Project 119: Hosea 4
| Project 119
“Israel on Trial”
This fourth chapter marks the second part of Hosea’s prophecy, which is marked by the details of Israel’s dalliances with Canaanite religion. The image is a courtroom scene, where God brings charges against His people that are designed to confront them with their guilt and rebellion.
God’s indictment against Israel is that there is no knowledge in the land (Hosea 4:1). In the Bible, knowledge is always a relational matter more than an intellectual one so that the actual indictment speaks to the people’s unwillingness to live into God’s covenant expectations.
Just as every charge in a lawsuit requires evidence, so God lays out His case against the people. They have violated God’s covenant expectations in virtually every way, particularly those expectations that deal with their relationships with one another. They have engaged in “cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and adultery,” each of which violates one of the commandments that deal with the horizontal aspects of covenant faithfulness. Consequently, the whole land “mourns and all who live in it waste away” (Hosea 4:3, NIV). Behind this charge may be allusions to the numbers of royal assassinations that took place during Hosea’s ministry (2 Kings 15:8-16). Regardless of the details, the entire creation, not just humankind, suffers from the transgressions of the people. Once again we are reminded of the universal implications of sin. The entire creation groans for its redemption (Romans 8:22).
So, who is responsible for this tragic turn of events? It is the priests, who have had charge over the people’s covenant loyalties but have exercised their leadership for personal gain (Hosea 4:6). God will hold these religious leaders accountable for their faithlessness and the consequences of their actions will bring ruin to the land.
What if God were to bring charges against us today? What might they look like, and more importantly, how might we answer them? If we discover that we have in fact transgressed God’s expectations, which, as this text reminds us, doesn’t always appear self-evident, we would do well to change our ways before God holds us accountable for our wrongdoings and allows us to suffer the consequences.
As a pastor, I’m most sensitive to where God places the blame for this intolerable situation. Leaders are to point people to God, not themselves. If people see leaders saying one thing but doing another, it becomes hard for them to know the right path to take. Those in leadership positions should understand the weight of the responsibility that falls to them and always look for ways to promote faithfulness to God so that God’s favor would abound in the lives of those they lead.
Hosea 4 (ESV):
The LORD Accuses Israel
1 Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel,
for the LORD has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.
There is no faithfulness or steadfast love,
and no knowledge of God in the land;
2 there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery;
they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
3 Therefore the land mourns,
and all who dwell in it languish,
and also the beasts of the field
and the birds of the heavens,
and even the fish of the sea are taken away.
4 Yet let no one contend,
and let none accuse,
for with you is my contention, O priest.
5 You shall stumble by day;
the prophet also shall stumble with you by night;
and I will destroy your mother.
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge;
because you have rejected knowledge,
I reject you from being a priest to me.
And since you have forgotten the law of your God,
I also will forget your children.
7 The more they increased,
the more they sinned against me;
I will change their glory into shame.
8 They feed on the sin of my people;
they are greedy for their iniquity.
9 And it shall be like people, like priest;
I will punish them for their ways
and repay them for their deeds.
10 They shall eat, but not be satisfied;
they shall play the whore, but not multiply,
because they have forsaken the LORD
to cherish 11 whoredom, wine, and new wine,
which take away the understanding.
12 My people inquire of a piece of wood,
and their walking staff gives them oracles.
For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray,
and they have left their God to play the whore.
13 They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains
and burn offerings on the hills,
under oak, poplar, and terebinth,
because their shade is good.
Therefore your daughters play the whore,
and your brides commit adultery.
14 I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore,
nor your brides when they commit adultery;
for the men themselves go aside with prostitutes
and sacrifice with cult prostitutes,
and a people without understanding shall come to ruin.
15 Though you play the whore, O Israel,
let not Judah become guilty.
Enter not into Gilgal,
nor go up to Beth-aven,
and swear not, “As the LORD lives.”
16 Like a stubborn heifer,
Israel is stubborn;
can the LORD now feed them
like a lamb in a broad pasture?
17 Ephraim is joined to idols;
leave him alone.
18 When their drink is gone, they give themselves to whoring;
their rulers dearly love shame.
19 A wind has wrapped them in its wings,
and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.