hosealesson4

The society in which Hosea lived was crumbling. The nation was tearing itself apart. Hosea lived through the reigns of several kings. His final ministry to the people of Israel began in the last years of the rule of Jeroboam II, continuing through the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and the early years of Hezekiah. His ministry covered about sixty years during the 8th century BC.

Although divided, the nation enjoyed some significant military successes and prosperity under Jeroboam II in the north and Uzziah in the south.[1] But cracks had appeared, along which the life of the nation was starting to fracture. The first to be noticed is that there was ...

The nation prospered during the reign of Jeroboam II. We are told that “Jeroboam II recovered the territories of Israel between Lebo-hamath and the Dead Sea.” (2 Kings 14:25). The people had suffered greatly as the result of losing some of their land to foreign interests. But now a sense of security and prosperity had been restored with the return of their land.

Jeroboam II however, followed the ways of his predecessor for “He did what was evil in the LORD’s sight. He refused to turn from the sins of idolatry that Jeroboam son of Nebat had led Israel to commit.” (2 Kings 14:24). The spiritual darkness in the nation deepened under the rule of those who followed him. Frustration took hold of the people, followed by a lack of confidence in their leaders. Sidlow Baxter[2] describes the situation at that time.

It is an awful period. Loyalty to the throne is all but extinct, conspiracies are rife, there are outbreaks of anarchy, conditions are deplorable. Around the degraded and tottery throne, the nation tosses in disorder.

The nation’s political leaders cannot alone be blamed for the nation’s spiritual bankruptcy however. Kings, religious leaders, and the people themselves are all included in the charge which the Lord brings against the nation.

“Hear the word of the LORD, O people of Israel! The LORD has filed a lawsuit against you, saying, ‘There is no faithfulness, no kindness, no knowledge of God in your land. You curse and lie and kill and steal and commit adultery. There is violence everywhere, with one murder after another.” (vs. 1-2).

The positive qualities of healthy spiritual life cannot be found in the nation. Instead, the breaking of at least five of the ten commandments is identified. Cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and adultery, contravene in turn the third, ninth, sixth, eighth, and seventh of the ten specific laws which God laid down for the well being of his people.[3]

The nation is in moral and spiritual decline. Edersheim[4] refers to the period as ‘one of almost unprecedented wealth and prosperity but also of deepest moral corruption.’ Both people and the environment are suffering as a consequence. After naming their specific sins, the Lord says,

“That is why your land is not producing. It is filled with sadness, and all living things are becoming sick and dying. Even the animals, birds, and fish have begun to disappear.” (vs. 3).

But if you refuse to listen to the LORD your God by keeping all the commands I am giving you today ... the skies above will be as unyielding as bronze and the earth beneath will be as hard as iron. The LORD will turn your rain into sand and dust, and it will pour down from the sky until you are destroyed. (Deuteronomy 28:15, 23-24).

Another of the fault lines along which the nation was starting to fracture was the busyness of ...

While the people were blaming each other for the nation’s decline, the Lord drew attention to the failure of the religious leaders. To them he said,

“Don’t point your finger at someone else and try to pass the blame! Look, you priests, my complaint is with you!” (vs. 4).

They could not teach the people about the Lord because they themselves refused to know him. Day after day the priests were busy maintaining the services of the temple. All of their energies were given to preserving the externals of worship with a consequent neglect of the inner needs of the worshippers. They were meant to be teaching the people in the ways of the Lord but instead, were simply leading them in a religious performance. Just like it had been in the time of King Asa when it was said, “For a long time, Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach them, and without God’s law.” (2 Chronicles 15:3).

Instead of growing in their knowledge of the Lord through personal devotion and diligent study of the Scriptures, the priests had become spiritually lazy. They were satisfied with keeping up the external forms of their religion. They had nothing of substance to give to the people. Instead of walking in the light of the Lord, the priests were stumbling along in spiritual darkness and taking the people with them. The Lord said to them,

“As a sentence for your crimes, you will stumble in broad daylight, just as you might at night, and so will your false prophets ... My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me. It is all your fault, you priests, for you refuse to know me.” (vs. 5-6).

The priests were not teaching the people how they could be responding to God’s purposes for them. His plan was for the people of Israel to make him known to the people of every nation. This was the purpose for which they had been brought into being as a nation with their own homeland. The priests had forgotten to keep before them the promise God gave to Abraham.

“Should I hide my plan from Abraham?” the LORD asked. “For Abraham will become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him.” (Genesis 18:17-18).

The religious leaders did not share the vision and enthusiasm of the Jewish song writer who prayed,

O God, in mercy bless us. Let your face beam with joy as you look down at us. Send us around the world with the news of your saving power and your eternal plan for all mankind. How everyone throughout the earth will praise the LORD! How glad the nations will be, singing for joy because you are their King and will give true justice to their people! Praise God, O world! May the peoples of the earth give thanks to you. (Psalm 67:1-5, Living Bible).

The priests were more concerned for themselves than for the well being of the flocks entrusted to their care. Of such religious leaders the Lord says,

“Destruction is certain for you shepherds who feed yourselves instead of your flocks. Shouldn’t shepherds feed their sheep? You drink the milk, wear the wool, and butcher the best animals, but you let the flocks starve. You have not taken care of the weak. You have not tended the sick or bound up the broken bones. You have not gone looking for those who have wandered away and are lost. Instead, you have ruled them with force and cruelty.” (Ezekiel 34:2b-4).

Kidner tells us that the priests of Israel were acting just like the priests of the nations around them, “where priests were the close guardians of the cultic mysteries.”[5] The realities of the faith of Israel lay buried in the priests’ busyness with ceremony and ritual. In giving all their energy to religious activity, the priests were failing as teachers, shepherds, and in the fulfilment of their mission to the world. The Lord says, “The more priests there are, the more they sin against me. They have exchanged the glory of God for the disgrace of idols.” (vs. 7).

And now we learn that just as the priests had become like the priests of other nations so …

One of the offerings presented by the priests was the sin offering “for removing the guilt of the community and for making atonement for the people before the LORD.” (Leviticus 10:17). The materially minded priests knew that the more the people sinned, the more prime young lambs would be brought for the offerings and that this would therefore result in more meat for the priests to eat because, “the priest who offers the sacrifice may eat his portion in a sacred place within the courtyard of the Tabernacle.” (Leviticus 6:26).

“The priests get fed when the people sin and bring their sin offerings to them. So the priests are glad when the people sin! ‘Like priests, like people’ - since the priests are wicked, the people are wicked too. So now I will punish both priests and people for all their wicked deeds.” (vs. 8-9).

“like people, like priests” - a saying which taken on its own, might either brand the priests as, so to speak, spiritual chameleons, for ever matching their colour to their social context (a phenomenon by no means obsolete) or else, as the Hebrew idiom would equally allow, it might imply the converse: that the people would be sinking to the level of their priests. The Hebrew expression views the likeness as so complete that the parties compared can appear in either order.

For the time is coming when people will no longer listen to right teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever they want to hear.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

Hosea now draws attention to another fault line threatening the stability of the nation.

The people of Israel were living dangerously. The peoples’ life style, their spiritual adultery, was propelling them towards disaster. Hosea writes,

They will eat and still be hungry. Though they do big business as prostitutes, they will have no children, for they have deserted the Lord to worship other Gods. Alcohol and prostitution have robbed my people of their brains. They are asking a piece of wood to tell them what to do! They think a stick of wood can tell them the future. Longing after idols has made them foolish. They have played the prostitute, serving other gods and deserting their God. (Hosea 4:10-12).

The immorality running wild in the nation resulted in widespread fracturing of the family unit. Kidner[7] says, “This society had gone as sex-mad as our own, with promiscuous adolescents and with marriages violated from the start.”

Combined as it was with excessive drinking leading to drunkenness, the people’s immorality held devastating potential for their society. Equally dangerous was the connection with the religious practices of neighbouring peoples. Chisolm[8] explains,

The Canaanite shrines, which Moses had commanded Israel to destroy (cf. Deuteronomy 12:2-3) were located on hills and/or under shady tress (oak, poplar, and terebinth) throughout the Northern Kingdom (cf. 2 Kings 17:17-18). Here many young women (daughters) of Israel took part in sexual rites with male cult prostitutes (cf. Deuteronomy 23:17-18, 1 Kings 14:24). The intent of such acts was to ensure human and agricultural fecundity by making the fertility deities Baal and Asherah favourably inclined to their offerings and prayers.

The danger inherent in such activities was the likelihood of becoming possessed and controlled by the evil spirits associated with them. The Lord’s rebuke of his people continues,

They offer sacrifices to idols on the tops of the mountains. They go up into the hills to burn incense in the pleasant shade of oaks, poplars, and other trees. That is why your daughters turn to prostitution. and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.” (Hosea 4:13).

And finally there is the inevitable result of being swept away in the storms of life.

So a mighty wind will sweep them away. They will die in shame because they offer sacrifices to idols.” (Hosea 4:19).

We must not leave this description of the spiritual state of the nation however, without noticing a reference to God’s understanding of the plight of the women in the nation when he speaks specifically to the men,

Why should I punish them? For you men are doing the same thing, sinning with whores and shrine prostitutes. O foolish people! You will be destroyed, for you refuse to understand.” (Hosea 4: 14).

The Lord lays blame at the feet of the men of Israel. As husbands and fathers and leaders they have failed to be role models of integrity. In the statement, “their rulers dearly love shameful ways” (Hosea 4:18 NIV), the Hebrew word translated ‘rulers’ is the word for ‘shield’. This points to the protective role entrusted to men. Denied the moral and spiritual protection they should have enjoyed, the women of Israel are promised refuge in the tenderness and mercy of God.

The Lord lays the blame for the perilous state of the nation squarely at the feet of the nation’s leaders when he says to them …

“Hear this, you priests and all of Israel’s leaders! Listen, all you men of the royal family! These words of judgement are for you. You are doomed! For you have led the people into a snare by worshipping the idols at Mizpah and Tabor. You have dug a deep pit to trap them at Acacia. But never forget—I will settle with all of you for what you have done.” (5:1-2)

The word picture portrays these leaders as hunters laying traps for their prey. By encouraging the people to include the cult sites at Mizpah and Mount Tabor in their religious framework the leaders were digging a pit of confusion and hopelessness into which the people would fall.

Isaiah does not spare the nation’s leaders as he too draws attention to the spiritual adultery of the people.

See how Jerusalem, once so faithful, has become a prostitute. Once the home of justice and righteousness, she is now filled with murderers. Once like pure silver, you have become like worthless slag. Once so pure, you are now like watered down wine. Your leaders are rebels, the companions of thieves. All of them take bribes and refuse to defend the orphans and widows. (Isaiah 1:21-23)

We have now reached the heart of the message Hosea is to deliver to his people. Drawing on the real life situation of Gomer’s unfaithfulness to her husband, the Lord portrays the people of Israel as committing spiritual adultery. They have left the Lord and committed themselves to the gods of the people around them.

“I know what you are like, O Israel! You have left me as a prostitute leaves her husband. You are utterly defiled. Your deeds won’t let you return to your God. You are a prostitute through and through, and you cannot know the LORD. (5:3-4)

The Lord continues to bring before his people the true picture regarding the state of their nation. Speaking of the people’s infidelity he draws attention firstly to …

The proud look, the arrogant speech, the swaggering demeanour, the haughtiness of manner, all point to the load of guilt each person is carrying. Rather than hiding the inner turmoil, the arrogance reveals it, to everyone else it seems but not to the people themselves, for they refuse at this point to turn to repent. The Lord continues the rebuke of his people …

“The arrogance of Israel testifies against her, she will stumble under her load of guilt. Judah too will fall with her.” (5:5)

“His arrogance testifies against him, yet he doesn’t return to the LORD his God or even try to find him.” (7:10)

Pride goes before destruction and haughtiness before a fall. It is better to live humbly with the poor than to share plunder with the proud. (Proverbs 16:18-19)

You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with this world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again, that if your aim is to enjoy this world you can’t be a friend of God. What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the Holy Spirit, whom God has placed within us, jealously longs for us to be faithful?

He gives us more and more strength to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say,“God sets himself against the proud, but shows favour to the humble.”[9]

So humble yourselves before God. Resist the Devil and he will flee from you. (James 4:4-7)

Pride reveals what is in the heart, because that is where it comes from, along with other sinfulness. As Jesus said …

“For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, eagerness for lustful pleasure, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within. They are what defile you and make you unacceptable to God.” (Mark 7:21-23)

Pride is a tool that the Devil delights to use to bring about a person’s fall. This is why Paul warns Timothy to be careful in appointing leaders in the church.

An elder must not be a new Christian because he might be proud of being chosen so soon, and the Devil will use that pride to make him fall. Also, people outside the church must speak well of him so that he will not fall into the Devil’s trap and be disgraced. (1 Timothy 3:6-7)

Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love the world, you show that you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only the lust for everything we see, and pride in our possessions. These are not from the Father. They are from this evil world. And this world is fading away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever. (1 John 2:15-17)

Whenever they got into trouble the people seem to have assumed that they could turn to their religion again and all would be well. But mixed as it was with the idolatrous worship on ‘the high places’ their hope was without foundation. The Lord is nowhere to be found. Because of their unfaithfulness to him he has withdrawn from them for a time.

Then at last they will come with their flocks and their herds to offer sacrifices to the LORD. But it will be too late! They will not find him because he has withdrawn from them and now they are alone. (5:6)

Seek the LORD while you can find him. Call upon him while he is near. Let the people turn from their wicked deeds. Let them banish from their minds the very thought of doing wrong! Let them turn to the LORD that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:6-7)

Jesus told this story about a rich man who assumed he had many prosperous years ahead of him.

“A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. In fact, his barns were full to overflowing. So he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store everything. And I’ll sit back and say to myself, My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!’

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get it all?’

“Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.” (Luke 12:16-21)

Jesus also tells us to be ready at all times for his return. His coming is always imminent.

“When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. In those days before the Flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. People didn’t realise what was going to happen until the Flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes …

“So be prepared, because you don’t know what day your Lord is coming … You also must be ready all the time. For the Son of Man will come when least expected. (Matthew 24:37-39, 42, 44)

· Imagining that we are not as bad as the next person and will therefore be alright.

Then Jesus told this story to some who had great self confidence and scorned everyone else. “Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a dishonest tax collector. The proud Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer. ‘I thank you God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else, especially like that tax collector over there! For I never cheat, I don’t sin, I don’t commit adultery, I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’

“But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For the proud will be humbled, but the humble will be honoured.” (Luke 18:9-14)

In discussing the problem regarding buying meat that had had been sacrificed to idols with the members of the church in Corinth, Paul says to them …

You think that everyone should agree with your perfect knowledge. While knowledge may make us feel important, it is love that really build up the church. Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much. But the person who loves God is the one God knows and cares for. (1 Corinthians 8:1b-3)

· Thinking that we are more spiritual because we do or don’t do certain things.

Do you think that the knowledge of God’s word begins and ends with you Corinthians? Well, you are mistaken! If you claim to be a prophet or think you are very spiritual, you should recognise that what I am saying is a command from the Lord himself. (1 Corinthians 14:36-37)

No one person is more important than another in the church, the body of Christ. Paul points to the human body to illustrate this. Each part is essential and equally important for the body to function well.

There are different kinds of service in the church, but it is the same Lord we are serving. There are different ways God works in our lives, but it is the same God who does the work through all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the entire church … It is the one and only Holy Spirit who distributes these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.

The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up only one body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptised into Christ’s body by one Spirit, and we have all received the same Spirit.

Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “I am not a part of the body because I am only an ear and not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? Suppose the whole body were an eye—then how would you hear? Or if your whole body were just one big ear, how could you smell anything?

But God made our bodies with many parts, and he has put each part just where he wants it. What a strange thing a body would be if it had only one part! Yes, there are many parts but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.” (1 Corinthians 12:5-7, 11-21)

If you think you are standing strong, be careful, for you too may fall into the same sin. But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give into it. (1 Corinthians 10:12-13)

If following our religion was adequate for salvation then Paul of all people would not have had to look elsewhere. Paul wrote of the failure of his religion to help him.

Yes I could have confidence in myself if anyone could. If others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more! For I was circumcised when I was eight days old, having been born into a pure-blooded Jewish family that is a branch of the tribe of Benjamin. So I am a real Jew if there ever was one! What’s more, I was a member of the Pharisees who demanded the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. And zealous? Yes, in fact I harshly persecuted the church. And I obeyed the Jewish law so carefully that I was never accused of any fault.

I once thought all these things were so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God’s law, but I trust Christ to save me. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. (Philippians 3:4-9)

Denying the existence of something does not mean that it ceases to be. Likewise, denying the existence of God does not mean that he is not. Isaiah was sure of his existence. He listened carefully for his voice and was not disappointed. He writes …

The LORD says, “People who never before inquired about me are now asking about me. I am being found by people who were not looking for me. To them I have said, ‘I am here!’ ” (Isaiah 65:1)

Jacob was one who found the Lord unexpectedly like that while camping overnight on his way to Haran. The Lord spoke to him in a dream.

As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from earth to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down on it.

At the top of the stairway stood the LORD, and he said, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Isaac … What’s more, I will be with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. I will someday bring you safely back to this land. I will be with you constantly until I have finished giving you everything I have promised.”

Then Jacob woke up and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place and I wasn’t even aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God—the gateway to heaven!” The next morning he got up very early. He took the stone he had used a s a pillow and set it upright as a memorial pillar. Then he poured olive oil over it. He named the place Bethel—“house of God”—though the name of the nearby village was Luz. (Genesis 28:12-13a, 15-19)

One of the reasons for people wanting to deny the existence of God seems to be that there is then no one they feel accountable to. David writes …

Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt and their actions are evil. No one does good! The LORD looks down from heaven on the entire human race. He looks to see if there is even one with real understanding, one who seeks for God. But no, all have turned away from God. All have become corrupt. No one does good, not even one. (Psalm 14:1-3) These wicked people are too proud to seek God. They seem to think that God is dead. Yet they succeed in everything they do. They do not see your punishment awaiting them. They pour scorn on all their enemies. They say to themselves, “Nothing bad will ever happen to us! We will be free of trouble forever!” (Psalm 10:4-6)

It is the assumptions we hold, the presuppositions, that to a large extent determine who we are. It is with these that change, if it is desired, needs to begin, for …

“My thoughts are completely different from yours,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 54:8-9)

Hosea continues with the message God has given him for the people, “For they have betrayed the honour of the LORD, bearing children that aren’t his.” (vs. 7a) There is meaning for us today in the phrase ‘bearing children that are not his.’

Much of the work thought to be carried on in the name of the Lord may end up as something that does not last, it has no substance. In writing of the need to build with the right materials, Paul mentions some who followed on from his ministry in certain places as those who built only with ‘hay or straw.’

Because of God’s special favour to me I have laid the foundations like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful. For no one can lay any other foundation than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. Now anyone who builds on that foundation may use gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But there is going to come a time of testing at the judgement day to see what kind of work each builder has done. Everyone’s work will be put through the fire to see whether or not it keeps its value. If the work survives the fire, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builders themselves will be saved, but like someone escaping through a wall of flame. (1 Corinthians 3:10-15)

Unless the LORD builds a house the work of the builders is useless. Unless the LORD protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good. It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat, for God gives rest to his loved ones. (Psalm 127:1-2)

And as Zerubbabel makes plans for the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem a heavenly messenger brings him this message of encouragement …

“This is what the LORD says to Zerubbabel, It is not by force nor by strength, but by my spirit, says the LORD Almighty. Nothing, not even a mighty mountain, will stand in Zerubbabel’s way. It will flatten out before him! Then Zerubbabel will set the final stone of the Temple in place and the people will shout, ‘May God bless it! May God bless it!’ ” (Zechariah 4:6-7)

The people are left with just the emptiness, the poverty of a false hope. Religion has failed them. “Now their false religion will devour them along with their wealth.” (vs. 7b) They are missing out on the richness of knowing the Lord—the riches that Solomon refers to when he says …

True humility and fear of the LORD lead to riches, honour, and long life. The deceitful walk a thorny, treacherous road. Whoever values life will stay away. Teach your children to choose the right path, and when they are older, they will remain upon it. (Proverbs 22:4-6)

Trust in your money and down you go! But the godly flourish like leaves in spring. (Proverbs 11:28)

Don’t envy evil people. Don’t desire their company. For they spend their days plotting violence, and their words are always stirring up trouble. A house is built by wisdom and becomes strong through good sense. Through knowledge its rooms are filled with all sorts of precious riches and valuables. (Proverbs 24:1-4)

Those ‘precious riches and valuables’ are the same spiritual riches that Paul often makes reference to in his letters. For example …

… do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realising that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance? (Romans 2:4 NIV)

Oh what a wonderful God we have! How great are his riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his methods! For who can know what the Lord is thinking? Who knows enough to be his counsellor? And who could ever give him so much that he would have to pay it back? For everything comes from him. Everything exists by his power and is intended for his glory> To him be glory evermore. Amen. (Romans 11:33-36)

So we praise God for the wonderful kindness he has poured out on us because we belong to his dearly loved Son. He is so rich in kindness that he purchased our freedom through the blood of his Son, and our sons are forgiven. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding … I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the wonderful future he has promised to those he called. I want you to realise what a rich and glorious inheritance he has given to his people … Just think! Though I did nothing to deserve it, and though I am the least deserving Christian there is, I was chosen for this special joy of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ. (Ephesians 1:6-8,18. 3:8)

For it has pleased God to tell his people that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles too. For this is the secret: Christ lives in you, and this is your assurance that you will share in his glory.

So everywhere we go, we tell everyone about Christ. We warn them and teach them with all the wisdom God has given us, for we want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. (Colossians 1:27-28)

The warning to the nation continues, “Blow the ram’s horn in Gibeah! Sound the alarm in Ramah! Raise the battle cry in Beth-aven! Lead on into battle, O warriors of Benjamin! One thing is certain, Israel: When your day of punishment comes, you will become a heap of rubble. (vs. 8-9)

The people’s infidelity has resulted in a monolith—a structured way of life built around sterile religious practices, a questionable value system, and a distorted world view. The term monolith describes a block of stone shaped as a monument to someone or something. It refers to something solidly uniform throughout that allows for no variation in its structure. The word pictures that follow, describing the future of such a monolith, contain scenes relevant for today. Structures built on a foundation other than the Lord come to the same end. We remind ourselves again that, “Unless the LORD builds a house the work of the builders is useless.”[10]

The word pictures that follow present the Lord as bringing about the collapse of the nation. But the natural consequences for a people building according to their own plans and not God’s may also be seen in the picture. For God’s judgements occur when he does not intervene to prevent the fallout that follows from building with the wrong methods. Derek Kidner[11] writes of these striking word pictures …

The opening alarm-calls presage war. But the human invader is so clearly a mere tool of judgement that he goes unmentioned here. God’s anger and God’s action are everything, and the different roles in which he now appears are startling and instructive. When He likens Himself to a lion (vs. 14), it is no stylized picture but a lifelike predator, grimly purposeful and dangerous. But verse 12 presents a quite novel impression of God in action, ‘like a moth … and like dry rot – for the silent process of decay is His, no less than the march of armies. Both can be well accounted for in natural terms when a nation goes soft, but both are God’s potential scourges, as appropriate as they are deadly. Of the two threats to a people, aggression and corruption, the second is the more ominous.

The point Kidner is making is that when people follow plans of their own, or when they are no longer faithful to the Lord, they are left with the consequences of their actions. They bring the judgement of the Lord on themselves.

Let’s pause long enough just now to see ourselves in the word pictures the Lord is drawing here. We will see that in Christian work the organisational structures, the kingdom building, the personal empires that are built without reference to the Lord’s designs, as being …

Like a stone beneath the constant pounding of a waterfall. The Lord presents this word picture to his unfaithful people, “The leaders of Judah have become as bad as thieves. So I will pour my anger down on them like a waterfall. The people of Israel will be crushed and broken by my judgement because they are determined to worship idols.” (vs. 10-11)

The structure becomes weaker and weaker as it is unable to withstand the pressures exerted on it from without and eventually collapses. Paul knew what it was to experience pressure from without. But he served the Lord “as a wise master builder,”[12] following the plans drawn up by the Divine architect. The building did not collapse because the Lord himself was building it. And Paul himself did not fall apart under the pressure.

But this precious treasure—the light and power that now shine within us—is held in perishable containers, that is, in our weak bodies. So everyone can see that our glorious power is from God and is not our own.

We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and broken. We are perplexed but we don’t give up and quit. We are hunted down but God never abandons us. We get knocked down but we get up again and keep going … But we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, “I believed in God and so I speak.”[13] (1 Corinthians 4:7-9, 13)

Just like a woollen garment being eaten away by an insect gnawing away inside its woollen fibres, or as the wooden window frame is reduced to splinters by dry rot: “… as a moth consumes wool … as dry rot weakens wood.” (vs. 12) Jesus faced up the religious leaders of his day with the reality of what was eating away in their lives when he said to them …

“How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! You are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! Blind Pharisees! First wash the inside of the cup and then the outside will become clean too.

“How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. You try to look like upright people outwardly but inside your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Matthew 23:25-28)

The people are now portrayed as sick people unable to find a cure for their sickness, no matter where they look. “When Israel and Judah saw how sick they were, Israel turned to Assyria, to the great king there, but he could neither help nor cure them.” (vs. 13)

And so it is today. People looking everywhere for a cure for their sicknesses, spiritual in nature but there is no cure apart from the Lord. Jesus comes to us as the Good Physician.

“Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call sinners to turn from their sins, not to spend my time with those who think they are already good enough.” (Luke 5:31)

[1]Refer to 2 Kings 14:25-28, 2 Chronicles 26:1-15.
[2]Baxter, J. Sidlow. EXPLORE THE BOOK (Volume 4). Michigan: Zondervan. 1966. p. 90.
[3]What we have come to know as the ten commandments are given in Exodus 20:1-17.
[4]Edersheim A. BIBLE HISTORY (OT). Massachusetts: Hendrickson. Reprinted 1995. p. 871.
[5]Kidner, D. THE MESSAGE OF HOSEA. Illinois: Inter-Varsity Press. 1981. p. 49.
[6]Kidner. ibid: p. 51.
[7]Kidner. ibid: p. 53.
[8]Chisolm, Robert B. Jr. THE BIBLE KNOWLEDGE COMMENTARY (OT). Walvoord, John, F., Zuck, Roy B., Editors. USA: Scripture press Publications Inc. 1985. p. 1390.
[9] Proverbs 3:34. See also 1 Peter 5:5.
[10] Psalm 127:1a.
[11] Kidner. ibid: pp. 61-62
[12] 1 Corinthians 3:10 (NASB)
[13] Psalm 116:10.