Hosea 1-4
Amazing Grace in the OT

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Psalm 105:16-45 Delivered from Difficulties to Delight


16 When he summoned a famine on the land
 and broke all supply of bread,
17 he had sent a man ahead of them,
 Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
18 His feet were hurt with fetters;
 his neck was put in a collar of iron;
19 until what he had said came to pass,
 the word of the LORD tested him.
20 The king sent and released him;
 the ruler of the peoples set him free;
21 he made him lord of his house
 and ruler of all his possessions,
22 to bind his princes at his pleasure
 and to teach his elders wisdom.

23 Then Israel came to Egypt;
 Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.
24 And the LORD made his people very fruitful
 and made them stronger than their foes.
25 He turned their hearts to hate his people,
 to deal craftily with his servants.

26 He sent Moses, his servant,
 and Aaron, whom he had chosen.
27 They performed his signs among them
 and miracles in the land of Ham.
28 He sent darkness, and made the land dark;
 they did not rebel against his words.
29 He turned their waters into blood
 and caused their fish to die.
30 Their land swarmed with frogs,
 even in the chambers of their kings.
31 He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,
 and gnats throughout their country.
32 He gave them hail for rain,
 and fiery lightning bolts through their land.
33 He struck down their vines and fig trees,
 and shattered the trees of their country.
34 He spoke, and the locusts came,
 young locusts without number,
35 which devoured all the vegetation in their land
 and ate up the fruit of their ground.
36 He struck down all the firstborn in their land,
 the firstfruits of all their strength.

37 Then he brought out Israel with silver and gold,
 and there was none among his tribes who stumbled.
38 Egypt was glad when they departed,
 for dread of them had fallen upon it.

39 He spread a cloud for a covering,
 and fire to give light by night.
40 They asked, and he brought quail,
 and gave them bread from heaven in abundance.
41 He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
 it flowed through the desert like a river.
42 For he remembered his holy promise,
 and Abraham, his servant.

43 So he brought his people out with joy,
 his chosen ones with singing.
44 And he gave them the lands of the nations,
 and they took possession of the fruit of the peoples' toil,
45 that they might keep his statutes
 and observe his laws.
Praise the LORD!

Application

God delivers from difficulties (some of which He's deliberately planned) to delight us with His promises; so we need to be careful to do what's right in His sight, according to His purposes.

Prayer

God, I praise You that I can trust You to work all things (dangers, difficulties, and disappointments) together for my good, as I am careful to do what is right in Your sight. Thanks. Amen.

Proverbs 24:13-14 The Sweet Life


13 My son, eat honey, for it is good,
 and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.
14 Know that wisdom is such to your soul;
 if you find it, there will be a future,
 and your hope will not be cut off.

Application

Seek and find wisdom for the sweet life.

Prayer

God, thanks for making wisdom accessible in Your word; may I daily experience its benefits in my life. Amen.

Hosea 1-4 Amazing Grace in the OT

One of the three pre-exilic minor prophets (with Jonah and Amos), Hosea ministered primarily to the northern kingdom of Israel in the years before they were taken into captivity by Assyria in 722 BC (another “unsuccessful” prophet). The book uses Hosea's marriage to an unfaithful wife (chapters 1-3) to illustrate God's covenantal loyalty to an unfaithful Israel. However, Israel needs to repent of their unfaithfulness (outlined in chapters 4-13) in order to be blessed by future restoration to the land (chapter 14).

The first three chapters are arranged chiastically, centered in 2:13 The major points (there's a lot more correspondence if you look for it) are:


A 1:1-8 Rejection illustrated by Hosea's marriage
   B 1:9 “You are not my people and I will not be your God”
         (followed by punishment)
     C 2:13 I will punish her for the days of the Baals to which she burned incense.
        She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry, and went after her lovers; 
        But Me she forgot," says Yahweh.
  B' 2:23 “You are my people’; and they will say, ‘My God!’"
        (preceded by merciful grace, ie, 2:14 " Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
          will bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfort to her.”)
A' 3:1-5 Reconciliation illustrated by Hosea's marriage

Hosea 1 The Case of the Unfaithful Spouse

Hosea’s Wife and Children
1 The word of the LORD that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
2 When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD.”
3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 And the LORD said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”
6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the LORD said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. 7 But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the LORD their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”
8 When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 9 And the LORD said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”
10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” 11 And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

Application

God justly disciplines the habitually unfaithful, yet graciously has mercy on the repentant who seek Him.

Prayer

God, You are always loyal to Your promises; may I always be loyal to You and known as a child of the living God. Amen.

Hosea 2 Abandoned and Accepted

Israel’s Adultery Rebuked
1 Say to your brothers, “You are my people,” and to your sisters, “You have received mercy.”

2 “Plead with your mother, plead—
 for she is not my wife,
 and I am not her husband—
that she put away her whoring from her face,
 and her adultery from between her breasts;
3 lest I strip her naked
 and make her as in the day she was born,
and make her like a wilderness,
 and make her like a parched land,
 and kill her with thirst.
4 Upon her children also I will have no mercy,
 because they are children of whoredom.
5 For their mother has played the whore;
 she who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
 who give me my bread and my water,
 my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
6 Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns,
 and I will build a wall against her,
 so that she cannot find her paths.
7 She shall pursue her lovers
 but not overtake them,
and she shall seek them
 but shall not find them.
Then she shall say,
 ‘I will go and return to my first husband,
 for it was better for me then than now.’
8 And she did not know
 that it was I who gave her
 the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and who lavished on her silver and gold,
 which they used for Baal.
9 Therefore I will take back
 my grain in its time,
 and my wine in its season,
and I will take away my wool and my flax,
 which were to cover her nakedness.
10 Now I will uncover her lewdness
 in the sight of her lovers,
 and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.
11 And I will put an end to all her mirth,
 her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths,
 and all her appointed feasts.
12 And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees,
 of which she said,
‘These are my wages,
 which my lovers have given me.’
I will make them a forest,
 and the beasts of the field shall devour them.
13 And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals
 when she burned offerings to them
and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry,
 and went after her lovers
 and forgot me, declares the LORD.
God’s Mercy to Israel

14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
 and bring her into the wilderness,
 and speak tenderly to her.
15 And there I will give her her vineyards
 and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,
 as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
16 “And in that day, declares the LORD, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more.
18 And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD.

21 “And in that day I will answer, declares the LORD,
 I will answer the heavens,
 and they shall answer the earth,
22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
 and they shall answer Jezreel,
23  and I will sow her for myself in the land.
And I will have mercy on No Mercy,
 and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’;
 and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”

Question

How can anyone say the God of the OT is not a God of love and mercy?

Application

It's far better to honor our obligations to be loyal to God and experience His blessings, than have to be painfully and justly disciplined for our unfaithfulness.

Prayer

Lord, keep me conscious of how dependent I am upon You for the blessings of my life so I don't wander from loyalty to You; and thanks for Your gracious forgiveness when I stupidly stray. Amen.

Hosea 3 Seeking Amazing Grace

Hosea Redeems His Wife
1 And the LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.”
2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. 3 And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.”
4 For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. 5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days.

Application

It's a demonstration of amazing grace that God would still want a relationship with those who are as useful as a dead slave, yet He not only accepts back those who fear and seek Him, but blesses them as well.

Prayer

God, You are unbelievably gracious in loving Your people; may I fear displeasing You, and diligently seek You, so I delight You, and You can bless me as You desire to do. Amen.

Hosea 4 Offenses of Israel

God’s Case against His People

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.

Application

Failure to fear God leads to fatal ignorance through stupid and stubborn disobedience.

Prayer

God, I want to know You and Your ways, deeply and intimately, so I may do what pleases You, the only true source of blessing in life. Amen.

Digging Deeper

God in a nutshell: God displays righteousness, justice, hesed, compassion and faithfulness in dealing with His people so they will intimately know Him. He justly disciplines the habitually unfaithful, yet graciously has mercy on the repentant who seek Him. He is incredibly gracious in accepting back those who repent and seek Him. He will work out His plan to bless Israel in the future, in spite of their rebellion against Him.

Us in a nutshell: By failing to fear God and be faithful to Him, we bring upon ourselves massive amounts of discipline and pain. Knowing God and His ways lead to blessing. Ignorance leads to destruction. He desires that His children fear Him, and display His characteristics of righteousness, justice, hesed, compassion and faithfulness in dealing with others. If we fear Him and seek Him, we can be accepted by Him.

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