Scripture Reading: Hosea 4; Hosea 5; Hosea 6
Hosea 4—6 covers the sins of the apostate people, the punishments of Jehovah, and the return of the apostate people. In this message we will consider the details regarding these matters recorded in these three chapters.
The sins of the apostate people and the punishments of Jehovah are seen in 4:1—5:14 and 6:4-10.
Hosea 4:1 tells us that Jehovah had a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, for there were no faithfulness or truth, no kindness, and no knowledge of God.
Instead of truth, kindness, and the knowledge of God, there were false swearing, deceiving (not fulfilling one’s promise), murder, stealing, and adultery (v. 2a).
The people were violent, and bloodshed followed bloodshed (v. 2b).
Because of this the land mourned, and the inhabitants of the land languished with the beasts of the field and with the birds of heaven. Indeed, even the fish of the sea would be taken away (v. 3).
The people contended with the priest (v. 4). This was altogether contrary to God’s law, which did not allow the people to contend with the priests.
Verse 5 says that the priest would stumble in the day and that the prophet would stumble with the priest in the night. Also, the mother of the priest would be destroyed by God. This tells us that they all were committing sins. The prophet cooperated with the priest to commit sin, and the mother of the priest joined them. That brought in God’s judgment upon the mother.
Verse 6a tells us that God’s people — the priests — would be destroyed because of a lack of that knowledge of God mentioned in verse 1. The people of Israel did not know God’s regulations, and the priests also lacked that knowledge.
God will reject the priest, for he has rejected “that knowledge” of God (v. 6b). Thus, he will no longer be a priest to God.
God will forget the priest’s children, since he has forgotten the law of his God (v. 6c).
The more the priests were multiplied, the more they sinned against God. Hence, Jehovah said that He would change their glory in their multiplication into shame (v. 7). This indicates that as God’s priests, His serving ones, we need to be careful, for our service involves our children.
Referring to the priests, verses 8 and 9 say, “They feed on the sin of My people, / And their soul desires their iniquity. / And it will be that as it is with the people, so will it be with the priest; / Thus I will visit their ways upon them, / And I will recompense their doings to them.” A portion of the sin offering was to be food for the priests. The priests desired that the people would sin, because the more the people sinned, the more sin offerings there would be for the priests to eat.
As it was with the people, so it was with the priests. This means that the priests, who had been sanctified, separated, to be a special group among the people, made themselves the same as the people, becoming low and common. Therefore, regarding the priests God said that He would visit (punish) their ways upon them and recompense their doings to them.
The priests would eat but would not be filled, and they would commit fornication but would not increase, for they had ceased giving heed to Jehovah (v. 10).
Hosea 4:11-14 is a word concerning three things that were prevailing among the Israelites — fornication, wine, and harlotries.
Fornication, wine, and new wine took away the heart of the people of Israel (v. 11). They did not have a heart for anything else.
Instead of praying to God and inquiring of Him, God’s people inquired at their wooden post (idol), considering that their rod informed them of things. A spirit of harlotries made them err, and they had gone about as harlots away from their God (v. 12).
Upon the tops of the mountains they offered sacrifices, and upon the hills they burned incense, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because its shade was good. Therefore, their daughters went about as harlots, and their brides committed adultery (v. 13). But God would not punish their daughters or their brides, for the men themselves went off with harlots and offered sacrifices with the cult prostitutes (v. 14a; cf. Deut. 23:17).
The people who had no understanding would be cast down (Hosea 4:14b).
Hosea 4:15-19 is concerned with Israel’s stubbornness.
Israel went about as a harlot, but Judah was charged not to transgress and not to come to Gilgal, nor to go up to Beth-aven, nor to swear, “As Jehovah lives” (v. 15). Gilgal was the focus of idolatry (9:15; 12:11; Amos 4:4; 5:5). Beth-aven means “house of nothingness” or “house of idolatry.”
Israel was stubborn, like a stubborn heifer (Hosea 4:16a), which is disobedient and goes its own way.
In verse 16b the prophet asks, “Will Jehovah now pasture them / Like a lamb in a spacious place?” This indicates that Jehovah would limit Israel in a narrow field.
In verse 17a we are told that Ephraim was joined to idols.
In 4:17b the prophet gives a charge concerning Ephraim: “Leave him alone.” Ephraim was to be let go. This indicates a kind of punishment.
Their liquor had ended (v. 18a), meaning that their pleasure in drinking was gone. That was God’s punishment. They had given themselves up to harlotry; their rulers dearly loved shame (v. 18b). They were fond of drinking and harlotry.
Verse 19a says that the wind had wrapped her up in its wings. It had carried her away — a kind of punishment. According to verse 19b, they would be ashamed because of their sacrifices (to idols — v. 13a).
In 5:1-14 and 6:4-10 we have more details about the sins of Israel and the punishments of Jehovah — mainly concerning the priests, the house of the king, and the princes.
In 5:1-2 we are told that upon the priests, upon the house of Israel, and upon the house of the king Jehovah’s judgment would come, for they had been a snare and a net for slaughtering, even though Jehovah had chastised them all.
Ephraim had gone about as a harlot, and Israel was defiled. A spirit of harlotries was within them (or, in the midst of them). Their doings did not permit them to turn to their God, and they did not know Jehovah (vv. 3-4).
Verse 5 says that the pride of Israel testifies to his face and that Ephraim and Israel would stumble in their iniquity. Judah also would stumble with them.
With their flocks and herds they would go to seek Jehovah, but they would not find Him. He had withdrawn Himself from them (v. 6).
They had acted treacherously against Jehovah, for they had begotten strange (illegitimate) children. The invaders at the new moon would devour them with their apportionments, with their possessions (v. 7).
Behind Benjamin would be the enemies, and Ephraim would be a desolation in the day of correction (punishment). This was sure (vv. 8-9).
The princes of Judah had become like those who move a boundary mark to enlarge the size of their estates, and Jehovah would pour out upon them His overflowing wrath like water (v. 10).
Ephraim was oppressed, crushed by judgment, for he was determined to walk after man’s command (v. 11).
Jehovah was like a moth to Ephraim and like rottenness to the house of Judah (v. 12). In the Bible God is usually likened to positive things, but here He is likened to negative things, things that consume.
When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to King Jareb. But that king could not heal him, and the wound would not depart from him (v. 13).
Jehovah would be like a lion to Ephraim and like a young lion to the house of Judah. He would tear them and go away. He would carry them off, and there would be no one to deliver them out of His hand (v. 14).
The lovingkindness of Ephraim (Israel) and Judah was like a morning cloud and like dew that departs early. Therefore, Jehovah hewed them to pieces by the prophets. He slew them by the words of His mouth, and His judgments went forth as light. For He delights in lovingkindness and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings (6:4-6).
They like Adam (or, men) had transgressed the covenant. There they had acted treacherously against Jehovah (v. 7).
Gilead was a city of those who commit iniquity; it was tracked with blood. Like bands of robbers lying in wait for a man, the company of priests murdered on the way to Shechem, committing wickedness (vv. 8-9). Once again, this was the sin that involved the priests, who had become robbers.
In the house of Israel Jehovah had seen a horrid thing: the harlotry of Ephraim was there; Israel had defiled itself (v. 10).
As we consider all these details concerning Israel’s situation, we can realize how sinful Israel had become.
In 5:15—6:3, 11 the prophet Hosea speaks regarding the return of the apostate people. We may wonder how it can be possible for such a sinful people to return. They can return because they are under God’s compassions.
According to 5:15a Jehovah will go away and return to His place, until the apostate people acknowledge their offense and seek His face. Eventually, in their affliction (the divine chastisement) they will seek Him earnestly (v. 15b). Thus, the divine chastisement of Israel will be effective.
In 6:1 we have a word concerning Israel’s coming and returning to Jehovah. In this verse the prophet says, “Come and let us return to Jehovah, / For He has torn us, but He will heal us, / And He has stricken us, but He will bind us up.”
Hosea 6:2 says, “He will enliven us after two days; / On the third day He will raise us up, / And we will live in His presence.” What are the “two days,” and what is “the third day” in this verse? In the Bible there is a principle that “with the Lord one day is like a thousand years” (2 Pet. 3:8). According to this principle, the two days here might signify the first two periods of a thousand years each, counting from A.D. 70, when the Roman prince Titus destroyed Jerusalem and the temple, cruelly killed thousands of Jews, and scattered the Jews among the nations. From that time the Jews have been without king, without prince, without sacrifice, and without the temple, fulfilling Hosea’s prophecy in 3:4. For two thousand years God has left Israel in a dead condition. After this two-thousand-year period, the third thousand years will come. The third day in 6:2 might signify the third period of a thousand years, that is, the millennium, the age of restoration, in the reality of Christ’s resurrection (Rev. 20:4, 6).
In Hosea 6:3 there is a word concerning knowing Jehovah and concerning Christ’s going forth as the dawn and His coming as the rain. The first part of the verse says, “Therefore let us know, let us pursue knowing Jehovah.” The remainder of the verse says that Christ’s going forth is as sure as the dawn. He will come to us as the rain, as the latter rain which waters the earth (in the restoration of the millennium — Matt. 19:28; Rev. 20:4, 6).
In Hosea 6:11 we have Jehovah’s promise to Judah in the return of the apostate people. This promise is that there will be a harvest appointed for Judah, when Jehovah will turn the captivity of His people. This means that in the restoration all the Israelites, including the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah, will be very rich in all kinds of produce from the earth. The earth was created by God to produce a rich harvest, but due to the fall of man, the earth was cursed to grow thorns, and man has had to labor with sweat for food (Gen. 3:17-19). In the restoration time the earth will be restored to its original condition and will be rich, fertile, and productive. Thus, a harvest will be apportioned to Judah for their enjoyment.
From the time that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded Israel in 606 B.C., three things have been taking place on earth. The first is God’s loving chastisement over His dear elect Israel, and the second is God’s punishment on all the nations. These two things added together bring in the third thing — the manifestation of Christ. The manifestation of Christ will bring in a fourth thing — the age of restoration, the millennial kingdom. This restoration will consummate in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth.
The manifestation of Christ does not refer only to Christ’s second coming. The manifestation of Christ is a long process which began with Christ’s coming to mankind, and even into mankind, at His incarnation and which will continue until Christ’s coming back. Micah 5:2, referring to Christ’s incarnation, says that His goings forth are from the days of eternity. Christ’s goings forth are His coming. Thus, in eternity past, Christ was ready to go forth; that is, He was ready to come. At His incarnation Christ came out of eternity into time, coming with His divinity into humanity. Actually, Christ’s goings forth, His coming, have not ceased. Even today He is still coming. This manifestation, which began with the incarnation, will be consummated in Christ’s coming back with the overcomers as the mighty ones to defeat Antichrist, the last Caesar of the Roman Empire.
The Roman Empire is the last of the human governments according to the great image in Daniel 2. It was through the Roman Empire that Christ was born in a way that fulfilled the prophecy in Micah 5:2 concerning the place of His birth. It was also through the Roman Empire that Christ accomplished His redemption by being crucified, and it was under the Roman Empire that the Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost to initiate the church life. With the help of the Roman Empire, the apostles, especially the apostle Paul, spread the gospel in Asia and Europe. Later, the Lord used imperialism to spread the gospel to Africa, Central and South America, Asia, and Australia. Today Russia, a country of three hundred fifty million people, has been opened to the Lord’s recovery by God’s punishment upon the nations for the spreading of the gospel, which equals the manifestation of Christ. Our going to Russia today to minister the proper spiritual food is the spreading of the manifestation of Christ.
