Joel’s vivid and passionate prophecy was stimulated by a terrible infestation of locusts that destroyed Judah’s crops. Joel saw the disaster not only as a contemporary judgment, but as an event prefiguring a coming “Day of the Lord” at history’s end. In powerful words and images Joel portrayed the Sovereign God who will surely judge the sinful. God’s people must repent from the heart to escape imminent disaster.
“I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for My anger has turned away from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily” (Hosea 14:4–5).There are few passages of Scripture that approach Hosea 11–14’s emotional expressions of God’s love. As we hear His cry, “How can I give you up, Ephraim?” we sense the depths of God’s great love for you and me.
Overview
God’s love is seen against the background of Israel’s rebellion (11:1–7). In the last days God will restore Israel (vv. 8–11) despite her folly (v. 12, 12:14). Israel fell into sin (13:1–16), but will return to God and be blessed (14:1–9).
Understanding the Text
“When Israel was a child” Hosea 11:1–7.
Hosea now pictured God’s relationship with Israel as that of a parent with a toddler. The child runs off; is brought back; runs off again, only to stumble and hurt its knee; is ministered to gently by its parent; and runs off again, completely unaware of the love shown by the parent whose guidance it ignores. What an image: God, “bent down to feed them,” and His people “determined to turn from Me.” Hundreds of years had passed, and Israel still had not learned. Israel’s refusal to repent meant that “swords will flash in their cities.” How many people who have an image of the Lord as a loving God cannot grasp the fact that true love must seek the best for its object? A God of love will punish, even as a wise parent will punish a child who continually goes astray. “How can I give you up?” Hosea 11:8–11 Unlike human beings, who are dominated by strong emotions when these emotions are aroused, the Lord is “God, and not man.” Despite His justified anger against sinning Israel, He also felt compassion. God will be true to His love for Israel. One day He will roar like a lion calling back its cubs to the safety of the den. “According to his ways” Hosea 11:12–12:14. It was not God who had brought the coming punishment on Israel. It was the people themselves. What had Israel done to bring judgment down on her? God’s people had “surrounded Me with lies” and been “unruly against God.” God’s people had multiplied “lies and violence.” God’s people had failed to “maintain love and justice.” God’s people used “dishonest scales” and love “to defraud.” All this had bitterly provoked God to anger. “His Lord will leave upon him the guilt of his bloodshed and will repay him for his contempt.” The passage, however, leaves Israel and us an example to follow. The man Israel, then known by the name of Jacob, “as a man he struggled with God” (v. 3). The allusion is to Jacob’s experience at Bethel, where he wrestled with the Angel of the Lord in a desperate struggle to obtain His blessing (cf. Gen. 32:25–29). Jacob did prevail, and won God’s blessing. The forefather is thus held up as an example for contemporary Israel, to illustrate the intensity with which they must struggle to be blessed. What does that struggle involve? In Hosea’s time or our own, to win the blessing of God we must “return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always.” “I will come upon them like a lion” Hosea 13:1–16. Rather than struggle to obtain God’s blessing, the people of Israel had thrown themselves eagerly into the pursuit of sin. Their craftsmen developed “cleverly fashioned idols,” and they “offer[ed] human sacrifice.” And this despite all God had done for them. This people without gratitude, who had experienced God’s kindness (vv. 4–7) would now experience Him in a different way. “I will come upon them like a lion,” the Lord said (v. 7). “I will destroy you” (v. 9). “I will have no compassion” (v. 14). Yet even when pronouncing judgment the Lord cannot resist a word of comfort. “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death” (v. 14). If you should happen to feel the lash of God’s discipline, remember this chapter of Hosea. The One who acts to destroy is also the One who ransoms. We can turn back to Him confidently, for He will welcome us home. “Say to him” Hosea 14:1–3. Again and again the Old Testament shows us how to approach God after we have sinned. Here the prescription is repeated: Come asking forgiveness. Come trusting in Him only. “I will heal their waywardness” Hosea 14:4. God tells us in advance how He will respond to such an appeal. He will deal with our waywardness and love us freely. He will do more than forgive. God will transform us, so that His anger may be permanently turned away. “He will blossom like a lily” Hosea 14:5–9. Using images from agriculture, the Lord foresaw a time when Israel will again flourish in her land. Her idols put forever away, Israel will again enjoy the blessing of God. The book closes with a question. “Who is wise? He will realize these things. Who is discerning? He will understand them. The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.”
DEVOTIONAL
Never Alone (Hosea 11)
The man was bitter. Life had been unfair to him. He had been abused as a child. Not particularly gifted, he did poorly in school, and had difficulty finding a good job. Though a Christian now, married and with children, he often felt frustrated and angry. A wise counselor opened the Bible to this chapter of Hosea. In verses 1–3 the hurting believer saw that though God’s people hadn’t been aware of it, all through their life as a nation God had been there. God had taken them by the arm, and they hadn’t felt His touch. God led them gently, the leash woven of love. God’s hand lifted burdens from their neck, and He Himself bent over to feed them. The counseler showed him in verses 8 and 9 that God had felt every hurt, and that His heart had surged with compassion at Israel’s suffering, even though it was deserved. And the counselor showed him in verse 11 that even the most vulnerable of beings will come, trembling, when God calls, only to be settled safely in his home. And then the counselor asked the embittered Christian to close his eyes, and to relive those experiences that caused him so much pain. But this time he was to imagine God in each situation. He was to sense God beside him, and that the Lord was bringing him safely through. He was to sense God touching, and healing, every pain. He was to feel God lifting his burdens, and bending down to sustain him when he was ready to collapse in his weakness. With eyes closed, the man did relive his experiences, and consciously invited the God of Hosea 11 to relive them with him. God had been there all the time! And as he became aware of that fact, and let himself feel God’s loving touch, his bitterness was healed and his pain gave way to peace and joy.
Personal Application
The God of Hosea 11 has been with you all your life. Invite Him to heal your own memories, and cleanse you of bitterness and pain.
Quotable
“The happiest, sweetest, tenderest hearts are not those where there has been no sorrow, but those which have been overshadowed with grief, and where Christ’s comfort was accepted. The very memory of the sorrow is a gentle benediction that broods over the household, like the silence that comes after prayer. There is a blessing sent from God in every burden of sorrow.”—J.R. Miller
“My God will reject them because they have not obeyed Him; they will be wanderers among the nations” (Hosea 9:17).Punishment must fit the crime. Here the various crimes that led to Israel’s exile are described, along with predictions of that fast-approaching judgment.
Background
Exile.
When Moses gave Israel her Law at the time of the Exodus, he included a catalog of the blessings that would be granted if God’s people obeyed—and a catalog of punishments to be imposed if Israel rebelled and sinned. Each catalog is found in Deuteronomy 28, with the “curses” for disobedience listed in verses 15–68. These curses, or punishments, are of increasing severity. The intent is that the people would turn back to God after light discipline. But if they persisted in sinning, increasingly heavy penalties would be imposed, each with the intent of bringing about repentance and renewal. By Hosea’s time Israel had experienced all the lesser consequences of their sin. All that remained for God to do was impose the penalty stated in verses 63–66. Reading those verses helps us understand the horror of the judgment about to befall Hosea’s Israel—and helps us realize that God had done everything possible to avoid its necessity. This judgment, exile from the land, was about to fall on a nation that had been warned for generations, by the written Word, by prophet messengers, and by persistent discipline. How dangerous it is not to heed God’s warnings. We should welcome warnings, for they are intended to spare us much pain.
Overview
Israel’s disastrous domestic (7:1–7), foreign (vv. 8–16), and religious (8:1–14) practices demanded punishment. Israel would be taken captive (9:1–9), her glory fled away (vv. 10–17). Wicked Israel would be punished for her sin (10:1–15).
Understanding the Text
“The crimes of Samaria revealed” Hosea 7:1–7.
National character is reflected in national leadership. In Samaria, the capital of Israel, the kings delighted in the wickedness of others—and became their victims. The image of the hot oven stands for the inflamed passions of those who conspired against Israel’s rulers, approaching them with intrigue while intent on “devouring” them. The crimes are “revealed,” for all in Israel would be aware of the fall of kings (v. 7). But what specifically was Hosea talking about here? During Hosea’s own lifetime four of Israel’s rulers were assassinated and replaced by their killers! Zechariah by Shallum (2 Kings 15:10), Shallum by Menahem (v. 14), Pekahiah by Pekah (v. 25), and Pekah by Hoshea (v. 30). This ruinous domestic situation undermined any rule of law, and demonstrated the corrupt state of the nation. I’m disturbed by the multitude of recent revelations of crime by our leaders in Washington. A Republican congressman was sentenced for perjury—for lying about seeking a loan from an individual who told him it was drug laundering money. A homosexual Democratic congressman admitted hiring a male prostitute, and later employing him on his staff. Respected high officials have been accused of using influence to obtain millions of HUD dollars for clients who then defrauded the government and, more reprehensible, the poor. So God’s warnings in these chapters have a timely ring. “Whenever I would heal Israel,” He said, “the sins of Ephraim are exposed and the crimes of Samaria are revealed.” Our nation needs spiritual healing today. As each layer of bandages covering our wounds is unwound, more and more sins and crimes are revealed. We must face the fact that if national disaster is to be avoided, we Christians must repent—and pray. “A flat cake not turned over” Hosea 7:8–16. My wife tells me I’m strange, but I like gooey pancakes. You know: pancakes that aren’t quite cooked through, with raw dough inside. Apparently God doesn’t share my taste. The image in this verse, used to describe Israel, is that of a flat cake of bread cooked on one side by being plastered against the outside of a hot clay oven—but never turned over so it can cook on the other side. One side is done, the other is raw dough and, by implication, worthless. What had made Israel worthless in God’s sight? Hosea looked at the nation’s mode of responding to danger. Like a frightened and senseless bird, scurrying first one way and then the other, Israel looked to first Egypt, then Assyria, for help (v. 11). But Israel never looked up, where the Most High resides (v. 16). Instead the people rejected His ways and spoke against Him (v. 13). When we face danger, let’s remember that we too have wings, and can fly. In looking up, and coming to God in prayer, we will find all the help we require. “But Israel has rejected what is good” Hosea 8:1–14. It’s fine to say, “O our God, we acknowledge You.” But again Hosea confronted Israel with her hypocrisy. First, a person who truly acknowledges God will not reject what is good. Morality and a genuine faith go hand in hand, and can never be separated. Second, the chapter again and again points out the fact that Israel’s religion was humanistic. That is, Israel’s religious practices were not based on God’s revelation of His will and His ways, but on the Israelites’ own ideas of how to please God. They acknowledged God—but set up calf-idols at the worship centers dedicated to Him (vv. 4–6), in clear violation of His revealed will. Their multiplied “altars for sin offerings” have “become altars for sinning” (v. 11). Humanistic religion always bears this same mark. Revelation is ignored, and God’s express commands are pushed aside, to be replaced by the notions of men. People today too may cry, “O our God, we acknowledge You!” But unless that “worship” is in accord with biblical revelation, it is worse than meaningless. “Ephraim will return to Egypt” Hosea 9:1–4. Here, as frequently in other passages, “Egypt” represents exile and slavery. But this time the Israelites would “eat unclean food in Assyria” (v. 3). They would go north, not south. Yet the experience would be the same. If you or I were to be cut off from God, it would make no difference whether we settled in the north, the south, the east, or the west. Any place in which we were isolated from the Lord would be exile, and even the most comfortable of circumstances would be slavery. “The prophet is considered a fool” Hosea 9:5–9. Rejection of God’s message, and ridicule of His messengers, is an indication of hostility toward God Himself (v. 7b). The Israelites in Hosea’s day did not like the message that “the days of punishment are coming, the days of reckoning are at hand” (v. 7). There are parts of Scripture that you or I may not like, either. But this passage reminds us that the less we like a particular truth, the more we need to heed it! It’s essential to guard against the repressed hostility that corrupted Israel’s relationship with the Lord. “Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird” Hosea 9:10–17. It’s so easy to assume that conditions are permanent. We get depressed when things go badly, and feel that things will never get better. And we tend to become complacent when things go well, assuming that the bad times are over for good. Things were going well in the days of Jeroboam II when Hosea preached his message of judgment. People not only didn’t like what Hosea said, they scoffed at him. How could prosperous and powerful Israel suffer such a fall? Yet within 30 years of Jeroboam II’s death, while Hosea yet lived, everything that Israel counted on flew out the window! Her glory did “fly away like a bird,” and God’s word of judgment came absolutely true: “I will bereave them. . . . Woe to them. . . . I will drive them out of My house.” What has been, and what is, is no basis for confidence concerning what will be. We must expect our world to change—even to come falling down on our heads. We must place our confidence in God alone.
DEVOTIONAL
Sow Righteousness(Hosea 10)
I like bumper stickers. There are some I wouldn’t want on my car. But I don’t mind the one my wife attached to my van: “Fishing isn’t a matter of life or death. It’s more important than that.” I don’t even mind the one that says, “If you can read this, you’re too close!” And I like many of the Christian bumper stickers I’ve seen—except when the person who has them plastered on his back bumper speeds up to cut me off as I put on my turn signal to change lanes on busy Highway 19. It might have been good if in Hosea’s time they had chariot stickers, or cart stickers, or donkey stickers. Hosea 10 suggests a few possibilities. How about “Idol is as idol does—nothing” (vv. 5–9). Or, “Don’t look back. Your sin’s catching up with you” (vv. 9–10). Or “Don’t like the harvest? Then watch what you plant” (v. 15). Or maybe “We’re strong enough to fail” (v. 13). I don’t suppose such stickers would have done much good. Some wag would have found a way to turn them around, like the stickers countering Campus Crusade’s “I found it” campaign with bumper signs that proclaimed, “I lost it. Give it back!” But there’s one bumper sticker in Hosea 10 we all ought to place prominently, where we can see it daily. That one? “Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love” (v. 12).
Personal Application
It’s not just a saying, it’s a fact. We do reap what we sow.
Quotable
“Some people sow wild oats during the week and then slip into church on Sunday to pray for crop failure.”—Rex Humbard
“The Lord has a charge to bring against you who live in the land” (Hosea 4:1).The Old Testament mirrors the heart of God. In the charges brought by Hosea, we can see those issues of justice and righteousness which we must deal with in our society today.
Overview
After preliminary charges (4:1–4), Hosea detailed the sins of priests (vv. 5–11) and people (vv. 12–19). He warned individuals (5:1–7) and the nation (vv. 8–15), but there was only superficial repentance (6:1–3). Thus God’s indictment of His people goes on (vv. 4–11).
Understanding the Text
“A charge to bring” Hosea 4:1–3.
After the first three autobiographical chapters, this chapter samples Hosea’s preaching. This section, in the form of legal charges against Israel, begins with a general description of Hosea’s society. The itemized charges are: there is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God; instead there is cursing, lying, murder, stealing, adultery, and bloodshed. Out of curiosity I picked up this morning’s newspaper, and glanced at the headlines found in the section dedicated to our Florida county. Here are some of the stories that were featured: * 13 mall stores robbed. * Extra forces planned for Labor Day weekend to prevent drunk-driving accidents. * Van window shattered by bullet. * Armed robber arrested. * Crack sweep nets four more. * Teen charged with trying to run down boy with car. * Ex-fire fighter charged with forgery. * Man charged with DUI-manslaughter in 1988 accident. * 18-year-old leader of a group of 15 charged with threatening three with bats and tire irons. * Man 18, girl 14, charged with burglaries. I didn’t look closely at the stories. And I didn’t include the more spectacular big-city headlines, like the one reporting the life sentence given a woman who turned her 13-year-old daughter over to a convicted rapist for a one-time sexual assault, to pay for the mother’s crack cocaine. In a way, the local stories are more frightening. They suggest that the corruption has spread further in our society than we might suspect. Perhaps we should listen closely to Hosea, for our own times are very much like the times in which Hosea ministered! “I reject you as My priests; because you have ignored the law of your God” Hosea 4:4–11. The spiritual leaders of Israel were the first group to be indicted. They were to lead His people to godliness; instead they gave “themselves to prostitution, to old wine and new.” They even relished “their wickedness.” The TV today showed a stooped Jim Bakker being led into a North Carolina courtroom. Yesterday damaging testimony against him was given by a former PTL staff member. Today his lawyer described him as “huddled up in a fetal position, lying on the floor of my office with his head under the sofa, saying that bad people were trying to hurt him.” The Lord needs to protect me from my first reaction, which is that he deserves whatever he gets. Instead I need to be crushed. Crushed and humbled that a spiritual leader of my own day could have “exchanged the glory” found in faithful service to God for contemptible things like millions of dollars, luxury homes and cars, and sexual trysts with church secretaries. Jim Bakker’s indictment is an indictment of us all. “They are unfaithful to their God” Hosea 4:12–19. Hosea continued with an indictment of the whole population of Israel. They chased after idols and permitted their daughters to become cult prostitutes. Their very worship was corrupt. They used religious jargon in their speech (v. 15), but they loved their shameful ways. It’s fine to shout, “Praise the Lord.” But unless our shouts of praise are matched by an equal enthusiasm for obeying the Lord, our religion too is meaningless. “Hear this” Hosea 5:1–7. God brought charges against the priests, the people, and Israel’s royal house, and convicted them. “This judgment is against you.” What did the “guilty” verdict mean? It meant that the divine sentence had been imposed, a sentence that involved the Lord’s withdrawal from His people (v. 7). When troubles came, and Israel looked desperately for God to help her, He would not be found. There is really no greater penalty. Without the Lord we are helpless before circumstances, enemies, and the consequences of our own foolish choices. If God were not here to turn to, there would be nothing at all we could do. Let’s consciously reject Israel’s ways and attitudes whenever they crop up in our own lives. Let’s hold tight to the hand God reaches out for us to grasp. “He is not able to cure you” Hosea 5:8–14. Israel also renounced a national policy of reliance on God. Instead the nation relied on a treaty with Assyria to protect her against Syria. Assyria was only too happy to have this treaty as an excuse to march west. She gobbled up Syria—and then turned on her “ally” Israel. When any nation rejects God, it is in danger. It takes a national revival—admission of guilt and passionate seeking of God (v. 15)-to make any society safe.
DEVOTIONAL
Love Like a Morning Mist (Hosea 6)
Some people are hopelessly optimistic. “I know,” they say. “I know I did wrong, and God has punished me for it. But all I have to do is come back to Him. If I just say, ’I’m sorry,’ everything will be all right. Won’t it?” That’s the kind of blithe optimism portrayed in verses 1–3. And it makes God shake His head in frustration. These people seem to think that some superficial turning to religion is what God wants. They seem to think that if they come to God and say “please,” the Lord will be so delighted that He’ll fall all over Himself to do them good. But God wasn’t interested in superficial religion then. And He isn’t impressed by it today. God’s judgments were intended to bring about a fundamental change in attitude, not a return to church! And so God said, “Your love is like a morning mist,” and “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” What do these two phrases tell us? First, that God isn’t interested in fleeting emotions we may feel toward Him. He wants complete commitment. There’s a vast difference between the “I love you’s” breathlessly exchanged in the backseat of a car, and the “I do’s” shared at a wedding! Second, love for God is to be shown not in religious ceremonies but in daily life. Flowers are nice. But real love is better shown by helping with the dishes, changing dirty diapers, and “being there” when support and encouragement are needed. God isn’t satisfied with a bouquet tossed His way on Sunday. He wants us to show our love for Him daily by doing His will. And so God seems to shake His head, and in frustration wonder aloud, “What can I do with you, Ephraim?” Despite the testimony of God’s Law and the words of His prophets, Israel’s concept of relationship with the Lord still remained shallow. And today we also tend to have a shallow concept of God. God has no use for a “love” that is as fleeting and insubstantial as a morning mist.
Personal Application
Love God always, and you will always obey.
Quotable
“You wish to hear from me why, and how God is to be loved? My answer is: the reason for loving God is God Himself, and the measure in which we should love Him is to love Him without measure.”—Bernard of Clairvaux
“Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord” (Hosea 1:2).Christians today are to mimic at least one aspect of Hosea’s life. We are to model the way we live with others on the way that God relates to us.
Background
From its inception by Jeroboam I in 731B.C, the Northern Kingdom of Israel had practiced false religion. That ruler, sure reunion with Judah would follow if his people went regularly to Jerusalem to worship, as God’s Law required, set up a counterfeit religious system in his own land. He established two national worship centers, at Bethel and Dan, and set up golden calves at both places, upon which Yahweh was supposed to ride. He ordained a non-Aaronic priesthood and reorganized the religious calendar. Later Israel proved particularly vulnerable to a virulent form of Baal worship, actively promoted by King Ahab and his wife Jezebel. Even though this had been stamped out during the time of Elijah, Yahweh worship in Israel continued to be corrupt. Not only was the counterfeit system of Jeroboam I maintained, but elements of Baalism, including orgiastic rites and ritual prostitution, were practiced in the name of God. Israel had broken the covenant that bound her to the Lord; an act that was analogous to a woman breaking the marriage covenant. It is this analogy that is developed in the Book of Hosea. In order to demonstrate to Israel the dynamics of her rejection of the Lord, God permitted the Prophet Hosea to marry a wife who became unfaithful. Hosea’s visible suffering at the betrayal of a wife he sincerely loved enfleshed for God’s people the Lord’s own suffering at their betrayal of Him! But then, wonder of wonders, Hosea searched for and found his prostitute wife, purchased her out of the slavery into which she had fallen, and brought her home! How Hosea’s neighbors must have watched in awe. She deserved abandonment, yet an unquenchable love moved Hosea to restore her. Just as God’s unquenchable love will move the Lord, after letting Israel taste the consequences of her spiritual adultery, to rescue Israel and also bring her home. What a powerful reminder to us, first of all of the genuine character of God’s love. But next, of the fact that Hosea was called by God to act out on earth the realities of heaven. Just so, you and I are to respond to others not as they deserve, but as God in grace has responded to us. Like Hosea, each of us who knows Jesus is to be a living example of His unending love.
Overview
God commanded Hosea to marry a woman who would be unfaithful to him (1:1–11), even as Israel had been unfaithful to God (2:1–23). Showing genuine love for his wife, Hosea found her and brought her back, even as God will one day restore exiled Israel (3:1–5).
Understanding the Text
“During the reign of Jeroboam” Hosea 1:1.
With Assyria and Syria temporarily weak, the 40-year reign of Jeroboam was marked by military and economic resurgence in Israel. The king extended Israel’s northern and eastern borders to occupy most of the territory held in David’s day. Wealth flowed into Israel from trade, and local agriculture flourished. Everything seemed to be going so well! Yet spiritually Israel’s worship was corrupt, sprinkled with pagan practices. Society itself was corrupt, as the moral boundary stones too had been moved. Later Hosea cried, “There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds” (4:2). It is a tragic error to mistake GNP as a true measure of a nation’s well-being. This happened during the reign of Jeroboam II when Hosea began to minister. And the prosperous, complacent people of Israel were deaf to Hosea’s warning. Yet there’s a subtle message in this verse, which locates Hosea’s ministry in the time of Jeroboam of Israel, but also the time of Ahaz and Hezekiah of Judah. That message? During Hezekiah’s reign, some 30 years after Hosea began to preach, Assyria invaded and totally crushed the nation of Israel. The prophet lived to see his grim words of warning fulfilled. In many ways America stands at the same crossroad. Too many of our society’s moral boundary stones have been moved. There is too much violence, too much murder, too much stealing and adultery. And our strength can no more be measured in GNP and weapons systems than ancient Israel’s. Spiritual and moral unfaithfulness remain precursors of certain national disaster. “Go take to yourself an adulterous wife” Hosea 1:2–3. Scholars debate whether Gomer was perhaps a cult prostitute when Hosea married her. It seems unlikely, primarily because his marriage is intended by God to mimic the Lord’s own experience with Israel. It seems almost certain that Gomer was chaste when they married, even as Israel was initially faithful to the Lord. Yet as time passed, she abandoned her husband to pursue other lovers. I can’t explain it. Two of my close friends, both fine Christian leaders, have been abandoned by their wives. In each case the wife has gone on afterward to a series of marriages or affairs, even as Gomer did in leaving Hosea. Why would a woman leave a husband who loved her, who provided for her, with whom she’d had children? But then, why would anyone turn his or her back on relationship with God? Why abandon a God who loves us, who provides for us, who has sacrificed His own Son for us? Perhaps the explanation has to be sought in the grip sin has on the human heart. We can’t explain it. But each of us has to remain aware that deep within is the capacity to wander. Within each of us there lies a desire to go astray. When we think of Gomer—or when I think of my friends and their ex-wives—we need to acknowledge our own vulnerability. And then we need to ask the Lord to help us stay ever so close to Him. “Call him Jezreel” Hosea 1:4–9. The birth of each of Gomer’s three children while she was with Hosea became an occasion for prophecy. With each birth, and through the names given each child, Hosea delivered a new message to his contemporaries. “Jezreel” was the city where Jehu had slaughtered the family of King Ahab, and symbolized a similar destruction about to come on all Israel. Lo-Ruhamah means “not loved,” or “not an object of compassion.” God would soon cease to show favor to His people. Lo-Ammi means “not My people.” The nation which had rejected God would soon be rejected itself. God would withdraw, not Himself, but His protection. Each name confronts an unheeding Israel with the fact that sin has consequences. God would no longer intervene to protect His people from the natural consequences of their acts. Today some suggest that AIDS is a punishment from God on those who practice homosexuality. Others express shock: God couldn’t be so mean! Perhaps. But if AIDS is not a punishment, it surely is a consequence. Sin always has consequences. Some are just more easily identified than others. Jezreel is always just around the corner for those who practice sin. And “not loved” and “not My people” are the relational consequences for those who refuse to stay close to God but violate His precepts. “Say of your brothers, ‘My people’ ” Hosea 1:10–2:1. With the message of abandonment the Old Testament always includes a promise of restoration. Abandonment in the Old Testament is not rejection. It is much like a farmer, who leaves his fields to themselves for a time, letting the weeds that spring up when a field is untended flourish. In most Old Testament passages the word translated “abandon” actually means “withdraw.” If we persist in sinning, God may step back and permit us to experience the natural consequences of our wrong choices. But as Hosea said to Israel, God will surely step in again. He will purge His garden of corrupting weeds, and once again affirm “My people” and “My love.” “I will expose her lewdness” Hosea 2:2–13. In vivid poetic images Hosea now exposed the spiritual unfaithfulness of Israel, using the image of an adulterous wife. She is totally self-centered. She pursues lovers (other gods), but when they fail her she simply goes back to her husband, “for then I was better off than now” (v. 7). There is no sense of sin, no shame, no repentance. She simply comes back, as if she were doing her husband a favor by returning briefly before taking off again! God announced through Hosea that He would force His wife Israel to face reality and to deal with her sins. Every material blessing would be taken away, and she would be stripped of prosperity. Prosperity still insulates many people from spiritual realities. And it may be a blessing if all our “good things” are taken away. “I will give her back her vineyards” Hosea 2:14–23. Again we see the extent of God’s commitment to His own. Despite Israel’s unfaithfulness, the Lord will one day restore His people. “I will betroth you to Me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord” (vv. 19–20). If you’ve ever felt too guilty or ashamed to approach God, remember this verse. No matter what you have done in the past, God loves you. His goal is to make you holy, to make you His own. And God will succeed with you, and with His beloved of the Old Testament, Israel.
DEVOTIONAL
As the Lord Loves(Hosea 3)
Divorce is one of the most traumatic experiences a person can go through. Although I don’t believe the statistics that supposedly indicate some 70 percent of the students in our local school system live with a single or remarried parent, I know that far too many adults and children know that terrible pain. I’m sure that some divorces are not only justified, but necessary. Yet all too many are not necessary at all. Even when one spouse has an affair, the marriage doesn’t have to end in divorce. The pain of betrayal is intense. The hurt, the shame, the anger, all well up. Sometimes it all seems too much to bear—to keep on seeing “him” (or “her”) every day. To imagine the spouse with the lover. For some, this is just too much to take. Still, before a person files for divorce, it’s important to consider Hosea. And to remember what God told him. “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is . . . an adulteress.” And then the Lord added, “Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites.” What a challenge! In our most intimate relationships, those relationships which have the capacity to cause us the deepest pain, we are to love as the Lord loves. To love through the hurts. To love through the misunderstandings. To love through thoughtlessness, selfishness, and unconcern. Sometimes to love even through betrayal! But however hard it may be, we Christians are called to love as the Lord loves. I know that if we took this principle to heart, and practiced it in our homes, the divorce rate for Christians would drop. And despite the pain of such loving, the rewards would be great.
Personal Application
God’s love won you. When you love as God loves, you win others.
Quotable
“If you truly want to help the soul of your neighbor, you should approach God first with all your heart. Ask Him simply to fill you with love, the greatest of all virtues; with it you can accomplish what you desire.”—Vincent Ferrer
This is my personal collection of thoughts and writings, mainly from much smarter people than I, which challenge me in my discipleship walk. Don't rush by these thoughts, but ponder them.
Milo 