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Hosea’s wife Gomer, a parable of Israel

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These are brief studies written for weekends, November 2009 to March 2010

Bible study for Hosea 1:1-5

Hosea 1:1-5 (get text) Study links:  / Review / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

It is exciting to begin the study of another book of the Bible, especially one with a well known story and a powerful message, such as Hosea.  The beginning of this book, however, presents us with a significant number of problems!  Firstly, most people know little or nothing of the kings mentioned at the beginning, and secondly, they know nothing about the names given to the children in Hosea 1, except for the sometimes cryptic explanations given by Hosea himself.  Yet all of this is important to Hosea’s prophecies, and the purpose of study is to bring out the significance of these details and delve further into the text.

Some, but by no means all of the Old Testament prophetic books begin with a list of kings, and where they do, this dates the prophecies accurately.  This means we can interpret the historical comments within the prophecies about wars and battles, for example.  Here in Hosea, the kings mentioned date his prophecies to around 740 to 750 BC, only a decade after Amos, and about the same time as Isaiah’s early prophecies.  Hosea prophesied in the northern Kingdom of Israel, a few years before the northern kingdom of Israel was invaded and destroyed by Assyria, in 721 BC.  In the light of this, we can understand why later generations regarded Hosea’s prophecies of doom as entirely justified, and indeed, as the ‘Word of God’.

Most of us know about Hosea’s marriage to a prostitute at the command of God (1:2, see also chapter 3), and the basic message of Hosea arises directly from the tragedy of this marriage.  The relationship between Hosea and his wife is like that between God and His people; Israel has gone astray and worshipped other gods, so God condemns her, yet appeals to her to return and accept His love.

It took great courage for an Israelite to be obedient to God and marry ‘an unfaithful wife’ (1:2,3).  To do this went against every fibre of his moral being and every spiritual sense in his body.  An Israelite expected to marry a virgin daughter of Israel, so that  his offspring would count as worthy to continue his ancestral heritage.  Moreover, although the Hebrew text does not make this entirely clear in the first chapter, it is likely that the woman Hosea married was not a prostitute in the normal sense of the word.  She may have been a ‘temple prostitute’.  In Hosea’s day, people worshipped the ‘Ba’al’ gods, which could involve having sex with these prostitutes to supposedly assist in the fruitfulness of their crops!  Social norms were disappearing in the tragedy of what was happening to Israel in the decades before it was invaded by Assyria, yet Hosea was obedient to the Lord, and his journey of prophecy began.

After her marriage to Hosea, Gomer became pregnant, and our passage today tells us that Hosea’s first born son was indeed his own son (see ‘she bore him a son’ – 1:3).  It is only a small point, but later in the chapter, it is not entirely clear whether the children born later were Hosea’s or not!  Nevertheless, Hosea had the privilege of naming his firstborn, and at the Lord’s instruction, he named his son ‘Jezreel’, meaning ‘God sows’ (1:4,5).  This was probably a good name in its day, being the name of a fertile plain within northern Israel.  However, the Lord told Hosea that the name meant more than this.  Jezreel was the valley where a past king named Jehu had slaughtered the dynasty of Ahab and his Queen, Jezebel (see 2 Kings), just 90 years previously. 

Clearly, there is a long way for this prophecy to go, and much more of the story to tell.  Yet within the name of Hosea’s first son there is a hint of the way God intended to work.  The name ‘Jezreel’ means ‘God sows’, and the connection with the valley of Jezreel implies that God was about to work again to shake up kingdoms and change the world according to His justice and His design.  We will soon find out how!

Hosea 1:1-5 (get text) Study links:  / Review / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Questions (for use in groups)

1. Discuss why the Lord might want to ask a man to marry a prostitute in order to make a prophecy known.
2. If you have access to a Bible dictionary, look up the names of the kings mentioned here in order to fill in your knowledge of the history of the times.
3. What does the story of Hosea mean to you, and what would such a story mean today, if anything?

Topics covered by this text

• Obedience to the Lord God
• The connection between prophetic call and real life

Personal comments by author

I find it amazing to read this.  I find it hard to imagine that an Israelite would do what Hosea did, because by following God’s commands, he compromised every possible avenue of success for his private life as an individual living in Israel.  I am forced to ask myself whether I would be willing to do the same, or indeed anything that the Lord asked me, and I ask myself whether I would indeed even hear such a call.  Would I dismiss it out of hand?  I hope not.  Hosea is possibly the most amazingly obedient man in the Old Testament!

Ideas for exploring discipleship

• What does this passage tell you about your own relationship with God?  Would it withstand the shock of being told to do the opposite of what everyone else expects of you?  Think about this for a few days.
• What kind of attitudes are there towards prostitutes within the church today?  Given that Jesus forgave such a woman in his own ministry, should we be more demonstrably open towards sinners?

Final Prayer

I praise You, Lord God, for You have saved me and provided for all my needs.  Help me take hold of this truth when I feel vulnerable, unloved, challenged or rejected; and as I do this, strengthen my faith and draw me closer to the path of holiness.  Open up my heart to enjoy the great life You have given me.  Alleluia!

Bible study for Hosea 1:6-11

Hosea 1:6-11 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

Yesterday, we read the beginning of Hosea’s story.  We learned about the strange and heartbreaking call of God to Hosea to marry a prostitute, and attempt to raise a family by her.  At first, the marriage produced the expected fruits when Hosea had a son and named him Jezreel.  However, the name carried with it a word of caution and warning (1:4,5), for God was about to do a work of ‘sowing’, but what did this mean?  As we read on in this chapter today, the story of Hosea’s family unfolds further, and what happens leads the Lord to give Hosea yet more prophetic messages, revealing more about His intentions for the sinful people of Israel.

The first chapter of Hosea continues with the story of Gomer’s second child.  Verse 6 tells us very tersely about the conception and birth of Gomer’s second child, a daughter.  At this point, it is worth looking back to have a look at the way the birth of the first child was reported in verse 3, and comparing this with verse 5:

‘he married Gomer ... and she conceived and bore him a son.’  (1:3)

‘Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter.’  (1:5)

There is a small difference between the two reports, which it is easy to miss.  In the first report, the child born is clearly Hosea’s, as is clear from the words ‘bore him a son’.  However, when you read the next report from verse 5, there is no indication of the father.  The passage simply says that Gomer conceived and had a daughter, in fact, the same is true of the third child, whose birth is reported in verse 8 ‘Gomer gave birth to another son’.  Is it possible that these two children were born out of wedlock, due to Gomer’s continued activities as a prostitute?

Some think this unlikely, and the clue that leads us to this conclusion is small, but there is more.  Later in his prophecies, Hosea calls these two ‘children of adultery’ (2:1,4), and adds ‘she who conceived them acted shamefully, saying, I will go after my lovers’ (2:5).  What heartache this must have been!  With this confirmation of their conception, is it any wonder that Hosea gave his next two children names beginning with the Hebrew word for ‘No’!  The daughter was named ‘No mercy’, and the son was named ‘No pity’, each with a corresponding prophecy from the Lord that He will no longer have mercy on Israel (1:6) and that He no longer calls Israel His people (1:9)!

Yet amazingly, after the announcement of the name of each child and the corresponding prophecy, in each case, the Lord gives a message of love to His people as well (1:7,10f.).  It is possible that these words draw us closer to the heart of Hosea, who at first rejected these children because they were not his own, but later turned to love them because the Lord had told him to have this ‘family of unfaithfulness’ (1:20)?  Then, because of the prophetic nature of all that happened, we discover that we have been drawn closer to see the heart of God, who has judged and rejected His sinful people, but still loves them?

If we look closely at the positive prophecies given after each child, we will discover that although Israel is to be rejected, Judah will be saved (1:7), not by military means, but by the power of God.  Secondly, the people of Israel as a whole will one day be re-united and multiply to become a great nation again (1:10-11).  This will be the work of judgement and renewal that Hosea calls ‘God’s sowing’ (Jezreel – see 1:11).

This balance of judgement and love is characteristic of Hosea’s prophecies, and colours all his later work.  What happened at the birth of his children affected Hosea for the rest of his life as a prophet, and God used the extreme mixture of emotions experienced by the courageous man to deliver the heart of his own message to his people.  As the rest of Hosea unfolds, we will come to know more about its details.

Hosea 1:6-11 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Questions (for use in groups)

1. Share in your group what you feel you have gained from studying Hosea chapter 1.
2. Are there any aspects of this passage that you do not understand?  Discuss this in your group and seek to help each other understand the passage.
3. Is it possible to imagine some similar story today, or are these circumstances too ancient for us to translate into a story for today?

Topics covered by this text

• The contrast between the judgement of God and His mercy
• The promise of God for the future

Personal comments by author

Hosea captures in a quite remarkable way the agony of God’s judgement between righteousness and mercy.  On the one hand, justice demands the rejection of wrongdoing, but because this is ‘family’, love takes precedence over pure justice.  We are so used to the message of Jesus in which God’s final answer to this conundrum is given in favour of love, that we may not fully understand the anguish felt by earlier Israelites such as Hosea who first saw the dilemma, and did not how to resolve it.  Thank God for Jesus.

Ideas for exploring discipleship

• Recall those times in your own life when you have had to choose between an issue requiring either ‘justice’ or ‘mercy’.  How did you decide, and do you think that you made the right decision?
• Pray for those who face tough choices today; you may well recall a number of people and circumstances that fit this description.  As you are led, pray that love will prevail.

Final Prayer

Great and mighty God, who hears our prayers even before they are formed in our minds; mould our lives into the pattern of your great will both for us and also for all humanity.  So may we be fulfilled in our inner spiritual life, and in our relationships with others.  This we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord.  AMEN

Bible study for Hosea 2:1-8

Hosea 2:1-8 (get text)  Study links:  / Review / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

In this passage, we hear the voice of Hosea speaking out in prophecy because of the unfaithfulness of his wife.  Hosea openly declares that his wife is a prostitute, and for most of the passage expands on what this means.  Consequently, it is difficult for us to understand what the Lord might be saying through this prophecy, but we must remember that Hosea’s wife, Gomer, is like Israel.  There is a connection between her actions and Israel’s sins; but we must stay with the illustration for a little while before Hosea begins to prophecy more extensively.

When we read Hosea 1, we learned that although the first child born to Gomer was indeed the son of Hosea (‘Jezreel’ – ‘God sows’), the second (‘Lo-Ammi’ – ‘Not my People’) and third child (Lo-Ruhamah’ – ‘No mercy’) may well not have been his.  Rather, they may well have been conceived as the result of Gomer’s prostitution.  It is only here in this passage that we see the full evidence of this, for Hosea pleads with his second and third child, but not the first, to ‘contend’ with their mother to put away adultery.  It is a heartbreaking plea (2:2).  Perhaps these two children, who do not know who their father is, can shame their mother into admitting her sinfulness? 

There is one small point that may be hard to spot, and it comes in verse 1, before Hosea’s plea to his children.  You may have noticed Hosea said to these two ‘say of your brothers, ‘My people’ and to your sisters ‘Mercy’ (2:1).  Scholars have debated this difficult prophecy for years.  Who is Hosea speaking about?  We have not heard of his children having more than one brother, Jezreel (1:4f.).  Some versions of the Bible even alter the words ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’ in Hosea 2:1 to change their meaning and make it sound as if this refers to the first brother alone!

However, there is another explanation of Hosea 2:1.  It is possible that as a prostitute, Gomer already had illegitimate children before she was married to Hosea, and these are the children referred to in Hosea 2:1?  If this is so, then Hosea’s prophecy calls on the two rejected ‘children of Israel’, to announce that the illegitimate children will one day be ‘My people’, and receive God’s ‘Mercy’!  Is this one of the first prophecies to speak of God’s ultimate intent to save Gentiles, the ‘illegitimate children’ who are not part of Israel?  This is by no means certain, but it is worth considering seriously.

To continue with our passage, you will notice that after his plea to the children, Hosea declares that if Gomer will not listen, then he will expose his wife.  As a good husband, he will not stand by and see his godly heritage destroyed by unfaithfulness.  When he speaks about Gomer receiving ‘bread and water’ and other life essentials from her lovers, he is not simply talking about the results of getting paid.  He denounces the fact that Gomer thinks she can receive all she needs from the worship of Ba’al, who, as a god of fertility, will supply her with food and produce.  Hosea is shocked that even after marriage, Gomer lusts after prostitution; and in the same way, we should be shocked that Israel, who is ‘married’ by covenant to God, continues to worship the Ba’als.

So, Hosea prophecies that God will stop Gomer from finding her lovers (2:6-8).  He paints a picture that takes us away from his own marriage with Gomer and invites us to see what God will do in His marriage with Israel.  He will stop her and blind her so that she cannot find her way (1:6), believing she will find her way back to Him (1:7), even though she did not fully understand that God was the one who provided for her, not the ‘Ba’als’ (1:8).  As we read, it is quite difficult to see the difference between Hosea’s relationship with Gomer, and God’s relationship with Israel, but this is the point of the prophecy.

As we read on in the rest of Hosea 2, we will hear more prophecies about what God will do to Israel (and what Hosea will do to Gomer), but the message is becoming clear.  Israel may think she can do what she wants, but God is in control, and He will act to secure His name, and His plan for the salvation of the world.

Hosea 2:1-8 (get text)  Study links:  / Review / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Questions (for use in groups)

1. To what extent is the church of God like the Israel of the Old Testament?  How do God’s people go astray from Him today?
2. What do you make of verse 1?  Read this verse and discuss this in your group.
3. How does God go about stopping His people from doing what is wrong today?  Does he speak to people or do things in the world to warn us?

Topics covered by this text

• The judgement of God and His justice
• God’s pursuit of His sinful people

Personal comments by author

I find this passage quite emotional, because in the first few verses, it seems as if we are looking in to a tragic family scene.  Hosea has to talk with his second and third child about the unfaithfulness of their mother!  It must have been an incredibly difficult moment.  Yet although Hosea loves his wayward wife, he will act justly and not lie to the children at a time when they must know the truth.  Behind this is a certain amount of supposition on my part, but I feel that the prophecy will have originated in some such real situation.  Words of God such as this do not just arise, they are given in the midst of real situations and for a purpose

Ideas for exploring discipleship

1. It is hard to see how we might find discipleship issues within such a text, but at the least, we must ask ourselves whether we are in danger of being like Gomer and worshipping other gods; for example, the gods of lifestyle and convenience, or the gods of personal choice and fashion ...
2. Pray and ask the Lord God to reveal to His people the errors of their ways, and any sins that they commit, and pray that God’s people will have the courage to accept God’s Word, confess their sins and return to Him.

Final Prayer

Your will, Lord God, contains the secrets of the Universe; its origins, its workings and its future.  Show me how I am placed within your plan for the world and give me inner peace.  May I show confidence in You as my Maker and my Redeemer, to the praise and glory of Your Name. AMEN

Bible study for Hosea 2:9-15

Hosea 2:9-15 (get text)  Study links:  / Review / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

Although these words come from a time long past ago and speak of a world to which we are only connected by history and literature, there is little doubt about what they mean.  None of us can read this passage and not feel the pain of a husband searching his heart to find a way to deal with his unfaithful wife.  The cruel details of Hosea’s marriage have already been laid bare (Hosea 1), and this passage reflects the heartbreaking consequences.  Yet as we read these words, we are only a hairsbreadth away from reading about God’s relationship with Israel.  Such is the power of prophecy.

In the first four verses of our passage, Hosea speaks of withdrawing from Gomer the provision he would normally make for her (2:9), and then exposing her shame (2:10).  By this, he means taking away the benefits of her profession as a prostitute.  He describes preventing her from worshipping the Ba’als, for it was at these events that she practiced prostitution (2:11), and then destroying the possessions she had accrued from those who used her services, specifically, vineyards and agricultural land (2:12).  In Israel, such land had to be tended or it would quickly revert to the wild.

Yet the remarkable fact here is that Gomer has been given land and property.  This gave her privileges far beyond other women of the day, and we can begin to see why Gomer found it so hard to accept marriage.  By her prostitution, she had made an independent life for herself with greater material benefits than a normal woman would enjoy except through her husband.  Yet because Gomer was unwilling to accept her place as Hosea’s wife, she would be punished.  Hosea did not want to be rid of her but to restore her as his wife, ‘as in the days of her youth’ (2:15).  By right, he could have his wife denounced for adultery and in the right circles, he could have had her stoned (Lev 20:10); he could at least have divorced her (Deut 24:1f.).  Hosea, however, was not interested in divorce; remarkably, in the face of the evidence of his wife’s sin (the birth of two children by adultery – see Hosea 1), Hosea remained interested only in restoration.

Verses 14 and 15 express Hosea’s hope, and we read of the care and desire of a devoted man, trying to love again a woman who was steeped in prostitution.  He imagined taking her away from others ‘into the desert’ to love her himself, and turn a corner in their relationship.  A beautiful Hebrew phrase that is not always translated well speaks of turning the ‘valley of trouble’ (often translated the ‘valley of Achor’) into the ‘doorway of hope’ (2:15), to re-establish a true, responsive marriage.

These words are not merely the description of Hosea and Gomer.  They are prophecy.  These words were spoken by Hosea from his own experience in order to highlight the relationship of God with Israel, and his prophecy is clear.  Israel’s unfaithfulness was beyond dispute and an affront to God, so God would now punish Israel and shame her; but not to dismiss her, only to try and win her back.  Later on in Hosea’s prophecy we meet the awful reality of Israel’s inability to respond, but for now, the message is about God’s anguished desire to regain His relationship with Israel.  He will do this by removing Israel’s self sufficiency and shaming her in the sight of other nations (2:9,10), He will put a stop to their worship of the Ba’als, and the land she has acquired from other nations will be turned into wilderness (2:11,12).  The Lord will lead His people back ‘into the desert’, a reference to the Exodus, in order to restore their relationship.

Here we have a simple demonstration yet again of the heart of God, which is utterly just and yet completely loving.  Today, as then, some would resolve such an impasse by suggesting that the one who has been sinned against should break the relationship and satisfy justice; and Hosea was probably surrounded by men who suggested that he do this, and rid himself of Gomer.  As a Prophet, however, Hosea offers a message that says God is not satisfied with justice alone because He loves His people.  Despite all, God is still a God of love.

Hosea 2:9-15 (get text)  Study links:  / Review / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Questions (for use in groups)

1. What does this passage of Scripture tell us about the nature of God and people, and how does this affect us today?
2. Are God’s people still dominated by the things of this world rather than the things of God, and what are the consequences of this?
3. How does God show His love for His wayward people today, or is this picture one that is not relevant?

Topics covered by this text

• The sins of God’s people
• The nature of God and His love
• The nature of renewal and restoration

Personal comments by author

You, like me, may have found yourself in a quandary, not knowing which way to turn; to be correct or to be lenient.  In simple matters of discipline we face this microcosm of the dilemma faced by Hosea in his marriage.  Of course, the stakes are higher in marriage than they are with more trivial matters, but we will often try and find ways of fulfilling both the need to be correct and a human desire to be gracious.  It seems to be not just the character of God to be loving in the face of justice, but something he has placed within humanity too.  We must not ignore this aspect of our very nature.

Ideas for exploring discipleship

• Have a look over the newspapers today, and observe the way in which decisions have been taken.  To what extent have they shown ‘justice’ and to what extent have they shown ‘mercy’?  How do you respond to what has been decided?  Do you naturally want to see one or the other?
• Write down a list of those things you feel are wrong with the church today.  How many of them can be considered sins, and how many of them are merely matters of fashion or preference?

Final Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ; You can see the truth within all that happens to us today, both in our work, in our homes and in those things that remain private.  Forgive us for our inability to perceive what is right, and by Your Spirit, teach us to be more sensitive to the moral teaching of Scripture and the guidance of Your Spirit.  Lead us into all truth, we pray: AMEN

Bible study for Hosea 2:16-23

Hosea 2:16-23 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

In the opening chapters of Hosea, we have read about the dreadful heartache of Hosea’s marriage to Gomer.  After all that had happened including Gomer’s continued prostitution, something had to happen.  Things could not continue, and it was not possible to sustain a meaningful marriage without a genuine and exclusive commitment to each other.  This painful scenario perfectly illustrates the relationship between Israel and the Lord, and Hosea’s prophecy slips almost imperceptibly between his own feelings about Gomer and the Lord’s intentions towards Israel.  This is a prophecy about what the Lord says He will do with His unfaithful wife Israel, yet as we read it, we hear the powerful emotions of a man who longs to make his marriage new, and start again.

Now in the first chapter of Hosea, we read prophecies derived from the names of Hosea’s first son Jezreel (1:4,5) and the names of Gomer’s two subsequent children (1:7,9-11).  In each of these, the Lord promises that He will do a work in the future to deal with the unfaithfulness of His people Israel, and He will deal with Israel ‘in that day’ (1:5,11).  We may not have thought too much about this phrase at the time because it is like a general comment about the future.  Here in this passage, however, the phrase jumps from being a brief comment to being an essential part of the prophecy.  Each of the three prophecies given by Hosea in this passage begin ‘in that day’ (2:16,18,21).  Hosea is one of the earliest of the prophets, and this is the first instance of the use of this phrase in the Bible.  Its use tells us that God has a plan to deal with His people Israel, and it will come about on a certain day and at a certain time.  Here, there is no hint of any ‘apocalyptic’ vision of the end of all things, only this, that the Lord’s promises to do what He says, ‘in that day’.

To begin with, the Lord will remove all forms of temptation from Israel (2:16,17).  The Ba’als have proved to be too great an attraction for the Israelites, and they are unable to deal with this themselves.  Their state illustrates what Paul says in Romans, roughly quoting Psalm 14 (53) and Isaiah 59:7,8

All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no-one who does good, not even one. (Romans 3:12)

Hosea’s insistence that God will have to remove the Ba’als (2:16,17) is a true and basic observation, which distinguishes his words as a prophet of God.  Sin cannot be dealt with by those who have succumbed to its power; God alone must do the work. 

Secondly, the Lord will remake the marriage covenant with Israel (2:18-20).  He will make a new ‘covenant’ with Israel and all the earth (2:18), and this will dispense with violence.  Hosea then makes a powerful connection with marriage, saying, ‘I will make a marriage between you and me forever’.  This is the first time we read about a connection between marriage and covenant in Old Testament prophecy, and this connects powerfully with the description of the church in the New Testament.  It is hard to convey the power of these Hebrew words in English, because of the different ways by which marriages were arranged in ancient times.  However, this prophecy tells us that God alone will pay the ‘bride price’ of making this new and everlasting marriage.  Remember, Hosea’s remarkable phraseology was spoken centuries before the New Testament theology of grace or Paul’s explanation of the price paid by Christ for all on the Cross (see 1 Cor 6:20, 7:23), and to add to this, Hosea spoke boldly about the heart of God for ‘righteousness, justice, love and compassion’.  This whole prophecy speaks to the very heart of the Gospel.

This is indeed a most powerful prophecy, reaching far beyond the times of the man who spoke them.  The last three verses continue to tempt us to believe that there is yet more in these words.  In an extraordinary turn of phrase, Hosea takes the idea of the spoken question and response lying at the heart of any marriage (today, it is ‘will you?’ and ‘I will’), and delivers another stunning prophecy (2:21-23).  The Lord will provide the answer that confirms the marriage, and it will be an answer witnessed in the ‘skies ... the earth ... the grain, the wine and the oil’.  This answer will also change God’s relationship with the world; ‘No mercy’ will turn to ‘mercy’, and those who are ‘not my people’, will become ‘my people’.  It hardly needs us to comment further to draw out the connections between such words and the Gospel of Christ’s love.

Sometimes, we read prophecies in the Old Testament and feel rather underwhelmed; we struggle to find connections with the Gospel we know and love.  This is not such a passage!

Hosea 2:16-23 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Questions (for use in groups)

1. What are the connections between this passage of Scripture and the Gospel of Christ we find in the New Testament?
2. How does the idea of marriage help us understand God’s relationship with His people today, and is 2:18-20 helpful to us now?
3. What do verses 21 to 23 mean to us today, why does the prophet speak about the skies, the earth, and the grain (etc.) answering to one another?  What does this mean?

Topics covered by this text

• The power of God to remove sin
• God’s marriage to His people – the marriage covenant
• The Gospel in the Old Testament

Personal comments by author

Sometimes, even when preaching, I find myself saying things that I am not sure I fully understand.  So I read these words today and wondered whether Hosea really understood what he was saying, or whether he was willing to sit lightly to his prophetic words and let the Lord ‘take him away’ in spiritual dreams and visions!  One thing is sure, which is that these words are powerful beyond our comprehension even today, and the more we read them, the more they say; this is certainly God’s Word.

Ideas for exploring discipleship

• If possible, get hold of a set of words used for a service of marriage.  You can find these on the internet under the resources of a major denomination such as the Church of England, or you can find out what is used in your own church.  Have a good look at this and examine the connections between the marriage service and the Gospel.
• If you are married, talk with your spouse about how marriage reflects the relationship we may have with the Lord.  If you are not, then pray about this or explore the idea further within Scripture.

Final Prayer

Lord Jesus; draw me to Your perfect love, and as I seek to be like You, keep me mindful of my humanity; of where I have come from, as well as where I am going.  May I learn from Your powerful and compassionate love how I can remain true to my calling throughout my life. Through Jesus Christ I pray;  AMEN

Bible study for Hosea 3:1-5

Hosea 3:1-5 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

This is a stunning passage of scripture, in which Hosea is called by God to show love for his wife far beyond any measure of the human capacity to love.  This, says the Lord, is a demonstration of His love for Israel, a people who have so utterly rejected Him for the gods of this world that they have become prostitutes, both figuratively and literally.  Yes, as part of their worship of the fertility gods of Canaan they were having sex with prostitutes!  At the end of this prophecy, the Lord says that His people will indeed return to Him in the future (3:5); but the connection between the prophecy and the man Hosea still shocks us today.  We shudder to think how a man can love a wife who has rejected him for prostitution (3:1).

Unfortunately, this brief chapter is often misunderstood.  The Hebrew is indistinct, and most Bible versions are very different, so readers can only do their best with what is before them.  I offer this interpretation after reflecting on the Hebrew text, but although its core message about God and Israel is rarely challenged today, few scholars agree on the details of the picture that it paints.  Strictly, verse 1 says ‘... go and love a woman, she loves another and has committed adultery’.  Some think that because Gomer is not mentioned by name, Hosea’s task was to take another prostitute as a wife.  Others think that Gomer had left Hosea, and he was called to get her back.  Yet others think that Gomer was still with Hosea but had committed adultery, causing Hosea to confront her.  However, the passage makes little sense if this sentence is not about Gomer herself and the circumstances themselves make little difference to our understanding of the prophetic message.

The Lord told Hosea clearly to persist in love, and the word ‘persist’ (often translated ‘again’) is the key to the whole passage.  For at the point where all others would give up, Hosea is called to persist, in order to prophesy about God’s love.  He has to gather the extraordinary strength and courage to summon his wife back from the arms of another man, and Hosea records the sordid deal.  He paid the man with whom she was lodging fifteen shekels of silver and an uncertain measure of barley, a paltry sum indicating not so much the value of Gomer to Hosea, but the derisory value of a prostitute to the men of Israel.  In a unique passage of Hosea (3:3), we hear the prophet speak not for the Lord, but for himself as a man; ‘You will remain with me ... You will not be a prostitute ... I will live with you!  We can almost hear the quiver of his voice.

However, our duty as God’s people is to look away from Hosea, and follow the prophecy.  Here, the love of God is laid bare almost uniquely in the Old Testament; for Hosea used the tragedy of his own life to show us the true extent of God’s love for His people.  He prophesies that God will indeed redeem His people, but they will live without ‘king, leader, sacrifice, sacred pillar, ephod or idol’ (3:4) for a time until they return and ‘seek the Lord’ (3:5).  God’s marriage to His people cannot be revoked, then or now.

After this chapter in Hosea, we cease to read personal details about Hosea and his marriage, and we are left wondering about Hosea and Gomer.  What happened to their marriage? Remarkably, Hosea continued to prophesy about the sins of Israel despite the tragedy of his marriage; he maintained a conviction that God’s love would not fail despite rejection by others, and his words are powerful.  We stand in awe of this great prophet, who was able to rise above his own extreme circumstances to tell us more about God’s love than his own pain.  His core message is that God has suffered because of the religious adultery of his own people, but He will not stop loving.

Hosea was the first of the great Old Testament prophets whose works have been recorded in the Bible.  A conviction about the love of God is characteristic of all the Old Testament prophets who came after Hosea (apart from Amos, who was his contemporary), and it lays a foundation for our understanding of the love of God that would be shown to the world one day through Christ on the Cross.

Hosea 3:1-5 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Questions (for use in groups)

1. What does this passage of Scripture tell you about the man Amos, and his personal qualities?
2. What does this passage of Scripture tell you about God and the quality of His love for people?
3. In your group, discuss whether the private life of Hosea really does bring out the message of God’s love, or whether it obscures it.

Topics covered by this text

• The persistent love of God
• The price of redemption
• The eternal plan of God

Personal comments by author

It is hard to write about the story of Hosea, because on the one hand, we have little information to go on, but on the other hand, the little we have is so powerful, it touches the emotions where few other Scriptures can.  Love is a very difficult thing to describe because it goes to the heart of our relationships and emotional responses.  Also, Scripture would be far less if it did not have those books of the Bible that touch on the deepest aspects of loving relationships, such as Hosea, the Song of Solomon, and Ruth.  Yet the Bible has these books because God is a God of love and He is the source of everything that this means.

Ideas for exploring discipleship

• Is it wise or unwise to look for illustrations of God’s love within our own personal lives?  If so, how can we do this in a helpful manner, and what does you own private life tell you about the nature of God’s love?
• Are there people who wander away from the love of God today, and are there any similarities with the story of Hosea?  Can the story of Hosea really help us today?  Pray about your response to this question. 

Final Prayer

Jesus, be our guid. Help us understand how Your grace has worked throughout past years; touch us with Your loving hand as we work through the joys and trials of the present; and give us confidence in You for the future You have prepared for us. Thank You Jesus;  AMEN

Bible study for Hosea 4:1-6

Hosea 4:1-6 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

After the amazing story of Hosea’s life and his extraordinary personal call to prophecy (Hosea 1-3), we are now plunged into the beginning of Hosea’s classic prophecies.  There is no doubt that our reading today is a powerful and significant prophecy with profound implications, and we will look at it closely to see how it applies both to the life of God’s people in Hosea’s day and our own day.  However, we must not lose sight of the powerful motivating force behind Hosea’s words and his personal understanding of the love and justice of God as a Husband and Father.  In this passage, we do not read much about God’s love, though as we read the whole of Hosea, we will find that he always balances God’s absolute justice with a conviction that God will never cease to love, and also act upon that love with both ‘justice and mercy’.

Hosea begins these prophecies with a call to the people of Israel to listen; ‘hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel ...’ (4:1).  The Lord has a ‘dispute’ with His people that must be resolved, and in verse 1, God addresses Israel as His people, but also ‘inhabitants of the land’; and this is not just poetry.  There is a reason why the prophecy refers to the land and those who live in it.  We are talking, of course, about Canaan, the Promised Land given to Israel after their eviction from Egypt.  Before they entered the land, the people agreed freely to the conditions of God’s gift (see Deut. 26 to 31).  These chapters constitute a ‘covenant agreement’, in which God promised to bless the people within the land if they remained obedient, and the people accepted that if they did not, they would be cursed.

The details of God’s complaint are set out in verses 1 and 2; but first, notice that the result of the people’s disobedience is the mourning of ‘the land’.  It ‘wastes away’ (4:2) to the extent that it affects the animals and birds, and in a remarkable and unique phrase, Hosea prophesies ‘even the fish of the sea are perishing’!  It may be only a small point, but Hosea tells us here that the prophecies of Moses about the rebellion of Israel and its negative effect on the land  have been fulfilled (see Deut 29:22f.)!

Hosea states God’s case against His people in a succinct manner; they have failed to demonstrate faithfulness and loyalty, and given up on their ‘knowledge of God’ (4:1).  All these words are important.  Faithfulness and loyalty are words that describe God Himself.  His people are supposed to demonstrate these qualities to the world, but the fact that they have lost them says plainly that they have wandered from Him.  ‘Knowledge of God’ appears to us to be something to do with learning and perhaps detailed knowledge of Scripture, but this is wrong.  For in the Old Testament, to ‘know’ God means to have a relationship with Him; so when Hosea says that Israel had no ‘knowledge’ of God, this means they had no relationship with God at all.  Instead, the world’s values had taken over, and centuries before Paul wrote lists of sins in his letters (see Gal 5:19f. the ‘works of the flesh’), Hosea wrote down this list; ‘swearing, lying, murder, stealing and adultery’ (4:2), reflecting the Ten Commandments (Ex 20:1-17)!

The consequences of this deliberate rejection of God are dire.  Worship has been compromised, according to Hosea’s comment, ’my dispute is with you, O priest’ (4:4).  It was the priest’s job not just to perform the religious rituals but to maintain the people’s relationship with the Lord, and they had failed to do this.  Hosea even says, ‘the prophets will stumble with you ...’ (4:5), which may cause us some surprise.  We have to remember that Hosea was an exceptional prophet, and here, he was speaking of the official paid court prophets of the day who held that title yet merely told the kings of Israel what they wished to hear.  All had ‘forgotten the Law of your God’ (4:6), destroyed for ‘lack of knowledge’ of God.

Here in Hosea’s first major prophecy, he tells us that the relationship between God and His people had broken down.  We will have to wait to see whether it can be mended, but despite the stern words of this prophecy, we must bear Hosea’s personal experience, so fresh from our reading of Hosea 1-3, in mind.  God is in control, despite the people’s faithlessness.

Hosea 4:1-6 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Questions (for use in groups)

1. What does this prophecy tell us about the people of God in Hosea’s day, and how does it connect with what we read in Hosea 2?
2. Why does Hosea describe the consequences of Israel’s sin as having an effect upon the land and life on land, sea and air?
3. What does this passage tell us about God’s people today and how can we learn from this passage today?

Topics covered by this text

• The meaning of ‘knowledge’ of the Lord
• The connection of the people of God with the land
• The faults of the priesthood

Personal comments by author

This is an astonishing prophecy, but it is too easy for a preacher today to take what they want from it without respecting the nature of the prophecy.  For example, if we say that Hosea was speaking about the need for priests to teach the people so that they would have a better knowledge of God, then we have slightly missed the point.  To know the Lord meant to have a relationship with Him, not to have more knowledge.  Hosea speaks about God as we tend to do today, in terms of relationships, not knowledge.

Ideas for exploring discipleship

• What do you believe the faults of the church to be today, and do these coincide with what Hosea says here?  You may find some coincidence, or perhaps not.  However, we must to exercise discernment in this way in order to find out how the text applies to us today.
• What does it mean to you to have a relationship with God, and how does this show in your life?  Answer this question to yourself with Hosea 4:1-6 in mind.

Final Prayer

Lord Jesus, speak to me when I do not know where to turn; when I am scared of what is happening to me and find it hard to explain or pray about things.  Send Your Holy Spirit to comfort me and give me peace, so that I am able to hand over all my problems to You and deal with them in faith and peace.  All thanks be to You, Lord Jesus Christ: AMEN

Bible study for Hosea 4:7-13

Hosea 4:7-13 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

In this prophesy, Hosea launches an attack on the priests of Israel.  The prophets were not content to gloss over the sins of God’s people; they knew that sins had to be confronted specifically, and they did so.  They were unafraid to identify how God’s people had wandered from their path, and their words shone light into the dark recesses of Israel’s national life.  Her sins had to be measured against God’s righteousness.  The Lord had shown Hosea that Israel’s sins were like adultery within a marriage; each transgression was like adultery to the Lord, and the full extent of the people’s sin had to be brought out into the open.

As we read this passage we must therefore do our best to understand exactly what Hosea was describing and why they were sins; some are obvious but some are not.  This can be difficult because of the great gaps of time and culture between then and now, but with care, we can see whether God’s people today are liable either to the same or to similar sins.  Although we have the benefit of knowing that Jesus is our Saviour and we may come to Him in repentance, sin is still rampant within our world and it affects people just as it has always done, including God’s own people.  We are not immune from sin, so the warnings of the prophets are still valuable to us today, and they can help us identify the sins of the church today.

This passage is about the sins of priests, about how they behaved and how they led God’s people astray.  The first point is this; the more priests the more God’s people were led astray (4:7)!  Here, we need reminding of what Hosea has just said, accusing the priests of not teaching the people or helping them to ‘know God’ (4:6).  As a consequence, the people did not have a proper relationship with their God, and the problem then became worse with more priests doing the same.  Eventually people were drawn further and further from the truth; but although the priests became ‘happy in their iniquity’ (4:8), the results of this for God’s people were not good.  Hosea knew that wrong religion could never satisfy, or as he said to those who had followed the priests’ teaching and abandoned the Lord; ‘they will eat, but not have enough’ (4:10).

Next, Hosea attacked another religious practice promoted by the priests.  Although it seems amazing to us, they were practising idolatry, mixed up somehow with the use of alcohol!  Hosea describes drunken priests using wooden idols for divination (4:11,12)!  It is rather difficult to know exactly what was happening, though it is a well documented fact that priests would offer sacrifices both to the Lord and also to the Ba’als without seeing any problem, as is suggested by verse 13.  These priests probably had sex with prostitutes as part of their ‘worship’ of the Ba’als even whilst offering sacrifices to the Lord (4:12)!  All in all, Hosea’s picture of the degraded worship of gods is far removed from the true worship of God, as described in the first five books of the Bible.

We may turn away from all this, believing that nothing like this could happen today; but unfortunately, it does.  Bad teaching can and does compromise the church, and when it becomes a trend in theological thinking, the same happens as described here by Hosea, and people lose faith.  I recently saw the beginning of a nationwide TV programme about Christianity, and the scholar began by describing the Christian faith as ‘a personality cult of Jesus’.  Those I was with just switched off the television, bewildered.  Here, bad teaching has compounded within some quarters of the church and resulted in the great sin of disbelief; scholars who teach Christianity in our universities frequently do not believe in God, let alone have faith in Jesus or believe that the Bible conveys ‘truth’ about God.  It is not difficult to see how Hosea’s words apply here; have we not prostituted the Christian faith to some of the gods of academia? 

All this leaves us with more questions than answers, but I hope you see how we can find relevant points within Hosea’s ancient prophecies.  Sometimes, we can draw lessons from the obvious circumstances described by the prophets, but on other occasions, we will find that they speak to us today in unexpected ways.  Just like the ancient people of Israel, we need to keep a pure relationship with our God, or suffer the consequences; but thank God we have Jesus.  We can take all these problems to Him and He can lead us through them.  Indeed, good Christian theology (not the bad) can still illuminate our faith today, but it needs our confession and Christ’s redemption.

Hosea 4:7-13 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Questions (for use in groups)

1. From your point of view, what are the sins pointed out by Hosea in this passage that afflict God’s people today?
2. Discuss in your group whether there is a limit to how many leaders, ministers or pastors we need within the Christian church.  How may we know we have the right number?
3. In what ways do Christian people worship other gods today, and what and who are they?

Topics covered by this text

• The importance of purity amongst Christian leaders
• The consequences of bad teaching within the church

Personal comments by author

I find this a rather painful passage of scripture.  I was taught theology at a good university department of theology, which a few years after I left and the retirement of the scholar who led it, became downgraded to a ‘department of religious studies’.  It was then able to cater for the need to teach people about a wide range of faiths and provide the skills required for those who wished to teach a multicultural ‘faith’ agenda in schools.  And this was over twenty years ago!  The result is that this university has compounded the teaching of ‘bad’ theology.

Ideas for exploring discipleship

• When the word ‘theology’ is mentioned, what do you think?  The word means ‘words about God’, so, remind yourself that when you are thinking about your Lord, you are, in fact, doing ‘theology’!  Do your best to be one of those who delights in the true historic teachings of the Christian church.
• Pray that God will come in judgement on the world of Theology and separate out the good from the bad.  No one need fear such a prayer or its consequences, because it is a prayer that seeks the truth.

Final Prayer

Keep me honest, Lord God, I pray.  Show me how my life might reflect truth and integrity in the eyes of others; not so that I can claim anything for myself, but so that I might simply do Your will, and accomplish what is right.  I ask this prayer in Jesus’ name;  AMEN

Bible study for Hosea 4:13-19

Hosea 4:13-19 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

Since the beginning of Hosea, we have become used to his talk of prostitution and what this means.  Nevertheless, there are some surprising twists and turns within this passage.  Hosea uses the image of prostitution and ‘Temple prostitutes’, to say more about how God’s heart was broken by Israel’s worship of the Ba’als.  He shows disgust at the sexual promiscuity of Ba’al worship (4:13,14), he likens Israel’s religion to prostitution (4:15,16) and ends provocatively by talking about the ‘drunken orgies’ of her worship (4:18,19).  It is all graphically unpleasant, and as people say today, we ‘get the picture’!  However, just beneath the surface of this, Hosea says far more.

Firstly, we are struck by Hosea’s description of the prostitutes here as ‘your daughters’.  Now, the daughters of Israel were supposed to remain virgins until they were married to keep the ancestry of Israel pure.  This was part of Israel’s covenant commitment to the Lord, and at other times in the history of God’s people (as when Jesus was born) virginity was honoured.  Later on in Hosea we will find that the prophet has more to say about the consequences of sexual promiscuity for future generations.

Another interesting point arises in verses 13 and 14, where Hosea does not so much describe the sins of prostitutes, as condemn the men who committed adultery.  Perhaps influenced by his disgust at the men who leered at his wife, Hosea said that God would condemn the men, not the women!  These were days when men could do what they wanted, and even dismiss women with a ‘note’, (see Deuteronomy 24:1f.).  Hosea’s prophecy is the first ever defence of women as the objects of manipulation and rape!  Moreover, it says that the ruin coming on Israel was the fault of men, not women.

In verse 15, Hosea makes an appeal lest Israel’s sins affect the people of Judah.  Now, there were local shrines to the Ba’als throughout Israel together with well known sites venerated because of their connection with the forefathers and the worship of the Lord God.  Bethel, for example, was where Jacob had seen a vision of the heaven (Gen 28:1-15), but this shrine was polluted by the worship of Ba’als (as Amos tells us – see 4:4, 5:5,6 etc.).  In Judah, people worshipped the Lord only at Jerusalem, where Solomon’s Temple still existed and where God ‘lived’.  Woe betide God’s people if the faithful of Judah were attracted to the shrines of the north such as Bethel, where the honest intent to worship would be met by the sexual temptations of Ba’al worship!

One feature of Hosea’s prophecies is the mention of place names, and here, he mentions ‘Gilgal’ and ‘Beth-aven’ (4:15).  We will discuss this further in later studies, but ‘Gilgal’ was the place where Joshua compromised the occupation of the Promised Land by doing a deal with the Gibeonites (Joshua 10:1f.); so ‘Gilgal’ is code for ‘religious compromise’.  ‘Beth-aven’ is not a place, but a play on the name ‘Beth-el’, the famous shrine (see above) whose name means ‘house of God’.  ‘Beth-aven’ means ‘house of sin’, and it is Hosea’s sarcastic name for a place that had long since led people astray.

All this paints a picture of the dangers and offence to the Lord of ’Ba’al worship.  In addition, the ‘heifer’ in verse 16 stands for the people of Israel, who distinguished themselves from Judah by worshipping a ‘golden calf’ (see 1 Kings 12:28f.).  Did Hosea know David’s famous psalm (23), ‘The Lord is my shepherd ...’ and comment about heifers and lambs sarcastically to question whether Israel could ever be led by the Lord again?  Lastly, Hosea sees little hope for Israel; she must be left alone to wallow in her indulgency of sex and drinking (4:18), like some Old Testament ‘Prodigal’!

The people of God play with religion at their peril.  In our own times, we must be challenged by Hosea to question the loose manner in which this happens today, religious prostitution stands close by in a world where ‘anything goes’ and freedom is mistaken for license.  In addition, we should be careful to identify those who bring God’s wrath on our heads with as much courage as Hosea, who defended women as victims in a culture where men did as they pleased.  The more you examine Hosea’s prophecies, the more you find!

Hosea 4:13-19 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Questions (for use in groups)

1. In the course of this study, what have you learned about Hosea that is new and helps you understand his prophecies better?
2. Discuss whether these prophecies speak to people today.  What can they mean for the church as God’s ‘New Israel?
3. What are the real problems of sexual promiscuity within our world today, and how may God’s people address them?

Topics covered by this text

• The exclusive worship of God
• The dangers of sexual temptation
• The responsibility of men for sexual misdemeanour

Personal comments by author

This is one of those studies of God’s Word that caught me out.  I was expecting a rather straightforward passage of scripture and found that I was faced with a text which said far more than I imagined!  I would have preferred to be writing a full study to try and do justice to the whole text rather than write a short piece and try and explain all that the Lord put on my heart as I wrote!  But this is what happens when we give the Lord control of what we are doing.  There are many implication for what has been described in this passage, and I hope that readers are able to pick them up.

Ideas for exploring discipleship

• It may be helpful whilst studying Hosea, to try and write down a list of his references to prostitution, and what they mean.  It is all very unpleasant, but by doing this, you may get a fuller picture of Hosea’s work.
• Make a list of religious movements and attitudes that are a danger, in your opinion, to the life of the church.  Pray to the Lord and ask Him to remove these from God’s people.

Final Prayer

If I have become tired or sorrowful this day, my Lord, please accept my apologies.  I have been wrapped up in my own feelings and have failed to see the bigger picture, which is coloured by Your gracious love.  Save me from my problems, and lead me to trust in Your guidance and providence.  Thank You, my Lord, AMEN

Bible study for Hosea 5:1-7

Hosea 5:1-7 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

Hosea is now in full flow, and his prophecies clearly demonstrate the spirit of a man who has been moved by God to speak out against the godlessness within Israel.  There is no doubt about the target for these prophecies, for they are directed against the priests of Israel (5:1).  These people were supposed to serve Israel by acting as intermediaries between the Lord God and the people of Israel by performing sacrifices and worship on their behalf according to the laws of Moses.  Over time, however, they had developed practices that had more in common with the original Canaanite population of the land. 

Nothing was hidden from the Lord, and He knew all about the sins of His people; all He needed was a man of integrity like Hosea, to speak out His message of judgement on the priests, and it was a message that the King and the people needed to hear as well (5:1).  The religious rituals of the priests no longer helped the people come near to God, instead they had become a ‘snare’ and a ‘net’ (5:1) from Mount Tabor in the north to Mizpah in the south.  Hosea’s words graphically describe God’s revulsion at the rebellion of the priests; ‘the insurgents are deep in slaughter, but I will discipline them all!’ (5:2).

Verses 3 and 4 reveal the heart of Hosea.  He had been insulted by the unfaithfulness of his own wife, Gomer (Hosea 1-3), and he now perceived the true nature of the insult Israel was committing against her God.  We must be careful when reading these verses, because the names Ephraim and Israel are interchangeable and they refer to the same people.  Earlier in the chapter, Hosea had called the people ‘Israel’ (5:1), but now he reverts to her common name, taken from the majority tribe of those times, ‘Ephraim’ (5:3,4), and uses both names to make his point.  Israel (Ephraim) is like an unfaithful wife to her God, she has ‘played the whore’.  Now, this part of the prophecy is easy for us to understand, but what comes next is more difficult for us, even in Hosea.  For the prophet says that the sins of the people have reached a point of no return; ‘their deeds do not permit them to return to their God’ (5:4).  Something critical has happened, and Hosea perceives, probably from his own experience, that the human heart can become gripped by the power of the sin it has accepted and grown to love.  In this state, the heart will not return to God.

In the New Testament, we know this principle as ‘all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God ...’ (Romans 3:23), but at the time Hosea said this it was a radical revelation.  For all her history and the great revelations of God given to her, Israel has chosen to go her own way and confirmed the truth that humanity is fundamentally stricken with sinfulness, even when God is as close as a husband to a wife.  In the following verses, Hosea has a tragic vision of a people seeking God but not finding Him; ‘with their flocks and herds they shall go to seek the Lord but they will not find Him ...’ (5:6).  Tragically, the people were seeking the Lord only when it suited them, with flocks and herds ready for the slaughter of numerous sacrificial offerings (5:6) in an attempt to appease their God, but the eternal truth of God’s justice was non-negotiable.  Their hearts were not committed to the Lord, so they would ‘seek ... but not find’ (5:6, a phrase found in the other prophets, e.g. Isaiah 31:1, Jer 45:5 etc.).

People do not always remember that when Jesus says ‘seek, and you will find ...’ (Matt 7:7), He is prophesying the radical change in human destiny that He brought as Israel’s Messiah and the world’s Saviour.  This great saying of Jesus is of course not about people of faith deservedly getting what they want through prayer, but fallible people seeking God and finding Him not through their own merits but through the merits of Jesus, the Saviour.  Hosea was faced with the reality of the human condition, and he struggled to express the extraordinary presumption and faithlessness of those who did what they pleased and thought they could please God by practising religion however they wished.  May God save us from doing the same today!

Hosea 5:1-7 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Questions (for use in groups)

1. What does the passage of Scripture teach us about the nature of sin and the way that it affects us even now?
2. If this text is about the people of Israel, is it about the church today?  To what extent does the church of God ‘play the whore’ today, or is there any good reason to reject this analysis today?
3. Read Matthew 7:1-14 and discuss in your group the connections between these two passages.

Topics covered by this text

• Sin and judgement
• The tragic consequences of the sin of God’s people
• Faithlessness and stumbling

Personal comments by author

In the midst of this passage is a phrase that is quite distressing; ‘their deeds do not permit them to return to their God’ (5:4).  I find this passage awful, and it is hard to accept that this is indeed within Scripture.  Nevertheless, we all need reminding from time to time that it is simply not within our human capability to make ourselves right with God by doing things.  Whenever I hear people in church saying things like ‘why should this happen to X, she’s such a good person’, I am sadly reminded of the truth of this text, and that deeds do not make people right with God.

Ideas for exploring discipleship

• Occasionally, I find that I am working on the assumption that if I do things right, then I will be OK with God, and have to change my attitude.  Is this something you need to check out with yourself?
• Look back over your recent life and ask yourself whether you have ‘dealt faithlessly’ with God.  Remember, if you have, then the way to deal with this is to repent and be open with God about it.  Appeal to Jesus for your salvation.

Final Prayer

Lead me, Lord God, in a pathway of honest and righteous living.  Lord God, I do not want to be the kind of person who is caught out by my own arrogance or found out because of my pride.  Keep me in that place of spiritual need where I know that You are my Saviour, all the time.  AMEN

Bible study for Hosea 5:8-15

Hosea 5:8-15 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

In deep sadness, Hosea continues to prophecy about the state of Israel.  Here, he uses different word pictures to describe Israel’s desperate state, now they have rejected the support of their God and King, the Lord who saved them from Egypt and brought them to the Promised Land.

There is not much here to remind us of Hosea’s general theme about the marriage between God and His people, though the passage is all about brokenness and its consequences.  Hosea could not understand how his wife could continue to rebel against him and enjoy her prostitution, and in the same way, God is astonished at the reckless behaviour of Israel and Judah despite the evidence of His love and guidance.  We can either read such scriptures as ancient stories with little meaning for us today, or accept that they can speak to us now because Christians wander from their Lord even today.  Moreover, when this happens, the patterns of our behaviour are similar to those of Israel, many years ago.

To begin with, verses 8 to 10 read like a call to arms, but a close look at the place names reveals something more harrowing.  Gibeah is a town in the region of Benjamin, renowned for the most atrocious rebellion against the moral standards of God’s people in the history of Judaism.  The story of the rape and murder of the Levite’s concubine (Judges 19-21) remains the most dire story of moral depravity within the entire Old Testament.  Ramah, a nearby city of Benjamin, was the home city of Samuel, but one associated with considerable sadness throughout the Old Testament.  Its association with tragedy is so strong that when King Herod killed all the children of Bethlehem after Jesus was born, Matthew quotes the harrowing prophecy of Jeremiah about ‘a voice heard weeping in Ramah ... Rachel mourning for her children and refusing to be comforted’ (Jer 31:15, Matt 2:18).

All these word pictures draw a tragic picture of Israel warring against her own God, and the phrase ‘raising the battle cry in Beth-aven’ (5:8) is a none too subtle description of fighting a sinful battle!  What will God do with His people who rebel against Him like this?  He declares; ‘I will pour out my wrath on them like a flood of water’ (5:10)!  God is not ignorant of what happens on earth, and He will meet rebellion with its consequences.

Then, in an astonishing phrase hidden away within these prophecies so that few would spot it or realise its power, Hosea says, ‘Ephraim is oppressed, broken in judgement and intent on living by regulations’ (5:11)!  Here is God’s analysis of the predicament of His people; they think that all they have to do to keep right with their God is to keep His commandments!  Such an attitude towards faith in God is like one who thinks that a good marriage is based on meeting obligations and putting on a good show of unity.  Such attitudes merely obscure the truth, for if two people do not love each other, then the heart of a marriage has gone, and if God’s people do not love Him and battle against Him, then they can hardly call on Him for help and succour.

Hosea knows that despite warring with their God, the people of Israel and Judah are ill and in need of help; they are spiritually sick and unable to make sound judgements (5:13).  But they will do anything except call on their God for help (5:13), even appealing to the king of Assyria, Israel’s enemy, who will eventually invade her land.  God’s people have become blind and cannot even see their stupidity!  In truth, the only one interested in them is their husband, their God, but because of their rebellion, He must punish them even if they should turn to Him; ‘they will seek my face, in their misery they will earnestly seek me.’ (5:15).

The stage has now been set for a further stunning revelation from Hosea (Hosea 6, coming next).  However, this troubling and brief passage must surely warn God’s people of the futility of following their own ways and imagining they have some importance in the world, instead of keeping close to the Lord.  It is a disease as prevalent today as it ever was.

Hosea 5:8-15 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Questions (for use in groups)

1. How does this passage of Scripture teach us about attitudes within the church today, and what can we do about this?
2. Discuss verse 11 in your group and try to ascertain what this might be saying to us who live thousands of years later.
3. How significant is the church of God in the affairs of the world today?  Are we more important than we think we are?

Topics covered by this text

• The rebellion of God’s people
• God’s judgement
• The sin of living religiously by ‘regulation’

Personal comments by author

I find it hard to write about passages which seem to be so distant that the message of prophecy is remote from today.  However, Hosea is absolutely right that God’s people are broken and oppressed when they ‘live by regulations’ (5:11).  You will find that in the various Bible versions this verse is translated in rather different ways.  However, I have had a good look at the Hebrew words here, and have come up with a translation that I think is most meaningful both in its context and for today; indeed, I suspect that some translators have attempted to avoid the clear message of the verse because it is frankly embarrassing for some in the church today.  Too many of God’s people are required to live their faith ‘by rote’, as if being a Christian was like reading off the right prayers, or speaking in tongues when required to prove that you can do it.  We must surely dispense with such awful rubbish wherever we see a hint of this.

Ideas for exploring discipleship

• How easy do you find it to trust God, and, if necessary, confess that your faith has been lived out as a matter of course rather than in the free spirit of a marriage?  Think about this issue carefully, and pray about it in a spirit of self examination
• What good things about the life of faith have become regulations?  If you do certain things by habit and do not know the reasons for them anymore, then try to root them out of your life and replace them with God’s free inspiration.

Final Prayer

Light of my live, Lord Jesus Christ, enter my heart and change me.  I cannot know what You will do, how You will change me or what You will do with me, but I welcome You and I am willing to risk all for You.  Come and do Your work of grace in my life now, so that I waste no more time thinking about living for You, but do now what I know to be right and true, according to Your light and revelation: AMEN

Bible study for Hosea 6:1-6

Hosea 6:1-6 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

How easily it is to be deceived by our presumptions about Scripture!  This text begins with three verses of inspiring prophecy (6:1-3), worthy of inclusion amongst other great New Testament texts about healing.  But just as we are rejoicing in these verses, we are reminded that this is Hosea, an unhappy tale of what went wrong between God and His people, using the example of Hosea’s anguished marriage with the temple prostitute, Gomer.  So what is happening here, and why, after the three glorious verses, do we hear of God’s anguish with His people and His desperate call for them to ‘desire mercy, not sacrifice’ (6:6).  These verses are without a doubt, some of the most impressive in the whole of Hosea; but what do they mean?

In a fuller study, we would have time to examine this further, but I must ask you to bear with me as I explain the sequence of Hosea’s prophecies here.  He has just unleashed prophecies laying bare the errors of Israel’s priests, who had denied their godly heritage, developed their own traditions and disregarded the laws of Moses and their Covenant heritage (Hosea 4,5).  Israel and her God were bound in Covenant, but Israel had prostituted herself to foreign gods (4:12-19); so why, said Hosea, should Israel think she could turn to the Lord God when she felt like it (5:4)?  Surely she has forfeited her covenant rights and was ripe for judgement, not love!  In this spirit, Hosea prophesied; ‘therefore I am like maggots to Ephraim ... like rottenness to the house of Judah ... I will carry off, with no one to rescue ...until they acknowledge their guilt’ (5:12-15)!  Then, immediately after this, Hosea continued ‘In their guilt they seek my face, in their distress, they will beg my favour’ (5:15) before going into the first three verses of our reading today.

Now if you read the passage with all this in mind, you will see that although verses 1 to 3 are indeed an appeal to God for help, Hosea is in fact mocking the people of Israel who appeal to God while still sinning!  How we would love to lift Hosea 6:1-3 straight out of the Old Testament and ignore Hosea’s complaint!  However, we must recognise that Hosea was not mocking those who call upon the Lord with a genuine heart.  It is likely that the poem 6:1-3 was a well known form of words used by worshippers to ask the Lord for help, and Hosea quoted it rather than wrote it anew himself.  With the words being well known, Hosea hoped that people would appreciate his point, that the love of those who called on the Lord unworthily or out of convenience was like ‘the morning mist ... early dew that disappears’ (6:4)

As Hosea 1-3 says, the Lord brings both good and bad on His people, and yes, the Lord both tears down the sins of His people and builds up those who repent.  Today we can say that in Christ, He restores us ‘on the third day’ (if we think of Hosea 6:2 as being a reference to Christ’s resurrection).  What the Lord requires of His people, however, is not the form of worship but the heart, and He does not like appeals for convenient help from people who only turn to Him only when it suits them!  With this in mind, Hosea’s famous words ‘I desire mercy not sacrifice’ (6:6) are crystal clear.  As Moses had said so many years before when setting up the legal basis for God’s Covenant with His people (Deuteronomy 6:4f.), the reasons for all the rules about worship were that God wanted His people to love Him; ‘you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might ...’.  No legally correct worship can replace the love of the heart; as in marriage, so it is between God and His people.

Our God is merciful and loving, and He will heal and restore His people; but He cannot do this for those who do not love Him, because they have chosen to reject Him.  We must not set this wonderful text to one side, rather we must receive it as God’s promise for those who are faithful, and a warning that those who seek the Lord unfaithfully set themselves up for God’s wrath.

Hosea 6:1-6 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Questions (for use in groups)

1. What does this passage of Scripture say about God’s help for those who are suffering?
2. Is it right for us to understand that God’s help for His people is conditional?  Why is it not unconditional?
3. Discuss in your group; what is the ‘early morning dew’ or the ‘mist’ that disappears (see verse 4)?  How can God’s people avoid the trap of false worship?

Topics covered by this text

• The healing power of God
• The frailty of humanity
• The proper worship of God

Personal comments by author

The first time I lectured on this passage, I noticed that the students who heard me were somewhat shocked that I did not teach the standard line that this passage in Hosea represents the unconditional loving heart of God.  I had to explain that God’s love is only unconditional in Christ, and that God’s people must never forget that the benefits of grace, of healing and the Lord’s forgiveness, are only found where Christ is honoured.

Ideas for exploring discipleship

• How does your own church practice healing ministry?  Think about how this is done, and keep this passage of Scripture in mind.  Does Hosea have something to say to us?  I am not sure I am in a position to say how the Lord can use this Scripture, but I am convinced that he will use this amongst us today if we are willing to read Hosea’s prophecies exactly for what they are.
• Read the words of verse 6 again, and take time to share them with someone else.  Be careful to explain to them the difference between Hosea talking about ‘burnt offerings’ and the language we use today about forms of worship.

Final Prayer

Set us free, Lord Jesus, to live in truth of heart and soul.  May we speak only what is a true reflection of our thoughts and feelings; may we do for You what You have asked of us because we really want to; and may we listen actively for what is good and worthy within what others say.  Set us free, Lord Jesus, to be like You: AMEN

Bible study for Hosea 6:7-11

Hosea 6:7-11 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

Yesterday, we read some wonderful words of Hosea (6:1-3), concerning the precious healing promises of God both to the people of ancient Israel and to Christians today.  How sad it is therefore, to read a reading in which virtually everything is negative, and the Lord God has to speak again to His people about sins and their consequences (6:7-11).

We must pay attention to these prophecies however, because they speak to us even now about the sins that afflict those who live in a covenant relationship with God.  The problems of Israel are a warning to the church today.  We have a new covenant relationship with God, which is a complete message of God’s love and forgiveness in Christ.  However, because we are sinful people, Christians today are still prone to the same  sins and evils as their forefathers.  We like to think that we are not, but we are.

To begin with, Hosea says that the covenant relationship between humanity and God has been broken by all people, who are ‘like Adam’ (6:7).  Some scholars think that this refers to some incident at a place called ‘Adam’, and in older Bible dictionaries you will sometimes find references to a place of this name in the Jordan valley (see also Joshua 3:16).  This has nothing to do with Hosea’s point here, which is that all people are ‘fallen’, and are therefore ‘like Adam’ (6:7).  Within the church, it is our hope that through Christ, we will deal with our abiding sinfulness, but even through striving, none of us has yet become perfect, and the wisest Christian knows that the sins of Adam must still be fought.  John warns us of the same in his first letter (see 1 John 1), and urges all Christians to be serious about the confession of sin.

In the next few verses of Hosea’s prophecy (6:8-9), he complains about ‘wicked men’ in Gilead, prowlers who ‘lie in wait’, priests who ‘band together’ and ‘murder on the way to Shechem’.  What does this mean?  Here, Hosea brings together a series of troubled events from Israel’s past, each of them matters that caused divisions in Israel centuries later.  Joseph’s brothers had plotted in the regions of Gilead (Gen 37:25) to rid themselves of their godly but precocious younger brother.  They planned to kill him, but sold Joseph instead to Ishmaelite traders (Gen 37) and faked his blood to persuade their father Jacob that his favoured son was dead.  In later years, tensions surfaced between Israelites who lived on the Gilead (eastern) banks of the Jordan and Canaan (on the west); so when Israel broke away from Judah (see 1 Kings 12,13) making its capital at Shechem (6:9), the Israelites were already a divided people prone to the worship of many gods.

Hosea was always horrified at the divisions of Israel and their worship of various gods, and we must surely agree that the divided nature of the Christian church today simply continues this awful tendency from the Old Testament.  As Hosea says, it is a ‘horrible thing’ (6:10).  Mostly, Christians are happy to live with division and irreligion in their midst, even though they will readily confess (within discussion groups) that if Jesus came today, he would not recognise the religions we have built in His honour.  Hosea wanted God’s people to reconnect their covenant relationship with God, just as many Christians today long for the recognised churches to reconnect with the New Covenant they have with God through the historic Christ.

This is a tough message, moreover, there is much more of this to come in Hosea.  a note of hope is sounded in the last verse, however; ‘a harvest is appointed for you, Judah ... I would restore the fortunes of my people’ (6:11).  This is Hosea’s prophecy of God’s sovereign work, for despite all the problems of human sin, God will reap a harvest from His people!  We know this happened when God raised up Jesus, our Messiah, from His Old Testament people.  He will do the same by raising up His own, when Jesus comes again in glory to judge the world in equity.

These damning prophecies of the Old Testament have their place in history, but they also warn us that we must face justice before our God today, so we had better keep close to our Saviour!

Hosea 6:7-11 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Questions (for use in groups)

1. In what ways do Christians behave ‘like Adam’ today, and how can we best deal with this in the life of the church?
2. What does this passage of Old Testament prophecy teach us about the sins of God’s people today, especially about their divisions?
3. How will God bring a harvest out of His people today, and how can we have confidence that God will do what He says?

Topics covered by this text

• The breaking of the covenant relationship with God
• Division and sin amongst God’s people
• God’s work through the ‘remnant ‘ of His people

Personal comments by author

The more I read the Old Testament and study it, the more I find that the various references within the prophets make sense and add to our understanding of the passages.  If you read prophecies like Hosea and Amos, then you will find a multitude of references to places and events, most of which seem incidental, and most of the Old Testament is indeed written entirely generally.  So, where we have specific historic references, this can be helpful and potentially informative, and we need to take the time to look up what we can know from the Bible, and even use the internet to find out more, to explore the text thoroughly.  Without this most of these passages just go over our heads!

Ideas for exploring discipleship

• When have you been deeply affected by something that has happened in the church that you feel is wrong, yet it has never been dealt with?  How can we deal with things better in the life of the church, and sort out what is right and wrong before God?
• Track yourself over a week, and write down the things you think of as ‘sins’, which you have committed.  Keep this private, of course, but use it as a means of asking the Lord for the forgiveness of your sins at the end of the week.

Final Prayer

Speak to us, dear Jesus, in the storms of life and in the calm of rest; and lead us through the trials we experience by the comfort, power, love and strength of the Holy Spirit.  May we hear Your word of encouragement crystal clear, and may we follow the Spirit’s leading step by step, to prove our faith to all and take the eternal prize of life! AMEN