Hosea 7-14

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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 7:1-10

Hosea 7:1-10 (get text) Study links: / Review / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

To read a passage of scripture such as this can leave us somewhat shocked and uncertain as to how to deal with what we have read. Yes, this is Scripture, but it is the language of political dissent and radical unrest, and it is hard to work out how we should interpret such a prophecy. Indeed, does it have anything to say to us at all?

We all know what it is like to glance through an old newspaper and feel it is not worth reading because the issues have moved on; yesterday’s comment is either proved to be wise and correct, or completely irrelevant. Certainly, to read Hosea’s words is like delving into an ancient newspaper, moreover, the events that are lost in the mists of time and we have no way of knowing what they were. Yet despite this, Hosea’s prophecy was preserved because later generations felt that it contained a message that history proved right. So as we read this passage today, we should try to uncover this message because it must surely have something important to say to us.

At the beginning of the reading, Hosea prophesies strongly, speaking in the place of God Himself, and saying, ‘however much I would heal Israel, the sins of Ephraim are revealed ...’ (7:1), and he stresses the fact that God sees everything and does not forget (7:1,2)! Then, at the end, Hosea cries in anguish, ‘they do not return to the Lord their God, nor seek Him, for all this’ (7:10). Between these two verses, Hosea has much to say, but the beginning and ending are revealing. They are typical of Hosea’s characteristic portrayal of God as One who holds His out hands with love, longing to heal and save His people, but they continue to turn away. Just as Gomer rebelled against Hosea, God’s people rebel, and He knows the anguish of their rejection. We have heard this message before in Hosea. So what is happening between verses 1 and 10 to touch Hosea’s heart and make him prophesy?

In order to understand the message, imagine an oriental court in which a King sits in the centre of a room on a throne, with all the officials of the Kingdom around him together with prophets and ‘wise men’. Everyone around the King is seeking to advise him and influence him, because he is the only one with real power. Implicit in the whole scene is the Kings own rejection of God’s ways; it is as if Hosea, like the other prophets, has been marginalised to the edge of the court, watching in dismay at the antics of those who are trying to influence the king’s decision making.

I suggest you read our passage several times, and begin to understand why Hosea describes these evil officials, scurrying around the King in attempts to win his favour, as like an overheating oven, such as when a baker has forgotten to manage the fire in the oven whilst the dough is rising (7:4). Before long, the fire has become a furnace (7:6)! In verses 5 to 7, a tawdry scene develops, and Hosea uses this picture to our scorn on the government of his own country. The officials make the King drunk (7:5), whilst their own desires ‘burn’ within them, or as Hosea says, ‘they brought their scheming with oven heated hearts ... all of them were as hot as an oven’ (7:6,7). These court officials and schemers have prevented the reason of the wise men and prophets at the edge of the court being heard, and speaking for them, Hosea says; ‘they devoured their rulers, now all their Kings have fallen, yet none of them calls on me’ (7:7). Israel’s problem was that her Kings had become corrupted by power and their strength was drained (7:9)!

We do not know whether Hosea was prophesying in reaction to any specific incident at court, but the prophecy reflects his general sense of gloom at the godlessness of those who should be godly; the leaders of Israel. However, we can take a number of things from this passage. On the one hand, it is a warning against the corruption of power, but on the other hand, it is a warning about how the leaders of God’s people themselves can be tempted away from godliness. This may lead us to think of any number of relevant issues in the life of nation or church today, but as we discovered at the beginning, the heart of Hosea’s message is that God is longing to bring His people back and save them. He never gives up on His people, despite the severest pressures and the most heinous of sins. His love is greater than them all.

Hosea 7:1-10 (get text) Study links: / Review / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Questions (for use in groups)

What does this passage tell us about the life of the church today and the importance of its leadership?
What does this passage tell us about the life of your nation and its leaders today, and the significance of current affairs?
How can God continue to love and save people who persistently reject Him?

Topics covered by this text

The corruption of power
The importance of leadership
The love of God for His people

Personal comments by author

Every time I delve into one of these passages of the prophets, I start with a certain amount of concern about what I am going to say about it. However, as I study each piece, a message arises from the text and the prophetic purpose becomes clear. So much of Amos, Hosea and Isaiah appears to be similar, just page after page of condemnation, but careful study reveals the wonderful truth that God has a message from these prophets even through these prophecies. They are not in God’s Word for nothing!

Ideas for exploring discipleship

This reading makes us think about how difficult it must be, to be a leader of God’s people. It is indeed true that there are many pressures on leaders, but we must be careful about what these are, given the nature of this prophecy. What can you do to help alleviate the pressures on your leadership, and help maintain their godly perspective?
Pray for your own country and its leaders at this time, especially if something of Hosea’s prophecies suggest the reasons why your own government is not as godly as you would expect.

Final Prayer

Lord and Father of all, You see all things and you understand the affairs of churches and nations. Protect the godly people You have placed in positions of authority both in church and nation, and help Your people to support their leaders in prayerfulness and gratitude, all their days: AMEN

Bible study for Hosea 7:11-16

Hosea 7:11-16 (get text) Study links: / Review / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

Hosea was distraught at the state of Israel. She was acting with immense folly and godlessness, and Hosea prophesied very clearly what God thought about His people. God knew what was happening in Israel and would not allow Israel to escape His justice (7:12). The people were still performing some acts of worship (see ‘gather together for grain and wine’ – 7:14), yet they had no ‘heart’ relationship with their God. Moreover, even though these were the same people with whom God had previously enjoyed a good relationship and had redeemed from Egypt, they lived in rebellion against Him (7:13,15). Surely, the nations would laugh at a people who treated their God like this (7:16)!

Now it may seem too easy to say this about our passage, but what exactly was happening in Israel when Hosea was prophesying? What did these words mean to the people who first heard them? The answer to these questions is plain, and can be found within Scripture, but getting to the bottom of it takes a little care.

The first verse of Hosea’s prophecy dates his work around 755 to 720 BC, but strangely, this dating is given by reference to Kings of Judah (Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah). Only one Israelite King is mentioned, being Jeroboam II (790-749BC). It is odd that Hosea, who spoke almost wholly to the northern people of Israel, does not mention the Kings of Israel who came after Jeroboam, because for most of his life as a prophet, it was they who reigned (755-720BC)! It is likely that these kings were so abhorrent to Hosea he could hardly bring himself to name them, for if we turn to 2 King 15, we will discover what was happening at the time, and it is a very sorry tale.

In 749BC Jeroboam died and his son succeeded him, but was murdered six months later in a public coup by a man named Shallum (2 Kings 15:8-11). Shallum himself committed some dreadful atrocities (see 2 Kings 15:13-16) and was murdered by the leader of a revolt, named Menahem. Menahem lasted for ten years, largely by paying off the Assyrian King with a fee of 1,000 talents of silver, extorted by a toll of 50 shekels of silver on all the senior men of Israel (2 Kings 15:17-22). After his death, his son Pekahiah lasted only two years before he was slaughtered by an army captain named Pekah. A short time later, Pekah was murdered in another army revolt, and Hoshea, the leader of the army, was named King (2 Kings 15:29-31). It was not long before the King of Assyria took a disliking to the unstable nation on his southern border and invaded Israel, eventually destroying the nation completely (721BC – see, in particular, 2 Kings 17).

I have written all this down as succinctly as possible to help us understand that Hosea words here were not empty gestures! Imagine yourself living at such times. The nation was in turmoil, led by a succession of military dictators with no interest in the nation except their own survival. No wonder Hosea called Israel ‘fickle and with no sense’ (7:11); his picture of the intrigues of court life (see yesterday’s study) sound realistic.

Yet God would not let His people go. Hosea agonised over what God would do, knowing that He would not tolerate injustice and rebellion against Him would surely have consequences. Hosea lived to see at least two invasions of his beloved Israel by the tyrant Assyria, firstly under Tiglath-pileser (see 2 Kings 15:29) and then several years later under Shalmaneser (2 Kings 17:5f.). What incredible public humiliation for Israel (7:12)! Hosea saw this as the justice of God wrought on His rebellious people (7:13,14).

Yet Hosea spoke words that only he could say as God’s prophet for those days, and in the midst of his condemnation, we hear echoes of the heart of a father and a husband. Hosea appeals on God’s behalf for a relationship of the heart (7:14), he remembers the ‘good times’ when the Lord trained His people for war (7:15). Nevertheless his heart is full of pain because the object of His love has become estranged, ‘they wail upon their beds’ (7:14) and has become like a useless weapon, unable to defend herself against her enemies (7:16). Perhaps worst of all, Israel and her God would become a laughing stock (7:16); were these the people to be a ‘light to the nations (Is 42:6, 49:6).

We may have read this all too quickly when we began, but the more we delve into the meaning of the passage, the more it reveals a critical question. In the face of utter rejection by His own people, what will God do? There is no practical answer to be found in this text, but we are left with the clear impression that Hosea knew God would be nothing less than just, and He would never stop loving. A light was going out in Israel, and the new light was yet to dawn.

Hosea 7:11-16 (get text) Study links: / Review / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Questions (for use in groups)

Does this passage of Scripture remind us of things that are happening in the life of the world now, and if so, what?
How does the Lord God show His justice in the world today, and how may we know that it is Him at work?
How does the Lord God show His love in the world today, and how may we know that we may trust Him?

Topics covered by this text

The fickle nature of nations and politics
The sadness of God at those who go their own way

Personal comments by author

There are a number of places within the Old Testament that have always fascinated me, and the chapters of 2 Kings that speak of the end of Israel as a nation are some of the most fascinating. It is as if the author of these documents is speaking to us to tell us why he is writing the books. Clearly, he is writing to record history, but he does so with a purpose, and wants us to learn from the history of God’s people in the past. The question as to whether we have learned those lessons is, I think, still open.

Ideas for exploring discipleship

Ask yourself this question; is rebellion a matter of age, or is it evident within every ‘age’? It seems that people often think of ‘rebellious teenagers’, yet people at every age have ways of rebelling and some are better at it than others! Within your church, how do people rebel against leadership, against each other, and against God? Why is this so and what can be done about it?
Pray for those who feel the prophetic voice of God within them and yet remain uncertain how to let it out. In the age of the Holy Spirit, pray that God will give His people a true voice of prophecy

Final Prayer

You love, Lord God, has chased us throughout the ages, and we have not always responded. Forgive us Lord God, for those times when we have been insensitive to Your Word and unresponsive to Your will, and lead us on to overcome these problems in the power of Your Spirit. Lead us higher, Lord God, higher still! AMEN

Bible study for Hosea 8:1-6

Hosea 8:1-6 (get text) Study links: / Review / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

Throughout this prophecy, Hosea identifies the sin present within God’s own people. When reading Hosea we may be strongly affected by his message of God’s love in the midst of rejection, as found in the first three chapters of the book. But we may be taken aback by the rest of Hosea’s ferocious prophecies, which are relentless in their damnation of Israel. Hosea’s point is that love does not overcome sin by ignoring it, and mercy is not achieved through forgetting judgement. If there is to be reconciliation between God and His people, then sin must be exposed and accounted for.

In Hosea’s day, people thought of a prophet as a herald of God, warning the people of what was to come. Hosea had already performed this role in previous prophecies, warning of coming judgement (see ch.5). The opening words ‘put the trumpet to the lips’ (8:1) pick up this theme, but with a surprise. While the prophet’s trumpet blast rallies people to peer at the horizon for signs of invasion, ‘an eagle hovers over the house of the Lord’ (8:1); in flight, an eagle flies so high it is hard to see. Years before, Moses used the picture of an eagle to speak to Israel about God’s guidance (see Deut 28:49, 32:11); but the eagle’s nurturing instincts could also be used to swoop and kill prey. The ‘house of the Lord’ in Hosea’s prophecy was God’s people, not the Temple; it was hovering, with its piercing eyes watching the sin down below.

The analysis of Israel’s sins is stunning and severe; the Covenant was broken, the Law was broken (8:1) and ‘Israel has rejected what is good’ (8:2). Together, these sins cover every part of Israel’s religious, social, legal and moral life. Sin was not a small feature of personal and national life; its nature was (and is) to be endemic. In the face of such accusations, the people all said ‘Oh my God! We are Israel – we know You!’ (8:2), but it was too late, the nature of their sin was already exposed. Hosea’s approach to sin is helpful, even today, because it shows that we must examine sin and break it down; generalities are insufficient, and specific revelation is everything. For example, ritual confession and oversimplification will not help people deal with sin today; we need the courage of Hosea to expose the facts of sin now, both in private and in fellowship.

Hosea firstly tackled the sin of Israel’s deeply disturbing succession of kings. In the latter part of the eighth century princes and military leaders gained power by coup (see study on Hosea 7:11-16), and God had nothing to do it; the sword determined who ruled; ‘they set up kings, but not through me ... princes without my approval’. Secondly, he tackled Israel’s shameful historic sin of the worship of golden calves (8:4-6). Hosea ridiculed the idea that people might worship ‘man-made’ objects (8:5,6) just like Isaiah (Isaiah 1:8, 44:16-19). The people may have said to Hosea ‘But this was in the past, in the desert (Exodus 32) and when Israel separated from Judah (1 Kings 12:28f.)’. But by speaking of these two dreadful incidents, Hosea reminded Israel of the fact that there was never any difficulty in gaining sponsors for her worship of other gods; gold for the production of these idols had flowed freely, and sin ran deep. Such things ‘cut off’ Israel from her God, and His anger ‘burned’ against them (8:4,5).

This is not simply a lesson in ancient history. We can look at churches today, it is possible to see people take power and authority into their own hands to manipulate the church for their own ends. It happens because of ignorance about God’s Word, lack of communication and trust amongst Christians, and inappropriate freedom given to strong characters who impose themselves on others. Much of this is shocking, given that the Bible has much to say about good leadership (e.g. in 1 and 2 Timothy); Hosea would say it is sin, and so must we when we see it. We can also find outrageous idolatrous practices within the church today; this happens when God’s good gifts, such as music, buildings, liturgy and much more have been allowed by some to become idols that are worshipped rather than means of grace. Pitched battles about such things, within and between churches, tell the tale that sin lurks here, and those who will not identify it and deal with it risk condemnation!

It is wise if we read Hosea’s denunciations with care, for they are in God’s Word for a purpose. They spoke to the people of Hosea’s own day and they speak to us, if we will let them.

Hosea 8:1-6 (get text) Study links: / Review / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Questions (for use in groups)

Is it right to try and find connections between this passage and the life of God’s people today, or is this search unwise?
What ‘sins of God’s people’ are you reminded of by this passage, and what do you think should be done about this? Is it important?
What are the best models of leadership within the life of the church today, and how can they be used to better effect?

Topics covered by this text

The nature of sin amongst God’s people
The signs of godlessness amongst people
The idols of worship that can exist amongst those who worship

Personal comments by author

Writing this piece today, I feel the force of its condemnation, and wish that Hosea spoke more directly about sins other than ones of leadership and idolatry; they are well covered in Scripture as a whole! But this is because they are important issues, and we must take them seriously. However, I firmly believe that we must all apply these texts as we see them according to our circumstances. I write it as I see it, and hope that you apply it as you see it.

Ideas for exploring discipleship

How does God provide His people with warning about sin today? Indeed, is there any way that God can use to warn His people about sin in their ranks, at least, in a manner that will be heard? It is an important issue, so think about this and pray about it. As you attend church meetings or services, keep these things in mind, and let the Lord guide your thoughts and prayers.
Do you know any church leaders? If you do, then talk to them about what this passage means. See if they find this relevant, and listen to what they have to say about the problems of leadership in the church today.

Final Prayer

Dear Lord and heavenly Father. We are sinful people, and Your word is always reminding us of this, even though we have submitted ourselves by faith, to our Saviour Jesus. Help us gain a good perspective on how to deal with continued sin in our own lives and that of the church community, that we may deal with these things properly and graciously, for Your names sake: AMEN

Bible study for Hosea 8:7-14

Hosea 8:7-14 (get text) Study links: / Review / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

In this startling prophecy, Hosea speaks directly to the people of his day to point out their sins and God’s reaction to them, but as soon as we dig beneath the surface of his complicated illustrations, he gives us even more to think about. Today, I must warn that the translation I have provided is very different than most Bible versions. These few verses are some of the most obscure in Hosea, and I have come to very different conclusions about the meaning of the text than others. There are some stunning phrases and verses, such as ‘sow the wind and reap the whirlwind’ (8:7), but it can be hard to follow exactly what Hosea is saying. However, I hope that as you read the study you will discover that it has plenty to say.

Before going further, it is worth looking more carefully at how we interpret these Scriptures. Hosea’s prophecies (and others) describe how God deals with Israel, and Israel is both the Lord’s covenant people and a nation involved in day to day politics; this is why many prophecies speak about both politics and religion. For example, today’s passage begins by describing a bad harvest (8:7,8), moves on to paying taxes (8:10) and other political matters (8:9,10), and then turns to religious issues such as the ‘Law’ and sacrifices (8:11-13). To interpret such prophecies, we must recall that God’s people are the church, not a nation, so we must not mix up politics and religion in the same way. We must discover the spiritual connections between Old Testament Israel and the church today, and then see if it has any application to the affairs of nations, and if we maintain this focus, we will not be led astray unnecessarily.

Hosea’s astonishing ‘sound bite’ ‘sow the wind and reap the whirlwind’ (8:7) is now well known, but few know where it comes from! This saying suggests the moral ‘be careful what you do (sow) if you do not know the consequences (whirlwind), so Hosea was pointing out to Israel that in general, she had acted foolishly and did not know what might happen next. Under threat of invasion, Israel had attempted to hire the armies of other nations (8:9,10), but this was like ‘sowing the wind’; with more than a touch of satire, Hosea also described it as the wanderings of a wild donkey and the hiring of lovers (8:9)!

Now, to hire armies costs a great deal of money and in ancient times, this was often paid in supplies of the most precious of all commodities, which was food. Verse 7 describes the depressing circumstance of a bad harvest, which produced grain that was unusable for food; nevertheless, Israel tried to get away with using bad grain to pay their dues (‘perhaps strangers will swallow it!’). Such idiocy would soon be found out, of course, and if they were not paid properly, the hired nations would soon turn against Israel. Hosea was aghast; God alone could gather Israel together effectively in time of need (the technical meaning of the term ‘gather’ as found in verse 10); no such foreign nations were required. Moreover, the nation would soon be overcome with the burden of a tax they probably could not pay (8:10)!

Then (8:11-13), Hosea spoke about the idiocy of Israel’s religion, and described the broken relationship between God and His people. Israel was proud of her many altars, used for multiple sacrifices and ‘sin’ offerings, and yet because few had any true knowledge of God (4:4-6), the altars and the rituals performed on them had become meaningless (see 4:12,13). In comparison to Israel’s great past, the people were now far from God, and Hosea illustrated this in a remarkable way. In the past, when Moses had been faced with a recalcitrant Israel in the desert, God gave the ‘Ten Commandment’ (Ex 20,24, 31:18), to keep the nation of Israel in order. Mockingly, Hosea prophesied, ‘if I wrote for them thousands of laws they would regard them as alien!’ What a tragedy! The people had forgotten their God (8:12,14) and the time had come when they would have to be sent back from whence they came, to Egypt (8:13)!

Nations will always do deals with nations, and taxes will always burden people. However, the church needs no other allegiance than to its Lord. The church has one duty towards the world today, and it is not to fight it, negotiate with it, appease it, do deals with it or succumb to its subtle influences; it is to win it. Moreover, it is won through the love of our Saviour. The message of the second half of this passage is not unrelated, which is that we cannot be seen to be playing with religion. How the world laughs when we become entangled in our practices and our laws, and cannot give an account of our faith or live with decent moral standards. This passage suggests much that we can think about today.

Hosea 8:7-14 (get text) Study links: / Review / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Questions (for use in groups)

What connections do you make between this passage of Scripture and the life of the church today?
In what ways does the church compromise with the world today, and is this sometimes necessary if we are to maintain a witness?
In your group, read through other versions of this passage in your Bibles. Are you able to find more within the official translation, or do they make anything clearer?

Topics covered by this text

The relationship of church and state
The duties of the church towards God
False religion

Personal comments by author

This was an extremely difficult passage to translate and write, because at every stage of the translation, I found myself drawn into deeper issues to do with the meaning of the text. Frankly, I do not know how people can find any coherence in many of the Bible versions, which read like a concoction of semi-related sentences and phrases. I may be naive, but I am sure that Hosea had an agenda when speaking, and the job of the translator today is not just to translate ‘word for word’, this is impossible between any two languages. In Hebrew poetry where there is much uncertainty about the meaning of many words, we must continue to seek the coherence of thought and message that was undoubtedly there in the mind of Hosea, and of God.

Ideas for exploring discipleship

How much of a problem for a Christian is religious compromise? The answers to this may well be different in different countries. It is certainly something to watch out for as we go about our daily lives. We will probably not spot it ‘in church’, but certainly in the workplace and in the world.
Come before the Lord in prayer and ask Him to show you any area of compromise that you make, which is ungodly. Ask for His help to deal with this and set out an agenda to deal with these things as you are led.

Final Prayer

Jesus Christ, You came to resolve the historic impasse between God and His people Israel. May your people today always be willing to listen to Your Word and change what they do according to Your will, so that the world may see we worship a living Lord, the God who made the world! Thanks be to God: Alleluia!

Bible study for Hosea 9:1-9

Hosea 9:1-9 (get text) Study links: / Review / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

As we have studied Hosea, we have followed his anguish at the state of his own country, trapped as it was in godlessness like an adulterer trapped in corruption and rebellion against marriage. Here in this passage, probably more than in any of his other prophecies, it is possible to detect the feel of a real event at which Hosea spoke out in anger against what he saw happening in his beloved land. We will set the scene and then imagine what could have happened as Hosea spoke.

In the first half of this passage (9:1-5), Hosea mentions threshing floors, wine-presses, sacrifices, festivals, gifts of wine and feasting. This all suggests the setting of a major agricultural festival in the life of Israel, probably the feast of ‘In-gathering’ when the final harvests of the year were gathered, and ‘first-fruits’ were offered (see Ex. 23:16f. and Lev. 23:10f.). However, from all that Hosea has told us about Israel, the agricultural festivals of his day had been infiltrated by the worship of Ba’al, and it was common for them to become something of an orgy. In verse 7 there is another clue to the setting of this event; in the Hebrew of the word ‘retribution’ there is a strong hint of the name of a king of Israel named ‘Shallum’, who reigned for just one month during one of the bloodiest years of Israel’s history. Did this festival take place later in the year, after Shallum’s military coup and his murder one month later (in 748BC)?

In the first few chapters of Hosea, we recall that the Lord had told Hosea that the covenant relationship between God and Israel was like a marriage; and just as Hosea had to deal with his wife’s infidelity, so God had to deal with the infidelity of Israel. What better place to confront the people with God’s word than at a major religious festival, where Hosea could confront the people at the threshing floors extracting the grain from the harvest and beginning their celebrations of In-gathering, and the ‘first-fruits’!

With a prophet’s anger and wrath, Hosea boldly castigated the people’s worship of Ba’al and the fees paid to prostitutes (9:1), all taking place before his eyes. What had this to do with the worship of God? Their religious adultery meant that God’s blessing was withdrawn and the land would no longer sustain the people; the wine would fail (9:2), and the bread become insufficient for sacrificial purposes (9:4), making the people unclean! Moreover, the long held tradition of presenting bread before the Lord (Ex 29:2f.) would cease (9:4). But Hosea had not just come to shout at the people in the midst of their festival, he had come to deliver a specific message. He told the people that Israel had escaped the military violence of the past year (9:6), but they should beware, because ‘days of punishment’ were yet to come (9:7f.).

After reprimanding the people for false worship, Hosea warned that Israel would lose her inheritance; she would return to Egypt (9:6), and everything the people held dear within the ‘Promised Land’ would be overtaken by ‘weeds ... and thorns’ (9:6). This was a clear prophecy of exile! Then, in verse 7, Hosea gave an emphatic message declaring that God’s punishment was coming. Twice, he derided Israel for thinking God’s prophet a fool; and twice, he told the people that they would be punished for their sins. Lastly, as if to emphasise this, verses 8 and 9 describe the prophet as setting a trap for Israel because of her deep-rooted sins and wickedness (9:8), similar to the lawless days of the Judges when the citizens of Gibeah had sexually abused and slaughtered a Levite’s concubine at Gibeah (9:9 – see Judges 20f.).

It may be easy for us to imagine all this and side with Hosea in this dangerous situation. We perceive the truth of his prophecy, we admire his courage in speaking out, and we hope we can do the same. However, we must be careful lest his prophecies are heard by us rather than observed. If our own religious festivities become dominated by anything other than the Lord God, be this self, materialism, superstition or worldly tradition for example, then we prostitute ourselves no less than the people of Israel. Let us be under no illusions, this can happen when we take our eyes away from the Lord. One of Hosea’s most pertinent warnings here is that when God’s people have gone astray, they do not recognise prophecy (9:7); we should certainly not ignore this word.

Hosea 9:1-9 (get text) Study links: / Review / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Questions (for use in groups)

In what ways does this text challenge us about the practice of our faith today?
What are the highlights of Hosea’s warnings against Israel in this text, and what does he envisage will happen to Israel?
What place does prophecy have within the life of your church; and remember, God speaks through His prophets in more ways than we often recognise.

Topics covered by this text

The role of the prophet
The religious adultery of Israel and its consequences
The nature of sin within the people of God

Personal comments by author

As we read through Hosea, we gain different glimpses of what is basically the same message. As we dig deeper into the text, these things become clearer. It should not surprise us that the message is repeated in different ways, because we all repeat things for emphasis. We tend not to like it when other people do this and we think we have heard enough, but few people do not do it in one way or another! Repetition is part of the language of humanity, and just as in human relationships, we need to hear the subtleties of language and read the heart of what is going on behind the text.

Ideas for exploring discipleship

Have you known what it is like to receive a warning from the Lord? If not, then it would perhaps be wise to ask whether you have really heard all that the Lord has to say, for none of us is without faults. There are always consequences to our actions and there are always consequences to sins, and the Lord will warn us if we are listening. Take time to listen.
Pray for those prophets of God who find it hard to sustain their work because of opposition, and pray for the church, that it will hear God’s call.

Final Prayer

Dear Jesus, speak to us in Your love about all that holds us back in our fellowship with You, and reveal to us everything that stunts our spiritual growth within this world. Help us to keep close enough to You to perceive what You would say to us, and help us to be bold enough to act on what You have said. Thank You, Lord Jesus, AMEN

Bible study for Hosea 9:10-17

Hosea 9:10-17 (get text) Study links: / Review / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

This passage is not easy to read, and despite the passage of time and the fact that we are reading about God’s people Israel, the message can hardly be mistaken. Hosea stands before a group of celebrating Israelites and pronounces God’s word of rejection in compelling terms. The message uses graphic imagery to say one thing alone; unrepentant sin will eventually lead to a complete breakdown in the relationship between God and His people. Those God once knew and loved (9:10) will become ‘wanderers among the nations’ (9:17), and their inheritance of a relationship with the living God has no future.

Yesterday, we used clues from the text to understand the circumstances in which Hosea spoke, and it seems he sought out the time and place to deliver his forceful message. The people of Israel had gathered for their annual harvest thanksgiving after a turbulent year. In their festival, they performed the ancient ritual worship of their founder God, ‘the Lord’, and they also revelled in the sexual ‘worship’ of the fertility god Ba’al believing this would give them good crops next year. But Hosea was overcome by the parallels between Israel’s unfaithfulness and the unfaithfulness of his own wife Gomer, and spoke against Israel with stunning power. He was so ashamed that he felt unable to use the historic name of God’s people, ‘Israel’, so he used the more common name, ‘Ephraim’.

If we read the passage again with this in mind, then each picture of this prophecy forces the home message, and it cannot have been be received well. In days when people regarded their gods, their life and their culture as ‘all of a piece’, Hosea’s prophecy of the damnation of Ba’al and the rejection of ‘the Lord’ would have struck at the heart of people’s belief. Were the people not celebrating stability after the turmoil of the past year? What did this madman (9:7) mean by, ‘Ephraim is struck down, their root is withered ...’ (9:16)? Perhaps there were people present who understood Hosea and protected him, but others may have sought his life; prophets were killed in ancient times for saying less.

This outburst of prophecy begins with simple and beautiful poetry describing God’s first love of Israel; ‘like grapes in the desert ... like first fruit on the fig tree’ (9:10). Israel’s ‘adultery’ with other gods is then illustrated by the incident at ‘Baal-peor’ (Numbers 25:1f.), where the people of Israel had sex with Moabites. This blighted God’s relationship with Israel, because it explicitly linked sex with the worship of other gods. Later on, Hosea also speaks of the terrible sin at Gilgal, where Joshua compromised God’s command to remove all other people (and their gods) from the Promised Land (9:15 see Joshua 10); a concession that had fatal consequences.

We do not remember the details of all this today, but Scripture gives evidence of the sacrifice of first born children amongst those who worshipped the gods of Moab and also the Baal’s (e.g. 1 Kings 16:34), and this seems to have influenced Hosea. His stunningly awful prophecy of verse 11 and 12 describes the loss of children who will bear Israel’s inheritance (probably meaning the firstborn). Israel’s inheritance was her covenant relationship with God, something that Hosea saw flying away from Israel like a bird (7:11)! Looking back, Hosea bewailed ‘no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!’ Indeed, if children were conceived Israel could not carry or raise them (9:14), and children remaining were handed over to other gods, as if to slaughter (9:13). What a damning indictment of what Israel was doing in her worship!

God gave Hosea this message, and it did its job because it was clear. When Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians in 721BC, supporters of Hosea who escaped that onslaught took his prophecies south, perhaps to Jerusalem, where they were used together with others (such as Amos and Isaiah) to warn people not to turn away from the Lord. Many turn away from their heritage of faith even now. Who will warn people of the consequences of this? Perhaps we will have to use something similar to Hosea’s dramatic language if people are to take notice of this message. We cannot use the same terrible illustrations, but God knows that others will suffice for our age. Listen for the prophets.

Hosea 9:10-17 (get text) Study links: / Review / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Questions (for use in groups)

In your group, list the illustrations used by Hosea, and note how they overlap. What does each one mean?
What illustrations might warn people of the dangers of abandoning faith today?
Discuss in your group whether Hosea is delivering the same message as before, or whether he is saying something new in this passage?

Topics covered by this text

The consequences of walking away from the Lord
The judgement of God
The consequences of past actions played out in the present

Personal comments by author

Chapter nine of Hosea’s prophecy, more than any other, appears to suggest a real event at which Hosea addressed people with his message. No one can do this and not be affected by what happens. We do not know how Hosea was affected, though we do know how other prophets responded to what happened when they prophesied (e.g. Jonah 3,4). From the early chapters of Hosea, we sense that Hosea was a humble yet just man, and I find it amazing that God used him to say such penetrating and downright awful words such as this. Perhaps Hosea was prepared for this by his own experiences of Gomer’s pregnancies by prostitution during the worship of Baal.

Ideas for exploring discipleship

Have you been tempted to abandon your faith? It is far better to confess weakness and deal with it than try and suggest it is not there and let the weakness fester.
Discuss with your friends in house group or with others at church, the nature of your inheritance of faith. What do you have as a church that must be handed down to the next generation, and how do you do this in practice? This may feel like recycling standard church issues, but discussing these things in the light of a prophecy such as this will help us see things in a new light.

Final Prayer

Lord God, Almighty Father and creator of all things. You long to use us to pass on the faith to those who came after us. Instil within us a desire to pass on our faith, and may we never stop seeking every opportunity to witness to our faith, within the home, within the church, and in the world. AMEN

Bible study for Hosea 10:1-8

Hosea 10:1-8 (get text) Study links: / Review / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

Hosea’s tragic call obliged him to stand against the popular consensus of the day, and in the same way that he dealt with his prostitute wife, call shame on Israel for her denial of her God. This reading today contains Hosea’s fourfold call of ‘shame’ on Israel, with each stanza (1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8) using a set of words and themes to make the point. Shame on Israel for her two-faced ignorance of God’s ways (10:1,2), shame on Israel for her abandonment of proper authority (10:3,4), shame on Israel for her religious rebellion and attachment to a golden calf (10:5,6), and shame on Israel for her persistent sinfulness (10:7,8).

Hosea begins by continuing to use the image of the vine (10,1,2), following on from the previous chapter (‘I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness’ - 9:10). The vine found by God and tended by Him has now produced the wrong type of fruit. To explain this, Hosea refers back to Genesis (he does so again in verse 8). God had created people in His own image (Gen 1:26,7), and He had chosen Israel to be a nation that showed Him to the world. But here, the vine of Israel produced fruit like herself, and not fruit designed by the Creator for His purposes! Hosea perceived that it was impossible for Israel to be like her God, for she was hopelessly split in two, with a divided heart (10:2). She tried to worship both God and the Ba’als, so God would act in judgement against her to destroy her ‘altars’ and ‘pillars’, the implements of worship to Ba’al.

As we have seen in recent studies, the people of northern Israel were enduring a torrid time in which their kings were being slaughtered in palace coups, and foreign powers were interfering in state politics. People had become disillusioned, and Hosea reports them as saying ‘we have no king – we do not fear God, and this king, what can he do for us?’ (10:3). The consequences of such cynicism within society resulted in people making ‘covenants with empty oaths’ (10:4), that is, making agreements without meaning to keep them. Hosea also says that in such a poisonous atmosphere, litigation became the norm (10:4), something that foreshadows the collapse of society, ‘like poisonous weeds in a ploughed field’ (10:4)

Thirdly, Hosea continued to expose the sinfulness of Israel’s worship of the golden calf first set up by its first King Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:16f.) after their split with Judah (10:5,6 - see also 8:5,6). One can almost hear his cynicism as he speaks about people mourning for the calf (10:5) as it was taken away to the king of Assyria (10:6), probably in payment of a national debt. The Assyrian empire notoriously made itself rich on the proceeds of extortion, as it progressively overwhelmed the small states on its borders, such as Israel. Yet Hosea was not afraid to pronounce God’s judgement, and the fact that the people mourned the loss of this calf was a matter of shame and disgrace (10:6).

In the fourth stanza (10:7,8), God’s judgement was pronounced on Israel’s sin, and Hosea chose a dramatic way of doing this. He quoted the curse of the ground from Genesis, where it says,

‘cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.’ (Genesis 3:17,18)

Hosea then finished with a prophecy of doom. People would call on the mountains themselves to offer them protection and ‘cover’ (10:8) instead of seeking protection from God!

Remarkably, this last prophecy is more significant than most people realise. Jesus quotes this prophecy about ‘mountains ... and hills’ (10:8) when addressing the professional mourners who accompanied those to be crucified (Luke 23:30). Jesus’ use of this prophecy reinforces our interpretation here. This is a prophecy of doom addressed to those who have the evidence of God but will not worship Him, preferring to place their trust in other gods or in kings or other false religions.

These words carry God’s prophetic message for all who turn away from the traditions of faith they have been given. Today, many nations with a Christian past are keen to throw off the shackles of their heritage. They produce fruit ‘in their own image’ (see 10:1), they abandon both God and ‘king’ (10:3), they mourn for their own petty gods (10:5), and they are becoming rotten to the core (10:8). Hosea’s words are as good a definition of a rotten nation as you can get in the Bible, and they are not to be taken lightly!

Hosea 10:1-8 (get text) Study links: / Review / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Questions (for use in groups)

How does this passage warn nations and people today about their obligations towards God.
In your group, discuss whether Hosea is being cynical in this passage of prophecy, and if so, why?
Why is it that people persist in saying they worship God but continue to worship other, more modern ‘gods’, whether these are made out of wealth, drink, cars, TV, or anything else?

Topics covered by this text

The likeness of God seen in the world
False religion and the value people place on it
The seeds of corruption in society
The judgement of God

Personal comments by author

Hosea called ‘shame’ on the people of Israel for what they were doing. I guess it took great courage to do this, because it would be like standing up in church today and confronting everything happening! Hosea was able to see God at work in almost everything, but today, we tend to be very abstract in our discussions about God. We talk about whether we believe in Him and whether He deserves our trust (when things do not go our way!) but many people struggle to look at the world and see God at work within it quite naturally, as Hosea did. His prophecies were extraordinary, but his vision was amazing.

Ideas for exploring discipleship

Try to write down some of the things Christians may be tempted to place higher than God. Ask yourself whether you have not been guilty of this, and pray to ask the Lord for His forgiveness, if you have.
If this passage of Scripture has made you feel that there is any idolatry in your own church or fellowship, then resolve to do something about this. At least, talk to someone else about this. Be the Lord’s servant, and do His will!

Final Prayer

Lord God Almighty, hear our prayer, and help us live our lives exclusively for You. May we give our undivided attention to You and Your will as You are at work in our lives. Take away from us any temptation to live for what the world has to offer us, and focus our hearts on You. We praise You, Lord God; You, and You alone. AMEN

Bible study for Hosea 10:9-15

Hosea 10:9-15 (get text) Study links: / Review / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

As we read the Old Testament prophets, it is obvious that they speak about God’s judgement on the sins of God’s people. Indeed, this is what most people remember about the prophets. Certainly, the majority of Hosea’s prophecies are about God’s decision to act to end the sin and injustice found within the northern Kingdom of Israel in the eighth century BC, and we have dealt constantly with this theme throughout Hosea.

The warnings continue in this passage, and verses 9 and 10 notify Israel that God will punish her sins through war. Israel is to be punished for her ‘double sin’ (10:10), which Hosea links with Gibeah, as he has before (see 5:8, 9:9 and Judges 19,20). But what does Hosea mean by a double sin? Hosea equates Israel’s first national sin with the awful deed committed by Benjaminites in Gibeah, who murdered the Levite’s concubine in an orgy of lust (Judges 19,20). The second sin was Israel’s consequent lust for idolatry and sexual sin, to which Hosea constantly referred (see 2:2-9, 4:13f. etc.). There are many references to ‘double sin’ in Scripture (see Isaiah 40:2, 61:7, Jeremiah 17:18 etc.), and if we understand this here, we will understand it better elsewhere.

Verses 13 to 15 help us perceive the dynamic of Israel’s sin. Hosea uses an agricultural picture of ploughing and reaping to illustrate the on-going nature of sin, and the graphic word picture ‘eating the fruit of lies’ (10:13) to illustrate its consuming nature. However, Hosea’s most chilling warning is that because Israel has persistently chosen to trust her own judgement and her military strength (10:13), the destruction God will bring on her will be all the more terrible. He cites the example of a spine-chilling massacre of innocents at Beth-Arbel (10:14), something we know nothing about from the rest of Scripture, which was clearly a ‘news item’ of the day.

Yet Hosea says so much more. We should not ignore the importance of this message, both for the people of Hosea’s day and for those of God’s people who continue to sin today, but interlaced with this message is something very important. Hosea says that if God’s people would indeed choose Him, then He wants to work with them to produce ‘the fruit of covenant love’ (10:12) within the world.

Now Hosea, just like any other Israelite, was brought up knowing that God had chosen Israel and blessed them through Abraham and the forefathers. He knew that nation’s purpose was to give glory to God in worship, and be obedient to Him by keeping His laws. This is well evidenced in Scripture within the book of Exodus (and others, e.g. Leviticus and Deuteronomy). Before the time of the prophets, however, Scriptures says little about God’s long term plan for Israel beyond worship and obedience. Hosea was one of the first Israelites (together with others such as Jonah, Amos and Isaiah) to receive God’s revelation that He was working on a long term plan requiring His people to make choices and do some work.

If you read verses 11 and 12, this new revelation becomes clearer. Hosea’s prophecy does not speak about Israel as like a cow put out to pasture, rather, Israel was an energetic ‘trained heifer’ with work to do (10:11). We are so used to the work ethic of our day that we do not necessarily notice the significance of this prophecy. To the probable astonishment of the people of the day, Hosea prophesied that Israel needed to choose to seek their God, and also to sow ‘righteousness’ and produce the ‘fruit of covenant love’ when blessed by the ‘rain’ of God’s ‘righteousness’ (10:12). In this way, God’s people had a task to do to show God to an unbelieving world!

So much follows on from this prophecy. Previous passages of the Old Testament show hints of it, but this is an important part of the spiritual journey of God’s people. In decades to come, Isaiah would be given prophecies saying that God would send a ‘servant’ to complete God’s work on earth, and do what Israel could not. When we read this passage, verses 11 and 12 sound like a forlorn hope in the midst of Israel’s sea of sin; but God does not waste anything. They speak of much to come.

Hosea 10:9-15 (get text) Study links: / Review / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Questions (for use in groups)

What can we learn from the condemnation of Israel in this passage of Scripture?
What can we learn about the choices we have to serve God from this passage of Scripture?
How do God’s people today behave like the Israelites of Old, and how can they succeed where the Israelites did not?

Topics covered by this text

The origins and consequences of Israel’s sin
The deplorable nature of the judgement coming on Israel
The opportunity of God’s people to choose to do His will
The importance to God of His eternal plan of salvation

Personal comments by author

In so many of Hosea’s prophecies, I find myself discovering things I did not know were there. So, before I started this study, I was only vaguely aware of the fact that God gradually revealed to His people the need for them to choose Him just as they had been chosen by Him. This is of course essential New Testament theology. However, I did not realise where it comes from in the Old Testament. Of course, a variety of texts speak of it, but God in His mercy revealed it to Hosea at a critical time in the life of the nation. It reminds me of this additional fact; God often reveals important things to us at critical times!

Ideas for exploring discipleship

Are you aware of making choices about following God, and are you aware of making choices to do what is right instead of what is wrong? These things are not a matter of our natural inclinations and intent, but a matter of will. Pray that God will help you to be someone who chooses to do what is right and rejects what is wrong.
Write down your own reactions to this passage of Hosea, because you will almost certainly forget it when you have read some more Bible studies! How else will you find again what God has said to you today?

Final Prayer

Lord God, help me to be someone who chooses to do what is right, and is constantly willing to put my own feelings aside and seek for Your will. Make me a servant of truth and justice, and an opponent of prejudice and intolerance, I pray, so that I will become useful in Your service, O Lord: AMEN

Bible study for Hosea 11:1-7

Hosea 11:1-7 (get text) Study links: / Review / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

In the first letter of John, we read these words; ‘God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them’ (1 John 4:16). How desperately God wanted His people of Old Testament times to know this truth about Him. Here, the prophet Hosea dramatically switches the basic illustration behind his prophecies, to throw new light on his message about Israel’s dire sins and the urgent need for repentance. Israel is no longer the arrogant prostitute in rebellion against her husband, she is the youngster determined to go her own way against the wishes of her parents (11:7), causing them to look back with anguished fondness to memories of the younger child, once so loved (11:1-4). Every parent understands this picture of Hosea’s, and it is heartbreaking. No other passage of Scripture speaks about God’s love with such tender compassion, and this prophecy is one of the most moving in the Old Testament.

Hosea’s words stop us in our tracks because they are not expected. We have stuck with Hosea through chapter after chapter of agonising prophecy about the rebellion of Israel in the last few decades of the northern kingdom. So we would not have been surprised if verses 1 to 4 of this reading did not exist, and we simply carried on from chapter 10, straight into the destruction prophesied in verses 5 to 7.

However, chapter 11 is different. In the studies for today and tomorrow, we will find that Hosea 11:1-11 contains four stanzas of poetry, the first two of which are in today’s reading. The first stanza, as we have seen, changes the prophetic picture of God and Israel, but the second reiterates Hosea’s prophetic gloom. Then in tomorrow’s reading, two more stanzas echo the first two but change the theme subtly; and we realise that Hosea is pointing the way beyond the anguish of all the prophecies we have read in his book so far. Tomorrow’s reading is crucial!

For today, we are left to wonder at Hosea’s words. Were his children the inspiration for these verses? In the first chapter of Hosea we read about the birth of his own son Jezreel, and then the two who were born out of Gomer’s prostitution, with names meaning ‘Not-pitied’, and ‘Not-my-people’. Can we imagine the disruption and strife of a family divided by the unstable relationship of Hosea and Gomer? Can we imagine the tensions and stresses of trying to raise children who knew, through their names, that they were conceived out of wedlock? Did Hosea know what it was like to try to control not just a wandering wife, but disruptive children? We can never know for sure; but Hosea captures perfectly the agony of parents who have lost the heart and the love of a child who has grown up and rejected them. They are left looking back with longing on years when love was given and received.

So the reality for Hosea was that Israel had sinned and moved further away from her Lord (11:2). She became more entrenched in the worship of the Ba’als, and rebellious against the One who had led her and tended her (11:3,4). Just as a child grows up and makes choices for better or worse, Israel had made her choice to rebel, and she would pay the consequences. The nation would cease to exist, which is the meaning of the phrase ‘return to the land of Egypt’ (11:4), and this, at the hands of the Assyrian army (11:4). And still, the people worshipped their alternative gods who could do nothing to help (11:7)!

Hosea’s words illuminate the compassionate heart of God. So how can it be that Israel is cast aside like this? Surely this cannot be the end for the love of God for His people? Tomorrow we will discover that Hosea’s change of imagery heralds a new twist to his prophecy and the possibility of hope. Israel is unrepentant and will pay for her sins, but God is about to reveal the beginnings of a plan.

Hosea 11:1-7 (get text) Study links: / Review / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Questions (for use in groups)

What emotions are raised in you when you read Hosea 11:1-4, and can you imagine God feeling like this?
Why does God continue to judge His people when He loves them compassionately?
Discuss in your group whether it is ever right to cut off relationships with one who has rebelled, whether in the family, or in the life of the church.

Topics covered by this text

The compassionate love of God, like a parent
The continued sin of God’s people

Personal comments by author

As any parent knows, there are many trials on the road of bringing up children. The tiny baby once cared for in every moment of your life reaches the point of saying ‘no thanks’ and walking away from what seems right and good, but they have the right to do this as independent people. This can break the heart of a parent, whatever the rights and wrongs of what happens, and whether the children are rebellious or not; and not all children sin as grievously as Israel did against God, of course. Hosea’s point is this, we must recognise that God loves us with an even greater passion than we love our children or our parents loved us.

Ideas for exploring discipleship

Over the course of a few days, watch carefully the way that love either works or fails to work within your own family. This can be painful, of course, but if we do this, God can teach us many things about ourselves and also about Himself.
If you have a Bible concordance or a Bible dictionary, look up the word ‘love’ and try to find out more about the love of God as described within the Bible.

Final Prayer

Heavenly Father, Your love is greater than we can possibly imagine with of our limited experience. Help us to understand how Your love works through what Jesus has done for us, so that we can know Your love for sure, and receive all You would give us. We praise You for Your Love, heavenly Father: ALLELUIA!

Bible study for Hosea 11:8-11

Hosea 11:8-11 (get text) Study links: / Review / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

After the significant change of emphasis in the early part of Hosea 11, the third and fourth stanzas of Hosea’s prophesy in this chapter are unique and profoundly challenging. All of Hosea’s prophecies up until this point have indicated God’s absolute opposition to the rebellion of His people and His punishment of those sins. But here in our passage today, Hosea describes a significant change of heart. Instead of punishing Israel, for her sins, God says; ‘How can I give up on you, Ephraim? ... my compassion is stirred. I will not carry out my fierce anger ...!’ (11:8,9). Why does God have this change of heart? In order to understand this, we must refer back to the first part of Hosea 11, just previously.

Yesterday, we read that Hosea changed the basic picture of God’s relationship with Israel from that of husband and wife, to that of a parent and child (11:1-4), but God was still adamantly opposed to the sin and rebellion of Israel (11:5-7). Now in todays passage (11:8-9), we discover that this change of picture yields a new perspective, for God has second thoughts about His harsh judgement of Israel, even though their sin continues. In the last part of our passage, Hosea utters a profoundly forward looking prophecy that looks forward to a time when Israel punishment will be over and the people will come home; ‘His children will come trembling from the west ...’ (11:10)! They are not perfect and never will be, but Hosea has finally caught a glimpse of God’s long term plan to be faithful to His people despite their sins; their ‘lies ... deceit ... and restlessness’ (11:12). Of course, this is not a total vision of God’s plan of salvation, but it is the start, and God reveals that His last word is not judgement, but love. The significant part of Hosea’s prophecy is this; we can see God’s heart of love if we perceive Him not as the husband of His people (as previously in his prophecies), but as their Father (as revealed in 11:1-4).

This prophecy has many implications for us, but Hosea does not develop the idea much further. However, as one of the first prophets whose works have survived in written form, this revelation is new. Hosea’s prophecies are similar to those of his contemporary, Amos, who was also unable to see much hope for Israel (see 8:1f.). Yet both Hosea and Amos were led to prophesy something beyond the mere judgement of God. Amos concludes his prophecies with a few words of hope for redemption in Judah (9:11f.), and this parallels Hosea’s brief prophecy of hope in our passage today. As these two great prophets spoke, another great prophet was beginning his ministry in Jerusalem, named Isaiah. God intended to use him to prophesy a fuller answer to our questions about God’s justice and His love. Isaiah eventually spoke about a ‘child to be born’ (Isaiah 7:1, 9:6, 11:1,2) who would one day become the Lord’s ‘suffering servant’ (Isaiah 53), and provide the means of God’s redemption. But before Isaiah could deliver this powerful word, Amos and Hosea were used by God to proclaim the vital message that God’s love rises above His anger at sin.

Hosea’s prophetic ‘breakthrough’ was remarkable. Considering his circumstances, perhaps Hosea had to work hard at turning away from his personal angst about his wife to take up his responsibilities as a parent, and this was used by God to help him appreciate the ‘father-heart’ of God. He had to place his hope not in the woman he loved, but in the children he had raised, who were free do make their own choices. Over centuries, parents have learned about the importance of remaining faithful and loving to children who are rebellious, and although no one can guarantee successful relationships within families, we can all agree they are based on love alone.

Hosea was led to the conclusion that God was like a father who would not stop loving, and this theme is emphasised by repetition in the first stanza; ’how can I give you up ... how can I hand you over ... my heart turns within me ... my compassion is stirred’ (11:8). Even today, we need to be reminded that God feels love just like we feel love, and Hosea provides this evidence. Like parents who always want to welcome children back home, God looks forward to the return of His children (11:10,11), still troubled but loved. Spiritually, there is only a small distance between what Hosea says here and the parable of the prodigal son!

Hosea 11:8-11 (get text) Study links: / Review / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Questions (for use in groups)

What does this passage of Scripture tell us about the ‘father-heart’ of God, and what does this mean to us today?
Can this passage help people understand what the Bible says about God’s judgement and His love?
Discuss; which is more important in Hosea, the picture of the husband / wife relationship, or the father / child relationship?

Topics covered by this text

The ‘father-heart’ of God
The supremacy of God’s love over His justice

Personal comments by author

Like yesterday’s passage, I find this strangely moving. Furthermore, I reckon that Hosea found it moving Himself. After chapter upon chapter of condemnation, his words seem to dwell on the heart of God not to punish. I have often hoped that some of those I have tried to help in my ministry, would accept that God loves them like a perfect father. I know that from a human point of view the concept is rather fluid. However, fatherhood as well as motherhood is universal, and the feelings we have about it transcend human boundaries. So I wonder whether we should use Hosea’s prophecies today to help us get back to the heart of our faith about God.

Ideas for exploring discipleship

Spend some time thinking about your own mother and father. You may have good or bad memories of them. Now think of them at their best, or think of what you expect of a good parent. To what extent is this similar or different from what you think about God, and why?
Pray for people you know who have not had a good experience either of childhood, or of parenthood. Pray for their feelings and pray that God will bring healing to the deep hurts that have been created.

Final Prayer

Lord God, You love each of us, and yet our understanding of love is limited, and we can be at fault because we have not appreciated the full extent of Your love. Help us to remember that Jesus died for us, and this is the extent of Your love. So may we honour all that You have done for us and praise Your holy name. AMEN

Bible study for XX

XX (get text) Study links: / Review / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

XX (get text) Study links: / Review / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Questions (for use in groups)

Discuss

Topics covered by this text

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Personal comments by author

The

Ideas for exploring discipleship

What

Final Prayer

You