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
In the last few verses of Chapter 11 God promised to ultimately restore Israel.
Hosea 11:10-11 (HCSB)10 They will follow the LORD; He will roar like a lion. When He roars, His children will come trembling from the west.11 They will be roused like birds from Egypt and like doves from the land of Assyria. Then I will settle them in their homes. ⌊This is⌋ the LORD’s declaration.
In Chapter 12 Hosea uses Jacob as an example of Israel’s deceit.
Hosea 12:2-6 (HCSB)2 The LORD also has a dispute with Judah. He is about to punish Jacob according to his ways; He will repay him based on his actions.3 In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel, and as an adult he wrestled with God.4 Jacob struggled with the Angel and prevailed; he wept and sought His favor. He found him at Bethel, and there He spoke with him.
5 Yahweh is the God of Hosts; Yahweh is His name.6 But you must return to your God. Maintain love and justice, and always put your hope in God.
Here, God looks back at the patriarch Jacob and how Israel in Hosea's day was just like their forefather Jacob in the days of Genesis. In ancient Israel, a "heel-catcher" was a double-dealer, someone who achieved their goals through crafty and dishonest means. Through Hosea, God says, "That was Jacob then and it is Israel now."
Hosea 12:12-14 (HCSB)12 Jacob fled to the land of Aram. Israel worked to earn a wife; he tended flocks for a wife.13 The LORD brought Israel from Egypt by a prophet, and Israel was tended by a prophet.14 Ephraim has provoked bitter anger, so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him and repay him for his contempt.
Hosea makes a connection between the coming exile of Israel and the "exile" of Jacob when he fled from Esau to his uncle Laban in Syria.
Genesis 28:2, 5 (HCSB)2 Go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father. Marry one of the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. 5 So Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
Chapter 13
Hosea 13:1-3 (HCSB)1 When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he was exalted in Israel. But he incurred guilt through Baal and died.2 Now they continue to sin and make themselves a cast image, idols skillfully made from their silver, all of them the work of craftsmen. People say about them, “Let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves.”3 Therefore, they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes, like chaff blown from a threshing floor, or like smoke from a window.
The end is near for Israel. The tribe of Ephraim was so influential as to command unquestioning respect in the early days of the Northern Kingdom. But Ephraim became full of guilt. Ephraim and all Israel subsequently were weakened through the impact of Baal worship
Sin and death go together
Romans 6:23 (NKJV)23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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Jeroboam 1st made young cows of gold in Bethel and Dan.
We talked about that a few weeks ago.
1 Kings 12:25-28 (NKJV)25 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and dwelt there. Also he went out from there and built Penuel.26 And Jeroboam said in his heart, "Now the kingdom may return to the house of David:27 If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn back to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah."
28 Therefore the king asked advice, made two calves of gold, and said to the people, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!" But it was the *Israelites who made the *idols. The people *worshipped the things that they made. Verse 2b is not clear. The people kiss the animals. Perhaps Hosea is saying that the people are very silly. The verse may also mean that they are offering *sacrifices of people.
The men who sacrifice may instead have the idea of engaging in human sacrifice, and could be translated "the sacrificers of men." In ancient Israel human sacrifice was almost always child-sacrifice. Hosea has already spoken of this horrible practice.
Hosea 9:13 (HCSB)13 I have seen Ephraim like Tyre, planted in a meadow, so Ephraim will bring out his children to the executioner.
Therefore they shall be like the morning cloud and like the early dew that passes: Because Israel trusted in themselves and in idols, they could not stand. They would pass like the early dew. She will not be a nation any more.
Sinful Israel will be torn apart as if by a lion.
Hosea 13:4-8 (HCSB)4 I have been Yahweh your God ever since the land of Egypt; you know no God but Me, and no Savior exists besides Me.5 I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.6 When they had pasture, they became satisfied; they were satisfied, and their hearts became proud. Therefore they forgot Me.7 So I will be like a lion to them; I will lurk like a leopard on the path.8 I will attack them like a bear robbed of her cubs and tear open the rib cage over their hearts. I will devour them there like a lioness, like a wild beast that would rip them open.
In spite of Israel's sins, God reminds his people of his covenant relationship to them: I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt. The reference to Egypt serves as a reminder of the great events associated with the Exodus. God had been faithful to his people, even during times of their faithlessness. Thou shalt know no god but me should be rendered in the present—Thou knowest no god but me. It is God himself whom the people must know. The other gods are not there.
The Lord alone had met the needs of his people. All other deities were helpless in themselves and useless to their worshipers.
Israel changed, but the LORD God did not. He is still the only God and the only Savior, and His people will be left desolate when they leave Him.
It was in the desert that God remembered his covenant. He gave the people what they needed. Those whom God knows he blesses, and Israel had received countless blessings—e.g., manna from heaven, water from the rock—during her wilderness sojourn. But they forgot him. Israel became a murmuring people, rebelling against God, and a whole generation perished without seeing the Promised Land. God had even said this would happen while they were still in the wilderness.
Deuteronomy 8:11-14 (NKJV)11 "Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today,
12 lest--when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them;
13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied;14 when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;
It is a strange and terrible aspect of human nature that when times are good, we often forget the God who blessed us. When we neglect God as He blesses, we then will often face the chastening hand of God. It isn't because God hates us, but because we have demonstrated that we will only turn to Him when times are bad.
Hosea now uses another picture. God will be like an animal. "The three mentioned - lion, leopard, and bear - were all native to Palestine and known for their relentless manner of killing prey." (Wood)
God, the only hope of Israel.
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| Assyrian Captivity |
Hosea 13:9-11 (HCSB)9 I will destroy you, Israel; you have no help but Me.10 Where now is your king, that he may save you in all your cities, and the rulers you demanded, saying, “Give me a king and leaders”?11 I give you a king in My anger and take away ⌊a king⌋ in My wrath.
Even when Israel feels the sting of God's chastening hand, they can still find help from the LORD, if they will only turn to Him. By rebelling against the God who was always ready to help his people, Israel had brought about her own destruction.
God wanted to be recognized as the King of Israel, no matter which man sat on the royal throne. When they rejected the LORD as King, He gave them the kind of kings their hearts wanted and deserved, and then even took those kings as further judgment.
1 Samuel 8:5-22 (HCSB)5 They said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not follow your example. Therefore, appoint a king to judge us the same as all the other nations have.”6 When they said, “Give us a king to judge us,” Samuel considered their demand sinful, so he prayed to the LORD.7 But the LORD told him, “Listen to the people and everything they say to you. They have not rejected you; they have rejected Me as their king.8 They are doing the same thing to you that they have done to Me, since the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day, abandoning Me and worshiping other gods.9 Listen to them, but you must solemnly warn them and tell them about the rights of the king who will rule over them.”10 Samuel told all the LORD’s words to the people who were asking him for a king.11 He said, “These are the rights of the king who will rule over you: He will take your sons and put them to his use in his chariots, on his horses, or running in front of his chariots.12 He can appoint them for his use as commanders of thousands or commanders of fifties, to plow his ground or reap his harvest, or to make his weapons of war or the equipment for his chariots.13 He can take your daughters to become perfumers, cooks, and bakers.14 He can take your best fields, vineyards, and olive orchards and give them to his servants.15 He can take a tenth of your grain and your vineyards and give them to his officials and servants.16 He can take your male servants, your female servants, your best young men, and your donkeys and use them for his work.17 He can take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves can become his servants.18 When that day comes, you will cry out because of the king you’ve chosen for yourselves, but the LORD won’t answer you on that day.”19 The people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We must have a king over us.20 Then we’ll be like all the other nations: our king will judge us, go out before us, and fight our battles.”21 Samuel listened to all the people’s words and then repeated them to the LORD.22 “Listen to them,” the LORD told Samuel. “Appoint a king for them.” Then Samuel told the men of Israel, “Each of you, go back to your city.”
Why would a nation—or a person—turn against the divine Helper?
Human pride makes it very difficult for people to accept help from the one they are rebelling against, and the help is unlikely to fulfill the desires that caused the rebellion in the first place.
The sorrowful judgment of Ephraim and her children.
Hosea 13:12-16 (HCSB)12 Ephraim’s guilt is preserved; his sin is stored up.13 Labor pains come on him. He is not a wise son; when the time comes, he will not be born.14 I will ransom them from the power of Sheol. I will redeem them from death. Death, where are your barbs? Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion is hidden from My eyes.15 Although he flourishes among ⌊his⌋ brothers, an east wind will come, a wind from the LORD rising up from the desert. His water source will fail, and his spring will run dry. The wind will plunder the treasury of every precious item.16 Samaria will bear her guilt because she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.
As the pangs of childbirth are inescapable, so Israel was to bear the trials which her sins had merited. Labor pains often come unexpectedly, are intense, and increase in their pain and duration. In the same way, judgment will come upon Israel.
She is also likened to an unwise son who, at the time of birth, does not present himself in the place of the breaking forth of children (i.e., at the mouth of the womb). In Hosea's apt illustration, a clever child would be eager to hasten from the womb; leaving the womb would usher in a new life. Israel (Ephraim) could have had a new beginning in a life of obedience, but she chose to tarry in her idolatry.
The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
The words express the feeling of a father who cannot bear to contemplate the utter ruin of even a faithless son. Judgment must come upon Israel, but beyond the judgment would be deliverance. - The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
The sin and judgment of Israel is great, but not greater than God's ability and power to redeem. He can even redeem … from death, so that death and the grave are mocked as defeated foes.
Paul quoted the Septuagint translation of Hosea 13:14 in describing our triumph over death in our sharing in the resurrection of Jesus:
1 Corinthians 15:55 (HCSB)55 Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?
In the long term, Israel will see the glory of God's redemption and His power over sin and death. In the near term, Israel will be chastened for their rebellion against God.
Hosea says, Though he be fruitful among his brethren, the smiting east wind from the wilderness will bring desolation on the land. The wind from the East seems to be an allusion to the Assyrian who would soon despoil Israel. With the coming of the Assyrian, Samaria would become desolate.
Chapter 14
Israel's repentance and God's response.
Hosea 14:1-3 (HCSB)1 Israel, return to Yahweh your God, for you have stumbled in your sin.2 Take words ⌊of repentance⌋ with you and return to the LORD. Say to Him: “Forgive all ⌊our⌋ sin and accept what is good, so that we may repay You with praise from our lips.3 Assyria will not save us, we will not ride on horses, and we will no longer proclaim, ‘Our gods!’ to the work of our hands. For the fatherless receives compassion in You.”
Hosea turned to his people with a plea to return unto the Lord. Israel had been faithless, but the prophet still saw hope if she would turn from her sin. Israel had fallen. Literally, stumbled. Sin had put a stumbling block in the way. Hosea asks for confession of sin: Take with you words. Israel had been headed in the direction of judgment, which could only be averted by a complete turning from sin and idolatry to God and his righteous claims upon the lives of his people; hence the command to turn to the Lord. The prayer, Take away all iniquity, implies renunciation of sin. The words, and receive us graciously, literally read, and take good. The JPS renders, and accept that which is good. Confession of sin, and renunciation of its hold upon the life of Israel would result in blessing, with its attendant praise and thanksgiving. Praise is likened to sacrifice which is offered by the grateful worshiper. The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
In their prayer they understand that there is no hope in Assyria, horses or *idols. Instead, they will want to put their hope in God’s *covenant. When we return to the LORD, taking words with us, we come declaring His greatness. We tell of what a great and merciful God we have.
When we return to the LORD, we come renouncing our dependence on all other things. We recognize that the LORD and the LORD alone can make the difference in our life.
God promises to restore a repentant Israel.
Hosea 14:4-7 (HCSB)4 I will heal their apostasy; I will freely love them, for My anger will have turned from him.5 I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily and take root like ⌊the cedars of⌋ Lebanon.6 His new branches will spread, and his splendor will be like the olive tree, his fragrance, like ⌊the forest of⌋ Lebanon.7 The people will return and live beneath his shade. They will grow grain and blossom like the vine. His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.
When God's people call upon him in genuine penitence, he is ready to come to their aid and will heal their backsliding. The Lord's love is motivated by his own grace rather than by any merit in its subject. It is given freely, a word suggesting that it is bestowed of God's own free will. Israel had not earned God's love, but he was prepared to give it as a gift. The anger of the Lord speaks of his reaction to sin, which always provokes his wrath. In grace, however, anger may be turned away and judgment averted.
Rain is scarce in much of the Near East, and dew is essential if vegetation is to grow. God would enable Israel to flourish: He shall grow as the lily, suggesting both beauty and fruitfulness. Several flowers are suggested as the lily. Pliny spoke of the white lily which grows wild in Palestine and "is unsurpassed in its fecundity, often producing fifty bulbs from a single root" (Pliny Natural History XXI. 5). The Anemone coronaria is also suggested. The words, roots as Lebanon, imply stability. It is uncertain whether the cedar trees or the mountains of Lebanon are meant, but in either instance the symbol is one of permanence.
The branches which shall spread are the tender branches or saplings which spring from the root after Israel's vine is cut down (cf. Isa 53:2). Hosea indicates that the root of the tree shall send forth many fresh plants. The fruit of the olive tree was a staple in the economy of the ancient East. Jeremiah 11:16 speaks of Israel as "a green olive tree, fair and of goodly fruit." Lebanon had the fresh smell of its cedars and of the shrubs which grew on its slopes. 7a. Read, They that dwell under his shadow shall again make corn to grow (so JPS). God is speaking, and declaring that restored Israel will enjoy such blessing that other peoples will be blessed through association with Israel. They shall plant corn and reap harvests under Israel's shadow.- The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
When God's people call upon him in genuine penitence, he is ready to come to their aid and will heal their backsliding.
He makes promises to Israel. They will not need to be afraid of God. They will not need to think about God’s anger.
Isaiah 54:6-8 gives another picture that is like this.
Isaiah 54:6-8 (NKJV)6 For the LORD has called you Like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, Like a youthful wife when you were refused," Says your God.7 "For a mere moment I have forsaken you, But with great mercies I will gather you.8 With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; But with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you," Says the LORD, your Redeemer.
Israel is like a wife coming back to her husband. Instead of anger, God will bring Israel many more blessings.
The Lord's love is motivated by his own grace rather than by any merit in its subject. It is given freely, a word suggesting that it is bestowed of God's own free will. Israel had not earned God's love, but he was prepared to give it as a gift. The anger of the Lord speaks of his reaction to sin, which always provokes his wrath. In grace, however, anger may be turned away and judgment averted. - The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
This passage shows us what is restored when we return to the LORD.
- Growth is restored (He shall grow)
- Beauty is restored (He shall grow like the lily)
- Strength is restored (lengthen his roots like Lebanon)
- Value is restored (His beauty shall be like an olive tree)
- Delight is restored (His fragrance like Lebanon)
- Abundance is restored (revived like grain … grow like the vine … scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon)
A new Israel, free from idols, walking in wisdom.
Hosea 14:8-9 (HCSB)8 Ephraim, why should I have anything more to do with idols? It is I who answer and watch over him. I am like a flourishing pine tree; your fruit comes from Me.9 Let whoever is wise understand these things, and whoever is insightful recognize them. For the ways of the LORD are right, and the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.
Again, God asks Israel to throw away her *idols (verse 8). All good things come from God. He is like a tree - a tree of life. The people of Israel can be free through him. He always has enough to give.
Hosea finishes his book by writing about a wise person (verse 9). The ways of God are right. A silly person would not listen. There will be trouble for people who do not obey. But a clever person will keep the laws of the *Lord
Psalm 18:22 (HCSB)22 Indeed, I have kept all His ordinances in mind and have not disregarded His statutes.
"In beauty of expression these final words of Hosea rank with the memorable chapters of the OT. Like the rainbow after a storm, they promise Israel's final restoration. Here is the full flowering of God's unfailing love for his faithless people, the triumph of his grace, the assurance of his healing - all described in imagery that reveals the loving heart of God." (Wood)
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