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
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| Hosea and Gomer |
In our first two sessions we talked about how Hosea marriage to Gomer and their 3 children was a picture of the relationship between Israel which is personified as Gomer and her husband God personified by Hosea. The names of their children was a picture of that rocky relationship.
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).
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.
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.'
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.
God paints Israel as an adulterous wife, who is no longer worthy to be compared to a wife. This shows that relationship is broken. Israel lewdly offered herself to other gods, in the way that a woman lewdly offers herself to lovers.
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.
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.
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.
This Week
Hosea 2:9-13 (NKJV)9 "Therefore I will return and take away My grain in its time And My new wine in its season, And will take back My wool and My linen, Given to cover her nakedness.10 Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, And no one shall deliver her from My hand.11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, Her feast days, Her New Moons, Her Sabbaths-- All her appointed feasts.12 "And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, Of which she has said, 'These are my wages that my lovers have given me.' So I will make them a forest, And the beasts of the field shall eat them.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 the LORD.
God gave grain to Israel, and she gave what He provided in sacrifice to Baal. So God will take away this provision, and as Israel feels her need and deprivation - perhaps she will turn back to the LORD.
During the time of Jeroboam II, Israel enjoyed great prosperity. But she used her prosperity for idolatry and the pursuit of ungodly pleasures, so God will take away her prosperity.
Hosea’s warnings to Israel serve as precedent for the church. Just as Israel was spiritually speaking the wife of Yahweh, so the church is the bride of Christ.
Revelation 19:7 (HCSB)7 Let us be glad, rejoice, and give Him glory, because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has prepared herself.
As Israel and Old Testament believers were called and charged to be faithful to the Lord and his standards, so the church and New Testament believers are to be careful to avoid anything that may compromise either their faith or faithfulness to Christ.
Ephesians 5:22-27 (HCSB)22 Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord,23 for the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of the body.
24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so wives are to ⌊submit⌋ to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her26 to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word.27 He did this to present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless.
Abundance and Joy Restored
Hosea 2:14-15 (NKJV)14 "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, Will bring her into the wilderness, And speak comfort to her.15 I will give her her vineyards from there, And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope; She shall sing there, As in the days of her youth, As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.
Once Israel has felt the discomfort of her deprivation, then she will listen to the voice of God once again, and He will allure her back to Himself.
He was going to take Israel to the solitary wilderness, where she could hear his voice without distraction. -The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
We’ll find out when we get a little further in this chapter this time during which God would allure Israel to the wilderness would be as the time when they left Egypt. They worshiped some idols in the desert an example was the golden calf. but this was before the went into Canaan and started worshiping the Baals. In effect He will be marrying Israel again.
God was going to turn the Valley of Achor, which was near Jericho, which was the first time that God judged His people in the Promised Land, from judgement to prosperity so that it became a symbol of new opportunity because of returning to God.
Achor means "trouble," so the Valley of Achor is the "Valley of Trouble." It was a place of trouble, where Achan's sin was discovered and judged.
Joshua 7:26 (NKJV)26 Then they raised over him a great heap of stones, still there to this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Achor to this day.
You will remember Achan. He was the guy who took some of what were called accursed things that they were told not to take. He took some and hid it and then the lost a battle the next day at Ai so the whole nation was not down it the dumps. The entire account is in Joshua chapter 7 but to cut to the chase when Achan was found out here’s what happened.
Joshua 7:22-25 (NKJV)22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver under it.23 And they took them from the midst of the tent, brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the LORD.24 Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had, and they brought them to the Valley of Achor.25 And Joshua said, "Why have you troubled us? The LORD will trouble you this day." So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.
God's restoration is so great that He will transform the "Valley of Trouble" into a door of hope.
She shall sing there, as in the days of her youth: When Israel is restored, she will be restored to joy. The passing pleasures of sin are forgotten and the true pleasures of God are restored.
Only through Achor, trouble, could Israel come back to fellowship with the Lord and its resultant blessing. God would thus restore the days of her youth. Relationship restored
Hosea 2:16-20 (NKJV)16 "And it shall be, in that day," Says the LORD, "That you will call Me 'My Husband,' And no longer call Me 'My Master,'17 For I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals, And they shall be remembered by their name no more.18 In that day I will make a covenant for them With the beasts of the field, With the birds of the air, And with the creeping things of the ground. Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth, To make them lie down safely.19 "I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me In righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy;20 I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the LORD.
There is a little play on words here. There are two Hebrew words for husband. One is Ishi, and the other is baal. Baal is also translated master. Restored Israel would address God as Ishi, literally, my husband. Baali is a synonym of ishi, but it contains the word Baal (master), the name of a Canaanite deity.
With great anticipation, God looks forward to the day when relationship is genuinely restored with His people. He wants an intimate love-relationship with His people, and longs for the day when His people will have a marriage-like love and commitment to their God.
God was not satisfied with a fear-based, obedience-focused relationship with His people where they thought of Him primarily as Master. He wanted a relationship where they thought of Him primarily as Husband.
Ultimately, this blessing of restored relationship will result in a transformed earth, changed both ecologically (beasts of the field … birds of the air) and politically. This blessing will be fulfilled in the millennial earth, but we can come to know the transforming power of restored relationship right now. The beasts of the field are the that God is making a covenant with for them are the same that He used to destroy their crops in verse 12
Hosea 2:12 (NKJV)12 "And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, Of which she has said, 'These are my wages that my lovers have given me.' So I will make them a forest, And the beasts of the field shall eat them.
When relationship with the LORD is ultimately restored, it will never be broken again. Relationship will be restored on a solid foundation (In righteousness and justice, in lovingkindness and mercy), and will result in deeper and deeper relationship (you shall know the LORD).
Instead of a dowry which was a substantial amount of money the bride’s price that God will pay are the four traits (righteousness, justice, loving kindness necessary, mercy) to the covenant relationship. Mercy is a reversal of God’s withdrawing mercy as shown in the name of Hosea’s daughter Lo-Ruhamah
Hosea 1:6 (NKJV)6 And she conceived again and bore a daughter. Then God said to him: "Call her name Lo-Ruhamah, For I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, But I will utterly take them away.
Blessing Restored
Hosea 2:21-23 (NKJV)21 "It shall come to pass in that day That I will answer," says the LORD; "I will answer the heavens, And they shall answer the earth.22 The earth shall answer With grain, With new wine, And with oil; They shall answer Jezreel.23 Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; Then I will say to those who were not My people, 'You are My people!' And they shall say, 'You are my God!' "
Now that Israel has responded to God’s wooing her;
Hosea 2:14 (NKJV)14 "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, Will bring her into the wilderness, And speak comfort to her.
God responded to her new behavior. The land becomes more productive.
This is great blessing of real, vibrant relationship with God. Our hearts beat in rhythm to His, and so we want what He wants. So when we ask God to do things, we already ask what He wants to do - so He will answer.
This is the same principle Jesus taught:
John 15:7 (HCSB) If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you.
Psalm 37:3-4 (HCSB)3 Trust in the LORD and do what is good; dwell in the land and live securely.4 Take delight in the LORD, and He will give you your heart’s desires.
When relationship is where it is supposed to be, God abundantly provides. This is the same principle Jesus taught
Matthew 6:33 (HCSB) But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.
In verses 22 and 23 the same names that were used in a negative way are now use differently.
They shall answer Jezreel: The name "Jezreel" means "Scattered," and could be used in a negative sense (as in Hosea 1:4-5). But it was also the word used to describe the good scattering of seed, "Sowing." Here, the LORD promises glorious redemption of the name Jezreel, which was first given as a sober reminder of scattering in judgment. Now it becomes a prophecy of the promise, "I will sow her for Myself in the earth." God will restore His people to abundance and blessing. Scattering will be transformed into sowing.
And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy: Hosea's second child, a daughter, was named Lo-Ruhamah, meaning "No Mercy" (Hosea 1:6). That name, originally given as a marker of judgment is now transformed into a mark of restoration.
Then I will say to those who were not My people, "You are My people!"Hosea's third child, a son, was named Lo-Ammi, meaning "Not My People" (Hosea 1:9). That name, originally given as a marker of judgment, is now transformed into a mark of restoration.
We see complete restoration. All three of Hosea's children, named as marks of judgment, now have their names restored and made into marks of mercy, grace, and restoration. God is that good!
With this, the restoration is complete. The LORD relates to His people as their God, and His people relate to Him as His people. This is relationship, full of warmth and love, and what God longs for.
This verse is quoted in part in Romans 9:25-26 and 1 Peter 2 9-10 referring and and applying to the Gentiles coming into the church.
Romans 9:25-26 (NKJV)25 As He says also in Hosea: "I will call them My people, who were not My people, And her beloved, who was not beloved."26 "And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not My people,' There they shall be called sons of the living God."
1 Peter 2:9-10 (NKJV)9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
What difficult things was God asking Hosea to do?
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| Hosea buys Gomer back |
Hosea 3:1 (HCSB)1 Then the LORD said to me, “Go again; show love to a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, just as the LORD loves the Israelites though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.”
Hosea was urged to love the woman who had turned her back upon him for the companionship of others. She was beloved of her friend, i.e., her paramour. Hosea was called upon to love an adulteress, one who had been unfaithful. It isn't in the past; it is in the present; yet he is commanded to go back to her and to love her. She was like the Israelites, who participated in pagan Baal rites which involved the offering of cakes of dried grapes.
There is a principle for us today about love: Hosea is directed to love, even when it must have been hard to love. We are filled with many romantic illusions about love, and one of these illusions is that love has very little to do with our will - we are just "captured" by love and follow whatever course it leads. But in principle, the Scriptures show us another way: That love is largely a matter of the will, and when we direct ourselves to love someone God tells us we must love, it can and will happen. This is why "We're not in love anymore" isn't valid grounds for a bad relationship or divorce. It assumes that love is something beyond or outside of our will.
Why did God command Hosea to go back to his still-unfaithful wife?
Not only for the sake of Hosea and his wife Gomer, but also so that they would become a living lesson of the LORD's relationship with His people. They were still steeped in spiritual adultery, yet the LORD still loved them.
When we think of the greatness of God's love and compassion towards us, it should make us much more loving, compassionate, and forgiving towards others.
Hosea 3:2-3 (HCSB)2 So I bought her for 15 shekels of silver and five bushels of barley.3 I said to her, “You must live with me many days. Don’t be promiscuous or belong to any man, and I will act the same way toward you.”
Hosea bought his wife back from the slavery into which her sin had led her for fifteen pieces of silver. The price of a slave was thirty shekels of silver
Exodus 21:32 (HCSB)32 If the ox gores a male or female slave, he must give 30 shekels of silver to the slave’s master, and the ox must be stoned.
Hosea didn't really need to "buy" His own wife, to hire her as a prostitute. She was his wife! But as a display of love and commitment, he goes the "extra mile," beyond what is expected or even reasonable.
In providing this way for his own wife, Hosea also showed her: "I can give you what the others can. You don't need them. Let me show you how I can provide for your needs."
As punishment for sins, the prophet says, Thou shalt abide for me many days. According to the Wycliffe Bible Commentary. The verb abide is sometimes used in the sense of "to live in seclusion"
Gomer was to lead a quiet, secluded life until Hosea would be free to take her as his wife. So will I also be for thee is literally, and also I to thee. Hosea appears to be saying that Gomer must be separated from others, and he would not have marital relations with her during the period defined as many days.
The point of paying Gomer wasn't just to get her to give up her trade as a prostitute. It was to bring her into relationship with Hosea, her husband. Relationship and living together was the goal.
Hosea 3:4 (HCSB)4 For the Israelites must live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or household idols.
Hosea's experience with Gomer had a counterpart in God's experience with Israel, which would be many days without a king, and without a prince. Israel, in exile, would have no civil government but would be governed by strangers. She would also be without a sacrifice. The manner and place of sacrifice were particularly stressed in the Levitical law. Israel would be unable to meet these conditions in the land of exile. While in exile they would also be unable to worship the familiar idols of Canaan that they were worshiping. It worked too. When they were finally allowed to return to that land idol worship was not a problem. There were other problems like legalism and reading things into the law that God never intended but idolatry was not a problem. Without an ephod. The ephod was a part of the high priest's attire (Ex 28:6-14). The root meaning of the word is, "to overlay," and in Gideon's time we read of an ephod which was an idol. It was probably made of wood overlaid with precious metal. Without teraphim, or household gods. Hosea states that the Exile would be a time during which the cult objects so dear to pre-Exilic Israel would be removed. - The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
In her fallen state, Israel will not have the national or political leadership she needs.
In her fallen state, Israel will not have the spiritual service she needs.
In her fallen state, Israel will not have the supernatural guidance and direction she needs.
Hosea 3:5 (HCSB)5 Afterward, the people of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come with awe to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days.
Afterward. After Israel had been removed from their land, their king, and their idolatrous worship, God would restore David their king, i.e., the Davidic king, or Messiah, who would rule as rightful king of Israel. The dynasty would be revived in the latter days. Literally, in the end of days. The expression is used to describe the Messianic era, the climax of history, when God's Messiah will rule over all the world.- The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
In this time of political and spiritual ruin, Israel will return and seek the LORD again. This will mark their restoration - and there will be no restoration until they turn back to the LORD.
This shows that this prophecy will be ultimately fulfilled in the millennial kingdom, where David will reign over Israel
Isaiah 55:3-5 (HCSB)3 Pay attention and come to Me; listen, so that you will live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the promises assured to David.4 Since I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples,5 so you will summon a nation you do not know, and nations who do not know you will run to you. For the LORD your God, even the Holy One of Israel, has glorified you.”
Jeremiah 30:8-9 (HCSB)8 “On that day”—⌊this is⌋ the declaration of the LORD of Hosts—“I will break his yoke from your neck and tear off your chains so strangers will never again enslave him.9 They will serve the LORD their God and I will raise up David their king for them.”
Ezekiel 34:23-25 (HCSB)23 I will appoint over them a single shepherd, My servant David, and he will shepherd them. He will tend them himself and will be their shepherd.24 I, Yahweh, will be their God, and My servant David will be a prince among them. I, Yahweh, have spoken.25 “I will make a covenant of peace with them and eliminate dangerous animals in the land, so that they may live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the forest.
We today can enjoy this blessing of restored relationship if they will turn back to the LORD.
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