Exiled and Unloved
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Hosea 9
Hosea 9
O Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly like the nations,
for you are unfaithful to your God.
You love to receive a prostitute’s wages
on all the floors where you thresh your grain.
Threshing floors and wine vats will not feed the people,
and new wine only deceives them.
They will not remain in the Lord’s land.
Ephraim will return to Egypt;
they will eat ritually unclean food in Assyria.
They will not pour out drink offerings of wine to the Lord;
they will not please him with their sacrifices.
Their sacrifices will be like bread eaten while in mourning;
all those who eat them will make themselves ritually unclean.
For their bread will be only to satisfy their appetite;
it will not come into the temple of the Lord.
So what will you do on the festival day,
on the festival days of the Lord?
Look! Even if they flee from the destruction,
Egypt will take hold of them,
and Memphis will bury them.
The weeds will inherit the silver they treasure—
thorn bushes will occupy their homes.
The time of judgment is about to arrive!
The time of retribution is imminent!
Let Israel know!
The prophet is considered a fool—
the inspired man is viewed as a madman—
because of the multitude of your sins
and your intense animosity.
The prophet is a watchman over Ephraim on behalf of God,
yet traps are laid for him along all of his paths;
animosity rages against him in the land of his God.
They have sunk deep into corruption
as in the days of Gibeah.
He will remember their wrongdoing.
He will repay them for their sins.
When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the wilderness.
I viewed your ancestors like an early fig on a fig tree in its first season.
Then they came to Baal-Peor and they dedicated themselves to shame—
they became as detestable as what they loved.
Ephraim will be like a bird;
what they value will fly away.
They will not bear children—
they will not enjoy pregnancy—
they will not even conceive!
Even if they raise their children,
I will take away every last one of them.
Woe to them!
For I will turn away from them.
Just as lion cubs are born predators,
so Ephraim will bear his sons for slaughter.
Give them, O Lord—
what will you give them?
Give them wombs that miscarry,
and breasts that cannot nurse!
Because of all their evil in Gilgal,
I hate them there.
On account of their evil deeds,
I will drive them out of my land.
I will no longer love them;
all their rulers are rebels.
Ephraim will be struck down—
their root will be dried up;
they will not yield any fruit.
Even if they do bear children,
I will kill their precious offspring.
My God will reject them,
for they have not obeyed him;
so they will be fugitives among the nations.
Context:
Context:
It is thanksgiving, a harvest festival, a time when the nation of Israel is celebrating their fruits of their labor. However, instead of thanking God for this particular blessing, they are thanking Baal. The assumption is that their position and their relationship with God is good, and they are gauging this assumption based upon their material wealth, a blessing that has been given by God. (Luke 12:13-21)
Content:
Content:
Israel has completely forgotten God. Hosea is trying to reveal to them through their past history of God, and what God has done. He begins with a reference to Egypt (Exodus), trying to have them remember what their forefathers endured, and how God brought them out of slavery, and fulfilled His promise to Abraham. Hosea brings them to Gibeah (Judges 16-17) describing the evil that was done, causing a civil war. He continues with the heresy that occured at Baal-Poer (Numbers 25), and finally the prophet reminds them of their evil deeds at Gilgal (Joshua 4:19-5:12; 7 1 Sam. 11).
Intent:
Intent:
The intention of God is to be faithful to His Word. The expectation of God to Israel is for them to be faithful to their word. It is God’s desire that no one should perish, and even though that is His desire, this does not take away that the reality is many will perish. Once again, God is providing a warning. If only Israel will stay within the Covenant that they made to God, if only Israel will repent and humble themselves, then God would heal their land.
Circumstance:
Circumstance:
Hosea once again provides bad news to the nation of Israel. The Israelites are getting tired of this preacher, and his prophetic utterances of God’s wrath. Israel looks around and sees their abundance, their material wealth, and the fulfillment of their pleasures as God’s gift to them. However, Hosea is preaching the exact opposite. He tells them this is part of God’s curse, these “blessings” are not God’s gift to you, on the contrary, they are going to be used against you. You have become so rich that you no longer think you need God, worse you have decided to worship the gods of this land, breaking your covenant that you made with God.
Situation:
Situation:
Hosea prays, but it is not a prayer of intercessory or on behalf of Israel. It is a prayer of wrath. Hosea separates the God he serves from the gods the nation of Israel serve. The punishment upon the nation of Israel will be infertility and exile. The grace of God has come to an end, and the Nation of Israel will experience punishment that is self-inflected.
Bridge:
Bridge:
We are living in time much like Hosea. Our deeds as individuals, congregations, and as a nation are beginning to catch up to us. We are finding that the same calamities bestowed upon Israel are the same ones that we are facing today. Infertility, and loss of a nation are at the forefront of this year. Preachers are no longer preaching repentance, no longer talking of sin, or even that the wrath of God is near. Churches are no longer fearing God, revere God, or even act like God exists. Our self-whatevers are testing the patience of God, and will eventually bring the wrath of God upon us. Just as Israel during the times of Hosea loses the house of God, so to, will the churches of the New Testament, and this is being witnessed today.