Hosea 4 A "CONTROVERSY" This chapter is a description of the sins of Israel given in plain unmistakable words that no one can miss. They were without morality even in their religious practices and had chosen to be willfully ignorant of God and His ways in their idolatry. The description of the present condition of Israel is contrasted with the final words of the last chapter. The people had become sold out to their sins, both of what they did that was wrong, and what they did not do that was right. In chapter four they are hugging their idols in contrast with a future day when they will throw them away [Hos.14:8]. God has no choice but to judge those who ignore sin. Punishment for wrong is a necessary action for survival. That is why the cross-work of our Lord Jesus Christ is so meaningful to those who have faced their sin, repented of it to God, and accepted the work of Christ personally.
Hosea's broken home and tragic home-life was an illustration of the broken relationship between Israel and the Lord. It is also a reflection of how the whole world today is seen by God and the reason there is judgment coming. God has eternal purposes for this world and has a good future for Israel, but not in the present condition of things. "Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived."
Likely the people of Israel condemned Gomer for what she had done, but didn't see that they were doing the same thing in their unfaithfulness to the Lord in their spiritual, physical and immoral lives. In their idolatry they seemed to think all the forms of prostitution they practiced were "par for the course." Through Hosea the Lord gives a list of what was missing, and what they were doing that was so evil. They were deliberately without truth, mercy and knowledge, and were guilty of "swearing, lying, killing and stealing, and committing adultery." When people to continue to perjure themselves because of their sin, they affect not only themselves but all those around them. When God takes action against sinful people, even nature: natural disasters, animals, birds and the fish in the sea can become sick and die and then disappear. In Israel instead of the spiritual advisors calling for repentance, humility, change and a return to faith in God, they were leading the way into idolatry and immorality.
False prophets and wicked priests were bringing destruction on Israel, their "mother", and were responsible for the "lack of knowledge" in the sin-loving population that had thrown restraint to the winds. The tendency of others to turn away from
God, should move us to be whole-heartedly faithful to the word of God rather than accommodate to the sinful ways of the world around us and the compromising ways of religion. In spite of the sinful practices and bad choices of the Jews in Hosea's day, God still referred to them as "My people." What grace! Even though they were willfully ignorant of God by deliberate choice, and didn't want the Lord in all their ways, God still recognized them.
The leadership of the priests was a model of evil instead of good. Those low-life priests were chosen by the first Jeroboam and were a counterfeit priesthood right from the start. Then when evil Jezebel imported pagan priests from idolatry, all kinds of sexual sins accompanied the religious practices of an increasingly sinful population. People often say about their so- called spiritual advisors, "If they can do it, so can we." However bad the models are, we are responsible for our own actions even when there is bad leadership. Those unprincipled priests were actually glad when people sinned because they could claim a proportion of the sin offerings they would bring.
Leaders in countries, churches and homes have responsibilities that they must meet, because their actions and decisions affect others. Those "sticks of wood" they used were like divining rods to try to tell the future. People today use horoscopes, astrology charts, tea leaves and palmistry thinking those things will help them make appropriate choices. Some make idols and images out of wood and will bow before idols of their own making and pray to whatever personage they think that idol represents. Behind every kind of idol, there are evil spirits waiting for an opportunity to bring people down in decadence, immorality, sinfulness and into hell.
Hosea's wife had turned to prostitution under the influence of such an ungodly priesthood in an ungodly age. Just like her, Israel had turned away from the Lord to other false gods. Sadly, and with coming consequences, history is repeating itself today in our country as well as other countries around the world. Even evangelical religions are accommodating to sexual perversions in their congregations and "priesthood" in order to appeal to people to attend their churches. Some today are accepting the immoral lifestyle declared legal by legislated ungodly and unbelieving government leaders.
In Israel the people were going to the mountaintops, into the forests - wherever they could go, to carry out their debased, debauched, immoral practices of sexual perversion in the name of religion. When such a lifestyle is practiced and there is no evidence at all of repentance and restoration, the Lord says to people today similar to what He said to Israel, "Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone." When God says, "Let him alone," and gives up on a person, only judgment remains. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap," is a principle that is on-going today in the same way as it was then.
This serious example of an ungodly nation of people being lost, is being repeated in our country. People bow to sticks of wood and piles of stone on the side of the roads which become symbols to which people pay attention and sometimes bow. Spiritual leaders practice immoral living. Money in the name of religion comes into the hands of unscrupulous TV evangelists and local "Christian" churches. Bethel (the house of God) in Israel became Beth Aven (house of vanity). Gigal became associated with idols instead for righteous spiritual experiences. God gave warning to Judah that had remained to a degree faithful to their spiritual heritage, to not sell out to idolatry nor follow the ways of Israel their northern brethren. The people of Israel had become as stubborn as a balky heifer in their resistance against the Lord. There will always be pressure applied on those who are faithful to the Lord to be more like the world and churches around. To not be considered intolerant and unaccommodating to people, the Lord's people are told that we must adapt to worldly ways. We must remain committed to the word of God and the will of God in obedience to Him, and trust Him to do what we cannot do. We give warnings and entreaties. He saves people. We are to remain faithful. He will do what His sovereign will has purposed.
Hosea 4: 6; 6:3, 6. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee…Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord…and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”
WHAT DO YOU MEAN, “YOU DIDN’T KNOW?” To try to excuse myself because I don’t know God’s will, God’s mind and God’s ways, is totally unacceptable. Knowledge is not beyond any of us but it does call for a choice on my part. The knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ can be learned by reading the Gospels. His life, His ways, His word, His teachings, His interest in people, His miracles, His death, His resurrection and His ascension are all there for me to know about. For me to reject such a line of truth as the Person of Christ, is an affront to God who has given me so much clear instruction in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. If one does not apply himself to know the Lord, he or she will never have eternal life. “This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.”
We do not need to remain children in knowledge either. Keep turning the pages of the Bible and we will know the Lord more each day. The Lord Himself gave an example of this when He walked on the road to Emmaus with two disciples and opened the scriptures to them. He showed them all the way through, “things concerning Himself.” Their hearts burned as they saw what they had missed before. We must “follow on to know the Lord” or else remain as “a cake not turned;” burned on one side and raw, slimy and gooey on the other. We are unusable, inedible, unsavory, unreliable, unacceptable and distasteful if we do not follow on to know the Lord.
When we do commit ourselves to knowing God, He reckons that, in the same category as obedience. That is better than any sacrifices we might bring. In the knowledge of God, we gain the right perspective to all the issues of life as well as all the desires of God for us. Mercy is better than sacrifices; obedience is better than sacrifices and the knowledge of God is better than sacrifices. That is because it gives God a higher priority than anything that we might try to do.
“O Father, of longsuffering and patience: thanks so much for not casting us off when we are disobedient, hard-boiled and ignorant. We need so much, to be committed to the knowledge of Thee. I do want to take steps to not just know the Bible and how to pass on the truth of God, but I want to know Thee. Perhaps if I know Thee more, I will become more like Thee my heavenly Father. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.”