Glory Days
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Exchanging Glory (10-11)
Exchanging Glory (10-11)
7 The more they increased,
the more they sinned against me;
I will change their glory into shame.
Israel’s punishment for their idolatry was the exchange of divine glory for the shame of their idols.
indicates that the punishment for idolatry is the exchange of the divine glory they possessed from God for the shame of their idols.
Israel’s shame is connected to their idolatry.
The connection of their shame to their idolatry is seen further down in the chapter:
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.
Something that GK Beale notes is that the connection between the Hebrew verb for exchange and the noun glory is rare. In fact, it occurs here in Hosea 4, Psalm 106:20 & Jer. 2:11.
In these cases, the exchange for the glory of God for the shame is connected to idolatry.
So let’s look at the the other two texts:
20 They exchanged the glory of God
for the image of an ox that eats grass.
11 Has a nation changed its gods,
even though they are no gods?
But my people have changed their glory
for that which does not profit.
And we get to:
10 Like grapes in the wilderness,
I found Israel.
Like the first fruit on the fig tree
in its first season,
I saw your fathers.
But they came to Baal-peor
and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame,
and became detestable like the thing they loved.
“Baal-Peor” literally means lord of the opening.
Israel devoted themselves to this false god, and in so doing, they devoted themselves to shame. They became detestable like the thing they loved.
The shame here is a reference to Baal, but also to the worship of Baal.
It was believed that Baal committed sexual acts his companions (Ashera for example) to benefit with various material blessings of fertility. Israel was participating in sexual rituals of worship with an aim to benefit agriculturally, but in doing so, they became as detestable as their god.
Israel became infected with the detestable qualities of Baal.
1 While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. 2 These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. 3 So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.
But what are we getting at here. Yes, we become what we worship, but what are the implications? Look at verse 11:
11 Ephraim’s glory shall fly away like a bird—
no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!
The glory referred to in verse eleven is the glorious blessings of God, which will be taken away (i.e., fly away)
The people of God are objects of His glory, in that we reflect His glory.
1 Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
2 For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,
and thick darkness the peoples;
but the Lord will arise upon you,
and his glory will be seen upon you.
3 And nations shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your rising.
It is not that we have glory of our own, but we reflect the glory of God as He shines the glory of His salvation upon us. We cannot loose our salvation, but when we succumb to the temptation of idolatry, we exchange the glory of God for whatever we worship.
Departing Glory (12-14)
Departing Glory (12-14)
God’s judgement of Israel will include bareness and the exile of her children.
Not only will will God’s judgement be seen in bareness (v. 11), but the children that are present in Israel will be removed through exile (12).
This is actually fulfillment of prophecy from Deut:
41 You shall father sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for they shall go into captivity.
Without God’s presence and blessing, every other blessing is lost.
No more protection from the Lord
No more abundance of children.
Israel would loose her identity as many of the nations lost their because of their idolatry. (13)
God’s judgement is summarized in Hosea’s prayer in response to Israel’s rebellion (14)
To quote Peter Craigie:
To play with love, to treat it lightly, to trample on the affections of another, as Gomer had done with Hosea, is to make mockery of life’s meaning and values. Likewise, the persistent abuse of God’s love releases eventually the landslide of self-induced judgement.
Driven from Glory (15-17)
Driven from Glory (15-17)
15 Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal;
there I began to hate them.
Because of the wickedness of their deeds
I will drive them out of my house.
I will love them no more;
all their princes are rebels.
Gilgal was a site on the eastern bank of the river Jordan that had seen some of Israel’s best moments, including Joshua’s first camp in the Promised Land and David’s return from his victory over Absalom. But great infidelity occurred here as well.
King Saul was applauded as King here (1 Sam. 11:15) after Israel demanded a king.
Gilgal had become a center for idol worship mixed with the worship of the Lord. This is probably accounts for the statement, there I began to hate them.
Gilgal should have been a place that inspired zeal for honoring the Lord but instead it had become a place it witnessed Israel’s infidelity.
Notice what verse 15 says, because of the wickedness of their deeds… I will… Covenant language. Israel broke the covenant, and the consequences of covenant breaking were certain.
Sobering words in verse 16. Life without God’s grace means punishment under God’s law. Empty wombs, loss of blessing from what we possess, just like the children who would be slain or taken into captivity.
