Hosea 4-6
Notes
Transcript
1 Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land;
2 there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
3 Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish, and also the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, and even the fish of the sea are taken away.
4 Yet let no one contend, and let none accuse, for with you is my contention, O priest.
5 You shall stumble by day; the prophet also shall stumble with you by night; and I will destroy your mother.
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
7 The more they increased, the more they sinned against me; I will change their glory into shame.
8 They feed on the sin of my people; they are greedy for their iniquity.
9 And it shall be like people, like priest; I will punish them for their ways and repay them for their deeds.
10 They shall eat, but not be satisfied; they shall play the whore, but not multiply, because they have forsaken the Lord to cherish
11 whoredom, wine, and new wine, which take away the understanding.
12 My people inquire of a piece of wood, and their walking staff gives them oracles. For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray, and they have left their God to play the whore.
13 They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the whore, and your brides commit adultery.
14 I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore, nor your brides when they commit adultery; for the men themselves go aside with prostitutes and sacrifice with cult prostitutes, and a people without understanding shall come to ruin.
15 Though you play the whore, O Israel, let not Judah become guilty. Enter not into Gilgal, nor go up to Beth-aven, and swear not, “As the Lord lives.”
16 Like a stubborn heifer, Israel is stubborn; can the Lord now feed them like a lamb in a broad pasture?
17 Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone.
18 When their drink is gone, they give themselves to whoring; their rulers dearly love shame.
19 A wind has wrapped them in its wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.
1 Hear this, O priests! Pay attention, O house of Israel! Give ear, O house of the king! For the judgment is for you; for you have been a snare at Mizpah and a net spread upon Tabor.
2 And the revolters have gone deep into slaughter, but I will discipline all of them.
3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me; for now, O Ephraim, you have played the whore; Israel is defiled.
4 Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. For the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not the Lord.
5 The pride of Israel testifies to his face; Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt; Judah also shall stumble with them.
6 With their flocks and herds they shall go to seek the Lord, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them.
7 They have dealt faithlessly with the Lord; for they have borne alien children. Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.
8 Blow the horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah. Sound the alarm at Beth-aven; we follow you, O Benjamin!
9 Ephraim shall become a desolation in the day of punishment; among the tribes of Israel I make known what is sure.
10 The princes of Judah have become like those who move the landmark; upon them I will pour out my wrath like water.
11 Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because he was determined to go after filth.
12 But I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like dry rot to the house of Judah.
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to the great king. But he is not able to cure you or heal your wound.
14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear and go away; I will carry off, and no one shall rescue.
15 I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me.
1 “Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.
2 After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.
3 Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.”
4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away.
5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light.
6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
7 But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me.
8 Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked with blood.
9 As robbers lie in wait for a man, so the priests band together; they murder on the way to Shechem; they commit villainy.
10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing; Ephraim’s whoredom is there; Israel is defiled.
11 For you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed. When I restore the fortunes of my people,
Ch. 4
Ch. 4
Although the whole nation is in trouble. The Priests are held particularly responsible.
-The Priesthood had REJECTED the Law of God.
-They had established a PEOPLE FOR THEMSELVES
-They were COMPLETELY given over to idolatry and their own desires
Men, women, and girls suffer because of the Priests’ actions.
-”A people without understanding will come to ruin.”
This is a VERY REAL modern day struggle within “Progressive Christianity”
Ch. 5
Ch. 5
The behavior of Israel's elite was bringing severe discipline to the nation.
-We heard similar statements from Amos, but they had not listened.
In times of distress, rather than turning to God they turned to their neighbors, who would become their MASTERS.
15—REPENTANCE IS KEY TO SALVATION
Ch. 6
Ch. 6
Israel desires to return to the LORD only after seeing destruction at the door step.
How long to we endure before turning to the LORD?
God understands our patterns of behavior
Lip service is UNACCEPTABLE
Like a loving father, DISCIPLINE FOR CORRECTION is needed for the nation of Israel (and sometimes us)
14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
