Bible Study for Texas for 7_27_62303

Posted: 6/20/03

July 27

Hosea 11:1-11

God's heart yearns for his people

By Sam Dennis

The love of God is something we count upon in our Christian faith. We probably would say it is what moves us to God in the first place. Most Christians know the verse, John 3:16: “For God so loved the world …,” and have been taught to quote it for encouragement to self and others.

But the love of God is not only found in the New Testament, but also in the Old Testament, particularly in Hosea, serving as a precursor to what we see in Christ today. Just as our lesson last focused on God's charges against Israel (chapters 4-8) and provided introduction to God's coming punishment (chapter 8), this week our lesson focuses on God's love, hope and restoration.

Once again, the prophet Hosea reminds us that we serve a God who requires and judges, but also restores. It is a love and restoration based upon an abiding principle, that Yahweh yearns after his own–a concept unique to the Israelite religion in that day, but key to them following God after all.

Setting things up

By way of background to our emphasis to come in chapter 11, we should familiarize ourselves with the message of chapters 9-10, one of punishment. Chapter 9 likely belongs in the context of Hosea's preaching during the celebration of a festival. The festival referred to in verse 5 is probably a reference to the autumn festival, elsewhere called the “Feast of the Lord” (Judges 21:19, Leviticus 23:39). It also is known as the “Feast of the Ingathering” and the “Feast of Booths and Tabernacles” (Exodus 23:16, 34:22, Deuteronomy 16:13, Leviticus 23:39-43).

This week-long harvest and festival was characterized by celebration (Judges 21:20), and the participants at the festival undoubtedly would have liked hearing this jubilee from their prophets. But Hosea gave them no such thing, saying, “Do not rejoice, O Israel” (v. 1), and “the days of punishment are coming and the days of reckoning are at hand” (v. 7). And as they dared to consider the prophet a fool, even this became implication of their folly–“the prophet is considered a fool, the inspired man a maniac” (v. 7).

In the festival's light, the Israelites' guilt was exposed all the more. Their celebrations were, “like the other nations” (v. 1), meaning pagan or heathen, though they were originally intended to praise Yahweh. The reference to “Gibeah” (v. 9) speaks to this pagan influence too.

Gibeah was the scene of the terrible crime of the Benjamites against a Levite from Ephraim. This led to a bloody war between the two tribes and the near-destruction of Benjamin (Judges 19-21). Also, Gibeah was the residence of Saul, Israel's first king, and a reminder of Israel's lust for pagan practice, as they demanded of Samuel “a king to govern us like all the other nations” (1 Samuel 8:5).

The punishment

Now the punishment provoked by Israel's sin would be appropriate for their sin. “Joyful festivals would become occasions of mourning, hunger and despair” (9:2-6). The celebrants would be “cut off from the worship of Yahweh, exiled, eating unclean bread in foreign lands and with no answer to the question, “What will you do in the day of the Lord?” (v. 5). Israel will figuratively “return to Egypt”–the place of bondage from which they had been delivered. They would revert to the life that preceded being set free.

Since Israel has made so much of kings and cult, Israel would live without a king or cult in the future (10:1-8). Israel's abundant past, when they “built more altars and his land prospered,” will be no more (10:1). Their building programs would not substitute for a lack of true service to Yahweh. Because of this, Yahweh will destroy their altars, sacred pillars and high place of worship. And though the people would mourn over the loss of the calf of Beth-haven (10:5), the calf itself was to be carried away as a tribute to Assyria (10:6). And as if in irony, the Israelites will confess they were now a people without a king (10:3).

Redeeming love

Moving from these chapters, dealing with Israel's punishment, to Hosea's concluding chapters, we meet face some textual and exegetical challenges. This is because they are difficult to arrange since indications of date are especially lacking. This can be troublesome for those of us who want concrete chronology in everything. Yet there is a dramatic effect produced by this seeming disorder–as if Yahweh himself is experiencing a conflict of emotions as he is torn by his love for unworthy Israel and his righteous judgment.

With this in mind, when we come to chapter 11, there is a first promise of future salvation. The chapter is arranged to trace Yahweh's son, Israel, from his earliest youth to the present and even into the future. It is a trace that resplendently shows the love of God.

Roy Honeycutt uses the following outline to record its progress: (1) love and ingratitude (11:1-4); (2) love and inevitable conflict (11:5-7); (3) love and the Lord's anguish (11:8-9); (4) love and the renewal of commitment (11:10-11). This is helpful in that each comparing word used with “love” describe the emotion portrayed by Scripture itself.

Another outline provided by James Leo Green in his material on chapter 11 is as follows, (1) love's electing (11:1); (2) love's providing (11:3-4); (3) love's disciplining (11:2, 5,7); (4) love's suffering (11:8-9); (5) love's triumphing (11:10-11). By using each of these words following “love” (which is a synonym for both God and his way) we see a progression describing the nature of how God loves Israel and each of us.

But, remember, it is the love of God that moves us to him in the New Covenant, and it is his love that also moved Israel to him in the old.

In an article titled, “God's Persistent Love,” my own professor of Old Testament, Linzy “Bill” Hill, in citing the opinion of James L. Mays, writes, “It is in the book of Hosea that one finds for the first time the notion that the relationship between Yahweh and Israel is founded on his love.” So Hosea is certainly a testimony to the love of God. From the prophet's love for Gomer, which was the basis of his purchasing her back, to Yahweh's expression of love here in chapter 11, the entire work spells this theme.

Israel's past

Chapter 11 may be viewed as a singular work–standing alone and without implication of date, other than its placement in Hosea, itself. The progression of the chapter already referenced by the outlines above, demonstrating the varying actions of God, may also be viewed by references to the past, present and future.

Bill Hill has done this. In looking at Israel's past, the “Exodus itself” becomes a metaphor, he writes (v. 1). Hill also points that the use of the word, “called” (Hebrew “garah,” v. 1) is a strong influence for conveying both thought's of God's adoption and election. But as the early verses carry on, we are then given an image of God teaching Israel (Ephraim) “to walk,” a thing necessary considering her youth; and taking her “by the arms,” even when she did not know it (v. 3). God led her with love (v. 4) and all of the acts and images of these early verses are a portrayal of God's (love's) providing.

Israel's present

Verses 5-7 overview Israel's present. Here we see the love of God as well. Again, the outlines above concerning this are helpful: Love and the inevitable conflict (Honeycutt) and love's disciplining (Green), as they both describe the progress of the matter at hand. The current state of Israel, who now is being swept under the mighty hand of Assyria because they refuse to repent (v. 5), reminds us of the chastening hand of he Lord. Even her “gates” would be useless as a defense (v. 6).

Israel's future

In verses 8-9, there is a dramatic shift. From viewing Israel's past as a nurtured son (1-4), to their present as a son being disciplined (5-7), we look now to her future, which is the result of a son being grieved over (8-9). These verses show the anguish of God, his repentance (turning), as he is “changed” (v. 8) and declares, “I will not come in anger,” “devastate Ephraim,” nor “come in wrath”(v. 9). Many commentators suggest these verses show a God who actually toils over Israel, a concept not new in Scripture (Hosea 6:4; Amos 7:3, 6; Jeremiah 26:3, 13, 19).

Certainly these verses show God's compassion, for as in one of the more beautiful and revealing verses in all Scripture, God, showing his compassion, shows this is his very character: “For I am God, and not man–the Holy One among you” (v. 9).

As this chapter 11 ends (vv. 10-12), it does so with the Father's call. We have moved from the Father's care to his compassion and now, at last, his call. We now see the purpose for God's discipline: “They will follow the Lord” (v. 10) and “come trembling like birds” (v. 11). And this “call” back to God leaves us with the hope of his ultimate restoration for the people Israel and for us.

Questions for discussion

How does God show his love for us today?

When we sin, do we face consequences? If so, in what ways?

What do you think of the picture in Hosea that appears to show God in conflict over his people Israel?

How do we balance thoughts of a God who is unchanging with the actions of God in chapter 11?

How can we show God's hope and restoration to a world in such a need of this today?