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Introduction
Whenever someone disobeys a parent, friend, boss, or person in authority there is generally a consequence.
This is true in the Old Testament as well.
Whenever people would disobey God, there would be a punishment that would follow.
We left off last week looking at and we saw how God straight up told Hosea that the people of Israel are no longer His people.
This is a very negative situation to have left off at, however as we discussed last week with the background of Hosea, Hosea finds himself in a very difficult situation.
He is commanded by God to marry a woman of promiscuity and to name his children (or the children that his wife had) names that are very negative in nature.
Gomer was likely cheating on Hosea during this time and Hosea stayed with her.
This example between Hosea and Gomer is a similar depiction of the relationship between Israel and God.
Israel had gone to worship Ba’al and they had forsaken Yahweh.
They had abandoned the God of their ancestors in order to worship a Canaanite idol.
Because of this, there were consequences.
What we will look at tonight is a two-part follow up to chapter 1 of Hosea.
First there will be restoration, but there will also be condemnation that follows.
The lessons found in chapter 2 are extremely timely for our society today.
With that in mind, let’s look at .
Covenant Renewal (10-11)
The opening two verses of this passage are very positive!
We see that even though in verse 9, God has said that these are no longer His people, that the son’s of Israel will increase.
This is surely an echo of the Abrahamic Covenant from as we see in that Abraham’s descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the heavens!
God made an ancient covenantal promise to Abraham and this covenant would come true.
We have to ask ourselves, how would people in Hosea’s day have understood this message?
They probably would have laughed in his face!
In 738 BC, it is observed that Israel had about 60,000 land holders whereas the Assyrian empire was expanding at a rapid rate.
Israel was a tiny, insignificant nation in the grand scheme of the empires of the world at this time.
Because of this, only faith in God could foresee a reality where the children of Israel will be this numerous.
The reason that the people are at this point, though, is because they have been unable to live up to the law from Mt. Sinai.
They have not kept the law, yet the people could not nullify God’s promises to His people.
Aren’t you thankful for that today?
Regardless of your biggest mistake, you can’t frustrate the promises of God.
That is refreshing to hear because we can get hung up on our mistakes and errors, however we have a God that is all the more powerful to work in spite of our mistakes and weaknesses.
The phrase “Sons of the living God” is significant for us to look at in verse 10 because it acknowledges that the people have regained their status and are now acknowledged by God yet again.
This is good news compared to verse 9.
It also shows us that God is “alive.”
We have talked about the idea that some nations had in this time that the winning nation or army had the stronger God.
In some instances whenever a nation was defeated, and their temple destroyed, they believed that they had killed the opposing god.
What we see in verse 10 is that these are children of the living God.
This is important because what “living” essentially means in this text is “true.”
These are people who serve the one true God - and He is able to give victory to His people as we see throughout the Old Testament.
Third, we see that this living God is able to give life.
Because God is the giver of victory and life, He will defeat the powerless idol, Ba’al.
Verse 11 is interesting to note as well because it talks about the children of Judah and Israel coming together and having 1 head.
During our study of King Asa in Chronicles, we noted that the people of Israel were split into 2 kingdoms (the divided kingdom) - Israel to the North and Judah to the South.
This verse makes it appear that this never should have happened in the first place!
Israel and Judah are one people and should be one nation, not two!
Obviously this did not happen in Hosea’s time, however we know that hundreds of years after his death, the Messiah would come and unite the people.
The reconciliation of Israel and Judah is depicted by them following the same leader.
The once decimated population of Israel will rebound and find their ultimate fulfillment as they stand united under their single head, Christ.
This is the great day of Jezreel - whenever God sows.
This is a very positive couple of verses to start us off tonight and get our blood pumping as our revival is coming up 1 week from tonight!
We know that God is the one who sows and brings in the harvest, however it is our duty to plant and water seeds.
Our responsibility the next week is to do exactly that - invite people, encourage them to come and stand united as a church.
We should drop useless and senseless quarrels in order to prepare and ready our hearts for the coming time of spiritual revival.
Condemnation (2:1-13)
The following verses in chapter 2 are not as positive - in fact they are very negative.
Verse 1 is an imperative command calling for Israel to return to the one true, living God.
However, the people will not do that.
Hosea talked primarily about the children in chapter 1, and in chapter 2 he deals with the mother of the children - his wife, Gomer.
The children of Gomer were children of adultery who were in danger of falling the path of their mother and Hosea calls for the children to rebuke her.
To set themselves apart from their mother so that they do not suffer the same fate that she does.
Hosea continues to state that she is not his wife and he is not her husband.
This is why the children must denounce their mother!
Israel believed that they were God’s people solely because they were Israelites.
God had a covenant with them and because they were Israelites, they had a special relationship with God.
Now God declares through Hosea that this relationship is void.
Israelites can only become God’s people by renouncing Israel!
The identity in which they trusted had become the greatest impediment between them and God.
This might sound harsh.
It would be harsh to call a child to leave his own mother and disown her.
In Hosea’s family this must’ve been difficult.
Did Jezreel and his siblings disown Gomer?
Maybe, but we really don’t know.
The point of this verse is that the Israelites were expected to denounce their culture because it was idolatrous, cruel, hypocritical and selfish.
This is certainly not an easy task because no one wants to openly admit that they are a part of an evil society and that they played a part in it.
The people of Israel were called by Hosea to turn back to God in order to become a righteous remnant by rejecting their own perverse society.
This is extremely relevant in our society today!
We might say that we live in a “Christian” culture, however our world is extremely perverse as well.
We are living in an unholy nation and in an unholy world yet we are called to be holy as our God is holy.
This is quite a difficult thing for us to understand and live out in our lives, is it not?
We must follow Isaiah’s confession in “I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell among a people of unclean lips.”
We must ask ourselves if our church culture is leading others towards or away from God?
We could transition here and talk more about the holiness of God, however we will be doing a more in-depth study of that topic in November as we look at both Isaiah and Job.
As the rest of verse 2 shows us, this woman is called to turn her whole person away from faithless behavior.
She is to abandon her old ways and everything that went along with them.
We see some very graphic details in verse 3 that show us that this was a serious offense.
Since the people were acting like prostitutes, God would treat them like prostitutes and shame them publicly.
He would no longer claim the nation as His wife because she had broken her marriage covenant and worshipped idols.
Adultery in Hebrew law was a capital crime and could be punishable by death.
God, though, announced that he would punish her but not destroy her.
Unfaithfulness to God is a serious sin.
It was serious back in Hosea’s time and it is serious now as well.
Think if a husband told you that he was faithful to his wife 95% of the time.
In school that means that he got an “A” but we would all acknowledge that being faithful 95% of the time to your spouse is actually being unfaithful.
The same principle applies to worshipping and following God.
We are good at following Him during church and throughout our Bible studies, however do we follow Him constantly in our lives outside of church?
The Israelites were tempted to forsake God and worship golden calves and idols, the American church is tempted to forsake God and worship money and a watered down Gospel message that is inclusive and politically correct.
We must be careful not to follow suit.
We must stand firm on the Word of God and not conform the world but be transformed by the renewing of our mind!
Verse 5 is interesting for us to see because we see that Gomer has been unfaithful and has acted shamefully.
This verse also alludes to the alleged benefit of worshipping Ba’al - fertility.
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