PM December 9th Hosea 3

December 9^th Hosea 3

Hosea takes back his wife

1: Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine. 2: So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley: 3: And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee. 4: For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: 5: Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.

Hosea 4

B. Prophetic – The Lord and the unfaithful nation

The Lord finds Israel guilty

1: Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. 2: By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood. 3: Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away. 4: Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for thy people are as they that strive with the priest. 5: Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother. 6: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. 7: As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame. 8: They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity. 9: And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings. 10: For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase: because they have left off to take heed to the LORD. 11: Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart. 12: My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God. 13: They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery. 14: I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for themselves are separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall. 15: Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Beth-aven, nor swear, The LORD liveth. 16: For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place. 17: Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone. 18: Their drink is sour: they have committed whoredom continually: her rulers with shame do love, Give ye. 19: The wind hath bound her up in her wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

The word of the Lord comes to Hosea again saying that he is to go and love her again even though she has committed adultery (This shows the fault of the idea that adultery breaks the marriage bond - it does not. If the marriage bond had been broken then Hosea would have been committing adultery himself). This was a picture of Israel’s relationship with the Lord they had committed spiritual adultery and been addicted to drunkenness. There will come a day when Israel will return to the Lord with a whole heart and they will be faithful to the Lord. In the next chapter The Lord describes the condition of Israel and why God is against them. There is no truth, mercy or knowledge of God in the land. They are full of false promises calling on God to confirm their lies, killing, stealing and sexual immorality and the blood runs in the street. The people are destroyed because of lack of knowledge but of the type in which they reject it. The Lord will reject them in turn. They are full of false religion but they have forsaken the Lord.

• What would it mean for Hosea to take his wife back?
• What does it mean for God to take back Israel?
• How would you describe the standing of Israel after the cross and in the present day?