INTRODUCTION
Hosea 1-3: full
text
Turn in your bibles over toward the end of the Old Testament right after
the Book of Daniel to the Book of Hosea. I’m going today to begin this
morning teaching through the books of what we call the "Minor Prophets."
Don’t be deceived into thinking that they are unimportant because they
are called "minor." They are only called "Minor Prophets" because of the
length
of the book. Most of them are very short, as compared to Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Ezekiel; hence they are called the "Minor." But I believe they have
real lessons. In fact, I believe they are packed with great lessons for
us today.
As you know when we deal with prophetic literature many of the prophecies
actually deal with the nation Israel. That is true for Hosea as well. And
we will be referring to that from time to time. But we’ll probably be talking
more about that on Sunday nights. Because my goal on Sunday mornings is
to focus on what these books have to say to you and me today. We’ll put
it in historical context, but we’ll do it quickly.
Look at the first verse in the book of Hosea.
Hosea 1:1 (NKJV)
1 "The word of the LORD that came to Hosea the son
of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah,
and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel."
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All of the Minor Prophets, including Hosea, prophesied after the time that
Israel was divided into two kingdoms.
 One kingdom was
called Israel, sometime referred to as Edom; and the other
one was Judah.
Israel
had ten tribes; Judah had two tribes.
Verse one gives us the historical period in which Hosea lived and prophesied.
Hosea was a young man who prophesied in the northern kingdom, Israel. The
last line regarding Judah was there for the benefit of the people in Judah
to give them the time frame. But Hosea’s prophecies are directed to the
northern kingdom, the ten tribes who were called Israel at the time that
he lived.
We don’t know much about Hosea. Paul quotes Hosea in Romans Chapter
9 (Rom.
9:25-26, NKJV); but other than that, Hosea is not mentioned anywhere
else in the Bible. I take great comfort in that, in the fact that Hosea
is sort of a nobody if you want to put it that way. He was not a man of
renown; he was not mentioned anywhere else. He was just a common man, which
shows you that God uses common people, just like you and me, for his purposes
and to bring His messages to a hurting world.
True, Hosea was prophet, and people understood he was a holy man and
that he was a prophet. But when we come to know Jesus Christ as our personal
savior we, too, are holy people in this world.
The Bible says we are pilgrims just passing through. This world is not
our home. (1
Chron. 29:15, Heb 11:13, NKJV) The Bible it refers to us as "tent dwellers."
(Jer.
35:7, Heb. 11:9, NKJV) We don’t build permanent structures because
this is not our home. God speaks to other people through us, common people.
He speaks to us, where we live, and he influences others for the kingdom
of God through us.
Hosea 1:2 (NKJV)
2 "When the LORD began to speak by Hosea, the LORD said
to Hosea:
'Go, take yourself a wife
of harlotry
And children of harlotry,
For the land has committed
great harlotry
By departing from the LORD.'"
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Many times in the Old Testament, God would instruct His prophets to do
something a little strange in order to get the attention of the people
of Israel.
To wear strange
clothes.
To
carry around something for years.
To
get the attention of the people because the people obviously weren’t paying
attention!
Hosea was commanded by God to do one of the most hurtful things
that any prophet had to do. This holy man of God was instructed by God
to marry a prostitute.
In so doing, he would be a vivid example of what Israel had done in
following after pagan gods -- spiritual harlotry (Deut
31:16; Jer 3:1; Ezek 23:3-21; Hos 2:5; Hos. 5:3, NKJV). Hosea -- his
marriage to a prostitute and the children of that marriage -- would be
a living sermon to the people about the spiritual harlotry of Israel and
how God felt about it. And Hosea, by going through this personally, would
be able to feel, at least to some degree, how God’s heart is broken when
people, who say they are His people, follow after other gods --
make other things more important in their life. God is saying: "You know
how a husband feels when a wife is unfaithful and who has children who
are not his own? How that hurts that man? That gives you a little idea
of how I, Almighty God, hurt when my people do not honor me by the way
in which they live their lives."
Chapter 1 - God Judges Spiritual Harlots
Jezreel - "scattered"; "cast away"
Hosea 1:3-4 (NKJV)
3So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and
she conceived and bore him a son. 4Then the LORD said to him:
"Call his name Jezreel,
For in a little while
I will avenge the bloodshed
of Jezreel on the house of Jehu,
And bring an end to the
kingdom of the house of Israel."
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Hosea, it says in verse 3, went out and took Gomer.
I’ll tell you right off the bat, let’s just get the laughing over with.
We think of Gomer Pyle, don’t we? This lady’s name is Gomer. It was not
a funny name back then, but it is today. So, but I’m going to be saying
the name Gomer quite often so just get used to it.
And he took Gomer, a prostitute, as his wife. We have to assume that
Hosea, a holy man of God, would have only done this under direct from God.
As I have already told you, part of this message was to come through the
children of this marriage as well. And when you see in verse 3 the first
child was born it says that, “she conceived and bore him a son and Lord
said name him Jezreel.” The name Jezreel means "scattered"
or "cast away." It was a name of shame in Israel at this point in their
history. Every time Jezreel was called to come back to the house, it was
an announcement of shame to the people around.
Lo-Ruhamah - "not pitied", "no mercy" (a daughter)
Hosea 1:6 (NKJV)
6And she conceived again and bore a daughter. Then God said
to him:
"Call her name Lo-Ruhamah,
For I will no longer have
mercy on the house of Israel,
But I will utterly take
them away."
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Lo-Ammi - "Not My People" (a son)
Hosea 1:8-9 (NKJV)
8Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived and bore
a son. 9Then God said:
"Call his name Lo-Ammi,
For you are not My people,
And I will not be your God."
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Some commentators have surmised that the first child, Jezreel, was Hosea’s
son because it says Gomer "conceived and bore him a son." In verse 6 and
also in verses in 8 and 9, however, it simply says “she conceived.” Both
of the last 2 children, we can say almost certainly, were not Hosea's;
and Hosea knew that were not his children. You see, after their marriage,
Gomer did not stop her prostitution. Did not stop going after other men.
She was unfaithful from the first and remained unfaithful. And Hosea had
the heartbreak of knowing that the children born to her, at least two of
them, were not his.
The second child, a daughter, Lo-Ruhamah, means "not pitied"
or "no mercy" -- "for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel.”
The third child was another boy-- Lo-Ammi, which means "not my people."
Every time the name of Lo-Ruhamah was mentioned, it was an announcement
that God had come to an end, that God was sick of it of Israeil's sinfulness.
The time for mercy was over and judgement was coming. In fact, it was a
prophecy that the kingdom of Israel would soon be destroyed by the Assyrians.
Just when you think that was the most horrible thing you could think
of, another child was born - Lo-Ammi - and the name means "not my
people." This is not some kind of punishment; it’s God announcing what
is already true - that the Israelites had already chosen not to follow
God. He says, "You have not made me your God, so you are not my people."
And he goes on to say, "I will not be your God." Interestingly, the Hebrew
reads "I am not your I AM anymore" -- I AM being the name for the
Almighty God used in the Old Testament. He says, "I will not be your God
anymore. I will not play games. The time for games is over. You might pretend
that you are Mine; but I will not pretend that I am yours."
I think that it's a solemn warning to us. The message of chapter one
is that God judges spiritual harlots.
Just professing
to know Christ doesn’t get it.
Just
praying the sinner’s prayer once in my life does not get it.
There comes a point when God deals with His people -- people who say
they are His people. While the message was primarily for Israel, it is
just as well transferred to the church today. There are a lot of people
who are saying, “Yes, I’m a follower of Christ. Yes, I’m a Christian."
But God is not the love of their life. And they have other loves that actually
take precedence over Him. And God says, “You are pretending but I will
not pretend."
Even in the midst of this dire situation, God gives out word of hope
here in Chapter 1.We’re not going to read every verse, but in verse 10
he refers to the promise He made to Abraham. "I’ll keep that promise. One
day, Israel, you’ll be restored. One day they would choose Him as their
God and He would be their people."
Hosea1:10
(NIV): "Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which
cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them,
'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.'"
Chapter 2 - God Pursues Spiritual Harlots
What is a spiritual harlot? The definition includes three things.
-
idolatry -- putting other things above God; loving other things more than
God;
-
ingratitude; and
-
insincerity in the worship of God.
You've got to realize that Hosea lived in a time where the atmosphere was
filled with sexual innuendo -- there’s a lot of common between Hosea’s
day and our day! In that day, the primary pagan worship was the worship
of Baal, which included both male and female prostitution. Baal was considered
to be a god who required sexual activity to stir him into action. So, for
example, if you wanted to have good crops, you would pay for sexual favors
with either male or female prostititues from the temple of Baal. The Jews
were professing that they were still followers of God and participating
in temple rituals, but were also participating in the sexual activities
that went along with worshipping Baal. They were trying to do both; and
God said, "I will not have it." How appropriate, how analogous, what a
parallel to the sexually-charged age in which we live! I’m afraid
there’s a whole lot of people like the Jews in Hosea's time - people who
are sitting in the pews today, going through the motions -- the rituals
-- but whose first love is really some form of sexual behavior. They’re
still sort of clinging to religion.
But let me tell you God has not use for religion.
He has no use
for rituals.
He
wants you.
A. Negative Motivation
In Chapter 2 we see how God attempts to brings spiritual harlots back
to Him. One way He pursues them is with what we might call negative
motivation. The New Testament calls it chastisement and God
chastises those He loves (Heb
6:12, NKJV). The all-knowing God cannot let you just continue to careen
down the road to destruction without intervening. God tells Hosea how He’s
going to intervene to bring Israel to the place where they know that their
total dependence has to be upon God and not upon anything else. And the
first part of that is rather harsh.
As I studied these this week, I began to see ways that we can
be involved in praying for our loved ones. We all no doubt have loved ones
-- family, friends, neighbors, co-workers -- who, at this point,
would be characterized as spiritual harlots, who may even profess Christ
but their life doesn’t show it. And you know when it comes to our children,
especially, there’s such a feeling of helplessness, that there’s nothing
I can do.
I think I have something you can do this morning and I’m going to share
that with you. Some tangible, practical things. As we see how God dealt
with Israel to bring them back, I believe we can gleam from that, in an
authentic way, things we can do to intercede for our loved ones. Things
that I believe will have influence with God when it comes to interceding
for those we love who are being drawn away from God by other "gods" --
by other loves.
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A Hedge of Thorns
Hosea 2:6-7 (NKJV)
6"Therefore, behold,
I will hedge up your way
with thorns,
And wall her in,
So that she cannot find
her paths.
7She will chase
her lovers,
But not overtake them;
Yes, she will seek them,
but not find them.
Then she will say,
"I will go and return to
my first husband,
For then it was better for
me than now.'
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Sort of reminds you of the prodigal son, doesn’t it? (Luke
15:11-31, NKJV) He went out and tried to find his own way. But he found
himself, a Jewish boy, eating pig slop. He said, “You know I had it better
at my father’s house." And he went back.
It might seem harsh but each one of these things than I’m going to tell
you to pray for your loved ones, will bring them to the place where they
only have dependence upon God. The first thing: pray a hedge of thorns
around them. Think about it – a hedge of thorns. We don’t like thorns.
Other people don’t like thorns. And there is a sense that this is a prayer
for protection. It’s a prayer for protection that our loved ones will not
be able to find what they are seeking. And also a prayer for protection
that others who will seek to do evil things to them or with them will also
be thwarted and would be driven away and wouldn’t even know why.
Let me tell you. I have a son here this morning. David, there’s been
times in your life when I’ve prayed a hedge of thorns around you. I have
prayed that you would not be successful in what you were pursuing at that
time. And I have prayed that those who would make themselves available
to you would find you unattractive for reasons that they wouldn’t even
know.
I believe this, I believe we can do this, parents. I believe we can
pray a hedge of thorns around our children, intercede for them so they,
even though they seek it with all their heart, they will not find the evil
that they are pursuing.
Remove the Insulation of Wealth
Hosea 2:8-10 (NKJV)
8For she did not know
That I gave her grain, new
wine, and oil,
And multiplied her silver
and gold--
Which they prepared for
Baal.
9"Therefore I
will return and take away
My grain in its time
And My new wine in its season,
And will take back My wool
and My linen,
Given to cover her nakedness.
10Now I will
uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers,
And no one shall deliver
her from My hand.
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What the height of ingratitude, the height of ingratitude! The blessings
that God sent into a person’s life -- grain, new wine and oil, and
silver and gold -- they actually used to worship another God. But
men do that! Because they don’t recognize that God is the source
-- "For she did not know That I gave her grain, new wine, and oil, And
multiplied her silver and gold." It’s my hard work; it’s my
boss; it’s any number of things -- anything but God -- that is the source
of my wealth.
And so I believe a prayer to pray, and it’s a difficult prayer to pray
for a loved one, is: "God, remove the wealth from them, remove that insulation."
Wealth in itself deadens people's sense of their need for God. And so any
material wealth that your loved one has, that’s a spiritual harlot. God
removed -- removed the wine, removed the oil, removed the gold, removed
the silver, until that wealth was stripped away.
Then in verse 11 look at the prayer there, “I will cause all mirth to
cease.”
Cause Mirth To Cease
Hosea 2:11 (NKJV)
11I will also
cause all her mirth to cease,
Her feast days,
Her New Moons,
Her Sabbaths--
All her appointed feasts.
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I believe this again is a hard one to pray for a loved one: "God don’t
let them find true joy in anything they do!" Especially look at the next
things: “her face, her new moons, her sabbaths, her appointed feasts” --
all religious things. Religious things can be an insulator as well. A valid
prayer to pray would be that God help them somehow strip religion away
from them. It’s not only an insulator, but eases their conscience as well.
I think that some of the most difficult spiritual harlots to reach are
ones sitting in the pews on Sunday, every Sunday.
Ask God to take away the joy. They will find no joy in their
life. When they pursue sin, they think it will be so much fun. The devil’s
a liar, you know. Everything that he says -- “think about this, think about
this, how much fun” -- always leads to death and destruction, eventually.
It’s fun for a season, but he doesn’t tell you the kicker. So, just pray
that as this loved one pursues sinful desires, they will find no joy. That,
as they try to go worship, it won’t do the conscience-soothing "trick."
The last one is probably the most difficult one to pray in verse 12,
"I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, of which she has said, 'these
are my wages that my lovers have given me.'"
Remove Sources of Income
Hosea 2:12 (NKJV)
12"And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees,
Of which she has said,
"These are my wages that
my lovers have given me.'
So I will make them a forest,
And the beasts of the field
shall eat them."
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I don’t know if I have ever prayed this, but I’m going to tell you what
I think this is saying -- that your loved one would have frustration even
in finding work to support themselves, and especially if they are doing
it in dishonorable ways. It sounds tough. It sounds mean, doesn’t it? It’s
not mean. The whole purpose of praying these kind of prayers is so your
loved ones will come to the place where they realize that their only
hope is God and that they will place their dependence in God, and God alone.
B. Positive Motivation
That’s not the end of the way that God pursues spiritual harlots. Look
at the next section starting with verse 14. We see some positive motivation,
some beautiful language here.
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"I will allure her"
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"I will speak comfort to her"
Hosea 2:14 (NKJV)
14 "Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
Will bring her into the
wilderness,
And speak comfort to her."
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It’s courtship language: “Therefore, behold I will allure her.” I will
woo her God says. I will try to win her back. He doesn’t say, “I will hit
her over the head and drag her back” He doesn’t say, “I’ll drive her back”
He doesn’t even say “I’ll draw her back.” He says "I’ll love her back."
That is,, "I will project my love on her so much that she will respond
and come back to me because she wants to and because she loves me. I will
allure her."
And again in verse 14, He says, that when she comes back "I will speak
comfort to her." Oh, that’s what the spiritual harlot needs! Their lives
are so jangled, they don’t have peace anywhere. They don’t have comfort
anywhere.
If you are away from God and you are sitting here this morning, you
may know exactly what I’m talking about. I’ve been there. I pursued everything
but God; and all I got was frustration. All that came in my life was a
lack of peace. God says, "If you come back, if you will respond to my love,
I will speak comfort to you."
Go on in verse 15, “ I will give her vineyards from there,” and the
next phrase, “ and the valley of Achor is a door of hope.”
"The Valley of Achor as a door of hope"
"She shall sing"
Hosea 2:15 (NKJV)
15"I will give her her vineyards from there,
And the Valley of Achor
as a door of hope;
She shall sing there,
As in the days of her youth,
As in the day when she came
up from the land of Egypt."
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This "Valley of Achor" is actually referring to Achan, and his sin (Joshua
7, NKJV). If you know the story, the Jews were not supposed to take
anything after the defeat at Jerico. Achan disobeyed, hiding some stolen
foals in his tent. Israel was punished because of that. Achor, the word
Achor
means "trouble." God is saying: "If you respond to My love, all this stripping
away -- this hedge of thorns, this removal of wealth, this lack of
joy, this removal of sources of income -- if all of those bring you back
to Me, then your valley of trouble will actually be a door of hope." Praise
God! That’s the intent.
“... and she shall sing there,” the joy returns, the joy returns when
you have a right relationship with God. The joy returns. “Restoreth to
me,” the psalmist says, “the joy of my salvation.” (Ps.
51:12, NKJV)
How do you have
joy in your salvation?
When
God is the object of your devotion and love!
Then,
and only then will you have an experience, that joy.
And then look at an amazing verse, in verse 16, "and it shall be that
in that say says the Lord that you will call Me my husband and no longer
call Me my master."
"Husband" instead of "Master"
Hosea 2:16 (NKJV)
16"And it shall be, in that
day,"
Says the LORD,
"That you will call Me "My
Husband,'
And no longer call Me "My
Master,'"
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Oh, how we need to hear that! That’s what God wants. God doesn’t want you
to serve Him out of fear, out of obligation. If that’s the only motivation
that will work, that’s better than nothing. But He doesn’t really want
you to serve Him for that. He wants you to serve Him because you love Him!
This is really a play on words, because in Hebrew, the word Baal
is identical to the word that means "master." Read the next verse:
Hosea
1:17 (NKJV): "For I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals,
And they shall be remembered by their name no more."
It's as if God is saying, "I want to remove that from our language totally...
Let’s not even talk about master, cause when you see that word master
you’ll think about Baal; and you’re going to want to go back to Baal. So
we’re going to take it out of the whole language. I don’t want you to have
an attitude that I’m your master anymore, but I want you to look on me
as your husband."
This is primarily a love relationship. Church, you know what so many
Christians look at our relationship with God as basically a legal one.
I’ve been pronounced "not guilty," in God’s eyes. Hallelujah! That is wonderful,
but it doesn’t stop there. It’s not primarily a legal relationship; it’s
primarily a love relationship. And until you get to there, you are not
going to discover the joy of serving God. You no longer participate in
things that you shouldn’t; but you don’t really mind because you’re doing
it out of a heart of love, not out of a sense of obligation.
Then verse 19 he says, “I will betroth you to me forever, yes, I will
betroth you to me.”
"I will betroth"
Hosea 2:19 (NKJV)
19"I will betroth you to Me forever;
Yes, I will betroth you
to Me
In righteousness and justice,
In lovingkindness and mercy;
"
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Look at the situation. This old, worn out prostitute, that nobody wanted
anymore anyway, God says, "I want you; I pursue you; come love me. I’ll
just shower all gifts upon you."
And when we respond, He says we’ll have a fresh start.
This is not going
to be a patched up relationship.
This
is not going to be something that we just patch up the old.
We’re
going to have something new - "I will betroth you to Me forever."
And that’s exactly what God does for you and me, sinful people bound
by sin. There’s nothing that rules over people as much as sin. When it
gets a hold of them, sin’s a hard taskmaster. God says, "No more. I’m setting
you free." And not only that, "I’m setting you free so you and I could
have a new beginning. It’ll be fresh, it’ll be new, all that other will
be forgotten."
Then toward the end of that chapter once again, words of hope. Look
at the last part of verse 22 and verse 23
C. Repentance brings restoration
Jezreel - "sown"
Ruhamah - "mercy"
Ammi - "You are My people!"
Hosea 2:22c-23 (NKJV)
22The earth shall answer
With grain,
With new wine,
And with oil;
They shall answer Jezreel.
23Then I will
sow her for Myself in the earth,
And I will have mercy on
her who had not obtained mercy;
Then I will say to those
who were not My people,
"You are My people!'
And they shall say, "You
are my God!"'
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“They shall answer Jezreel. Then I will sow her for myself and the earth.”
Before He said
they would be scattered.
Now
another meaning for the word Jezreel is "to be sown."
He
redeems it.
Not
just scattered but purposely scattered, sown:
"And
I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy."
Notice the play on all the children’s names. God restores everything
that was taken away before. Lo-Ruhamah, "no mercy." Lo actually
means "no," so after this I guess she’s just called Ruhama, because
it means "mercy." Ammi - "You are My people!" Paul quotes verse
23 in Romans
9:25-26 (NKJV), "Then I will say to those who are not my people, 'You
are my people,' and they shall say, 'You are my God.'"
How does this all come about? Let’s read the first two verses
of Chapter 3.
Chapter 3 - God Redeems Spiritual Harlots
Hosea 3:1-2 (NKJV)
1"Then the LORD said to me, 'Go again, love a woman who
is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the
LORD for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin
cakes of the pagans.'
2So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver,
and one and one-half homers of barley."
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Here’s the picture. Gomer not only remained a prostitute after being married
to Hosea, but eventually she wanted to follow after other men so much that
she left Hosea and the children. She spent her days in prostitution until
she came to the place where, as it always is in sin, the world did not
have any use for her anymore. So one day she was put on an auction block.
Hosea was pursuing her and finally found her at the very day she was on
the auction block. He started out the bidding at a price nobody else was
willing to pay and bought back his wife.
The way we say that is "he redeemed her." That’s exactly what redeemed
means, "to buy back." He brought her back to his home and out of love for
him, she became a faithful wife. Because of the redemption of her husband. |