Hosea, Part VII

Wow.  We left our last look into Hosea with the verse from chapter 4: "Don't point your finger at someone else and try to pass the blame!" (verse 4).

We have a universal and rather nasty habit of saying that our woe is caused by someone or something "out there"--it has nothing to do with whatever actions or decisions we have made. 

No way.

This goes back to our very beginning.  Remember when God confronts Adam and Eve with their transgression?  What is Adam's response?

The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” (Gen. 3:12)

Look at what Adam does. He blames God outright (with no reverence or respect here) for placing her with him in the first place.  He dehumanizes Eve by calling her "the woman." She has lost her name, her identity, her oneness with him--she is now "the other." He blames her for being in his space--he implies that he would have never sinned if Eve weren't in the Garden with him. Oh, and don't forget:  She gave him the fruit and he (helplessly? without any choice? ignorantly?) ate it.  

Classic. (a) It's God's fault I am where I am. (b) It's that person/group who has caused me such woe.  They don't deserve respect.  The other is not like me. (c) Can we just remove that person/group from my/our space?  Life would be so much easier. (d) Choice?  What choice?  Why are you blaming me? I am the victim here.

Now, a quick moment with Eve: 

"Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate” (verse 13).  

God asks her what she did, not who is involved.  God wants her to dissect her action--seeing if she understands why it is wrong and if so, why. Regardless of the serpent's involvement, she did not follow God's instructions to not eat the fruit.  Period. She passes the blame to the serpent.  

She had no choice?  She didn't fully understand? She thought that somehow the serpent's words were more important than God's?  Who provided everything around her with its beauty and bounty? Who gave her Adam? Who walked in the Garden with her, enjoying her company and vice versa? 

Classic. (a) I was deceived--I didn't know what I was doing. I blew it because that ______ was more important than following God and His ways. I knew better, but that temptation drew me in and I couldn't help myself. (b) I know what I needed to do, but those people around me confused me, and I wanted their approval. They were so persuasive--you can't blame me. (c) Yes, I know.  God loves me, but if He does, why did He make a world that is so contrary to who He is?  Is He just trying to make it hard on us humans? 

So, blame is nothing new. God thwarts the blame game. God will not brook the "logic" of His people who are justifying what is going on.  How do I know this?  If the people had come up to Hosea and said, "We know.  We truly have fallen short of the glory of God.  Please ask God to forgive us," that would indicate they were willing to take responsibility for their actions and the consequences thereof. 

Didn't happen. 

God shoots straight at the target: the priests.  Jesus will take the religious leaders of His day to task as well.  Why?  The leaders know better.  They have the Law. 

If they haven't gone deep into the ways of God, that's on them.  If they have gone deep into the ways of God, and have not followed what they've learned, that's on them.  If they don't really know or understand the ways of God, but haven't rectified their ignorance with study, that's on them.  

The priests, by the virtue of their office, have a moral responsibility to teach the people--not what they think is best, but what God says.  In order to teach the ways of God, you must be cultivating an ever deepening relationship with God.  You can't teach Him if you don't know Him, or you know Him only superficially.

So here it what Hosea says:

My complaint, you priests,
is with you.
So you will stumble in broad daylight,
and your false prophets will fall with you in the night.
And I will destroy Israel, your mother.
My people are being destroyed
because they don’t know me.
Since you priests refuse to know me,
I refuse to recognize you as my priests.
Since you have forgotten the laws of your God,
I will forget to bless your children.
The more priests there are,
the more they sin against me.
They have exchanged the glory of God
for the shame of idols. (4:4-11) 

I think of Jesus' words against the Pharisees: "Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” (Matt. 15:13) 

Blindness: The deliberate ignoring of the Law means that when the priests step forward to teach the people, their blindness leads them to teach all sorts of things--whatever passing fancy they have that day--and the people perish for a lack of true vision. James made it clear that teachers bear a greater responsibility because their knowledge becomes the people's. If it is wrong, the people will stumble and fall: "Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly." (3:1) 

The priests "refuse to know Me."  This is not ignorance.  This is defiance. 

Why do the priests defy the Lord?  Because the world has taken over.  In this case, it's the alluring world of pagan practices and an arrogant sense that because we do what the gods tell us to do, the gods are obligated to do as we tell them to do.

Shocking?  Yes.  Welcome to the world of pagan thinking.  The gods make all sorts of demands. The people do them. Consequently, the gods must act.  

Let me give you an example.  The sexual act between a temple prostitute and an adherent is a signal to the gods to give a reproductive bounty.  The man's semen is analogous to rain, the woman's womb is the earth and thus the act is a demonstration of what the gods should be doing: Bringing forth rain to make the earth productive.  This is called sympathetic magic, whereby what you do is a reminder of what the supernatural beings should be doing. 

Thus, after the sexual act is complete, having fulfilled what the gods demanded, they must act.

If you engaging in temple prostitution, the gods will not act.  Or, if the rains do not come, you did it wrong. Or not enough. You seek to control the gods with your actions, but in the end, the gods are capricious and unpredictable, so you, a mere human, can never be entirely sure of the gods acting in your favor. But most of the time you succeed. 

Do you see how contrary this is to Yahweh?  

We don't control Him by what we say and do.  He acts out of His love.  He acts out of His covenant with us ("covenant" comes from the Hebrew word meaning, "lovingkindness"--hesed). His covenant still stands with us and even when we are disobedient, the rains fall, the plants flourish and the animals frolic with their babies. Yes, sometimes God will use a drought or a famine to remind the people that He alone is in control and desires their obedience.  He does this not out of anger but out of love, for He knows what is best for us and is trying to ger our attention.  

Why did the priests of Yahweh exchanged "the glory of God" for idols?  They wanted to be in control.  They wanted to control the spiritual narrative by dictating to the people what they must do to appease the gods. It wasn't hard to persuade the people, for everything about paganism speaks to the flesh, and humans love that, especially if you put a religious patina over it:  Hey!  We're engaging in human sacrifice and ritual sex to get the gods to do what they said they would do!  And they do!  Look at this land, filled with milk and honey.  And you know why?  Because of us!

So, let's summarize the charges so far that Yahweh is bringing against His children in this Divine Court:

1. The people are not faithful, kind and don't seek God to understand Him.
2. They break vows.
3. Murder, theft and adultery are rampant.
4. Violence is everywhere.
5. The priests are tantamount to false prophets: they do not speak the truth and choose to not know God or they allow false prophets a place from which to spew their sinful words.
6. The people are ignorant because of the moral failure of their priests.
7. There is an ever-increasing number of priests spreading their sinful knowledge to the people and acting in ways that are contrary to Yahweh.
8. These priests are pagans in Levites' clothing--wolves among the sheep.


The Divine Prosecutor is just getting started.