This week we
shall finish the study of the Book of Hosea in the Old Testament.
The previous strophe marks the end of a series almost made up entirely of rebuke and judgment. 9:10 begins the last series of prophecies that always begins with recalling God’s choosing of Israel out of love (9:10; 10:1; 11:1; 12:3 and 13:1) and is marked more and more by messages of hope and restoration:
V. 10—When the Lord first found Israel:
(1) In describing His delight in “finding Israel”, what does the Lord mean by the following?
a. It was like finding grapes in the desert
b. It was like seeing early fruit on the fig tree
c. Does the Lord really mean it? Why or why not?
d. What does it say about Him finding you?
(2) How did Israel turn against the Lord in Baal Peor? (Read Num. 25:1-5)
(3) By citing this early incident, the Lord implies that Israel has continued their sin against Him ever since:
a. What then does it mean that they “became as vile as the thing they loved”?
b. Can the same be said of us today?
Vv. 11-17—Judgment pronounced on Ephraim: His glory probably refers to the pride they take in their increase in both prosperity and number.
(4) Why does the judgment appear to focus on their children? (What is most hurtful, a judgment on the parents or on the children?)
(5) The judgment appears to be two fold:
a. No birth, no pregnancy and no conception: What does it mean, especially to Israel as a covenanted people? (Gen. 22:17)
b. What will happen to their existing children? (9:12, 13, 16)
(6) How was Ephraim once blessed like Tyre? (See Ezek. 28:11-19 to get a sense of the prosperity of Tyre, a coastal nation of Palestine.)
(7) Because of their horrible sins against the Lord (of which the one committed at Baal Peor was typical), even the prophet joins in urging judgment in v. 14: Should the prophet curse his people as well? Why or why not?
(8) How does the Lord respond to the urging of the prophet in vv. 15-16? (Note: The wickedness in Gilgal probably does not refer to any single incident, but points to the general apostasy and rebellion of the ten tribes.)
(9) How might you contrast the judgment in vv. 15-16 to the delight the Lord expresses in v. 10?
(10) In hearing the response of the Lord, what conclusion does the prophet draw in v. 17?
(11) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert; when I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree.” (Hos. 9:10)
In reading the words of the Lord given through Hosea, His prophet, I am often moved by how the Lord bares His soul, so to speak, in front of the people, expressing His love for them. In His continuous lament on the faithlessness and adultery of Israel, He shares with them His delight and joy in choosing Israel as His own: “When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert; when I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree.” (Hos. 9:10)
We know that there are no grapes in the desert, and to liken the choosing of Israel to finding grapes in the desert, it shows the Lord is greatly delighted to find among all the nations in the world [i.e. those who have forgotten Him, sinned against Him and turned to other gods], a people in Israel who would worship Him, follow Him and love Him. How delighted He is; how excited He is and what a rare find it is to Him.
And to liken them as the early fruit on the fig tree is to show the high hope the Lord has on them as the first fruit of the season, and that many nations would also follow them in returning to Him.
Such is the delight the Lord has in all of us who have turned from our wicked way and were found by Him, like the 100th lost sheep, like the 10th lost coin and like the prodigal son (Lk. 15). How blessed we are in being treasured by God, in spite of our sinfulness, our unworthiness and our insignificance! Isn’t His love amazing!
In this segment, the Lord reminds them of their good beginning and brings charges against several aspects of their sins:
10:1-3—Misuse of Blessings
(1) The Lord depicts Israel as a vine (vv. 1-2):
a. Why would God bless this vine and cause it to bring forth fruit?
b. For whom should this vine exist?
c. For whom did they bring forth fruit?
d. How did Israel handle its prosperity and why?
e. What will their consequence be?
(2) What will such a consequence lead to according to v. 3? What kind of a confession is it?
10:4-8—Sins Exposed:
(3) A society of liars (10:4):
a. Why would the people of God degenerate into such a state, becoming even worse than some pagan societies?
b. Why would some Christians also behave as such?
(4) Idol worship in Bethel (10:5):
a. Why does the Lord bring up the sin of Bethel (Beth-Aven is a mocking term for Bethel) so many times? (see 1 Ki. 12:25ff)
b. What will happen to the people of Samaria and their priests? Why?
(5) The sin of foreign alliances (10:6) — the mistake of Israel is not in underestimating the power of Assyria, but in seeking them as their alliance: Why is seeking alliance with Assyria such a sin?
(6) Judgment of their sins (10:7-8)
a. What analogy is used to describe the destruction of their kingdom in v. 7? How appropriate is it?
b. What judgment will befall their high places of idol-worship?
c. How severe will the judgment be on them? (See also Lk. 23:30; Rev. 6:16)
(7) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“Then they will say, ‘We have no king because we did not revere the Lord. But even if we had a king, what could he do for us.’” (Hos. 10:3)
Throughout the Book of Hosea, the Lord makes it quite obvious that the only way Israel will repent is through discipline and judgment in the hands of God (e.g. 5:15). This is the only way they will awaken from their erring way. In foretelling one of these awakening moments, this is what the prophet says, “Then they will say, ‘We have no king because we did not revere the Lord. But even if we had a king, what could he do for us’.” (10:3). This is, in fact, a double confession:
(1) The prophet foretells that the day will come when they have no king of their own. This of course signifies their destruction as a nation by the Assyrians in B.C. 732-720. Upon their destruction, the prophet foretells that they would come to confess that the root-cause of their destruction is that they “did not revere the Lord”.
(2) But the prophet foretells that their confession would go deeper than such a recognition in that even if they had a king they were not pleasing to God, because by having a separate king and nation in the north, they had not only rejected the God-appointed king — the one from the line of David, they had rejected God as their king.
It is a pity that now that Israel has rebuilt itself as a nation, they still have not recognized their sin of rejecting their God-appointed king, the one from the line of David — their Messiah and King, our Lord Jesus Christ. And their confession of their sins, unfortunately will eventually come, also as prophesied by Hosea: “in their misery, they will earnestly seek me” (5:15).
10:9-10—The days of Gibeah
(1) Why does the Lord again bring up the sin of Gibeah as the sin they “have remained” in? (Hos. 9:9; Jdg. 19)
(2) What “double sin” might it represent?
10:11-14a—Call to return: This is “the poetic portion of the passage” (Word, 169).
(3) This poem first recalls God’s blessings (v. 11)
a. What kind of heifer has God intended Ephraim to be?
- What is the difference between being used to plow and being used to thresh the harvest?
- Apart from not having to be yoked, what is the other benefit in being used in threshing? (Deut. 25:4)
b. Because of their double sin, what will Ephraim (not just Ephraim, but Judah and Israel) be subjected to?
(4) In spite of being subjected to the hard work of plowing, the Lord encourages them to repent using the same farming metaphor:
a. What should they sow?
b. What will they reap?
c. While plowing is hard work, they are asked to break up “unplowed” ground. What ground have they not worked on before?
d. What is God’s promise to them?
e. Why do they have to wait?
f. Is there a message for us today?
(5) What have they planted and reaped instead?
(6) What wickedness have they planted?
(7) What fruit will they reap? (v. 14a)
10:14b-15—Judgment
(8) Presumably the “Shalman-Beth Arbel” event was well-known to the Israelites of the time, but is totally unknown to us today: But what is the emphasis used with this event to denote God’s judgment on them?
(9) What is the main message to you today and how can you apply it to your life?
“Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers His righteousness on you.” (Hos. 10:12)
As we continue to read the prophetic judgment of Israel as well as the continuous call for their repentance, allow me to share with you the prayer of John Calvin as he ends his commentary on chapter 10 of the Book of Hosea:
“Grant, Almighty God, that as we remain yet in our own wickedness, though often warned and sweetly invited by Thee, and as Thou prevailest not with us by Thy daily instruction — O grant, that we may, in a spirit of meekness, at length turn to Thy service, and fight against the hardness and obstinacy of our flesh, till we render ourselves submissive to Thee, and not wait until Thou puttest forth Thy hand against us, or at least so profit under Thy chastisements, as not to constrain Thee to execute extreme vengeance against us, but to repent without delay; and that we may indeed, without hypocrisy, plough under Thy yoke, and so enjoy Thy special blessings, that Thou mayest show Thyself to us not only as our Lord, but also as our Father, full of mercy and kindness, through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
(Calvin’s Commentaries, VIII, 383)
11:1-7—We have read earlier that the Lord recalls that the finding of Israel is like the finding of grapes in the desert (9:10) and its wonderful beginning like a spreading vine (10:1):
(1) What image does the Lord now use to recall the finding of Israel in the beginning? Is it really imagery?
(2) In that God
adopts Israel as His son, consider the following:
a. How does God describe His relationship with this child, Israel? (v. 1)
b. How did God care for them as if they were a toddler? (v. 3)
c. What did God do when they were hurt or injured? (v. 3)
d. How did God lead them throughout their history? (v. 4)
e. Now the imagery changes to that of a master and his animal (an ox, perhaps). How did this Master feed His animal?
(3) What does the Lord want to tell Israel with the above depictions?
(4) How true have such depictions been to your life?
(5) How did Israel respond or repay this Father’s kindness and love? (11:2, 3)
(6) The answers to the rhetorical questions of v. 5 are obvious:
a. What kind of judgment awaits them?
b. Why is their judgment so inevitable? (11:6-7)
11:8-11—The unfailing love of God: As v. 9 says, “nor will I devastate Ephraim again”, this section deals with the restoration of Israel after their destruction.
(7) Read Deuteronomy 4:25-31 about God’s promise of restoration: What is this promise conditioned upon?
(8) In contrast to the rhetorical questions in v. 5, the Lord now asks four consecutive rhetorical “how can” questions: What is the message the Lord seeks to convey? (See Deut. 29:23 about Admah and Zehoyim.)
(9) The reason for His change of heart is “for I am God, and not a man”: How then is God different from man in this respect?
(10) Although when the Lord roars like a lion (in the last days), Israel will come trembling like sparrows and doves, what will be their final destiny?
(11) Has this promise come to fruition yet? Why?
(12) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love.” (Hos. 11:4)
In an effort to call Israel to repentance, even though it is a lost cause for all intents and purposes, the Lord still reminds Israel of how much they are loved, and perhaps, there aren’t more touching words than these in 11:1-4.
(1) Unconditional love: “When Israel was a child, I loved him and out of Egypt I called my son” (11:1).
God reminds Israel that they were once in bondage in Egypt, like a child that no one cared about. But God has adopted them as His child, and loved them as His own — warts and all! Isn’t that a great depiction of God’s love for the world as well, and perhaps even more so, because while the Israelites did leave their bondage ultimately from Egypt because of the blood of the Passover Lamb, God offered His only begotten Son as the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world with His death on the cross (Jn. 1:29).
(2) The love of a father: “It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms” (11:3).
What a great depiction of fatherly love. Israel would never survive the harshness of the desert, like a toddler who would never survive on his own. But Father God took care of them, and indeed, exercised great patience to teach them to walk, and taking them by the arms, lest they fall. We can all identify with the same loving care extended to us by God without which we could never recover from any of our falls.
(3) Leading with cords of kindness and ties of love: “I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love” (11:4).
Israel is so prone to go astray, if not for the boundaries that God puts around them through His law and the chastisements He administers from time to time. Alas, Israel sees them as cords and ties that bind, without knowing that they are for their good. Isn’t this the same with us—we loath the exhortations in the Scriptures and frown at God’s disciplines us in our lives. But all these are not only administered out of love, but will lead us on a path of life, not death.
(4) Healing and nurture: “it was I who healed them…and I bent down to feed them” (11:3, 4).
Indeed, who would care enough to heal our wounds, often self-inflicted? Instead of harsh words which Israel totally deserves, we read such tender words of healing, and that is exactly how God has treated us also. But more, like the oxen who could not feed themselves with their yoke on their shoulders, Israel is fed by God who lifts their cheek and He even bends low to feed them. Such is the extreme humility in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ who, for our sake, has bent low — so low as to become one of us, even as a slave in total submission to the Father — and feeds us with His own blood and His own body that we may have life eternal!
Such is the love God bares before Israel, and is extended to all of us today! Before such amazing love, we can only bow down and worship!
11:12—This verse serves as a heading of the ensuing section in chapter 12, highlighting the core of the charges the Lord is bringing against them (Ephraim, Israel and Judah alike):
(1) What are the charges?
(2) How does the Lord call Himself?
12:1-6—Lying and deception, the nature of Jacob
(3) Why does the Lord describe their attempted alliance with Assyria and Egypt as feeding on and chasing of wind? (Note: The east wind in Israel that comes from the desert is burning hot and bad for their plants.)
(4) What might have prevented them from relying on and pursuing the Lord? (12:1)
(5) The lies and deception of Israel can be traced to their ancestor, Jacob:
a. Instead of recalling Jacob cheating his brother Esau, the Lord mentions his grasping of his brother’s heel even in the womb (Gen. 25:26). Why?
b. In contrast to the womb, the Lord mentions his grasping as an adult, and this time with God (Gen. 32:24-29):
- What does the result of this struggle with God include?
- Do you think it was Jacob who found God or the other way around?
- Why?
c. Why does the Lord emphasize who He is and what His name is at this point?
(6) At the end of recalling this encounter of Jacob with God, the Lord calls on Israel to repent:
a. What does the Lord ask Israel to do in returning to Him?
b. How is this call related to Jacob’s encounter with God?
12:7-11—Wickedness of lies and deception pinpointed
(7) What is the sin that marks the business world of Israel? (v. 7) What is its underlying cause?
(8) Why would Ephraim think that his wealth could hide their iniquity? What kind of a delusion is this? (v. 8)
(9) As God brought them out of Egypt, where did they live? Where do they live now in their wealth?
(10) What then is the judgment that God declares in v. 9?
(11) In spite of repeated warnings and rebukes through the prophets, how have the people from Gilead (east of Jordan) to Gilgal (west of Jordan) responded to the Lord?
12:12-14—God, the Shepherd
(12) How does the Lord recall the humble and bitter beginning of the forefather, Jacob in v. 12? (Note: Jacob basically served as a slave and sheep tending was considered “the hardest and lowest descriptions of servitude”—K&D, 99)
(13) How was Jacob’s fortune changed? (v. 13)
(14) Why does the Lord describe Ephraim’s response to God’s loving kindness as “contempt”?
(15) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“Ephraim boasts, ‘I am very rich; I have become wealthy. With all my wealth they will not find in me any iniquity or sin'.” (Hos. 12:8)
In chapter 12, the rebuke of the Lord focuses on the sin of deception, but Israel’s deception goes beyond dishonest scales (12:7). It reaches the point of self-deception, as expressed in Ephraim’s boast: “I am very rich; I have become wealthy. With all my wealth they will not find in me any iniquity or sin” (12:8).
This is the very deception of today’s prevalent “prosperity theology” in that its preachers say that it is God’s will that we should prosper and get rich. However, such a deception does not end here, for its implications are even more destructive:
(a) It implies that if we do not prosper materialistically, there is something wrong with us:
This flies in the face of the teachings in the Bible, especially by the Apostle Paul who urges us to pursue contentment instead: “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and can take nothing out of it.” (1 Tim. 6:6-7);
(b) Our prosperity and wealth, on the other hand, stand to prove that we are right with God:
This is soundly refuted by Calvin calling such persons, hypocrites, “while they claim to themselves the praise of innocence, for the sake of dissembling, (they) detest ostensibly every wickedness and crime. ‘Iniquity shall not be found in my labors, for this is wickedness; far be it that I should be discovered to be a wicked person in my doings; for I am without fraud in all my dealings.’ But is this the case? By no means; but as they judge of God’s favor by prosperous fortune, they think that God would not be so kind to them unless He regarded them as just and pure.” (Calvin’s Commentaries, XIII, 436-7); and thus
(c) They think we do not need to listen to any preaching concerning sins and repentance:
The teachers of prosperity theology never mention sin and repentance, and Calvin concludes that “We need not then wonder that at this day so much perverseness prevails everywhere in the world”, and may I add that it is not just “in the world”, but “within the church”.
This penultimate message by the Lord through Hosea basically announces the death of Israel:
13:1-3—Ephraim has died
(1) Israel as a separate nation began with Jeroboam who was an Ephraimite (1 Ki. 11:26); while he was exalted in Israel (1 Ki. 12:20), he immediately plunged Israel into the sin of idol worship (1 Ki. 12:25-33), and later on, Israel began Baal worship as well (1 Ki. 16:31):
a. Why does the Lord say that Ephraim has died as a result?
b. If they are dead, how can they sin more and more? (v. 2)
c. In what ways has Ephraim died? (See Eph. 2:1-3)
d. How base is their sin? (v. 2)
(2) What are the images the Lord uses to describe their fate? What do these four images have in common?
(3) These images are not only an apt description of the fate of Ephraim, but for all mankind. Do you agree? (See Ps. 90:3-7; 103:14-16)
13:4-13—Sins of Israel multiply
(4) The sin of forgetting the Lord (vv. 4-8)
a. What grace has God poured upon them in the wilderness?
b. How should they treat the Lord?
c. How did they treat the Lord instead?
d. What images does the Lord use to describe how He will treat them for their sin?
e. What do these images have in common?
(5) The sin of being enemies of the Lord (vv. 9-11)
a. Do you recall what sin Israel had committed by asking for a king? (1 Sam. 8:7)
b. What are they reaping now because of their sin?
(6) The consequence of storing up guilt (vv. 12-13)
a. What metaphor does the Lord use to describe their lack of wisdom?
b. How fitting is it?
13:14a—The Glorious Hope of God’s People
(7) Although the Lord has pronounced them as dead, consider the following:
a. What does the Lord promise them?
b. How will it happen?
c. How does the Apostle Paul speak of its fulfillment in 1 Cor. 15:54-58?
13:14b-16—The present reality
(8) Before their ultimate redemption (through repentance and trust in the one they pierced — see Zechariah 12:10), what fate awaits them?
(9) What do you see as the most severe judgment that will await them? (Read Ps. 137 to get a sense of the severity of the judgment of Judah in the hands of the Babylonians.)
(10) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“I will deliver this people from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction?” (Hos. 13:14)
In this penultimate message of judgment in the Book of Hosea, perhaps, Hosea is speaking towards the end of the Northern Kingdom; the Lord declares that Ephraim (which represents Israel) has died (13:1).
This pronouncement of death carries at least a two-fold message:
(1) The destruction of Israel in the hands of the Assyrians, though is yet to happen, its certainty is assured, and thus the Lord declares, “You are destroyed, Israel” (13:9). The nation is as good as dead, because God has ordained such a fate and no one can save them (13:10).
(2) But the other message is of greater significance and that is they had already died when they worshipped Baal instead of the Lord (13:1). This is the kind of death described by the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians:
“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath” (Eph. 2:1-3).
All sinners are dead in transgressions and sins — separated from the presence of God, incapable of stopping to sin, and will die not only this physical, temporal death, but the eternal death.
However, almost like in the same breath (at least within the same message), the Lord is quick to add that the power of the grave will not have the last say for God’s people, because He will deliver them from death, and the method is through the payment of a ransom (which is the meaning of redemption). With this, the Lord Himself explodes into a song of victory: “Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction?” (13:14). But little would these people bent on rebellion, on worshipping Baal instead of God, and on rejecting the Lord as their king know that God’s ultimate redemption is through the sacrifice of His own Son as the ransom for their sins!
No wonder, the Apostle Paul echoes God’s song of victory when he thinks of the day of resurrection and shouts, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” and explains, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:55-57).
What a glorious hope we have in Christ Jesus!
Now we come to the final message that the Lord gives Israel through Hosea and it is message of hope that begins with a call to repentance:
(1) Before we reflect on this message:
a. Can you pause and see if you can name most of the sins with which the Lord has charged Israel?
b. Which ones, in your opinion, are the most severe?
c. Should there be hope for Israel? Why or why not?
14:1-3—Call to repentance
(2) What are the sins that the Lord teaches Israel to turn from?
(3) What promises should Israel make to the Lord?
(4) On what bases should Israel ask God for forgiveness?
(5) What can we learn about praying for forgiveness from these verses?
14:4-8—Promises of Restoration
(6) The first promise is two fold:
a. The healing of their waywardness: How could such a people bent on apostasy be healed? (v. 8)
b. The restoration of their relationship: What is this relationship marked by?
(7) Vv. 5-6: Their restoration is likened by three images:
a. They will be like a lily:
- In what way will they be like a lily?
- What does this image depict?
b. They will be like a cedar of Lebanon:
- In what ways will they be like a cedar? (vv. 5-6)
- What two aspects does this image depict?
c. They will be like an olive tree:
- In what way will they be like an olive tree?
- What does this image depict?
d. How are these made possible? (v. 5)
(8) V. 7 uses four more images to describe the restored Israel. What does each image depict?
a. Dwelling in shade
b. Flourishing like grain
c. Blossoming like the vine
d. Having fame like the wine of Lebanon
(9) V. 8: The blessing of choosing God over idols:
a. What does the Lord pledge to a person (or a nation) who chooses Him?
b. What will be the basis of their fruitfulness? (See Jn. 15:1, 5)
14:9—Final words
(10) We know that Israel did not listen to God’s message through Hosea:
a. Why did God still choose to speak to Israel through His prophet in such a dramatic fashion, and through such a long period of time?
b. Who have realized and understood His message? Have you?
(11) What would you say is the main message to you in the Book of Hosea and how may you apply it to your life?
“Who is wise? Let them realize these things. Who is discerning? Let them understand.” (Hos. 14:9)
When we began the study of the Book of Hosea, I confessed that my attention was drawn to the insane act of marrying, knowingly, an adulterous wife by Hosea. The act is made even more insane to know that historically, as dramatic as this message was delivered, few would listen to Hosea, and the nation ended in total destruction just as the prophet had warned then. Why then would Hosea bother to deliver the message? Why then would Hosea bother to experience such deep hurt and suffering himself in the process?
Apart from the fact that Hosea, as a servant of the Lord, really had no choice but to obey, and the fact through his obedience, he had no doubt come to identify more fully with the grief and unfailing love of the Lord for His people, even if there was one who was wise and discerning and was willing to turn from his erring way, the message was worth delivering (Ezek. 3:21; Lk. 15:3-7).
Perhaps too, Hosea was conscious of the fact that his words would be recorded for generations to come and would form part of the revelation (the 66 books of the Holy Bible) of the redemption plan of God through Jesus Christ. I can also imagine that in the future when Israel, as a nation, goes through the last days of their calamities (5:15), these words of Hosea will powerfully awaken their conscience and contribute to their repentance, and they would wholeheartedly agree that “the ways of the Lord are right” (Hos. 14:9).