Hosea 4
Hosea 4 is troubling to say the least. It is full of destruction, disobedience, whoring, punishment, and the destruction of mom. Wow, what am I supposed to take away from this? This chapter is barely PG-13. There are times that you read something and just want to walk away scratching your head. Remember, every time we read the bible, we can learn about who God is, who we are as humans, and why we need Jesus. Let’s see what we can find here. We can divide Hosea 4 into 3 parts. I will comment on the sections in those parts.
God’s Holiness
The first thing that strikes us in verses 1 to 5 is the confirmation of God’s holiness and expectation that His people would be a people marked by holiness. Next, we see that God considers the rejection total as He points out that there is no knowledge of God in the land. We should find the list of transgressions alarming. While the list goes where we would expect it starts with some things that we find “not so bad”. Something that we should notice is the personification of the land. The earth knows its creator and here it seems creation is rebelling against the inhabitants by not giving up its bounty. We should take note of this as we watch the weather channel. There seems to be a tie between the expanding wickedness of humanity and the earth trying to rid itself of that wickedness.
Leviticus 18:26-28 ESV
But you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you (27) (for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean), (28) lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you.
Lastly, we see why there is no knowledge of God in the land. Even the priests, the keepers of the wisdom of God have abandoned their duties and have been engaging in and promoting sin.
The Consequences of Rejecting God
At the beginning of the section verses 6-11, we see the results of priest and people rejecting God. While obedient Israel enjoyed the protection of their heavenly Father. Once rejected the protection is removed and the discipline begins. We need to remember that to love the world is to reject Christ. That is what was happening in Hosea’s day. The people loved sin more than they loved God. They exchanged the glory of being sons and daughters of the Most High for the trivial enjoyment of earthly lusts. They longed for the short-term high of fornication, and drunkenness, instead of the eternal rewards offered by God. Remember, the things that you store up here on earth will amount to nothing on the day of judgement.
Matthew 6:19-21 ESV
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, (20) but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. (21) For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The Rampancy of Sin
In this section, verses 12 – 19, the rampancy of the people’s sin is reiterated. What is interesting is the insinuation that God is not going to do anything about it. He is not going to punish one group because “Everyone is doing it?”. Matthew Henry puts it this way:
When sinners cast off the easy yoke of Christ, they go on in sin till the Lord saith, Let them alone. Then they receive no more warnings, feel no more convictions: Satan takes full possession of them, and they ripen for destruction. It is a sad and sore judgment for any man to be let alone in sin. Those who are not disturbed in their sin, will be destroyed for their sin.
God only wrestles with the stubbornly sinful heart for a time until He let’s us run headlong into our sin. That is a fearful day. At this point, as Judah is warned in this passage, we should stay far away from that person. In this case Israel was so far gone that God warns Judah not to get involved, lest they be drawn into Israel’s sin. I once heard it said that the best defense against sin is a good pair of running shoes. Run away from sin and have nothing to do with it! I hope that you find this helpful today as you read through the book of Hosea.
In Christ,
Pastor Jonathan Welch
