Hosea XVIII

Chapter 10 of Hosea is, as all the other chapters, instructive and relevant.

Past a certain point, people who have been proponents of disobedience will one day look at what they have been doing and realize that, to quote Bohemian Rhapsody, "Nothing really matters."  

What we do, what we don't do, what others do, what others do not do--all of it takes on a certain irrelevance and people sink into a deep cynicism.

Why?  We were not meant for meaninglessness. 

We were meant for meaning.

Despite the sin-soaked nature of this planet, purpose still permeates creation. Trees do not simply exist; they grow and change with the seasons, filling the air with cardon dioxide, and giving us delight, to give only one example.  Science could not exist if creation were unpredictable, because its laws were so.  If such "laws" were more like random events, the universe would be chaotic and without any real purpose. 

Purpose means intentionality. 

God, with great intention, brought order to chaos as He hovered over the waters, which to the ancient world represented chaos.  The order He imposed was encoded into natural laws that continue to keep the universe from descending back again into it. 

In fact, the beautiful hymn in Colossians says it all:

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
   He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
for through him God created everything
   in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
   and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
   Everything was created through him and for him.

He existed before anything else,
   and he holds all creation together.
Christ is also the head of the church,
   which is his body.
He is the beginning,
   supreme over all who rise from the dead.
   So he is first in everything.
For God in all his fullness
was pleased to live in Christ,
   and through him God reconciled
 everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
   by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. (1:15-20)

Jesus holds the moral and physical universe together. God spoke creation into existence and so it is His Word (His Son and His spoken thoughts) that continues to keep it all together. 

But life without meaning, without purpose, means that chaos will reign.  Hearts will harden.  People will grow cynical because no matter what they do, believe or try, life loses its luster and all becomes vanity.

Solomon is a case in point.  He prays for wisdom, which God grants.  God is pleased with him that he asked for this. (1 Kings 3:9-10) 

But all the wisdom in the world, all the glory and respect is not a substitute for a vibrant relationship with God.  The man who prayed for wisdom later concluded that: 

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, 

   vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
What does man gain by all the toil
   at which he toils under the sun? (Ecc. 1: 2-3)

 
According to the text notes in Bible Gateway, the word for "vanity," means:

The Hebrew term hebel, translated vanity or vain, refers concretely to a “mist,” “vapor,” or “mere breath,” and metaphorically to something that is fleeting or elusive (with different nuances depending on the context).  

 

So, ultimately, people (just as Solomon did) figured out that without meaning from a purpose derived from God Himself, life's toils result in nothing. 

This sense of futility besets the Israelites in the northern kingdom:

How prosperous Israel is—
   a luxuriant vine loaded with fruit.
But the richer the people get,
   the more pagan altars they build.
The more bountiful their harvests,
   the more beautiful their sacred pillars.
The hearts of the people are fickle;
   they are guilty and must be punished.
The Lord will break down their altars
   and smash their sacred pillars.
Then they will say, “We have no king
   because we didn’t fear the Lord.
But even if we had a king,
   what could he do for us anyway?”
They spout empty words
   and make covenants they don’t intend to keep.
So injustice springs up among them
   like poisonous weeds in a farmer’s field. ( Hosea 10:1-4)

Despite their prosperity, the people's hearts were never satisfied, and they looked to leadership for solutions.  Those leaders didn't satisfy them, either.

Injustice characterized this kingdom, for the people were not going to stand up for anything--justice included--because nothing really mattered, right?

Who cares whether or not we keep our word?

Who cares if we do what we should?

Who cares if we ignore all the warnings that our behavior will result in catastrophe?  Who believes in that catastrophe stuff anyway?  Prophets are so old school.

What if we think our leaders should carry the load of morality and we do what we want?  Isn't he responsible for leading the nation?

What if we cheat?  Disregard each other? Demean each other? Kill or abuse each other?

The people of Samaria tremble in fear
for their calf idol at Beth-aven,
and they mourn for it.
Though its priests rejoice over it,
its glory will be stripped away.
This idol will be carted away to Assyria,
a gift to the great king there.
Ephraim will be ridiculed and Israel will be shamed,
because its people have trusted in this idol.
Samaria and its king will be cut off;
they will float away like driftwood on an ocean wave.
And the pagan shrines of Aven, the place of Israel’s sin, will crumble.
Thorns and thistles will grow up around their altars.
They will beg the mountains, “Bury us!”
and plead with the hills, “Fall on us!” (Hosea 10: 5-8)

Beth-aven means "house of wickedness," which was Hosea's no-nonsense renaming of Bethel, which meant "house of God," according to the Bible Gateway text notes. 

I find it chilling that when people are overwhelmed with their sin, instead of repenting and looking to God for healing and restoration, they beg the forces of nature to wipe them out.  We hear this cry in the book of Revelation as well: 

Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Rev. 6:15-17)

How many times could the people have, during the dark times in Revelation and in Hosea's day, simply repented?  

God is so clear.  It's so simple:

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (1 Chron. 7:14)

Nothing really matters? Not true.  A repentant heart matters tremendously to God. 

It did then.  It does now.  It will in the future.

Are we listening?