to pass, we often then see how good it was to follow the LORD. In a marriage sometimes the grass can seem greener even with the best spouse; in our walk with the LORD our idols seem attractive until God exposes them. Then we are ready to return to our first husband, the LORD.
She will repent and the marriage will not end. But this idea of repenting does not last for long. Hosea will quickly bring the people back to the idea of judgement. Israel forgot that God gave her everything. God gave her the grain, wine and oil. She thought that Baal gave her the silver and gold. But it was God who gave her real riches. So for the second time, God becomes like a judge. He will take away her riches. There will be no grain and no wine. Israel will have no clothes. This happened after 748 BC. There was war between Assyria and Israel and things became difficult.
For she did not know that I gave her grain: Even when Israel went after other gods, the Lord still provided for her. This showed His great, unselfish love to Israel. Even though Israel took what God provided and prepared it for Baal, He still loved them.
When Hosea provided for Gomer, she spent it on her adulterous lovers.
Which they prepared for Baal: This principle shows how offensive idolatry really is to God. Whatever we give to an idol, we have received from God.
God gives to man the trees of the forest and the iron in the ground. He gives man the brains to make an axe and nails from the iron, and the energy to cut down the tree, the skill to fashion the wood into beams. God gives man the cleverness to make a handle from the wood, and head from the iron, and combine it into an effective hammer. Then man takes the beams, the nails, and the hammer and he nails God to the cross - where God willingly stretched out His arms, dying on the cross to take the guilt and penalty man's sin deserved - and to make an new, restored relationship between God and man possible.
Next week we start with chapter 2 verse 9
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