Hosea 1:1-2 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. When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD.”
The language of whoredom is a powerful image of unfaithfulness. Israel, represented as a wife unfaithful to her husband, has not been faithful to the covenant. The “land committing great whoredom” is another way of saying that Israel is like Adam in that “they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me.” (6:7)
How did Israel transgress the Covenant? Three main ways will be discussed:
First, Israel forgot who provided for her needs.
Second, Israel disregarded the Lord’s Law
I will discus the second reason in a future post. But First, Israel forgot who provided for her needs.
The Lord, as part of the covenant, promised Israel that He would place them in a good land. In Exodus 3:8 the Lord said, “I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey”. Joshua said of this land in Num 14:7 “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land.” The land was good, but God warned them in Deu 28:15 “if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.” The curses mentioned included pestilence, disease, lack of rain, and exile.
The curses mentioned did come upon Israel because they transgressed the covenant in that they forgot it was the Lord who provided their needs. In Hosea 2:5 the Lord says, “For [Israel's] has played the whore; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’ “
We must ask ourselves: how do a people who belong to the Lord end up ascribing their prosperity to something other than the Lord?
At first, they obeyed the Lord and then they became blessed by the Lord which led to prosperity in which they became complacent and forget the Lord. Then, when they forgot the Lord, they gave themselves over to a pursuit of their lusts and they ascribed their prosperity to whomever/whatever took the place of Lord in their life.
In Hosea 2:8 the Lord says Israel “did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.” In 10:1, the Lord says, “Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit. The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built; as his country improved, he improved his pillars.”
The more Israel prospered the more they turned away from the Lord. Hosea 11:2 describes the Lord calling to Israel through the prophets but “The more they were called, the more they went away; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols.” and in 14:8 we hear the Lord call: “O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress; from me comes your fruit.” But Israel refused to listen to the Lord’s call and now the Lord comes with the indictment: “You have transgressed my covenant.”
In these times of economic uncertainty, Americans and especially the American church must not look to the government for their bread, but must remember that blessing comes from the Lord as a result of obedience. If we keep transgressing the covenant, forsaking and forgetting the Lord; no amount of money will stimulate our economy because our economy rests in the hands of the God of Creation!
One reason why the Lord does not always bless with material prosperity, and tragically this is one of the fundamental weaknesses of the American church is that prosperity breeds complacency and complacency breeds apostasy!
Consider how America is similar to Israel: At first, America obeyed the Lord and then America became blessed by the Lord which led to prosperity in which over time America became complacent and forget the Lord. Then, when America forgot the Lord, they gave themselves over to a pursuit of their lusts and America ascribed their prosperity to whomever/whatever took the place of Lord in their life: whether it be beauty, science, or whatever.
My brothers and sisters have we forgotten who provides for our needs? Have we become conformed to the culture so that we never think to ask God to “give us this day our daily bread” (Matt 6:11)?
Filed under: Christianity | Tagged: Sermon
