Hosea, Part XII

Here we go.  We are exploring Hosea, chapter 6.  We have just heard the voice of Hosea himself, telling the people that despite God having judged them, He is all about bandaging their wounds and restoring them.

After the correction, comes the love. 

After the love?  Exasperation:

“O Israel and Judah,
what should I do with you?” asks the Lord.
“For your love vanishes like the morning mist
and disappears like dew in the sunlight.
I sent my prophets to cut you to pieces—
to slaughter you with my words,
with judgments as inescapable as light.
I want you to show love,
not offer sacrifices.
I want you to know me
more than I want burnt offerings.
But like Adam, you broke my covenant
and betrayed my trust." (6:6-7) 

What kills our relationship with God?  

Rituals without relationship. 

Rituals without realty.

When the people in Israel and Judah were not engaged in rituals with the Canaanite gods, they were just going through the motions with the Mosaic requirements. They were doing the rituals without wanting to know who God was.  They were not interested in a relationship with Him. 

A relationship causes us to engage in introspection: Am I truly loving this person to the best of my ability?  Am I being hypocritical--saying one thing and then doing another--or am I being sincere in all I do, even if I don't always get it right?

Equally, when the people thought they could accommodate both--God and the gods--their grasp of reality was deeply deluded.  God made it clear they could not serve both: Light and darkness could not and should not mix.  They recreated a new reality of following God: a spiritual adultery that they thought God would turn a blind eye to.  They reasoned that God would understand and forgive them  because they were His chosen people. They considered that God didn't mind as much as the prophets said He did, and that He was more open than He was made out to be.  Surely, He must have understood how the people wanted to serve the gods of the land they were in, due to its abundance and if they wanted that to continue, they needed to join their neighbors. 

To them, all of this was obvious.  It wasn't sin, it was survival. 

Really?

When people have an adulterous affair, they are not prioritizing the relationship with their spouse.  Perhaps, due to repeated lapses in making their marriage the most important thing in their lives, the relationship no longer holds sway over what they say and do.  They also have deluded themselves that  they deserve to be happy; their spouse doesn't really care anymore about the marriage; the children will be happier if the parents stopped fighting and finally, why not?  A lot of people have affairs, and the sky doesn't fall in.

God was grieving how His prophets' words couldn't penetrate the people's stony hearts.  God wasn't about the rituals--He wanted their sincere love. He wanted them to know Him and know Him well.  

Their spiritual adultery elicited two emotions in God: He was deeply angry that they had defied the King of the Universe and He was devastated at their wanton breaking of the covenant that was akin to a marriage.

God's anger doesn't surprise us.  He had every right to be incensed by their horrible rituals for the Canaanite gods and their disregard for human life.  But if you have heard people say that the God of the Old Testament is a harsh God, and is only concerned with judgement, the next verses show us why that belief is wrong: 

“O Judah, a harvest of punishment is also waiting for you, 

though I wanted to restore the fortunes of my people.

Gilead is a city of sinners, tracked with footprints of blood. 

Priests form bands of robbers,

waiting in ambush for their victims.

They murder travelers along the road to Shechem 

and practice every kind of sin. 

Yes, I have seen something horrible in Ephraim and Israel:

My people are defiled by prostituting themselves with other gods!

O Judah, a harvest of punishment is also waiting for you,

though I wanted to restore the fortunes of my people." (6:8-11)

When the people broke the covenant with God and violated His trust (verse 7), it was because the leaders were aiding and abetting the people's disobedience by doing so themselves. The commandments, given by Moses, were a visible manifestation of the covenant relationship between God and His people.  If the priests themselves broke the law, they were being a contemptible role model, because they gave sin a kind of respectability: If the priests don't tell us to stop, well, why not keep going?  They don't seem to care. Why should I? 

Had Judah pointed to Israel to justify their sin, saying that the northern kingdom was getting away with pagan practices?  

Had Israel pointed to Judah to justify their sin, saying that the southern kingdom was getting away with pagan practices? 

Had they both insisted that God couldn't be all that angry because nothing had happened? All that doom and gloom was just the rantings and raving of a misguided prophet?  Didn't the prophet say that God want to "restore the fortunes of His people"? 

This argues that God was (and is not) harsh, vengeful and perpetually angry at human beings:  He was (and still is) waiting for our repentance.

But isn't that the very sin in our hearts that makes us blame Him when His judgment finally falls?  

Do you hear a distant echo here?  Do the words, "Did God really say?" come floating back?  That God is not trustworthy?  That He doesn't mean what He says?  That He doesn't say what He means? 

These lies have dogged humanity since the Garden. 

We ignore God's words and then when our lives fall apart, we echo Adam: "It was the woman you gave me..."  In other words: It's your fault, God.  Without ___________, I wouldn't have sinned.

Then we echo the words of Eve: "The serpent deceived me."  In other words: I am not at fault here. I was deceived...

This is why He sent His prophets.  He wanted His children to be fully appraised of what He expected of them, and what the consequences were if they disobeyed.  

He also wanted His children to hear His grief and hurt that His children, after all He's lovingly done for them, have turned away and ignored Him in heart and in deed. 

If God were truly irresponsible and capricious as Satan insinuates He is, humanity would have ended in the Garden, right then and there, about two minutes after God questioned our Parents. 

But God has stood by His errant and arrogant children, with warning and waiting, and a heart that  deeply wanted their repentance.  

He still warns.  

He still waits. 

 

Hosea Part XI

 I want Scripture to drive this blog.  I could take a few verses here and there, and have them be the theme of what I write.  But Scripture is more nuanced than that.  Yes, there are driving themes, but there is also commentary, asides and quick observations to the theme before the writer returns to it.  That is why I like to look at whole passages. 

Let's continue with chapter 6 of Hosea.  We hear the Lord speaking in this book, as it should be--prophecy is when the Lord speaks--but sometimes the prophet's voice is heard.  He pleads with the people to listen to what the Lord is saying. Hosea feels the full weight and import of what the Lord is saying.  He is blowing the trumpet, if you will, and is exerting all of his strength to have it be loud and clear. 

But remember, heavy is the weight of the message the messenger must bear.  He not only gets the message first, he can sense, way before the the people hear it, that God will bring either restoration or judgement and He means what He says. The people can ignore the prophet if they choose, but the prophet cannot ignore the people. 

But he also knows that he will be swept along with the events he is foretelling. The prophet is not just speaking to the people; he is part of the people. The prophet is innocent, but not so the people he speaks to.  And so he warns.     

Perhaps a good analogy to this is there are many people in America who are deeply disturbed by what is going on in this country.  They pray for America, and want to see the moral decline slow down or better yet, recede altogether.  But if God's judgement falls (and I believe it will) then those who are faithful to God will be swept right along with it. God's church is at its strongest when evil is at its worst.  People such as Corrie Ten Boom, whose family hid Jewish people during World War II, is a good example.  When the Germans invaded the Netherlands, Corrie's family started hiding Jewish people who came to their house. Eventually, they were betrayed and the family was arrested.  Corrie and her sister were sent to Ravensbruck, a notorious concentration camp for women in Germany.  

The sisters suffered terribly but were able to share their faith and love with the inmates. Corrie survived; her sister did not. 

These women suffered along with everyone else. The world needed their light.   

Jesus compares us to light.  What is the purpose of light except to drive away darkness?  If we hide our light--as Jesus taught us not to do--then the darkness wins.  The light is an argument against the darkness and whenever people act as light, they are reminding the world that the darkness need not take over--it can be driven out.  

The words of Hosea, too, were light, driving out the darkness of lies by God's truth.  

The darkness doesn't want the light and avoids it whenever possible. Jesus testifies to His own ministry as being one that challenges the darkness: 

"This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God." (John 3:19-21)

Prophets were the candle-bearers of God's light. They were not just leaders in the fight for light but were participants as well. Hosea's marriage is a good example of this: He was told to marry a prostitute to exemplify the infidelity of the Israel.  He had children with her.  His domestic catastrophe spoke to the national catastrophe that was all around him. He suffered so the people would not have to.  But they did not listen.

Here we hear the prophet's own voice:

“Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces;
now he will heal us.
He has injured us;
now he will bandage our wounds.
In just a short time he will restore us,
so that we may live in his presence.
Oh, that we might know the Lord!
Let us press on to know him.
He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn
or the coming of rains in early spring.” (6:1-3) 

Notice how Hosea says, "us."  He is not just standing by while all this judgement like mighty waters rolls down--he is part of it.  This is where his humility shines through.  He could have said,

Come on, Lord, bring it on!  I am not going to these temples, cavorting with prostitutes or bowing my knee to Baal.  No.  I am standing strong in my faith.  I was even obedient to You when You asked me to marry Gomer--much to my dismay.  But I did it.  I am not like those people! I love and serve You and they get what they deserve. But I know you will spare me."

No.  Hosea knew that while his sin might not be anywhere near as egregious as his fellow Jews, he was not free from sin.  

None of us are.  That is why humility is so essential as we walk in Christ. No, I may not be doing what you're doing.  No, my sin may not so obvious as yours, so I can get away with it better than you.  But at the end of the day, we are all sinners. We all deserve to be swept away under the judgment of a loving and just God.  Yet He stays His hand.

Why?   

He wants us to repent. 

He gives us time to repent.

He tells how we must repent.

He warns what will happen if we do not repent.

He waits for us to repent.

Isaiah said it best: 

"Wash yourselves and be clean!
Get your sins out of my sight.
Give up your evil ways.
Learn to do good.
Seek justice.
Help the oppressed.
Defend the cause of orphans.
Fight for the rights of widows.

'Come now, let’s settle this,'
says the Lord.
'Though your sins are like scarlet,
I will make them as white as snow.
Though they are red like crimson,
I will make them as white as wool.
If you will only obey me,
you will have plenty to eat.
But if you turn away and refuse to listen,
you will be devoured by the sword of your enemies.
I, the Lord, have spoken!'” (1:16-20) 

Hosea looks at us and says, "Can I get an amen?"

Hosea, Part X

Is compromise really possible with the world?  Can a follower of Yahweh praise Him and then cozy up to Baal? 

Jesus made it very how the world will respond to His followers:  

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’" (John 15:18-25) 

Paul makes it very clear what our role is: 

"For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, 'Come back to God!'" (2 Cor. 5:19-20) 

But to assume that even if we are deeply committed Christians, doing our best to be that sweet aroma, that loyal ambassador and a person who truly loves others, we will not be hated, is a delusion. We will experience condemnation and backlash.  Count on it. They lashed out at Jesus, so we can't expect anything less.  But Peter makes it clear that when we suffer, it must be for Christ and not for our sin:   

Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world. If you are insulted because you bear the name of Christ, you will be blessed, for the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you. If you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble, or prying into other people’s affairs. But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian...So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you. (1 Peter 4:14-16 & 19) 

Israel had that same charge: to be a blessing to all nations. How so? Israel would model a society where the sanctity of human life and a life of obedience to a just and loving God would be a powerful counter argument to the way of the pagan world, whose values were the very opposite. God gave that charge to Abraham: "through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” (Gen. 22:18)

In Hosea's day, Israel had become no different than the nations around it. When we do not act differently from the world, what's the point of becoming a Christian in the first place? If we follow Christ, but live a life that aligns with the world's values, why would people even notice us, much less care about Jesus?  Our churches become country clubs with Bibles, and our witness is compromised, making it rather useless for inviting people to consider Jesus.

Most of the time, when Christian leaders fall from the heights of their popularity, the world notices. If you or I fail, it is no less catastrophic.  The people we know and have talked to, and who have seen our faith in action, will look at us and say, "Was it real? Was any of it real?  Is this whole Jesus-thing real?" 

  

In looking at the first few verses in chapter 5, we see God accusing the priests and the royal family for ensnaring their people by leading them into idol worship. The sad thing is the people went right along with it.  There have been times in history when people looked at their leaders and would not follow them; more often than not, people follow the leaders and then the leaders justify their behavior, because they can say that they're only giving the people what they want. 

God then goes on to say that Judah (the southern kingdom) will be no different than Israel.  Why? They are both guilty of "prostitution"--the unholy dependance and reverence for the gods of the Canaanites. 

God then says, 

“Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God.
A spirit of prostitution is in their heart;
they do not acknowledge the Lord.
Israel’s arrogance testifies against them;
the Israelites, even Ephraim, stumble in their sin;
Judah also stumbles with them.
When they go with their flocks and herds
to seek the Lord,
they will not find him;
he has withdrawn himself from them." (5:4-6) 

Will the people notice that the Lord has left them?  They seek Him, but are they sincere in their seeking?  Or do they expect Him to be there because they are the chosen ones and Yahweh picked them out of all the nations on earth? Why would He desert them?  

God is very clear as to why: "They are unfaithful to the Lord" (v. 7)

They don't argue for His existence--they are willing to seek Him. They don't reject their status as the chosen people. They still possess their heritage and history, where God raised up leaders (such as Moses, Joshua and David) in times of peril.  God always came through for them--so are they banking on that again, despite all of this talk about judgment?   

God is emphatic that judgment is coming and it won't be mitigated by history, heritage, a deliverer or Him relenting at the last minute. Why? God says, "The people of Israel will be crushed and broken by my judgment because they are determined to worship idols." (v. 11) 

Another way to render that second part of that verse is they are "determined to follow human commands."

Either way, the people refuse to--and here's the missing piece to all of this--humbly repent and seek God, not in the image they have created of Him, but for who He truly is.  

If they really sought God for who He truly is, they would drop idol worship immediately.  Full stop. 

But they don't.  They are determined to continue in their shameful practices, and call on gods that demand reprobate behavior.  These gods stand for everything that this evil world celebrates. 

God is having none of it. 

Once God's judgment has fallen upon them, God will wait: 

"Then I will return to my place
until they admit their guilt and turn to me.
For as soon as trouble comes,
they will earnestly search for me.” (15)

God is waiting for repentance.  God knows what we have done.  He wants to forgive us.  He wants us to repent.  But He equally wants us to own what we have done, admit our guilt and humbly asked for His  forgiveness.  

After any major catastrophe, people turn to God.  I remember people after 9/11 singing, praying and wanting God to be once more present in our national life.  It wasn't very long before America returned to business as usual.  Why?  We want God when we can't control, fix or do anything to change a situation. It is at that moment we realize how small and powerless we truly are and how only God Himself will be able to pull us out or pull us through.  

Once we are back to doing what we want, do we delude ourselves that God won't judge us because of our history, heritage, strong military and how God has always come through for us? Why would He not do this now? 

Are we repenting in humility and sincerity or asking God to get us out of our latest scrape?

Did the people of the northern kingdom really care at the end of the day?  

You can just hear them: Nothing bad has happened as of yet.  Hosea has been blathering on now for many decades.  Warning after warning.  It's all rather boring. In fact, we even asked the king of Assyria to help us (v. 13) so why would they then destroy as Hosea keeps insisting they will? 

All of this judgment stuff is so unfair.  Yeah, we sin, but how can you deny how well taken care of this land is by its gods?  A little compromise doesn't really hurt.  If God was going to judge us, He would have a long time ago. Still waiting, God.

Yes, we are still waiting.  We have had a lot of indications that life here in America is not going well. But remember: God does not act quickly, but suddenly.