Israel is Doomed Because of Sin
-- Hosea Thirteen
--
This section reminds us again how
that those that hold God in awe and obey Him are blessed. We are also reminded
of the opposite, sin brings ruin and misery. The principle will always be true,
obey God and be blessed; disobey and suffer the consequences. Ephraim or Israel is a vivid example of this truth.
They obeyed and received tremendous blessings from God. Latter their
disobedience brought them terrible loss.
The fact that God had been so good to
Israel makes the guilt of their sin and
disobedience even worse. God had blessed them abundantly and they had
shamefully abused His goodness. Disobedience lead them to face sever punishment
at the hand of their own loving God. They destroyed themselves with
disobedience. However, if they would repent God would still forgive them and
protect them as no other could. Sadly, Israel did not repent but acted like a
rebellious child.
Still God promised ransom and rescue
His people as if bringing them back from the dead. However their sins lead them
to a point of national calamity. "Samaria shall become desolate; for she
hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants
shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up."
(Hosea 13:16)
Israel sinned more and more
-- Hosea 13:1-4: There was a time when the leaders in
Israel spoke for God and the
people showed great respect for Him. As long as
Israel had respect for God
she enjoyed divine favor. But they sinned by worshipping Baal and now they
faced certain destruction.
Israel could be described
with the term "they did not remain faithful." This brought
destruction to the nation. Their sin became worse and worse. They made silver
idols and
even kissed
them. Baal was one of the idol gods that they
worshipped. They wanted a god that they could see. However, they should have
known that such a god would have no more power than the human that made it.
Hosea predicted
the quick overthrow of
the false gods. They would vanish like the mist or the dew of the early morning
or husks of grain in the wind or smoke from a chimney. God had been so good to Israel. He had been their God and
blessed them from their time in Egypt. He is the one true God and the
only God thy should know. Jehovah wanted it know that
He is the one true God of the people. It is He that stretched out the heavens
and created the earth. Man, at his best, loves God, reverences Him and obeys
His will. Jehovah is the only one that can save. They
learned a difficult lesson well because they were completely cured of idolatry
after the captivity.
Consequences
of rebellion -- Hosea 13:5-8: God took care of the nation of
Israel while they were in
the wilderness. He loved and accepted them because they were obedient to Him.
He demonstrated His love for them by the many miracles that He used to provide
for their needs. Many times they would have perished if God had not provided
food and water for them.
Israel was like sheep for
which God provided abundant pasture. They ate until they were satisfied by the hand of the Shepherd that had done so much for them.
While
Israel was obedient to God
He blessed them like a tender shepherd. They were given abundant pasture or to
say it another way their needs were met beyond measure. Sadly, they became
exalted in their heart and forgot God. In Luke 14:11 we read, "For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."
Israel was destined to
destruction in a foreign land because of her unfaithfulness. God said, "Now I will attack like a lion,
ambush you like a leopard, and rip you apart like a bear robbed of her cubs. I
will gnaw on your bones, as though I were a lion or some other wild
animal." God's wrath would be fierce against
this wicked nation. He would expose their hearts to punishment because
of their unthankful disobedience.
Israel destroyed herself --
Hosea 13:9-12: Suicide is a horrible thing. What
Israel had done spiritually
was nothing short of nation spiritual suicide. They had turned from God to
idolatry and destroyed themselves. National destruction was the result of their own sinful choices. It was a sad day in the history of
Israel when they cried, "now make us a king to judge
us like all the nations." (1 Samuel 8:5) Both
Samuel and the Lord were grieved with this request. But God told Samuel "Hearken
unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not
rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign
over them." (1 Samuel 8:7)
When Israel's king was bound in prison by the
Assyrians God said, "You wanted a king and rulers. Where is your king
now?" Was there anyone to take the place of their king that was in prison?
God said, "In my anger, I gave you a king, in my fury, I took him
away." What happened to this king should not be surprising because God had
also overthrown Israel's first king because of
disobedience. Israel's terrible sins were written down
before God. They were now being dealt with as their sin deserved. They will now
know beyond any doubt that they had rejected their only source of help.
Samaria shall become desolate -- Hosea 13:13-16: The sorrows of a travailing woman
at childbirth were used to describe the misery that
would come upon the nation of
Israel. They would go
through a terrible ordeal of invasion, destruction and oppression. However, God said, "I will
ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death." This promise was fulfilled when
Israel was released from the
captivity. A second fulfillment is likely at the general resurrection. God
would not repent or change His mind about this matter. It would be as He had
predicted and His mind would not be changed.
It seemed as if
the unfaithful leaders of
Israel and the nation were
prospering. God said, "No matter how much you prosper more than the other tribes, I, the LORD,
will wipe you out, just as a scorching desert wind dries up streams of water. I
will take away your precious treasures."
The
wrath of God put an end to the unrighteous rule of these ungodly leaders. The
Assyrian nation came from the east and brought with them destruction to
Israel. How bad would this destruction
be? "Samaria will be punished for turning against me. It will be
destroyed in war-- children will be beaten against rocks, and pregnant women
will be ripped open." Samaria, the capital city of the Northern Kingdom became desolate at the
overthrown by the Assyrians. The reason for this
horrible fate is rebellion against God.
Today is the day when we should
seriously consider God's judgment against the wicked. Will you not receive
Christ as your Lord and Savior this day? To become a Christian you must hear
the gospel (Romans 10:17), believe in Jesus (John 8:24), repent of sins (Acts 17:30), confess Christ as Lord (Acts 8:37), and be baptized in order to be
saved. (1 Peter 3:21) After baptism worship and serve God according to His
truth!