TOMS: Hosea 12-14

For an introduction to this series, click here.

Nov. 2, 2006 (Yes, I'm aware this is a day late. Get your own blog if you have an issue with that.)

This is the conclusion of the prophecy of Hosea. The prophet still has a message of doom, but he has one word of hope for the future:

"I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon; his roots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon." (14:4-6)

This is obviously a reference to the future blessing of Israel, since, as far as we know, the people who populated the Northern Kingdom, to whom Hosea is referring, do not exist today. Now I happen to believe that the Lord has superintended a remnant of all the tribes, since there are so many references in prophecy to all the tribes enjoying the blessing of God in His eternal kingdom. Those alive today may not even know that they are members of the "lost tribes-" they just know they are Jews.

Hosea also offers this mysterious closing:

"Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them." (14:9)

This is similar to what Peter said about Paul's epistles:

"There are some things in them (Paul's writings) that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures." (2 Peter 3:16, ESV)

God did not lay out the Bible like a systematic theology book. He pieced together stories of history, poetry, prophecy, letters, and other very individual forms of literature when He gave us His Word. It might have been easier if God had laid out every single thing He wanted us to believe and practice in plain black and white, but He chose not to. He chose to give us a collection of very human writings that we have to read very carefully. I am by no means denying inspiration, but what I am saying is that God did not make it easy for us. It takes hard work to study out God's Word and determine His will. I am thankful for those who have studied hard and developed what we call systematic theology, but even that is a flawed science.

And for those who do not know the Lord but try to study the Bible anyway, they come up with all sorts of beliefs that make sense to them, but they are approaching the scriptures with their own intellect. I am not accusing any one person or group, but just be aware that we as believers stand on the shoulders of those who came before us (Ephesians 2 has a lot to say about this). If someone promotes a belief that is not consistent with what Christianity has taught down through the ages, then it is likely the result of man's thinking, not the leading of the Spirit.

TOMS: Hosea 9-11

For an introduction to this series, click here.

Nov. 1, 2006

Here once again we find God reluctantly pronouncing judgment on his people. God pleads with Israel to repent, but they will not.

"Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap stedfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you." (10:12)

Israel was satisfied with things as they were, and they were misguided in their affections.

"Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit. The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built; as his country improved, he improved his pillars." (10:1, ESV)

Israel was blessed by God, but the Jews figured that their material wealth was because of their own work or because of their false gods.  It's easy for us to look down on the Jews because of their blatant disobedience, and their waste of so many blessings. But we do the same thing. God gives us so much, and we just figure it worked out that way because we are such good people. The only time we think about God is when we gripe at Him because something in our life is bad.

I have gotten so much out of the book of Hosea. It's amazing how fresh God's Word always is.

TOMS: Hosea 5-8

For an introduction to this series, click here.

Oct. 31, 2006

Here we find a message of judgment for both Israel and Judah. They have gone so far away from God in their sin that they are unable or unwilling to respond when He calls. Chapter 5 is an announcement of coming judgment. The last verse in the chapter reveals a sorrowful God forced to abandon His unfaithful people:

I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me. (5:15)

Chapter 6 is an appeal for Israel to return. But God acknowledges that their spiritual leaders are turning more people away than toward the Lord:

As robbers lie in wait for a man, so the priests band together; they murder on the way to Shechem, they commit villainy. (6:9, ESV)

I had never really studied Hosea before, but now I am finally picking up on why God had Hosea do such strange things as marry a prostitute and then buy her back. Israel could not see that they were just like Gomer. These particular chapters are full of God's pleading with His people and comparing their sin to spiritual adultery against Him. Apparently, Hosea's life was one of the biggest things going on in Israel at the time. Everyone wanted to know the latest news on how Gomer had left and that Hosea remained faithful in spite of her sin. And Hosea is telling them to look beyond the gossip and the sensationalism and look at their own hearts. They have been just like Gomer, and are too proud, stubborn or blind to realize it. God is grieving over His people, even when He knows they will not return and He will be forced to punish them.

This reminds me of the NT passage which tells us to "grieve not the Spirit." I do not want to go as far as some do and assert that Christ is suffering or is reminded of His pain on the cross when we sin. That is faulty theology at best and blasphemy at worst. Yet still, at some level, God is grieved when we sin. We limit His plan for our lives by our sin. Hosea is a challenge to me to take a new look at the God who loves me more than I could possibly understand. He is so good, and yet often times I take His gifts for granted and forge ahead without Him. Lord help me to rely on you more.

TOMS: Hosea 1-4

For an introduction to this series, click here.

Oct. 29, 2006

Hosea is another strange prophetic book. I'm certainly not the most qualified person to speak on them, but I'm here, and I need to wrap my mind around these things somehow.

God tells Hosea to do a very strange thing: to go find a prostitute and marry her. Think about that for a second... OK. That sounds crazy, and it was. This is certainly not the ideal life course for most people, but that's the point. Hosea finds a woman of the night, marries her, and stays with her for several years.

When they have children, God tells him to give them awful names, at least the second and third: No Mercy and Not My People. Most translations soften the blow in English by approximating what their names sounded like in Hebrew into English letters, but to the people living around Hosea, those were not merely interesting sounds. They mean No Mercy and Not My People. God was telling the Jews that they were about to be destroyed in a very blatant way.

Then the prostitute, Gomer, leaves Hosea and goes back to her pimp, but she ends up on the slave market. God tells Hosea to go buy her back to be his wife as a sign that one day God would redeem Israel from its rejected state. Yes, this a strange story, one that even today makes us uncomfortable. I don't exactly recall making paper cut-outs of Hosea, Gomer and her pimp in kiddie Sunday School.

God's prophets were often forced to become very painful and public object lessons for His people, and Hosea is one of the most extreme examples. It's hard for me not to think of Michael Card's song "The Prophet" when I read through these books. (See the video below.) It's an attempt on his part to try to make sense of some of the strange things God told the prophets to do. He wrote, "I am the prophet and I smolder and burn. I scream and cry and wonder why you never seem to learn. To hear with your own ears, with your own eyes to see. I am the prophet, won't you listen to me?"

In an unrelated note, it is very important to note that the prophets are not in chronological order. Daniel and Ezekiel prophesy in the midst of the captivity of Judah, but Hosea is prophesying in Israel, the northern kingdom, possibly 300 years before Daniel and Ezekiel. Hosea was not writing to people who knew what it meant for God to forsake them. He was writing to people who had heard multiple warnings but had no idea what forsaking God would cost them.