Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites,
    because the Lord has a charge to bring
    against you who live in the land:
“There is no faithfulness, no love,
    no acknowledgment of God in the land.
There is only cursing, lying and murder,
    stealing and adultery;
they break all bounds,
    and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
Because of this the land dries up,
    and all who live in it waste away;
the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky
    and the fish in the sea are swept away.
“But let no one bring a charge,
    let no one accuse another,
for your people are like those
    who bring charges against a priest.
You stumble day and night,
    and the prophets stumble with you.
So I will destroy your mother—
    my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.
“Because you have rejected knowledge,
    I also reject you as my priests;
because you have ignored the law of your God,
    I also will ignore your children.
The more priests there were,
    the more they sinned against me;
    they exchanged their glorious God for something disgraceful.
They feed on the sins of my people
    and relish their wickedness.
And it will be: Like people, like priests.
    I will punish both of them for their ways
    and repay them for their deeds.
“They will eat but not have enough;
    they will engage in prostitution but not flourish,
because they have deserted the Lord
    to give themselves to prostitution;
old wine and new wine
    take away their understanding.
My people consult a wooden idol,
    and a diviner’s rod speaks to them.
A spirit of prostitution leads them astray;
    they are unfaithful to their God.
They sacrifice on the mountaintops
    and burn offerings on the hills,
under oak, poplar and terebinth,
    where the shade is pleasant.
Therefore your daughters turn to prostitution
    and your daughters-in-law to adultery.
“I will not punish your daughters
    when they turn to prostitution,
nor your daughters-in-law
    when they commit adultery,
because the men themselves consort with harlots
    and sacrifice with shrine prostitutes—
    a people without understanding will come to ruin!
“Though you, Israel, commit adultery,
    do not let Judah become guilty.
“Do not go to Gilgal;
    do not go up to Beth Aven.
    And do not swear, ‘As surely as the Lord lives!’
The Israelites are stubborn,
    like a stubborn heifer.
How then can the Lord pasture them
    like lambs in a meadow?
Ephraim is joined to idols;
    leave him alone!
Even when their drinks are gone,
    they continue their prostitution;
    their rulers dearly love shameful ways.
A whirlwind will sweep them away,
    and their sacrifices will bring them shame.

• Hosea 4:1-19

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

Hosea 4:1-5:7 ‘Dates in Hosea’s Ministry’: “The names of five kings indicate the historical period during which Hosea prophesied. According to Hos. 1:1, his ministry is dated by the reign of Israel’s Jeroboam II (793–753 B.C.), and by Judah’s kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. The total period of the Judahite kings was from about 792 to 686 B.C., although there is no reason to believe Hosea’s ministry extended past the fall of Israel in 722 B.C.
“The words of Hosea are not arranged in the book chronologically, but rather by thematic and poetic connections. Moreover, it is almost impossible to suggest a chronology for Hosea’s oracles, since they are vague concerning their historical context. Most could apply to any of a number of historical situations. Knowing some details about the last years of the northern kingdom, however, does help to illuminate a few of Hosea’s many obscure passages.
“The account of Hosea’s unhappy marriage (Hos. 1–3) traces Israel’s apostasy from Yahweh, and serves as an introduction to the themes and language of the book. This section is followed by a statement of God’s charges against Israel (4:1–5:7), which possibly reflects the political stability and prosperity of the last years of Jeroboam’s rule up to 753 B.C. As already indicated by Hosea’s contemporary Amos (see Amos 1:1), the people had become complacent and comfortable with the social inequality and religious apostasy of their time (Hos. 2:8; 4:11–13).”

• Timothy B. Cargal, et al., The Chronological Study Bible

Hosea 4:1-3 ‘The Lord, the prosector’: “Like a prosecuting attorney, the LORD has a case against the inhabitants of the land. What are his indictments? In Israel, there is no truth, no faithful-love, and no knowledge of God (4:1). That sounds like charges against a pagan people! ‘Truth’ is the objective standard of reality by which we measure our experiences and opinions, yet Israel was full of lies. Likewise, they lacked ‘faithful love.’ Though they may have expressed love in words, it didn’t materialize in deeds. To cap it all off, there was no ‘knowledge of God.’ Regard for God didn’t cross their minds on a daily basis; therefore, it’s not surprising that the Ten Commandments were completely ignored (4:2). Even the land suffered under the weight of their sin (4:3; see Rom 5:20-21).”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Hosea 4:1 ‘breach of covenant’: “Hosea announced that the Lord would take his people to court to focus the attention of all Israel on the magnitude of its crime. God charged Israel with a breach in the covenant. ‘Faithfulness’ is nowhere to be found because the people of Israel had not sustained or supported their covenant with God. ‘Love’ (Heb. chesed; see Ps 5:7–12, …) is the term for God’s covenant love that Israel experienced when God redeemed his people from Egypt. They would know that love again when God would call the contrite nation back to himself. The ‘acknowledgment of God’ that expressed covenantal intimacy had been completely abandoned.”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Karen H. Jobes, Minor Prophets contributor)

Hosea 4:2 ‘Breaking the Commandments’: “The disobedient actions the people practiced were the opposite of what they were omitting. They did whatever was necessary to acquire what they desired, even to the point of violence and murder.
“Their charges included multiple violations of the Ten Commandments: Cursing — Thou shall not use the Lord’s name in vain. Lying — Thou shall not bear false witness.  Stealing – Thou shalt not steal. Adultery – Thou shall not commit adultery.
“Some crimes are misdemeanors, breaches of less severe laws. But in their case, Israel was guilty of violating some of God’s Top Ten laws!”

• Jay McCluskey, A Long Walk with the Minor Prophets

Hosea 4:3 ‘nature losing its fruitfulness’: “We saw similar words in chapter two where God repeats the phrase I will. Those words also described how the consequences of sin impacts the agricultural viability of the land.”

• Jay McCluskey, A Long Walk with the Minor Prophets

Hosea 4:4-6 ‘A higher standard for church leaders’: “Though the people were guilty, God was especially angry with the priests and prophet because of their sin (4:4-5). They ought to have been examples to the people, leading them to worship and honor the Lord; instead, they rejected knowledge. As a result, God’s people [were] destroyed for lack of knowledge (4:6). When leaders pursue their own selfish agenda, people almost inevitably follow.”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Hosea 4:4 ‘let no man contend’: “Rationalizing and denying their wrongs, the people protested their innocence, like those who would not humbly accept the decision of the priests (cf. Deut. 17:8–13).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Hosea 4:5 ‘mother Israel’: “The designation ‘your mother’ identifies the nation Israel, which gave birth to the people (Hos 1:2; 3:2–5). The northern kingdom had been destroyed and had disappeared completely as an entity. Since the priests had ‘ignored” God’s law, God would ‘ignore’ their descendants (Hos 4:6).”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Karen H. Jobes, Minor Prophets contributor)

Hosea 4:6 ‘all were meant as a blessing’: “Where this prophecy could be against the men in Israel who served formally as priests, the tone of the passage implies the rejection of the entire priestly nation. A priest was to be a mediator between humans and the Lord. Then God called Abraham, He stated His intention for all the patriarch’s descendants to be a channel of blessing.”

• Jay McCluskey, A Long Walk with the Minor Prophets

Hosea 4:10 ‘can’t get no satisfaction’: “Their pursuits left them ·without satisfaction. Greed and selfishness never satisfy because no amount of material gain ever feels like enough. They pursued items incapable of satisfying.”

• Jay McCluskey, A Long Walk with the Minor Prophets

Hosea 4:12 ‘spirit of harlotry’: “A prevailing mindset and inclination to worldly spiritual immorality, i.e., idolatry (cf. 5:4).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Hosea 4:12 ‘guilty of prostitution’: “While their practice of pagan worship likely included temple prostitution, they were guilty of literal prostitution. But the emphasis here is spiritual prostitution, unfaithfulness to God Himself.”

• Jay McCluskey, A Long Walk with the Minor Prophets

Hosea 4:13-14 ‘Israel’s high places’: ”Israel’s practice of pagan ritual was described. The people were slaying and offering sacrifices as well as burning incense. These practices were performed on elevated sites instead of in Jerusalem where God had commanded sacrifices were to be offered. Hosea mockingly referred to the only true benefit of choosing these sites for their abominations: good shade. As if these abominations were not enough, the leaders of Israel allowed their daughters and daughters-in-law (Heb. kallah, lit. ‘bride’) to participate in cultic prostitution. God in his justice would not punish these young women, while the men were pursuing cultic prostitutes without penalty. With immorality on such a grand scale, among both the leaders of Israel and the general population, it is no surprise that Hosea predicted the ruin of Israel: they were without understanding and were consequently headed for certain disaster.”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Karen H. Jobes, Minor Prophets contributor)

Hosea 4:14 ‘Cults and Supernatural’: “The religion of Canaan was practiced in innumerable small shrines located on hilltops and in groves of trees. The idols consisted of stone pillars and wooden poles. There were prostitutes of both sexes present at the shrines, and their activities were encouraged and protected, if not required, by the local gods (Hos. 4:14).”

• Timothy B. Cargal, et al., The Chronological Study Bible

Hosea 4:15 ‘ones actions affect neighbors’: “People do not live in a vacuum. Our actions influence others beyond our immediate family. God warned Israel (the northern ten tribes of the Hebrews) not to hinder the devotion of Judah (the southern two tribes of the Hebrews).
“Beth Aven translates House of wickedness. It was a derogatory name for Bethel: House of God. Bethel was about 11 miles north of Jerusalem and stood at the border of Israel and Judah. The location had a reverent history in the Old Testament. In Hosea’s time it became associated with the worship of pagan deities rather than the one true God.”

• Jay McCluskey, A Long Walk with the Minor Prophets

Hosea 4:15 ‘Israel as an example to Judah’: “Hosea presented Israel as an example to the people of Judah and warned them not to make pilgrimages to the north, a practice common at the time. Gilgal and Beth Aven (or Bethel) were cities considered to be heavily infected with idolatry (see Am 4:4; 5:5). Beth Aven (Heb., lit ‘house of nothingness’) is actually Hosea’s contemptuous renaming of Bethel (Heb., lit. ‘house of God’).”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Karen H. Jobes, Minor Prophets contributor)

Hosea 4:17 ‘what sin becomes our idol?’: “What is the sin that provokes this utterance? The sin appeared to be continuance in idolatry. Israel had set up idols. They knew the Lord, but when they separated from the tribe of Judah, Jeroboam, in order to keep them from going up to Jerusalem, set up golden calves. It was not intended that they should worship other gods, but the theory was that they would worship God, the true God, through the representation of an ox, which represented power.
“The same could be said of us. Whatever our sin is, we are warned against it. Our conscience tells us it is wrong. If we persevere in it, it may come to be our eternal ruin. God will say, ‘The man is attached to idols: leave him alone.’ Continuance in sin provokes the sentence-especially when that continuance in sin is perpetrated in the teeth of many admonitions. A person who continues in sin and is not warned may have little fault compared with another who is frequently and faithfully rebuked.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

My Thoughts

Hosea 4 starts with an arraignment.  The accused is brought before the court and the prosecutor carefully lays out the charges against the accused.  In this case, God is the accuser and the prosecutor.  Israel, the northern tribes, are the accused.

Sin can be a sin of commission or omission.  In other words, the sin can be something that you do that is wrong or something that you should have done that you did not do.  God spells out both. The sin of omission is covered by “no faithfulness, no love, and no acknowledgment of God in the land.” (ver. 1).  The sins that they committed are “cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery” (ver. 2).  I don’t like Rev. McCluskey making a ruling that there are the Big Ten and then the rest.  But as he goes on to describe the “lesser sins”, he points out that they are a form of the “Big Ten.”  Thus, any sin is a sin.  Anything taking us away from God and faith is a sin.  All these sins boil down to a form of idolatry, a method of falling away from worshipping God and God alone.

God had caused the land to dry up, but they went further into idolatry in worshipping gods who could not bring rain.  But while priests and prophets went right along with them, each individual was being held accountable.  The people rejected knowledge.  The people rejected the laws of God.

As a result, they will eat but not have enough.  They have given themselves to sexual misconduct and prostitution, and as a result, they will not flourish.  While sexual activity between husband and wife is encouraged, the ultimate bottom line is producing offspring.  Since the people defiled that practice, there will be less offspring, and maybe none.  There has to be some to have a remnant that will return.

In verse 15, it gives the hint, born out in the two books of Kings and the two books of Chronicles that Judah is watching and learning from the debauchery of Israel to the north.

This reminds me of every sinful departure that becomes a fad in Europe ends up coming to the USA.  Often by the time the USA has taken up the cause of such sinful behavior, Europe has seen the horrible side effects of that sin and they are trying to correct the problem.  But the USA keeps going down that vile rabbit hole with even more gusto, thinking they are smart enough to not make the mistakes that Europe made.

Ephraim is often used as a nickname of the northern tribes due to Ephraim being the largest.  Just because Ephraim is ruined by idols, Judah should not follow in their footsteps.

Some Serendipitous Reflections

Hosea 4 1. Are you a ‘heifer’ or a ‘lamb’ (v.16)? Give an example of your stubbornness or meekness.
“2. What causes moral or spiritual decline in individuals and in society? What ‘knowledge’ or ‘understanding’ is crucial in this regard (vv.1,6,10,14)? Where do you see this situation paralleled today? What can you do to stem the tide? How can you avoid being swept along?
“3. The priests were particularly responsible for Israel’s moral decline (vv.6,14). In your society, who are the ones Hosea would hold responsible: (a) Rock stars? (b) Ad agencies? (c) TV evangelists? (d) College profs? (e) Counselors? (f) Federal or local government? (g) Other?
“4. Who profits from society’s sins and sicknesses? Who is more successful in passing on wisdom to the next generation: The church, the family or the schools? Why is the passing on of wisdom and values such a crucial task?
“5. Israel’s idolatry was obvious. Is ours more subtle? What idols do we tend to ‘give’ ourselves to: (a) Careers? (b) Status symbols? (c) Relationships? (d) New age mysticism? (e) Wealth? (f) Military power? (g) Other? Do our ‘idols’ make us more enlightened than Israel was back then? How do they erode ‘understanding’?
“6. What potential ‘idol’ in your life might lure you away from God?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

Hosea 4 has one set of questions.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

If you like these Thursday morning Bible studies, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Thursday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.