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.