Hosea Chapter 10

Hosea Chapter 10

10:1-4- BROKEN COVENANTS

- “How prosperous Israel is—a luxuriant vine loaded with fruit. But the richer the people get, the more pagan altars they build. The more bountiful their harvests, the more beautiful their sacred pillars.”

- Israel took God's blessings... and used them for evil purposes. The more God gave them, the more extravagant they became in their idol worship.

- God loves His people. He was trying to get them to see His love, understand how much He cared for them... by showering them with good things... and instead of responding with the same kind of love for Him, His people turned to give their love to other things. It's like your spouse getting you a present you've been dying to have, for Christmas or a birthday... they put so much thought and effort into finding this, or making this... and then you turn and give it away to the neighbor like it was just something you had laying around the house... or put it in the garage sale the next week.

- The people of Israel were taking the gifts of God for granted. They weren't seeing His heart in all their prosperity. They just saw an opening for greed. Instead of thanking God for all His blessings, giving God the glory for all He'd done for them, they threw them out the window like garbage. They were more concerned with themselves and their own selfish plans and desires than they were about God's anger or the consequences of their actions.

- We also take God's blessings for granted. Oh we may not build shrines and temples to other gods in our backyards... but we do forget where our very lives come from.

- I think it was the pastor's sermon last Sunday... I can't remember for sure, but someone said something about people who never pray to God unless they end up in a big mess. When somebody gets sick, or they need a new job, or something in life goes horribly wrong... that's when they suddenly decide to show up for church. Until then... “yeah there's a God... I just don't need Him in my life EVERY day...”

- Or have you ever heard someone who had prayed or maybe you've even prayed this prayer... something like “God, I promise I'll go to church every Sunday and give more than my 10% in tithe and I'll even volunteer to clean the church... if You'll just do this ONE THING for me...” Which lasts maybe a couple of months... and then they go back to normal until the next disaster strikes...

- Sometimes God uses the loss of something we hold dear to get our attention. Like our health, or the health of someone close to us. He doesn't bring His full wrath down on us... but He allows Satan to do a little damage.

- In the story of Job, God told Satan that he could go touch Job's life, but He gave Satan specific perimeters. Job's story isn't one of God trying to get his attention... it's just a story about how God allows things to happen in our lives to make us stronger, or to prove something to those around us, or even more likely as in the case of Job to reveal himself to us in a way we can have a more personal relationship with the one who loves us more than anything.

Satan likes to create mischief. But he can't do anything if God is our protector.

- Israel abandoned God. He continued to protect them for a time... but eventually... He had to say “have it your way.” Because if He persisted in chasing them down... it would have ended up being God forcing Israel to remain faithful... and He doesn't do things that way. God never forces us into loving Him.

- The more the people of Israel got, the more they ran after other things. So finally, God is going to allow judgment to come. He's been holding back His wrath for the sake of His chosen people... but showing love just isn't working. They're still turning away. Their hearts are stubborn and hard against the things of God.

- “The hearts of the people are fickle; they are guilty and must be punished. The Lord will break down their altars and smash their sacred pillars.”

- God's getting rid of the things that are causing sin. He's taking away the temptation.

- The people were constantly changing their allegiances in their hearts. They would run to God in times of trouble... and as soon as things got a little easier, they would run back to their other gods. They only wanted God when they knew they had no other choice.

- So God is taking away their other choices. He's breaking down the altars and pillars. He's tearing up the physical reminders that there is something else out there for the people. There is NOTHING but God. And there is only ONE God.

- “Then they will say, “We have no king because we didn't fear the Lord. But even if we had a king, what could he do for us anyway?”

- Israel is going into captivity again. They are going to be without a king... again... why? Because they didn't fear the Lord. So God is taking the corrupt leadership out of the picture.

- “even if we had a king, what could he do for us anyway?” Even if Israel had a king that could stay in power... what good had they done so far? Not one of the kings of the Northern kingdom were good kings. None of them worshiped God. They had all turned the people away from God and towards idols such as Baal. They had made alliances with all kinds of other nations hoping for protection and peace. They had sold out the nation of Israel.

- In I Samuel 8, the nation of Israel first asked for a king. They came to Samuel and said “you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.”

- Israel felt left out. They wanted to be like all the other kids... Coveting things that their neighbors had... but you know... the grass is always greener on the other side... until you get there and find out it's artificial turf...

- God told Samuel to do whatever the people asked for “it is me they are rejecting, not you. They don't want me to be their king any longer. Ever since I brought them from Egypt they have continually abandoned me and followed other gods. And now they are giving you the same treatment. Do as they ask, but solemnly warn them about the way a king will reign over them.”

- One last try to get them to see that only He should be the one to reign over their hearts...

- So Samuel went and told them all the things the kings would do to them... like taxes and wars and basically slavery... and the people refused to listen “Even so, we still want a king... we want to be like the nations around us. Our king will judge us and lead us into battle.” (A little more on this story later.)

- And from that time on... the people had looked to the kings for all their guidance and direction. If the king looked to God for direction... then the people lived in peace and prospered. But if the king turned away from God... then the people usually ended up in bondage.

- “They spout empty words and make covenants they don't intend to keep. So injustice springs up among them like poisonous weeds in a farmer's field.”

- footnote- “God was angry with the people of Israel for their insincere promises. Because the people did not keep their word, there were many lawsuits. People break their promises, but God always keeps His....”

- Not only did the people break their covenants with God, they broke them with each other as well.

- Their hearts were so fickle that they couldn't even keep a promise to a neighbor... let alone to God. They were fighting with each other so much that they couldn't see what was going on outside themselves. They were so concerned with their greed and their covetousness that they didn't see the enemy ready to rush in to destroy them.

- When the prophets came pronouncing gloom and doom, was it any wonder that these selfish, greedy people ridiculed them and threw them out? They didn't want to be reminded of their sin. For that matter, they didn't even want to be reminded that they were a covenant people.

- Jeremiah 2:31 says “O my people, listen to the words of the Lord! Have I been like a desert to Israel? Have I been the them a land of darkness? Why then do my people say, “At last we are free from God! We don't need Him anymore!”

- Always looking for “freedom” and only finding further bondage...

- Yes this walk may sometimes feel like bondage... there's so many rules and regulations... all these things we must or cannot do. What kind of life is that right? Living to serve someone else... what about me?

- As much as I understand that argument... there is also this to say... There is always a master. We are always slave to something. If not to God... then to... lust. Anger. Drugs. Sex. TV. Ambition. Work. Hobbies.

- There's a hundred things that can take up our time.

- We will either serve Christ... or Satan. There is no in between. When we walk away from Christ... we are crossing over the line drawn in the sand... we are surrendering into enemy territory.

- “But now I can do whatever I want! I don't have to worry about RULES!”

- Maybe... but how many times has your day been interrupted by the things you wanted... that you just couldn't finish the day without doing. Or having. Thought about it so much... that half your day was spent in half-consciousness... just because you were preoccupied. Rules? Maybe not... but a compulsion to do whatever your body or mind needs right at the moment... yes... Rules of self-satisfaction and achievement.

- I think I'd rather follow a few basic moral rules... and walk through this life with a clear conscience and a peaceful heart... than to do whatever I want, hoping I don't accidentally go too far and lose everything I hold dear... and end up in hell at the end of it all anyway...

- Isaiah 5:1-30

- Jeremiah 2:1-4:18

- Deuteronomy 32:1-43; 28:1-29:1; 30:11-20

- John 15:1-27

- Matthew 6:24

9:5-7- PUNISHMENT

- “The people of Samaria tremble in fear for what might happen to their calf idol at Beth-aven. The people mourn and the priests wail, because its glory will be stripped away.”

- When you have to worry about your god's safety... rather than he protecting you... there's a problem. If a man is stronger than the god... then... what kind of god is it?

- Our God is an AWESOME God. Webster's says that awe is “deep respect mixed with fear and wonder.” Our God is worthy of that term. Baal and Chemosh, and Dagon... were they worthy of fear? Wonder? Respect? If the people had to guard them, had to look after them in case someone tried to attack them... what was there to fear? Or respect? Maybe there was wonder... wondering why in the world they were worshiping this god who couldn't even protect itself... lol

- “This idol will be carted away to Assyria, a gift to the great king there. Ephraim will be ridiculed and Israel will be shamed, because its people have trusted in this idol.”

- Israel wanted to be like the other nations... have a king, worship the same gods... now they would be ashamed because of it.

- Because they had turned away from God... they would be enslaved. No one would come to their rescue. Nothing would be done to help them. God would let them be thrown in the mud. Shamed to no end. Taken away naked into captivity... Punished for their rebellion... and all the while... God was looking down the road saying “oh if only my people would listen to my voice! If they would but humble themselves before me! I would save them!”

- If you as a parent let your child do whatever they like ALL the time... eventually, that child will think they are entitled to do whatever they want, whenever they want, and however they want to do it... Punishment and discipline has to come... it's necessary to have boundaries... or there would be no moral code whatsoever...

- Time after time God said “please... children... turn around. I don't want to have to punish you. If you'll come back, I'll withhold my punishment... please, just come back to me...” It's like a parent... who KNOWS you're lying about doing something... so they try to give you every chance to confess so all they have to say is “okay sweetie. I'm glad you know it was wrong. Thank you for telling me the truth. So I'm going to send you to your room for a few hours so you can think about what you did... And then we'll talk about it later.” With no further punishment.

- However... if you don't confess? Wow... not only do you get punished for whatever it was you did... but you also get punished for lying. And there's no “okay we'll talk about this...” It's a “you're grounded for a month with no privileges whatsoever...” and if you grew up in my house... it was preceded with a spanking...

- But Israel didn't confess... They wouldn't take the exit. So finally punishment was coming.

- “Samaria and its king will be cut off; they will float away like driftwood on an ocean wave.”

- No foundation. Nothing left to hold them to the rock... they were just floating around wherever the current took them... and now they would be lost in the ocean. They were going to be scattered all over the place. All over the world...

- I John 1:5-10

- Philippians 2:6-11

- Psalm 32; 38

- Leviticus 5:1-5

- II Chronicles 6:24-42

9:8-10- THE SOURCE

- “And the pagan shrines of Aven, the place of Israel's sin, will crumble. Thorns and thistles will grow up around their altars. They will beg the mountains, “Bury us!” and plead with the hills, “Fall on us!”

- “Aven” refers back to Beth-aven, which referred to Bethel. Bethel meant “house of God.” When the nation of Israel split, Jeroboam set up idols in Bethel and Dan to take the place of the temple in Jerusalem. The people could worship in Israel rather than going back to Judah... Beth-aven therefore, means “house of wickedness”. The house of God... had turned into the house of wickedness.

- Bethel was the place that Israel first sinned... So God was going back to the source. There, the purification process would begin.

- If you have a garden of some kind... you know if there's a weed... you have to pull it out by the root... or it's just going to come back...

- My piano teacher used to have my mom come over to pull poison ivy out of her flower bed... Every year, she'd pull a little more. But because she could never find the main root, every year, there was still some poison ivy left in the beds.

- When there is sin in our lives, God has to go to the root. We can't just prune some of it off and expect it to be enough. We have to let God dig down in and tear out all the roots of the sin. Otherwise... it'll just keep popping back up in our lives.

- “O Israel, ever since Gibeah, there has been only sin and more sin! You have made no progress whatsoever. Was it not right that the wicked men of Gibeah were attacked? Now whenever it fits in my plan, I will attack you, too. I will call out the armies of the nations to punish you for your multiplied sins.”

- In Judges 19-21, we have the story of Gibeah. We talked a little bit about it last chapter.

- Basically the story went like this... There was a Levite who had a concubine who decided she didn't want to be with him anymore... so she ran away and went back home to her father's house... which... I don't think sounds like the smartest move...

- So the Levite went after her to bring her back home. Well they stopped on the way home at this house in Gibeah of this old man. They were going to sleep in the town square... but the guy said please... come home with me... don't sleep in the square... now whether he knew what was going to happen... or he was just a really nice old man... who knows...

- But anyway, while they're eating, the men of Gibeah show up and start knocking on the door. They want the old man to send out the Levite so they can have sex with him. As I said last week... this sounds very much like the story of Sodom and Gomorrah... except that there was no angel to strike the crowd blind this time...

- The Levite takes his concubine and shoves her out the door to the mob. They took her and raped her all night and then left her dead on the doorstep. So the next morning, the Levite comes out, sees her, loads her up on his donkey and takes her home... where he chops her into 12 pieces and sends one piece to every tribe... EWWWWW! Can you imagine getting that message delivered to your tent door?

- So the Israelites united and came together at Mizpah. The leaders of all the people, all the tribes. The Levite tells his story to the assembly and they decide that they are going to attack Gibeah. They sent word to the tribe of Benjamin saying “give up those evil men, those troublemakers from Gibeah, so we can execute them and purge Israel of this evil.”

- But Benjamin refuses. Instead, they came and gathered at Gibeah in preparation to fight Israel.

- Long story short, Israel attacked and killed all the men of Gibeah and many of Benjamin. Benjamin ended up only being left with 600 men. The Israelites slaughtered every living thing in all the towns—the people, animals... anything they found. Then they burned all the towns they came to.

- So this is the end of the story right? Israel has defeated sin and things will go back to normal right? No such luck...

- Israel then felt bad for what they had done. They met again to decide what to do. They vowed that they would not give their daughters in marriage to any Benjamite... however... that left the Benjamites without any wives. No way of carrying on the lineage unless they married foreigners. “Why has this happened in Israel? Now one of our tribes is missing from Israel!”

- So they figured out that one of the towns hadn't sent any men to fight the battle with Israel against Benjamin. So they went and attacked it and killed everybody... except 400 virgins. So they gave those 400 to the men of Benjamin for wives... but that still wasn't enough... so they said well there's this festival coming up at Shiloh. All the girls will go out and dance by themselves... so those of you who still don't have a wife, you can go hide in the vineyards and when the girls come... you can go grab one of them to be your wife. That way, we won't break our vow by letting you marry one of our daughters.

- footnote- “The Israelites moved from one mess to another. Because of a rash vow made in the heat of emotion, here they destroyed another town. The Israelites probably justified their action with the following arguments:

1. An oath could not be broken, and they had vowed that anyone who did not help them fight the tribe of Benjamin would be killed.

2. Because all the women from Benjamin had been killed, the few remaining men needed wives to prevent the tribe from disappearing. To spare the unmarried women from Jabesh-gilead seemed the right solution....”

- The Israelites got together, said “okay, we're angry with these men... this is what we'll do.” They sent word to Benjamin, got even more angry... and then right before the battle, said “oh yeah... hey God, can we go up to battle against Benjamin?” God said, “go up against Benjamin.” But He didn't say completely annihilate everything in sight... (Nor did He tell the Israelites to go up against Jabesh-gilead.) And the first two days that Israel went up... Benjamin defeated them. On the THIRD day... God said, “I will hand them over to you.”

- In their zeal to right all wrongs, Israel made vows that they then couldn't break. In order to fix the fact that they'd gotten a little carried away and killed all the Benjamite women... they turned to kill all the people in the town that had refused to fight beside them. Except for the few they decided to marry off to the Benjamite men.

- Had the men of Benjamin turned over the men of Gibeah to be killed... there would have been no battle. But instead, the men of Benjamin decided to support Gibeah in her sin.

- If Jabesh-gilead had gone up with the rest of Israel, they wouldn't have been slaughtered along with Benjamin. Their silence and inaction, sided them with the fate of Benjamin. “You are either for us, or against us.” There is no middle ground with God.

- Out of all this mess eventually came Saul... the first king of Israel.

- footnote- “Gibeah stands for cruelty and sensuality, as in Judges, and for rebellion as in Saul's day. (Gibeah was Saul's hometown.)”

- Israel insisted on a king. So God gave them one. And He set up Saul as a foreshadowing of what was to come... Because Israel had rejected God as their king... they would eventually fall under cruel, sensual, and rebellious leadership.

- They were going back to the way things had been at Gibeah. Their rejection of the things of God would lead them back to the same place as before.

- “Was it not right that the wicked men of Gibeah were attacked? Now whenever it fits my plan, I will attack you, too. I will call out the armies of the nations to punish you for your multiplied sins.”

- The men of Gibeah were evil. It was right to get rid of them... but now Israel was going to be just as bad as the town of Gibeah... so God is going to send righteous judgment on them, just as they brought judgment on Gibeah.

- In Jeremiah 11, God has been telling Jeremiah about all that the people have done against Him. They have yet again turned to worship their other gods. “They have returned to the sins of their forefathers.... Israel and Judah have both broken the covenant I made with their ancestors.”

- God said He is bringing punishment down upon these people. And then He tells Jeremiah something that may seem a little confusing... He said “Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray for them, for I will not listen to them when they cry out to me in distress.”

- Every time calamity struck, the people of Israel turned and cried out to God... and then they'd go back to their idols like nothing ever happened. Discipline was necessary. They were turning into spoiled, conniving, selfish children. It was time to bring judgment on the people.

- God will love us right up to the end... He will still love you in the pit of hell... but it doesn't mean He's going to go against His character, go against who He is in order to save you.

- We have to make a conscious decision to follow God. He won't force us. But if we rebel and turn against Him... eventually, when God looks at our hearts and sees how hard they are, He will let us go.

- Mom remembered reading something the other day... so this is an excerpt from “The Signature of God” by Grant R. Jeffrey.

- “God prophesied precisely when Israel would return to the Promised Land after her citizens went into exile in the first two captivities, the Egyptian and Babylonian. The Egyptian captivity was prophesied to last exactly 430 years and it is significant that it ended precisely to the day when the 430-year captivity ended.”

- “The prophet Jeremiah predicted the exact duration of the captivity of the Jewish exiles in Babylon would last 70 years.... The Babylonian Captivity ended exactly 70 years later in the spring of 536 B.C.”

- Ezekiel prophesied about the nation of Israel re-establishing their nation. “The prediction began with God's declaration that “this shall be a sign to the house of Israel.... The prediction revealed that Israel would be punished for a.... period of 430 years.... The beginning point for this worldwide captivity occurred in the spring of 536 B.C.”

- “God declared to Israel four times in this passage that if, after being punished for her sins, she still did not repent, the punishments previously specified would be multiplied by seven (the number of completion).”

- Israel did not repent of their sins... they continued in their rebellion.

- Now in doing all these calculations you have to keep in mind that a biblical year was 360 days... not 365.

- If we take the 360 day year, and multiply the time by 7, then the punishment was to last for 2,520 years. BIBLICAL years... not the 365 day year. Because the bible always used the Jewish calendar. 12 months with 30 days each. A Lunar-solar year.

- “Therefore, Ezekiel's prophecy of the 430 years declared that the end of Israel's punishment and her final restoration to the land would be accomplished in 2,520 biblical years of 360 days each which totals precisely 907,200 days. To convert this period into our calendar year of 365.25 days we simply divide the period of 907,200 days by 365.25 days to reach a total of 2,483.8 of our modern calendar years. Therefore, Ezekiel prophesied that the end of Israel's worldwide captivity would occur precisely 2,483.8 years after the end of the Babylonian Captivity which occurred in the spring of 536 B.C. In these calculations we must keep in mind that there was only one year between 1 B.C. And A.D. 1. There was no year zero.”

- When all this works out... it gives the date of May 15, 1948. “On the afternoon of May 14, 1948, the Jews proclaimed the independence of the reborn state of Israel. As an old rabbi blew on the traditional shofar, a ram's horn, the Jewish people celebrated the end of their tragic worldwide dispersion and captivity in precise fulfillment of the prophecy made thousands of years earlier by the prophet Ezekiel. At midnight, as May 15, 1948 began, the British mandate officially ended and Israel became an independent nation. This great day marked the first time since the days of Solomon that a united Israel took its place as a sovereign, independent state among the nations of the world.”

- That's just cool... God is so perfect. In all His ways... and He doesn't need proof... but if YOU needed proof... there it is! : )

- Even when it was prophesied that their punishment would be compounded... Israel still turned away. And that punishment wasn't just for them... because they turned away... it punished their descendants for generations upon generations...

- Back in verse 8, it says “They will beg the mountains, “Bury us!” And plead with the hills, “Fall on us!”

- After running from God... after going about their sin as they pleased... Eventually they would come to a point that they were so desperate to escape that they would pray for death.

- Wow... to be in so much emotional agony... to know that there is no hope. No way out... to pray for death.

- You know... a lot of times... we have to be taken to the end of ourselves before we realize how great our God is. We have to see how little we can do, to see how MUCH He can do.

- So when we finally get to the place that death seems to be the only escape... that's when our hearts are most ready for God to work in them. (Further explanation to follow.)

- Hebrews 12:1-16

- I Timothy 6:9-10

- Romans 11:1-24

9:11-15- PREPARING TO PLANT

- “Israel is like a trained heifer treading out the grain—an easy job she loves. But I will put a heavy yoke on her tender neck. I will force Judah to pull the plow and Israel to break up the hard ground.”

- Hosea is using the picture of a field. If you don't know anything about gardening or farming, let me spell it out for you.

- Before you can reap fruit, you have to care for the plants. Before you can have plants, you have to plant a seed. Before you can plant a seed... you have to prepare the ground.

- Ground preparation where I live is kinda rough. We are blessed with rocks and hard clay soil. It's hard to get anything to produce well. Other than stuff like potatoes... for some reason... potatoes always do great.

- To prepare the ground for planting, first, you have to remove all the turf. All the weeds that have grown up have to be torn out by the roots. You have to make sure they're all gone. If you just cut the tops off... the weeds will just grow back... So it is necessary to dig down and get the whole thing out.

- Once this is done, there's rocks. Stones. Obstacles that have to be removed. If you leave them there, they can stifle the growth of the plants. So removal is necessary. This is a never ending process. After having a garden in the same place for around 30 years... my mom's garden STILL has rocks in it every year. Not nearly as bad as they used to be... but every year, they work their way to the surface.

- Now once all the weeds are out and the obstacles have been cleared... you have to plow up the ground. If you just plant seed on top of the ground... well... the birds will eat it or the sun will bake it... and hardly anything will grow. So in order to ensure a good harvest, the ground must be plowed.

- Plowing hurts. It involves making deep furrows into the earth. It is making a path where one does not naturally exist. It is forcing the earth to yield to the hand of the farmer.

- If the earth is prepared, then seeds can be planted. And if the earth has been prepared well... then it's not nearly as hard to get a good harvested crop of fruit as it would be otherwise...

- God says that Israel has had an easy job so far... she's been reaping the benefits without any of the work. She gets the grain, without having to prepare the ground... all she's had to do is work with the grain...

- But now, Judah and Israel alike will have to plow up the hard ground of their hearts.

- “I said, “Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that He may come and shower righteousness upon you.”

- Plowing up the ground in our hearts means giving God control of the plow. It means letting Him make paths for us to follow... that may not be natural paths for us. It may mean letting go of things we hold dear...

- To plow the ground means that we are ready for seed to be sown into our lives. We cannot bear good fruit if we don't plant the good seed...

- “But you have cultivated wickedness and harvested a thriving crop of sins. You have eaten the fruit of lies—trusting in your military might, believing that great armies could make your nation safe.”

- Israel was planting... and reaping a harvest of thistles. Oh they're pretty when they bloom. But they don't serve a purpose... They don't provide good food.

- Israel was trusting in their military might... which by this time was founded much upon the strength of their “allies”.

- footnote- “Because Israel had put its confidence in military might rather than in God, it would be destroyed by military power...”

- “Now the terrors of war will rise among your people. All your fortifications will fall, just as when Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel. Even mothers and children were dashed to death there. You will share that fate, Bethel, because of your great wickedness. When the day of judgment dawns, the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.”

- footnote- “Some say Shalman was Shalmaneser, king of Assyria; others say Shalman was Slamanu, a Moabite king mentioned in the inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser. Shalman had invaded Gilead around 740 B.C. and destroyed the city of Beth-arbel, killing many people, including women and children. This kind of cruelty was not uncommon in ancient warfare. Hosea is saying such would be Israel's fate.”

- All that Israel had put their hope in... all that they had striven to accomplish... would now be demolished. Even their king, the trusted leader... would fall. And he would fall at dawn... the beginning of the judgment. They would see that not even their leader would withstand the siege. They would be left without hope from the beginning of judgment. God was removing His protection from His people. He was allowing their punishment to come.

- O Israel! Plow up the ground of your hearts before it is too late! Turn back to your faithful husband before He turns His back on you!

- Ezekiel 36:22-38

- Jeremiah 24:4-10

- Matthew 13:3-30

- II Chronicles 30:6-9