Israel
Committed Spiritual Adultery
-- Hosea Four --
Hosea four again deals with the theme of
Israel turning to false gods. How sad it was when God said,
"Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of
Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants
of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the
land." (Hosea 4:1) Israel had turned from the truth of Jehovah to the false
gods of Baal, Molech and others. The people of
Israel were very religious people. They were busy with their
worship. Sadly they worshipped false gods at false altars.
Hosea wrote to warn
Israel of the tragic result of their unfaithfulness to the
one true and living God. Having left God their sins increased and they became
more and more wicked. Their spiritual adultery was caused by a lack of
knowledge of God and of His word. "My people are destroyed for lack of
knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that
thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I
will also forget thy children." (Hosea 4:6) The religious ignorance of
that day was first the fault of the priests and teachers. They had utterly
neglected their duty as teachers of God's word. The second responsibility for
the religious ignorance rested upon the people themselves. Spiritual ignorance
among the people and corrupt priest lead
Israel to spiritual ruin.
The children of
Israel worshipped false gods and looked to them for
leadership in life. God scattered
Israel throughout the Assyrian Empire as a result of their
spiritually sinful state. There they were exposed to injury and much violence.
God said Ephraim is joined to idols. Ephraim is mentioned because it was the
most influential of tribe in the Northern
Kingdom. The priests, the
rulers and the people would now face the consequences of their sins.
A controversy with
Israel -- Hosea 4:1-5: When people depart from God's arrangement of things then no one is
faithful or loyal or truly cares about God. Without God these people turned to
other gods and practice all kinds of evil. The children of
Israel were guilty of spiritual adultery. They had forsaken
truth, mercy, and the knowledge of God. Their conduct had become godless and
sinful. They were so corrupt that "the LORD hath a controversy with the
inhabitants of the land."
Israel had fallen into a very corrupt way of life. There was
cursing, dishonesty, murder, robbery, unfaithfulness and all kinds of violence
everywhere in Israel. Hosea said, "Blood touches blood." One violent act was not
completed until another was done.
God punished their disobedience by bring misery upon
their land. Their wickedness caused everything to suffer; the land, the people
and the animals. The horrible things that had happened in
Israel were the fault of the priests. God said,
"Not everyone is at fault. My case is against you, the priests." The
common people were also guilty. But if you cannot reason with the priest about
religious error what hope would there be for reasoning with the common man about
eternal things. Both the prophet and the entire nation, pictured with the term
"thy mother," would be destroyed because of their spiritual adultery.
.
A
Lack of knowledge -- Hosea 4:6-11:
Religious ignorance is always sad. This is especially true when people have had
the opportunity to know what is right. These people and these priests were
destroyed because they had neglected knowledge. God said, "Now I will
reject you and forget your children, because you have forgotten my Law." "No
one is as blind as he who will not see, nor deaf as he who will not hear."
Israel's priests rejected the knowledge of God and the
knowledge of His word. The result of their rejection was that God likewise
rejected them.
Good
judgment would say that the more priests you have the better the people will
be. Sadly the more numerous the priests and the people of God became the more
they increased their ungodliness. Instead of trying to help the people avoid
sin the priest encouraged them to sin. This allowed them to stuff themselves on
their sin offerings. "They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their
heart on their iniquity."
God
treated both the people and the priest alike when He sent the promised
punishment upon Israel. They were all to blame for the sinful condition of the nation.
Jeremiah described this mutual guilt saying, "The prophets prophesy
falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have
it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?" (Jeremiah 5:31) The punishment
included eating but not being satisfied, and having sex through whoredom but
not being able to produce children. This would be devastating to a nation that
depended on and bragged about physical strength. The people gave themselves up
to revelry, lust and drunkenness. They left God out of their thinking.
A god that cannot answer -- Hosea 4:12-15:
The children of Israel were asking counsel from their wooden idols and other objects of wood.
Their sinful living had lead them to terrible judgment; thinking they could
receive good advise from a stick of wood. Their whoredom, both fleshly and
spiritual, had led them to lust for sex at pagan shrines. They had become
unfaithful to God. The people sacrificed to their idols on mountaintops and
hills. They would find a shady tree under which to conduct their pagan worship.
The spiritual adultery of the leaders of
Israel caused their own daughters and wives to sell
themselves for sex. As these leading men proved unfaithful to God spiritually
their wives and daughters prove unfaithful to them by committing physical
adultery.
God is not condoning or supporting the wrong that was being
done. He allowed the wrong in order to teach these leaders of
Israel a needed lesson. God said He would not punish the
prostitution of the wives and daughters of the leaders of
Israel because they themselves "go to prostitutes and
offer sacrifices with them at pagan shrines. Your own foolishness will lead to
your ruin."
Israel (the
Northern
Kingdom) had played the
harlot and suffered the consequences. God warned Judah (the Southern Kingdom)
that the same thing could happen to them. Gilgal and
Bethel were once places of respect for the true God, but now
they had been polluted by idolaters.
Judah was warned to stay away from such places and to avoid
the evils of idol worship that went on there.
A
backsliding heifer -- Hosea 4:16-19:
In their relationship with God
Israel was nothing more than a stubborn cow. They had thrown
off the yoke and refused submission to God. God would now deal with as a lamb
turned out into a large field. Out in the field there would be much more danger
of attack by wild beasts. God punished
Israel by "turning her out" into exile in
Assyria. There she faced sure and certain difficulty.
The name "Ephraim" refereed to the children of
Israel or the 10 Northern Tribes.
Israel had gone beyond the point of hope so the prophet was
told to leave them alone or not to try any more to reform them. The rulers of
Israel got drunk; went in to prostitutes, lived vulgar lives
and practice covetousness and bribery.
Israel was swept away for sacrificing to idols. They shall
be so humbled by God that "they shall be ashamed because of their
sacrifices" to idols.
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!