Bible Study for Texas for 7_6_52303

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Posted: 6/20/03

July 6

Hosea 1:1-9

Trouble brewing in God's family

By Sam Dennis

I don't know what it is about Fridays but, like many of you, I'm conditioned to leaving the office when mine come, with the radio tuned to “oldies” and reality on a button called “hold.” I just love leaving it all behind. Sort of a Fred Flintstone and Barney thing–hearing the whistle blow and leaving the rock quarry with a twinkle toe dart and a “Ya-Ba-Da-Ba-Doo!” For as the oldies tune sings, I do so love feeling–“glad all over.”

But feeling glad all over, especially when things are not, is not good. In fact, it's usually the result of a life lived under false pretenses, wrong standards and a smidge of reality on hold. And this is never truer than when it is so in one's own home, especially when that “home” has been unfaithful to God.

Enter Hosea, the son of Beeri, and a contemporary of the layman Amos (a foreign missionary up from Judah), who also served as a prophet of God's to Israel. Hosea was called to get Israel's attention, which was something they needed.

As Dan Kent has written, just as Amos dealt with the sins of Israel in “violating the Lord's law,” Hosea was called to expose their sin of “violating the Lord's love.” So God called on Hosea to expose this rueful sin, and to demonstrate his heart to restore them–a call Hosea was to live and breathe.

The times of Hosea

The times of Hosea's ministry are placed generally by the book's beginning (v. 1) with a list of king's names–kings who in “those days” ruled over Judah in the south and Israel in the north. Two names stand out on the list, Jeroboam (meaning Jeroboam II) in the north, and Uzziah in the south. These names set our dates and remind us of the social condition of the land in that day, prosperity for the rich and oppression for the poor.

Politically, the times looked good, as the Northern Kingdom enjoyed expansion of its borders into Syria, almost equal to the days of Solomon. But trouble was afoot.

Roy Honeycutt dates Hosea's ministry from 748 B.C., when Jeroboam II died, to the fall of Israel to Assyria in 722. This being so, Hosea ministered from a time of “false prosperity” through and into utter chaos, as Jeroboam II was followed by a succession of five kings, four of whom (including Jeroboam) died violent deaths.

Of the same list (Isaiah 1:1), Isaiah records, “an ox knows its owner and a donkey its manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand” (Isaiah 1:3). So this sad assessment by God results in a command for Hosea to act.

The call

The text reads, “when the Lord first spoke through Hosea” (v. 1), and this should remind us that God spoke to his people through his prophets. And, though our minds may jump to understand the word “through” as meaning a prophet's words, we should know that, even then, actions spoke louder than words.

So, responding to their sins, God takes action. God tells Hosea, “Go,” and the command is out. Next, comes the conjunction, “because.” Hosea was told to take a wife of “harlotry” (or whoredoms) and have children of harlotry, “because”–and this is key–“the land commits flagrant harlotry,” as well. God does not act unprovoked.

The word “land” refers to the people, Israel. God uses the words interchangeably as Israel's history, covenant and blessings were tied to its promise. So the “land” (people) was in breach of God's commands. It was their duty by covenant to obey the covenant law (Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy), particularly in not committing idolatry, and in this Israel had miserably failed.

They were guilty of “forsaking the Lord” (1:2).

The action–"a wife of whoredoms"

Few texts in the Bible have borne more speculation than this, and we should know there are many viable interpretations. Basically they fall under two categories, allegorical and literal, but they branch even further. Concerning a literal approach, this should be asked, was Gomer guilty of immoral acts before her marriage to Hosea or after? And, if before, was she guilty of adultery or idolatry? From this consideration one likely will come to these variations–either, (1) the allegorical approach; (2) the literal approach: idolatry; (3) the literal approach: adultery; (4) the literal approach: a proleptic (or backward) view.

Of these, the last seems most reasonable, but sound scholarship supports all. So that by looking back, Hosea is able to use his marriage with Gomer as an analogy of the God/Israel relationship.

So what's in a name?

Gomer's first child is a son, Jezreel, (1:3-5). We may conclude he is the offspring of Hosea (“and bore to him a son”). Jezreel also is the name of a city located at the foot of Mount Gilboa, and is the name of Israel's most famous valley between the mountains of Galilee and Samaria. The name Jezreel means “God scatters” or “the beginning of the end.” We should not miss the symbolism in this.

As Boo Heflin has written, “perhaps Hosea began to sense the 'beginning of the end' in their marriage and to realize they (he and Gomer) would soon 'scatter' or separate.”

On the other side of the coin, the name Jezreel has a positive connotation. A valid interpretation is, “God sows.” So translated, we might see that the name bears a glimmer of hope and possibility, even in the midst of a marriage going sour.

The next child mentioned as born to Gomer is Lo-ruhamah (1:6-7) and there is no clear indication from the text that this was Hosea's child, though opinion abounds (the words, “born to him,” as in the case of Jezreel, being absent).

About the name, Heflin writes, “the name is a tragic Hebrew phrase.” It can be interpreted “not loved,” “not pitied” or “no mercy,” so to assess that God was at the end of his mercy and nothing would stop his coming judgment is not wrong.

The third child mentioned is Lo-ammi (1:8-9), and as with Lo-ruhamah, Hosea's paternity is absent. Literally translated, this name means “not my people,” and suggests, now, a final breakdown in Israel's relations with God.

So what's in a name? Well, frankly, a lot. As suggested from Jezreel (coming judgment), to Lo-ruhamah (not loved), and then to Lo-ammi (not mine) the progression shows a deterioration of what God and his people would want. Even the names of Hosea and Gomer themselves are filled with suggestion–Hosea meaning “salvation” and Gomer meaning “come to an end.” For indeed the salvation of God–his covenant with his people–had, by their own willful disobedience, come to an end. Israel's harlotry was exposed and now judged. Forsaking the Lord, they had turned to other gods, and God was judging their sin.

Not a happy message, but certainly some hope

We should note that the coming judgment of God upon Israel was not a new message. Amos, Hosea's contemporary and chronologically just a bit before, had forewarned of the same.

We also should note that the judgment of God is real–what God proposed would happen did. And just as God's judgment was true in the days of Israel before falling into the hands of the Assyrians, it is true of our time, too.

But perhaps unlike the prophecies of Amos, we should note that the message of Hosea bears one mark more, and that is the extent to which God will go in restoring his people. For his love is everlasting, and the opening words of Hosea, so harsh in their judgment, also bear by the same an effective opportunity for God's love.

When I was a boy, I summered in a community just outside of Mexia. The community, which was that of my maternal grandparents, was Point Enterprise. I never knew how the place got its name, but I loved to hear my Paw-Paw tell his reason as to how. “The place is a place (a point if you will) for second chances,” he'd say. And I liked that idea. At Point Enterprise, folks knew the love of God because they needed it.

I find this is true of just about everybody I've come to know since. Those who know they need the love of God find it, for without a sense of God's judgment there's no felt need for restoration. Hosea took a wife of whoredom, and she bore children progressively alienated (by name) from God. This became a metaphor for the way things were for Israel spiritually. They (the people of Israel) needed changing, and God's judgment of them was their step of beginning–their point of enterprise.

Questions for discussion

bluebullIn light of God's command to Hosea, how do you think God felt about the sins of Israel? How did he punish them?

bluebullIn light of our life and times, and the teaching of the New Testament, how do you think God punishes sin today?

bluebullHow should we balance our thinking between the knowledge of God's judgment of our sin and calling every evil or misfortunate deed we see the 'judgment of God.'

bluebullIn light of this lesson, how should we respond to GodÕs requirements of us?

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