Numbers 18 - Priesthood

The people had been complaining about the priesthood and its supposed privileges. In reality the priesthood had to bear the burden for the sins of the people, so it was an act of God's grace. In the same way people complain about Jesus being the only way to God, but Jesus had to bear the guilt for all our sins. Instead of complaining people should be glad that Jesus is the only way to God.

There were restrictions on who could go near the tent of meeting. The place of God is holy. We see holiness as something that is negotiable. We think, why does God have to be holy, why does He have to insist on these things? This is because our thinking is man-centred and not God centred. 

The priests would share in the offerings given to the Lord. Conversely they would not have an inheritance in the land, for the Lord would be their inheritance. Their lives were inextricably tied in with the life of the Lord.

In the same way, God is our everything. We are to be fully committed to Him.

Numbers 17 - The brains of a dead ant

The Lord decided to do something about the situation of the constant grumbling. He would demonstrate in an incontrovertible way who He is chosen priest was. One staff was to be taken from each of the tribes, and Aaron's staff would have his name inscribed on it. Each of the staffs would be placed in front of the ark of the covenant. One of these staffs would bud, and this would show who God's chosen priest was, for there is no way this could happen naturally.

Moses carried out God's command. The next day only Aaron's staff had sprouted, indeed it had budded and produced almonds as well. Moses took the staffs out for all the leaders to see what had happened.

Aaron's staff was to be kept in the ark of the covenant was a reminder of who God had chosen. It is God alone who chooses the high priest, and in Christ He has chosen the great high priest. Men object "why is Christ the only way to God", as if we have the right to choose how God can be approached!

God had done all this to put an end to the grumbling and so that the people would not die as a result of their stupidity. However, the Israelites continued to be stupid, proclaiming "We will die!".

It is only when we submit to God that we will understand His ways. If we adopt a rebellious attitude then we we will find that we have about as much intelligence as a dead ant.

Numbers 16:12-50 - Rebellion (2)

Having dealt with the Kohathites, Moses summons the Reubenites, Dathan and Abiram. They refused to come. There reasoning was absurd. The reason they had not entered the Promised Land was their won refusal to go in. More ridiculously still they spoke of Egypt as a land flowing with milk and honey. Nothing could have been further from the truth. They were under cruel bondage in Egypt, under forced labour. Things were so bad that latterly Pharaoh had instructed that all male babies should be killed. We need to be aware that when we become full of rebelliousness or self-importance our thinking becomes highly suspect. If we experience such thoughts we need to make a concious effort not to act on them.

Moses reacted with anger and called out to the Lord. Then he summoned all the rebels. Instead of relying on his own authority, Moses relied upon God. Moses relied upon God acting in a unique way. The earth opened up and swallowed the rebels up. This is where our phrase "I wish the earth would open up and swallow me" come from. You can be assured that you do not want the earth to open up!

After this the people as a whole were still rebellious, blaming Moses. God threatened to destroy all the people. Aaron went among the people to stop the plague killing all of them.

Numbers 16:1-11 - Rebellion(1)

Having failed to go into the Promised Land some of the people try to blame Moses. People will always try and blame someone else for their own failings. This group of people were Kohathites, part of the Levi's. So they had significance responsibilities. However, they wanted more. This is reminiscent of Satan's rebellion in heaven. Indeed if we act in rebellion then we are acting in the same way as the devil, so we should be very careful when we sense rebelliousness within ourselves. 

They accused Moses as setting himself up as better than the rest. In fact it was themselves they were concerned about, not the rest of the community. 

The truth was that it was God who had chosen Moses. Moses reacts by entrusting the matter to God. This is always the way to react when we are falsely accused or attacked. Korah and his followers accused Moses of going too far, now Moses turns the tables on them.

Moses reminds them of the privileges they already have as Levites, and that it is actually God who they are rebelling against.

Numbers 15 : Various instructions

After the non-entry into the Promised Land we get more instructions on offerings. God's plan had not changed, the nation of Israel would still enter the Promised Land, and everything was still geared towards preparing for that.

There are more instructions on unintentional sins, and a distinction is drawn between defiant and unintentional sins. Unintentional sins matter, hence the sacrifices needed, but defiant sins are even more serious, for they reflect a condition of the heart.

A man broke the Sabbath. Moses and Aaron kept him in custody until they had consulted the Lord. Then God told them to put him to death. Now this sort of verse was used as a pretext by the Pharisees and other religious leaders in Jesus' time for putting Jesus to death, for He was seen as a Sabbath breaker. By the time of Jesus the situation with the Sabbath had reached ridiculousness, with myriads of rules and regulations, completely losing what it was all about. We see here also a cautiousness on the part of Moses and Aaron. Even so the man was till stoned to death.

The Israelites were to tie tassels to their garments to remind them of the commands of the Lord. They were to live by the word of God, not the lusts of their own hearts and eyes. The root is man's sin is thinking we can decided for ourselves what is right and wrong, without any reference to God's word. Instead, we are to be a people consecrated to the Lord, living by His word. 

Numbers 14 - Judgement on doubt

All the people wailed in distress and grumbled against Moses. Now look at what is happening. 

What is the truth of the situation? If the people will trust God, then He will lead them into the Promised Land, they will face opposition, but God would enable them to overcome all opposition. In doing so He will fulfil the desires of their hearts. 

What do the people think the situation is? They have left a place (Egypt) that they had got used to. They were under cruel slavery, but they had got used to it. It is amazing what we can get used to! Now they had the chance to go to a better land. However, that land is occupied by powerful people, people far more powerful than the Israelites were. So it seems that God's promise of a new land is worthless.

Why this sharp divergence of views of the situation? It is because God's perspective and His assessment of what is possible is always based on people putting their trust in Him, it is always based on what we can do when we work together with Him. Our perspective is so often based on what we can do with our own abilities alone.

Joshua and Caleb implore the people not to give up and rebel against God. When we refuse to take steps of faith we are rebelling against God. The people refused to change their mind.

God offers to destroy all the people and form a new nation out of Moses. Now God is probably doing this to see what is in Moses' heart, and Moses declines the offer. Moses is motivated by the glory of God. Instead Moses asks God to forgive the people. Remember that these people were all for stoning Moses.

God does forgive the people, but their actions are not without consequences. Since they refused to go in, none of the people (except Joshua and Caleb) would enter the land. This applied to all the people who had seen the glory of the Lord and His signs and wonders. Ie the people had had ample opportunity to learn who God was and His power for them.

The people make a vain attempt at repentance, but it was now too late. They had to live with the new situation.

Numbers 13 - Spying out the land

Now begins one of the most tragic events  of Israel's history. They should have been about to enter the Promised Land. Instead it ended in failure of the people to trust God.

It started when they sent spies into the land. Now note that it was God who told Moses to send spies. Sending the spies in was not the problem. For us, assessing a situation, counting the cost, is not wrong, it is not a lack of faith, but our response to what we find might be.

One leader from each tribe was chosen to go in.  Moses gave the spies clear instructions, which included assessing the value of the land, and the nature of the opposition they might face. They were also to bring back some of the produce of the land.

The spies went into the land as instructed, and cut down a cluster of grapes, along with other fruit. They spent forty days exploring the land, and then returned.

The people were eagerly awaiting their return, and the spies reported to Moses and Aaron. Ten of the spies gave a bad report, saying that while the fruit was magnificent, they could not possibly overcome the inhabitants of the land.

Caleb contradicted this, saying they were well able to win victory. The other ten spies remained unconvinced.

Now this attitude of lack of faith was not something new, but a result of their failure to demonstrate and learn faith in the time since they left Egypt. We need to learn from every experience in life, especially the small ones, then we will be ready to face the big situations.

Numbers 12 - Rebellion within leadership

Immediately after the Holy Spirit was given to the seventy (plus two) there is an attack on Moses, this time from Miriam and Aaron, his own family. The pretext for the attack is that Moses had a Cushite wife. Now it is not absolutely certain who this wife is, but a possibility is that it is Zipporah (Exodus 2:21). The real reason may have been jealousy at the special relationship that Moses had with the Lord.

The Lord intervened directly in the matter. This is a warning against attacking God's people, especially His leaders. If this is done without just cause, then you are putting yourself on the wrong side of the Lord. Moreover, Aaron and Miriam seemed to have some grounds for their attack, for Israelites were not meant to marry outside of Israel. You can always find an excuse to criticise someone. Now Moses had married Zipporah while in exile, so maybe God makes some allowance for things that happen before we get saved. 

The Lord speaks strongly in favour of Moses, saying that he is more than a prophet. Miriam and Aaron are severely rebuked by God. 

Miriam was struck with a skin disease. Aaron pleaded with Moses, and he prayed to God for her healing. After a period of seven days Miriam was restored. Then the people could move on.

Rebellion within leadership is a very serious matter.

Numbers 11:4-35 - Quit moaning

Now the Lord had been supplying them with manna to sustain them through the desert, "manna from heaven", a unique food. "The rabble with them ..." A small group of people began to crave meat, and this led to the whole people complaining and wailing. It is relatively easy for a small group of moaners to infect the whole body. This is why we need to be careful about what and who we are influenced by.

The people started reminiscing about the wonderful food they had had back in Egypt. Now the people were in slavery in Egypt and were being harshly treated, so it is highly unlikely that they were eating choice food! Moreover, the reason the Lord rescued them was because He had heard their crying and seen their misery (Exodus 3:7), so they had been complaining in Egypt as well. We need to watch our emotions, and guard our thinking. An awful lot of what we think, feel and say is a load of nonsense!

The Lord was angry and Moses became troubled. Moses first reaction was to complain about his lot in life. Why was he lumbered with the task of looking after this mass of ungrateful and complaining people? Moses just wished he was dead, he had had enough. 

The people complained, Moses complained. So was Moses no better than the people? No, the difference is that Moses complained to God. When we complain to God we may end up being rebuked, we will always end up discovering that God is right, but we will also be changed.

God gives Moses extra people to help him, and says he will give them some of the power of the Spirit. Moses was empowered by the Holy Spirit, and this empowering would spread to more people. We have here a hint of what would happen at Pentecost and beyond.

So Moses receives something from God that will help him. The people would also receive something from God, but this would make them sick of it. In fact they would receive what they were craving. Notice that in complaining against Moses the people were rejecting God.

Moses cannot see how God can supply all this meat. So like Abraham before him, Moses doubts God's ability to do what He has promised.

Two extra men received  the Spirit as well. The Holy Spirit does not always follow nice neat rules. Joshua thinks this is something that must be stopped, but Moses knew that life would be a lot easier if only everyone was filled with the Spirit.

The quail came, but also a plague,  which seems to have focused on those who started the complaining.

Numbers 10 - 11:3 - Trumpets, clouds and fire

Trumpets were to be used for calling the leaders and the tribes together, and preparing them for setting out, and for battles. This is the background for some of the allusions to trumpets in the New Testament, eg giving a clear sound on the trumpet ( 1Cor 14:8).  When in battle they were to sound the trumpet to call on the Lord. So the trumpet was sounded to call the people to do the Lord's will, and then once in battle they were to call upon the Lord. So it is with us. When God calls us to do something, we should expect to need to call upon the Lord once we are in the midst of the battle.

The cloud lifted to lead the Israelites on their way. Moses wanted to take Hobab, his brother-in-law, but Hobab refused to go. Judges 1:16 indicates that he may actually have gone with them in the end.

The journey was not a happy one. Three days into the journey the people started complaining. This was a repeat of their behaviour at the Red Sea (and afterwards). At that time they might have been excused, but they had then seen the deliverance of the Lord, so they should have learnt from this. Instead, they continued to complain, and fire from the Lord came and destroyed some of them. We need to learn from our experiences.

Numbers 9 - Passover and Guidance

This is the second time that the Israelites celebrated the Passover. The first was the actual event in Egypt when the Angel of Death passed through the land. This was a year later in the desert, it would also be the last time they would celebrate it before entering the Promised Land.

The people were to celebrate the Passover to remember how the Lord had saved them. In the same way we take bread and wine in remembrance of Christ and His work on the cross. 

Some of them were unable to take part because of uncleanness. The Lord makes a dispensation and they can celebrate it the next month. However, those who wilfully neglected the Passover could have no part in the nation of Israel. The nation was founded on God's redemptive work in bringing them out of Egypt. In the same way, anyone who is not reliant on the blood of Jesus is not part of the kingdom.

Foreigners who lived among them were also to celebrate the Passover. So we see even at this stage that God's plans went beyond the immediate Israelite people.

Just as the cloud and pillar of fire had guided them to the Red Sea, so the cloud appears over the tabernacle, and continued to guide them on their way. The Lord was guiding the people, and in order to receive His guidance they needed to be near the Tabernacle. We need to stay close to God if we want to receive His direction in our life.

Numbers 8 - Levites

Lamps were to be set up to ensure that they lit up the area in front of the lampstand.

Then we get a whole load of instructions regarding the Levites. The key thing is that they were dedicated to the Lord, and were presented before God as a wave offering. Now a wave offering was one that was not burnt, but could be eaten by the priests. So the Levites were offered to the Lord. 

The Levites were purified, offered to the Lord, they worked at the tent of meeting, and under the supervision of the high priest, Aaron. There are parallels here between the Levites and us. We are now all priests. We have been purified by the blood of Jesus. We become disciples of Christ, giving our lives to Him. We must live in the presence of the Lord all the time, otherwise we are unable to do the work that God has given to us. Finally we work under the supervision of the great high priest, Jesus Christ.

The Levites had an early retirement age! Now people did not live as long in those days, but they were not expected to expire! 

Numbers 6,7 - Offerings and Sacrifices

We now get the vows for a Nazirite. This was a matter of choice, and could be a man or a woman. There was a period of dedication, so it was not a lifelong commitment. There is a list of various prohibitions, but the key point is that they are dedicated completely to the Lord. At the end of the period of dedication various offerings were to be made by the priest. So, no matter how dedicated we are to the Lord, no matter how much we give, we still need the blood of Jesus to cleanse us from sin.

The chapter closes with a blessing that the priests had to declare over the people. It is the function of leaders in the church to be a blessing to the people, and to declare God's blessing over them. We need to remember this.

Chapter 7 lists a whole load of offerings that were brought by the various heads of tribes. These came together with sacrifices. So we see that both need to give gifts to the Lord, and to receive forgiveness.
We can find this concept very difficult. When we are aware of our need for forgiveness we find it difficult to believe that God actually wants to work through us as well. When we are aware of God working in and through our lives we forget that we are still utterly reliant on God's forgiveness and still need this forgiveness on a daily basis.

Numbers 5 - Various instructions

We now get various instructions, some of which follow on from previous stuff in Leviticus.

If we wrong someone else, then we are unfaithful to the Lord. We demonstrate our love for God by loving others, conversely we are denying the Lord when we wrong someone else. If possible, restitution was to be paid to the wronged person or their family, plus an extra 20%. If it was not possible to reimburse those immediately affected, a sum must be given to the temple. So we see here several things. First practical restitution is to be made when this is possible, and this includes a supplement as well. If this was not possible the "sinner" still had to pay something. So there is a cost involved. Now we need to remember that in Leviticus we read of various sacrifices and atonements for sins, including unintentional sins. We now read of practical consequences. So being forgiven for our sins does not mean there are no practical consequences or penalties. The two are not in conflict.

Next we get instructions on dealing with an unfaithful wife. There is a recognition that even when there is no hard evidence, there maybe subtle signs that something is amiss. In this case the matter was to be taken to the priest. The priest was to make the woman make a vow that would bring a curse on her if she was lying.

Now all this seems strange to us, but there is an important and relevant point here. If the woman was telling the truth in denying adultery, then she had nothing to fear. If she was lying then God would bring judgement upon her, it was out of man's hands. Now there are all sorts of debates about divorce and remarriage of people within church. No matter what system or approach our own church takes, it will not be perfect. Ultimately we need to recognise that it is not our job to be all knowing, only God is in that position. But if someone does lie or deceive, then ultimately they are lying to God and will suffer the consequences.

There is a further point. Why these laws for the woman and not for the man? Maybe here it is just a reflection of the social system. When Jesus taught on related matters He made it clear that the man was as responsible as the woman.

Numbers 2-4 - Priestly clans

We now read of the pattern in which the tribes had to arrange themselves around the tabernacle: three tribes on each side. This was the order in which they encamped whenever the tabernacle moved on. Wherever the Spirit leads us, we must live our lives devoted to the Lord. Whatever the circumstances, we must live our lives devoted to the Lord.

Chapter 3 gives instructions for the Levites, the priestly family. The Levites were the first born males of the Israelite women after they came out of Egypt. Israel had been saved from the plague of the firstborn, and so her firstborn were dedicated to the Lord. The Levites were themselves divided into clans, and each clan had a specific duty to perform.

One of the branches of the Levites were the Kohathites, who had responsibility for the most holy things. We then get information on the Gershonites and Merarites.

Numbers 1 - The Census

Just before leaving Sinai God commands Moses to take a census. Why does He do this? No explicit reason is given. Maybe it is an indication that God takes account of every single person. Certainly this is what Jesus taught, saying even the hairs on our head are counted. There is also a warning here. King David was later rebuked for taking a census, so we just because God commands something on one occasion, does not mean that it becomes a law. Here God even tells Moses who is to help him, with one person from each tribe.

We then get long lists of the numbers of people in each tribe. Note that it is the men over twenty years of age who are counted. This happened before they were supposed to go into the Promised Land, but they refused to do so, as we shall see later. So these people would end up being the people held responsible for not going in.

The Levites are singled out and were not included in the census. Instead there whole life was devoted to taking care of the Tabernacle.

Numbers - Introduction

This is another of the books which is sometimes hard to read, mainly because some of it consists of interminable lists! This is why we know the book as "Numbers".  However, the Hebrew title is "bemidbar", which means "in the desert". This is perhaps more appropriate for many key incidents occur in the desert and are described in this book. For instance it is in Numbers that Moses commits the sin that leads to him not being allowed into the Promised Land.

The book was written by Moses, or at least based on writings by Moses. 12:3, where it is claimed that Moses is the most humble man on earth, does seem to make more sense if it was written by someone else! However, that could also be a product of a false sense of humility that we have in the West.

The book consists of (i) the results of two censuses; (ii) various commands, similar in flavour to those in Exodus and Leviticus; and (iii) records of various incidents that occurred in the desert. The Hebrew title for the book would seem to imply that it is these incidents that are the most important element of the book.

Some people find problems with the numbers in the book, which would infer that total number of Israelites at the time was about two million, which is a very large number in the context of the times. Various attempts have been made to do away with this "problem", such as saying 1000 is just symbolic, or has some other meaning. Given that God promised fruitfulness for His people, and that they were fruitful in Egypt (which is one of the reasons why Pharoah turned against them), it seems simpler to just accept the numbers.

Hosea 14 - Salvation

At last we get to the salvation message. The instruction is to "return to the Lord your God. Your sins have been your downfall". Sin is our biggest problem, not doing things God's way is the root cause of our problems. So the only answer is to return to the Lord.

They had to "take words" to the Lord. Animal sacrifices would not do the trick. They needed to admit their guilt and rely upon the Lord to be merciful to them. The same applies to us. Yet we find this so hard to do. We want to justify ourselves, we want to prove that we aren't so bad after all. None of this will work. 

Similarly Israel had to admit that Assyria and the false idols she worshipped were useless and could not offer any salvation.

God's response to this would be first heal our waywardness. Through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, God brings changes about in the very heart of our being. He loves us freely, and holds no anger against us.

Israel would become like a cedar of Lebanon, sending its roots deep into the ground to seek its sustenance from the Lord. The fruit of this would be that Israel would become something to be admired and respected. The Holy Spirit works in our lives to change us, to make us people worthy of honour. 

We become a source of shade for others. So instead of Israel running off to other nations for "help", other nations would come to her for wisdom. This is the way it is meant to be with us. We are meant to be people who learn from the Lord, and so the world can then learn from us. And the world can only learn from us if we are learning from the Lord.

The truly wide person knows that wisdom resides only in the Lord.

Hosea 13 - More destruction

Israel became a feared nation because of the things that the Lord did for her. However, he then turned to worshipping idols. This was not a one-off aberration, but a lifestyle. They made more and more idols. The idols were cleverly fashioned. Ie they devoted much care and attention to making the idols.

The worst thing is that they offered human sacrifices to these idols. When we worship things, the thing becomes more important than people. When we worship God, people become more important. A key fruit and test of whether someone is worshipping God is their love (or lack of love) for people. So the nation would become nothing at all.

Yet this would not be the end. They were God's people. And they were God's people because God had chosen them, not because they chose God. Time after time He had rescued them, but as soon as the immediate danger was over, they became proud, thinking that they could manage without God.

In turning against God, in denying Him, there were denying the one who was their helper, the One who gives them life. This is true of the whole human race.

A terrible fate would befall the nation.

In the midst of all this we get verse 14 which seems strangely out of place. It is a verse quoted by Paul at the end of 1 Corinthians 15, declaring the victory of the resurrection over death.

Hosea 12 - Disobedient Israel

Ephraim just went whichever way the wind was blowing, making a treaty with Assyria, trying to placate Egypt. All this ended up in disaster. We too can be tempted to "go with the flow". This too can end up in disaster. We need to be people who walk in step with the Spirit.

God then brings a charge against Judah. he goes right back to Jacob. Jacob was Esau's twin, and even in the womb he struggled with Esau.  Later he wrestled with the angel of the Lord, seeking God's favour. If he wanted to prosper then Judah needed once again to earnestly seek the Lord, to go after God with all her energy.

There was corruption within Israel, yet they boasted that they had made money without sin. People very easily become deceived.

The Lord had devoted much effort to looking after Israel, now the nation would suffer the consequences for her disobedience.

Hosea 11 - Judgement and love

Israel was created by God, without God there would have been no nation of Israel. Just as without God there would be no humankind at all. Israel, as with all mankind, was loved by God, and Israel was brought out of Egypt at the Exodus.

God frequently called to Israel, but the more He called the more they worshipped idols (the Baals). Everything good that Israel had came from the Lord, just as everything good any of us has comes from the Lord.

Since they chose not to have the protection of the Lord, they would end up in captivity, with many of them dying by the sword. This would be the consequence of their choice. Likewise, it says in Romans 1 that God gave man over to his evil desires. 

Then we get a sudden change in verse 8: "How can I give you up.." God would indeed save them. 

So what is all this about? We need to understand that the horror and revulsion at Israel's sin is real, just as God's revulsion at our sin is real. Yet despite this He chose to save us.

Hosea 10 - The results of not turning to God

As Israel prospered she just built more altars to false gods. She did this because her heart was deceitful. As a nation does well it seeks to find any reason to attribute this to other than God. See how desperate some atheists are to attribute creation to anyone and anything but God. So the Lord would demolish their altar stones. Remember that these altars were also places where child sacrifice and all sorts of prostitution took place. On the altar of a godless society all sorts of atrocities can take place. 

"Lawsuits spring up like a poisonous weed". This sounds like a very apt description of society today. Our justice systems seems to do anything but dispense justice. This happens because we are a society without a compass, without moral direction from God.

So the nation would be taken into exile and her altars destroyed. Their she would mourn.

Yet towards the end of this chapter we get a ray of hope in verse 12. There is always a way out, if only we will turn to the Lord. We are to sow righteousness, then we will reap the fruit of God's unfailing love. We are to seek the Lord. This breaks up us the unploughed ground. Problems and situations that seemed intractable will suddenly become solvable if only we will turn to the Lord.

Instead the nation had planted wickedness, instead they had relied upon their own strength. So disaster will come.

Hosea 9 - Rejection of Israel

The relentless judgement against Israel continues. She could not be jubilant like other nations for she belonged to God and had sinned against Him. In fact they would not be allowed to remain in the land and would end up in exile in Egypt and Assyria. They would have no place to offer sacrifices to the Lord. One might think that this would not be a problem seeing as they seemed to care so little for God. Yet when someone turns away from God there is still a part of us that knows we actually need to worship God, so we go on seeking something and end up living in frustration.

All this would happen because of the sins of the people. This was not a one-off sin, but the accumulation of many sins. God is often accused of being vindictive, but the truth is that He is tremendously patient. When judgement does come we can be sure that it was fully deserved, and every other avenue had been explored, every chance of repentance given. The reference to Gibeah is referring to the Benjaminites and the concubines (Judges 19:16-30). They had never repented of this sin, and so it had been remembered.

Israel had promised much, but ended up utterly corrupt. Because of this she will be utterly rejected by the Lord.

Hosea 8 - Reap the whirlwind

"Reap the whirlwind" is a phrase in common use, and like any commonly used phrases it comes right from the Bible. In fact, most people do not realise just how often they quote from the Bible.

Israel declared that they acknowledged God, but their actions said otherwise. The words of our mouth are worthless unless they are backed up by our actions. Indeed Jesus said, "not everyone who says 'Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom of heaven".

The particular actions of Israel that are singled out here are: appointing kings and princes without God's consent; and making idols. The Bible is vehemently against idols and ridicules them in several places. Why is this? Because they are worthless, and they make man worthless. What is the point in  worshipping a piece of metal or wood? 

They sow the wind. The wickedness of the people brought far worse destruction than they ever imagined. This is true of all evil. Man never realises what the full consequences will be. He imagines that he can get away with a little bit of evil, with maybe some minor bad effects. But the truth is that the returns on a little evil are far worse than we ever envisage.

Israel had sold herself to Assyria, believing it would bring safety. In fact it would only bring oppression. 

Israel had forgotten her God. Judah's attempts to fortify her cities would be futile. All action is futile if God is against us. Turning to God is the only answer.

Hosea 6,7 - The problem lies in your heart

The first three verses seem to offer hope, they seem to imply that Israel has seen sense and has repented, turning to the Lord. They seem to have realised the reason why nothing was working, and that only by turning to Him could they be revived.

Yet this was just superficial. Many times in their history Israel had gone through the cycle of desert God- suffer disaster- turn to God. Sadly it was never more than skin deep. We have no doubt seen this in individuals as well, maybe even in our own lives.

"For I desire mercy not sacrifice". Israel had probably shown her "repentance" by offering sacrifices, but what God desired was a change of heart, which would show it self in mercy.

It was not that God did not desire to help the nation, but every time He was about to their wickedness would come to the fore again. So it is with all of mankind. The world as a whole sees God as an enemy, but the truth is that He loves us, it is only our sin that stops us receiving the blessings of God.

It was the wickedness of their hearts that stops God from blessing them. It is our hearts that need to change. We will look for the cause of a problem in any location except our own hearts.

Hosea 5 - Judgement

Israel had become utterly corrupt. There was great injustice and a spirit of prostitution filled the nation. The nation offered herself to others for rewards. She sought security and economic advantage. Note that this is a quality that the world actually admires these days. The economic system of the UK is increasingly built on prostituting ourselves. Everything is done purely for money. Think how few of our businesses are now actually owned by the UK. And see what a mess we have got ourselves into. There needs to be character, both in individuals and in a nation as a whole.

So terrifying judgement would come upon the land, a terrible invasion would ensue. Judah also starts to come in for criticism. Moving boundary stones, this means changing ancient boundaries. In recent years the government seems intent on moving as many boundaries as possible, many relating to marriage.

In the midst of the onslaught the nation would turn to Assyria for help. This would be utterly futile. God would hide His face from them until they turned to Him.

This is both a warning and a hope. When in trouble for turning away from God, we will get nowhere by seeking help from other places. However, whatever our situation, if we do truly turn to the Lord then we will find salvation.

Hosea 4:10-19 - A pitiful state of affairs

When people desert God they spend lots of energy trying to find solutions to life, and none of it works. They engaged in prostitution, but this did not lead to any increase in population. Wine destroyed the understanding of the people.

They consulted wooden idols, and so got answered by a stick of wood. This is an indictment of the futility of seeking idols. When men desert God they become stupid.

Mountain tops were common places for pagan worship. Pagan worship also commonly involved sexual promiscuity of all sorts.

In saying He will not punish the women God is not condoning their actions, rather He is condemning the men. They would have acted all self-righteous and punished the women, but the truth was that they were no better for they themselves went after harlots.

Israel was in a very sorry state. They were utterly committed to pagan ways.

Hosea 4:4-9 - Do not die for lack of knowledge

When things are going wrong everyone is quick to find someone to blame. God warns the people that no one should do this, for no one was in any position to bring a charge. This is like Jesus' parable of the log and speck. Only when we have taken the log out of our own eye can we even consider judging someone else.

The people would be destroyed for lack of knowledge. We need to have understanding of God. In order to be a priest a person needs to know the ways of the Lord, otherwise he or she is a blind guide. This might seem obvious, yet there are people in some churches who almost boast of the fact that they do not believe in God, yet still claim to be able to lead people!

If we neglect the law of God, then we cannot expect God to look after our children. Now someone might object that this is unfair on the children. The reality is that we are all dependent upon each other. How I live my life affects other people. How parents live their lives will have an effect on their children.

The numbers of priests increased, but it did not good for none of them knew God. "They exchanged their glorious God for something disgraceful is reminiscent of Romans 1.

Instead of leading people to God, the priests relished in the wickedness of the people. But the people could not then blame their leaders, both would be held accountable. This is a warning we should all heed. Blaming our leaders is not an excuse that God will pay much attention to.

Hosea 4:1-3 - Israel's sin

So Hosea has now told Israel the big picture. They started off committed to God (married to Him). They deserted God and trusted in other nations. They were rejected by God because of this, but then God would allure them back to Himself. They would once again be His people and loved by Him. 

This applies to all humanity. We all belonged to God because we were all created by Him. We have all sinned against God and so are, as it says in Ephesians, objects of wrath, but God has sent Christ to bring us back to Himself.

So having got the big picture, we now start to get some of the detail. First we get more information on the sins of Israel, the charge that He had against them.

First there was no faithfulness to God nor acknowledgement of Him. The converse of this is that whatever our circumstances it is worth remaining faithful to the Lord, indeed it is the right thing to do.

This lack of faith resulted in cursing, lying, stealing, murder and adultery. Lack of faith has practical results. When a nation turns away from God we will see effects in the wider society (just look around you!). This then has an effect on nature as a whole. 

Hosea 3 - Reconcilation

The extent of the Lord's love for us is that even though we deserted Him and went our own way, if we repent He is prepared to accept us back, and to love us as if we had never left Him. Hosea had to go and show love to his wife again, even though she had had many lovers. The most precious thing that we have is our faith and trust, and we should put this only in God.

Hosea even had to go and buy his own wife back. Fifteen shekels was half the price of a slave.

When she returned she was not to prostitute herself again. Israel herself would live without turning to other gods. There would be a time when they did not have the full joy of the Lord, this would only happen when they sought the Lord. Then they would return to Him and to His blessing.

Hosea 2:17-23 - A personal relationship with the Lord

We now see the effects of coming back to the Lord. First the names of false gods are removed from their lips. Ie they stop trusting in false gods and idols.

Next there is "a covenant for them with the beast of the field ...". When we turn to God all sorts of things start functioning properly, which previously did not work well. When Adam and Eve sinned God cursed the ground, making it difficult to get food. When people turn to God this is reversed. Now we need to remember that we are in the "now but not yet phase". Ie we experience some of the benefits of salvation, but we also still experience the results of sin. However, we should still experience a change in life. Likewise war and strife are banished from the land.

Most importantly there is a growth in the relationship between the people and God. We know the love and compassion of the Lord. 

The end result of all this is the oft-repeated refrain of the Old Testament, "You are my people" and "You are my God". 

We need to frequently ask ourselves am I living as if I have personal relationship with the Lord? If not, then we may need to repent, we may need to simply remind ourselves of what we have in Christ, of what it is all about. 

Live life knowing you are deeply loved by God.