In our study of Hosea chapter four, we look at what happens when teachers stop teaching the Word of God. In the first three chapters of this book, we saw how God's people had turned away from His ways and turned to every kind of religion and idol. Here we will see what caused this and what effect it had upon God's people.
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Hear the word of ADONAI, people of Isra'el! For ADONAI has a grievance against the inhabitants of the land: there is no truth, no faithful love or knowledge of God in the land;
God sent the prophet Hosea to the people of Israel as an example and also to call them to repentance. He begins to share the message that God gave him for them and it includes a charge against them. He begins with a call to turn back to the Word of God when he says "hear the word of the Lord". They had turned away from God's Word and so had no knowledge of His will and His love. They had all kinds of religious ritual but they had no mercy. It is much the same way in the world today as many people do not know what the Bible says and don't even want to know.
only swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery! They break all bounds, with one blood crime following another.
The people have ignored God's Word and broke the Ten Commandments. If you go down the sins listed here, you could say the same thing about the world today as it is every man for himself and the world goes from one conflict to the next.
Therefore the land mourns, and everyone living there languishes, wild animals too, and the birds in the air; even the fish in the sea are removed.
Because of the disobedience of men, the earth and everything in it has been under the curse of sin. When sin entered the earth, death did as well but Jesus defeated sin and death on the cross. Therefore, one day there will be a new heaven and a new earth that is not tainted by the effects of sin.
But no one should quarrel or rebuke, because your people are having to quarrel with the cohen.
As men, we like to point the finger and blame others but here God makes it clear that they were all guilty of turning their backs on Him.
Therefore you will stumble by day, and the prophet will stumble with you at night.
Now, God begins to explain that those that were supposed to be teaching the people His ways had not been doing so. Because of this fact, the people stumbled and all are guilty. This verse is just as true for us today as it was in Hosea's time as many who are supposed to be teaching the Word of God only teach a very small part of the Bible. This in turn causes the people to stumble and to disappoint God in their daily walk.
"I will destroy your mother. My people are destroyed for want of knowledge. Because you rejected knowledge, I will also reject you as cohen for me. Because you forgot the Torah of your God, I will also forget your children.
A mother is supposed to care for her children and teach them how to live. In the same way the priests (leaders) of God's people were supposed to teach them about the things of God. Since they did not do what they were supposed to do, God said that He rejected them as priests (leaders). God also held the people responsible as He says here that He would also ignore the children. It is easy for us to say that this is all from the Old Testament and has nothing to do with us because of Christ but that is not true. We still should have the desire to learn the things of God and want to be holy and pleasing to Him. Like the priests of Hosea's time, many pastors and leaders of today are neglecting to teach their people all of the things of God and so the people miss out on many blessings.
The more they increased in number, the more they sinned against me. I will change their glory into shame. They feed on the sin of my people and are greedy for their crimes.
God continues to state the charge against the people and here we see that, no matter how many priests there were, not a single one stood up to stop the wickedness that was going on. In fact, they enjoyed the sin and wallowed in it just as much as the rest of the people. They exchanged their walking closely with God (glory) for the walking in the fleshly things. This passage applies even more today than it did during Hosea's time as we see many spiritual leaders who join in with the things of the world instead of standing up and proclaiming the very Word of God. My friends, it is going to get even worse as we see in Revelation 17 where everyone that is left on the earth has turned to false religions and the ways of men.
But the cohen will fare no better than the people; I will punish him for his ways and pay him back for his deeds.
Those false prophets and priests that were not telling the people of the things of God will be punished alongside of the people. This is what Jesus was talking about when He told of the false prophets in "sheep's clothing". (see Matthew 7:15 - 23).
They will eat but not have enough and consort with whores but have no children, because they stopped listening to ADONAI. Whoring and wine, both old and new, take away my people's wits. My people consult their piece of wood, their diviner's wand speaks to them; for the spirit of whoring makes them err, they go off whoring, deserting their God.
In this passage, God tells of how He will remove His hand of provision from the people that have abandoned Him. Because they forgot that God is the source of all good things, He will stop providing the food they need and will even stop giving them children. They have abandoned the pursuit of righteousness and turned to satisfying the flesh with sex and alcohol. They even turned to idols for answers instead of the Creator of the universe. The same "spirit of prostitution" described in this passage is at work today and even more so as we have so many more things such as cars, homes, and other possessions that can become idols if we do not guard our hearts. God removed His blessing from the people of Israel at this time and we can be sure that He will do the same thing today. God loves us enough to take away some of our possessions if they start to become more important to us than He is.
They sacrifice on the mountain peaks and offer incense on the hills under oaks, poplars and pistachio trees; because they give good shade. Therefore your daughters behave like whores, And your daughters-in-law commit adultery.
The people stopped wanting to hear of the things of God because it made them uncomfortable and they wanted to worship God in their own way. They did not teach the things of God to their children and so the "daughters turn to prostitution". You could say the same thing about the way things are today as many want to do their own thing and pull Jesus out of the closet every now and then for worship. They are not daily walking with the Lord and teaching their children to do so. Therefore, we have all the problems with teenage sex, drugs, alcohol, and everything else that we can think of. Just as God has said that he was going to hold the priests of Hosea's day accountable, He is also going to hold parents accountable for not teaching their children about the things of God.
I won't punish your daughters when they act like whores, or your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery; because the men are themselves going off with whores and sacrificing with prostitutes. Yes, a people without understanding will come to ruin."
God continues to explain that He will not bring down His wrath on the children but they will still come to ruin. The men (leaders) were a bad example for the children so it is no wonder that the children did the same type of things that they saw their parents doing. The old saying "Do as I say and not as I do" does not work in parenting as the children usually follow the ways of their parents and develop the same type of habits.
If you, Isra'el, prostitute yourself, still Y'hudah has no need to incur such guilt. Don't go to Gilgal or up to Beit-Aven, and don't swear, "As ADONAI lives."
God warned that He was going to deal with the northern kingdom which had separated themselves from Judah and no longer worshiped in Jerusalem. Once again, God pleads for them to turn back to Him and worship Him in the way that was prescribed. He also warns them to not swear by the Lord as He will not be with them. This is a reminder to us as well that we should continue in the ways of God even when many around us seem to want to go their own way. On the final day, God will judge what is right and wrong and we all will give an account of our actions.
For Isra'el is stubborn as a stubborn cow; will ADONAI now feed them like a lamb in a big pasture?
As any rancher will tell you, it is much easier to take care of a lamb than it is a cow. A lamb will usually stay close to the flock and will also respond easily to a small correction. On the other hand, a cow sometimes will just refuse to do what you want them to do and they will go where they want to go. They sometimes require more aggressive actions to get them into line. God is asking the question of how can you treat a cow like a lamb when they are so different in their attitudes. We are reminded that Jesus is the Good Shepherd and a shepherd tended sheep not cows. Therefore, if you want to have a close relationship with God (be a part of his flock of sheep) you must respond as a lamb and not a stubborn cow.
Efrayim is joined to idols; let him alone!
When God uses the name Ephraim to refer to the nation of Israel, it is a sign that He is not happy with them. Here, we see that He is not happy with them because they have turned from Him to worship idols and God says to "leave them alone". Like the stubborn cows in the previous verse, you just have to let them go and wait for them to turn on their own and that is what God is saying here. It is easy for us today to say that we would never turn from God to worship man made things but every day we need to examine our hearts to see if that is true or not. Idols can come in many forms (houses, cars, family, fame) and not as just wooden statues.
When they finish carousing, they start their whoring; their rulers deeply love dishonor.
Even when they see God removing His blessing from them, the people (even the rulers) love the sin and hang onto it. This verse reminds us that we have to come to a point where we see how awful sin is in God's eyes before we can repent and ask for forgiveness.
The wind will carry them off in its wings and their sacrifices bring them nothing but shame.
Without repentance which is a change of heart, there will not be any way to be saved from the coming judgment. All of the religious activities will do no good and, in fact, will bring shame on them as they cannot say that they did not know any better.
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