Facing the Music
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Last week we learned choices have consequences - whether good or bad they are the results of the decisions made previously. As we come to Hosea 9 this morning that it is time for the nation of Israel to face the music. Facing the music is an idiomatic expression that simply means that you are confronted with the consequences or that one must accept one’s consequences. This is the end of avoiding hiding or otherwise delaying the consequences. Part of facing the music might be a loss of privilege, blessing and even a specific destiny. As we read Hosea 9 my prayer is that we would remember that there will be a time in which one must face the music for their choices and actions - both as nations and also as individuals.
1 Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly as the nations do, for you have acted promiscuously, leaving your God. You love the wages of a prostitute on every grain-threshing floor. 2 Threshing floor and wine vat will not sustain them, and the new wine will fail them. 3 They will not stay in the land of the Lord. Instead, Ephraim will return to Egypt, and they will eat unclean food in Assyria.
4 They will not pour out their wine offerings to the Lord, and their sacrifices will not please him. Their food will be like the bread of mourners; all who eat it become defiled. For their bread will be for their appetites alone; it will not enter the house of the Lord. 5 What will you do on a festival day, on the day of the Lord’s feast?
6 For even if they flee from devastation, Egypt will gather them, and Memphis will bury them. Thistles will take possession of their precious silver; thorns will invade their tents. 7 The days of punishment have come; the days of retribution have come. Let Israel recognize it! The prophet is a fool, and the inspired man is insane, because of the magnitude of your iniquity and hostility.
8 Ephraim’s watchman is with my God. Yet the prophet encounters a bird trap on all his pathways. Hostility is in the house of his God! 9 They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity; he will punish their sins.
10 I discovered Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your ancestors like the first fruit of the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal-peor, consecrated themselves to Shame, and became abhorrent, like the thing they loved. 11 Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird: no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.
12 Even if they raise children, I will bereave them of each one. Yes, woe to them when I depart from them! 13 I have seen Ephraim like Tyre, planted in a meadow, so Ephraim will bring out his children to the executioner. 14 Give them, Lord— What should you give? Give them a womb that miscarries and breasts that are dry!
15 All their evil appears at Gilgal, for there I began to hate them. I will drive them from my house because of their evil, wicked actions. I will no longer love them; all their leaders are rebellious. 16 Ephraim is struck down; their roots are withered; they cannot bear fruit. Even if they bear children, I will kill the precious offspring of their wombs.
17 My God will reject them because they have not listened to him; they will become wanderers among the nations.
Party Is Over
Party Is Over
1 Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly as the nations do, for you have acted promiscuously, leaving your God. You love the wages of a prostitute on every grain-threshing floor. 2 Threshing floor and wine vat will not sustain them, and the new wine will fail them. 3 They will not stay in the land of the Lord. Instead, Ephraim will return to Egypt, and they will eat unclean food in Assyria.
The backdrop for this chapter of Hosea is not for sure but the context points to it being during the harvest time probably sometimes around Sukkot - Feast of Tabernacles, Festival of Booths. It is a week long celebration of the fall season. Sukkot is a little like thanksgiving as it is a festival for giving thanks for many things like food and shelter. The festival celebrates the farmer’s yearly harvest taking place in the fall. Sukkot is a commemoration of the biblical story of the Jew’s escape from Egypt and the subsequent wandering of 40 years in the wilderness. This festival revisits that time by requiring the participants to live in temporary shelters. Sukkot means booths - these booths are like the shelters that the Jews lived in when they were travelling through the desert. The booths also represent the booths the farmers use while gathering the harvest. The roof of the Sukkaw must be made of something that used to grow in the earth, palm leaves or bamboo sticks walls can be any material that will withstand the wind. A traditional greeting would be Chag Sameach (sah MEY atch) which is wishing one a joyous festival.
Under this backdrop Hosea says Israel do not rejoice jubilantly as the nations do. This is no time to be celebrating as is customary - even for other nations to do. Why - because you have acted promiscuously - unfaithfully leaving your God.
The festival time was a celebration for what God has provided and had done but by your actions you have been unfaithful and have left God. How could you be joyful in what He has done?
In idolatry or unfaithfulness it is not God who has left but the one practicing such has left God.
Hosea then says that they love the wages of a prostitute - the ill-gotten gains, the money that comes from unfaithfulness. Hosea says the prostitutes are on every grain threshing floor. During the harvest season the prostitutes would frequent the threshing floors where the men slept to guard the grain as they harvested it. Israel prostituted herself in worship to Baal believing that Baal would in turn bless her crops and harvest and provide for her.
Because of this the Lord would instead curse her harvest. The threshing floor and vat would not sustain them. The new wine would fail them — their blessings were coming to an end - the party of sin was over.
They will not stay in the land of the Lord. To remain in the land was a covenant with God and to break that covenant meant to lose the land. At a time when they should have been rejoicing and celebrating what the Lord had done for them and provided for them - taking them out of Egypt and captivity and giving them a land ready for them to inhabit and a land that would bless them - instead they were worshiping Baal and prostituting themselves both spiritually and physically. So Hosea says the party is over no more rejoicing for there will be no more harvest, no more blessing. Ephraim will return to Egypt - not literally Egypt but the same situation of captivity and bondage - the place would be Assyria.
Israel chose to be unfaithful and unclean and now Israel will be taken out of the land to an unclean and defiled nation to eat unclean and defiled food.
The Time Has Come
The Time Has Come
4 They will not pour out their wine offerings to the Lord, and their sacrifices will not please him. Their food will be like the bread of mourners; all who eat it become defiled. For their bread will be for their appetites alone; it will not enter the house of the Lord. 5 What will you do on a festival day, on the day of the Lord’s feast?
6 For even if they flee from devastation, Egypt will gather them, and Memphis will bury them. Thistles will take possession of their precious silver; thorns will invade their tents.
7 The days of punishment have come; the days of retribution have come. Let Israel recognize it! The prophet is a fool, and the inspired man is insane, because of the magnitude of your iniquity and hostility. 8 Ephraim’s watchman is with my God. Yet the prophet encounters a bird trap on all his pathways. Hostility is in the house of his God!
9 They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity; he will punish their sins.
The time has come, Israel has no recourse it will come. Hosea says they will not pour out their wine offerings and their sacrifices will not please the Lord. They will not appease the anger of the Lord and His declared punishment. The time for repentance has come and gone now is the time for consequences and punishment.
Not only that but in exile they will not be able to offer sacrifices either. There will be no opportunity for legitimate and true worship. Israel’s worship has been hypocritical and shallow and empty as well as corrupt. Therefore they would be denied the PRIVILEGE of worship. Worship is a privilege and it can be denied if done improperly and unfaithfully.
Their food will be like the bread of mourners all who eat it become defiled. The food does not provide any joy or comfort. Their bread will be for their appetites alone - there will be no comfort or celebration sacrifices or worship there will only be survival.
Hosea then asks them consider and think - what will you do on a festival day, on the day of the Lord’s feast? Sacrifices in a foreign land are unacceptable to the Lord.
Hosea says even if you flee from devastation, even if you escape the initial invasion and battle and dying by the sword - the promise is they will be gathered by Egypt. Those who escape the sword will go into exile. Memphis will bury them - now this not Memphis Tennessee but Memphis Egypt and it is located about 20 miles south of modern day Cairo. The significance of Memphis is that it is a famous burial place - a foreign graveyard. Hosea was saying the time has come to face the music and though you survive the sword - you will be carried into exile and you most likely were not coming back. They would die in a foreign land and they would be buried in a foreign land. Everything they treasured and possessed would be left behind and the thistles and thorns would over grow and over take them.
The days of punishment have come and the days of retribution have arrived. A delay of punishment or temporary continuation of blessing does not signify approval or that punishment will not be coming. Hosea says let Israel recognize that this is the prophesied judgment and punishment coming for them. Israel was given clear instructions with detailed consequences - this is not a surprise or a sudden changing of the rules the details of the covenant of the land were laid out in painstaking detail. Punishment comes for the one who has the instructions, knows the consequences but does it anyway in willful disobedience.
This is the time that the prophet prophesied about and inspired man spoke concerning, but Israel regarded them as a fool and one who is a madman. Hosea has been prophesying to Israel but they have disregarded and continued in their sin and unfaithfulness to God and now the time has come. They literally said who in their right mind would prophesy judgment in the middle of this bountiful harvest which itself is proof of God’s blessing.
They have commited a magnitude of sin and their hostility is fierce. The hostility spoken of here is the intense animosity similar to Esau with regards to Jacob when he stole his birth-rite. God’s watchmen were the prophets God sent yet Israel tried to ensnare and entrap those sent by God to warn Israel. There was hostility even in the house of his God - the priests and leaders were a part of the ongoing sin and unfaithfulness.
Israel has too deeply corrupted themselves similar to the days of Gibeah - Gibeah referring to the end of Judges where the tribe of Benjamin was almost wiped out by the other 11 tribes because of the brutality shown against the Levites concubine.
30 Everyone who saw it said, “Nothing like this has ever happened or has been seen since the day the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt until now. Think it over, discuss it, and speak up!”
Hosea is saying the blatant sin of Israel against the Lord rivals even that detestable sin and black mark of Israel’s history. God will remember their sins and punish their iniquity. Sins are either covered or they are punished
Punishment Pronounced
Punishment Pronounced
10 I discovered Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your ancestors like the first fruit of the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal-peor, consecrated themselves to Shame, and became abhorrent, like the thing they loved. 11 Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird: no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.
12 Even if they raise children, I will bereave them of each one. Yes, woe to them when I depart from them! 13 I have seen Ephraim like Tyre, planted in a meadow, so Ephraim will bring out his children to the executioner. 14 Give them, Lord— What should you give? Give them a womb that miscarries and breasts that are dry!
15 All their evil appears at Gilgal, for there I began to hate them. I will drive them from my house because of their evil, wicked actions. I will no longer love them; all their leaders are rebellious. 16 Ephraim is struck down; their roots are withered; they cannot bear fruit. Even if they bear children, I will kill the precious offspring of their wombs.
17 My God will reject them because they have not listened to him; they will become wanderers among the nations.
God says I discovered Israel like grapes in the wilderness and He saw their ancestors like the first fruit of the fig tree in its first season. Two expressions that communicate a couple of things. First grapes in the wilderness sounds refreshing and an unexpected delight, simply irresistible sweetness. The fig of a tree in its first season is an unexpected surprise and welcomed delight - it takes more than one season to get fruit. The second thing is grapes in a desert without water would most likely be dry and sour and the first fruit of a fig tree would be not as large and succulent as expected. This is why the Lord says - but they went to Baal-peor. The Lord goes back to Israel’s history where they went astray to Baal. When Balak had hired Balaam to curse Israel and instead blessed them - finally seeing as how he couldn’t earn his money by cursing them Balaam told Balak how to get Israel to curse themselves
1 While Israel was staying in the Acacia Grove, the people began to prostitute themselves with the women of Moab. 2 The women invited them to the sacrifices for their gods, and the people ate and bowed in worship to their gods. 3 So Israel aligned itself with Baal of Peor, and the Lord’s anger burned against Israel.
14 But I have a few things against you. You have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block in front of the Israelites: to eat meat sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality.
15 They have gone astray by abandoning the straight path and have followed the path of Balaam, the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of wickedness
11 Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, have plunged into Balaam’s error for profit, and have perished in Korah’s rebellion.
They learned to compromise for the sake of wealth and riches and they sold themselves to the wicked practices and bowed to Baal and consecrated themselves not to God but to Shame! God says Israel instead of being sweet and pleasant an unexpected delight - they became abhorrent like the thing they loved. It is certain that one will become like the god they love and serve - holy like the Lord or an abomination to the Lord.
Punishment for being just like their ancestors before, and becoming involved in the fertility rites of Baal and practicing the sexual immorality - Israel would endure the curse of infertility and death.
The Lord says no birth, no pregnancy, no conception - even if they raise children I will bereave them of each one.
When the Lord departs - so does life - new life and sustained life and also blessing, Ephraims glory will fly away like a bird swiftly. Ephraim’s glory tied to their numerous people and healthy offspring and child bearing - now that glory would be no more.
Verse 14 carries the idea that Hosea started out with a prayer against Israel, but instead prayed for mercy in the judgment - that they would have few children so the children would not have to face the horrors of the coming judgment.
Sometimes those who are - or even those who see themselves as more spiritual or closer to God than others get angry, frustrated and impatient with those who seem to have apathetic hearts that no longer burn for the Lord. The pause in prayer here is a good reminder and focus for those same people to pause. Longing for revival is a good thing, desiring to see spiritual passion white hot among God’s people again is great, but if we become proud, angry, bitter, judgmental against others then Satan is allowed a great victory.
The Lord continues with strong language - there in Gilgal the Lord began to hate them. He declares that He will drive them from His house because of their evil and wicked actions. They are not welcome and God says I will no longer love them - not the whole nation of Israel but those who are under this judgment. Exile is the perfect punishment, Israel chose to disgrace God, His house, and His land and therefore they should be evicted and shown the door.
Ephraim is struck down and roots withered - they have no strength - they cannot bear fruit. The Lord reminds them He is the one who controls the womb and their fruitfulness will become barrenness.
They have chosen not to listen to the Lord so they are rejected and will become wanderers among the nations. They chose to stray from the Lord and the Lord allows them to remain astray and wader aimlessly
Conclusion
Conclusion
The harvest season was a time of great joy, but there would be no joy in Israel. When the people ended up in a foreign land everything would be unclean to them, but if they were an unclean people what’s the difference?
God had planted His people in the promised land, but they disgraced the land with idolatry - committing the same sin as the Canaanites and Amalakites and other ites before them - continuing in the immorality they became steeped in among the Midianites in Peor. The more they prospered the more they turned away from God. It didnt come right away but judgment came and it was time to face the music. Be reminded we reap what we sow.
These punishments are exactly what was promised under the covenant — the Old covenant. Today we are thankfully covered under a new covenant instituted in the Lord’s blood.
12 For I will forgive their wrongdoing, and I will never again remember their sins.
16 This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, the Lord says, I will put my laws on their hearts and write them on their minds, 17 and I will never again remember their sins and their lawless acts.
In this new covenant we must still walk with the Lord and not stray. We must keep our hearts separated unto the Lord. There are some ways to know when we stray and compromise our hearts so we can correct before we face the music of coming discipline.
When joy ceases in your life
Rebelliousness brings a return to bondage — perhaps you are struggling again with something from which you were previously freed from
A lack or a loss of discernment if our hearts arent right with God - we will be confused with God’s truth and the worlds wisdom
Rebellious people - churches and nations have a declining birthrate. Healthy hearts = healthy births if the heart is wrong no new birth or growth
Exile or isolation — you feel cutoff from the Lord
Allow the Lord to speak to your heart and evaluate if any of these symptoms apply - not to condemn yourself but to evaluate and correct before you must face the music of far severe consequences. Call upon the Lord instead right now - return to the Lord He will take you back — Draw near to Him and He will draw near to you - cleanse your hands.