Hosea 3 and 4

Hosea’s Reconciliation With His Wife

3 The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”

² So I bought her for fifteen shekels^[a] of silver and about a homer and a lethek^[b] of barley. ³ Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.”

⁴ For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household gods. ⁵ Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days.

Hosea 4 New International Version (NIV)

The Charge Against Israel

4 Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites,
    because the Lord has a charge to bring
    against you who live in the land:
“There is no faithfulness, no love,
    no acknowledgment of God in the land.
² There is only cursing,^[a] lying and murder,
    stealing and adultery;
they break all bounds,
    and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
³ Because of this the land dries up,
    and all who live in it waste away;
the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky
    and the fish in the sea are swept away.

⁴ “But let no one bring a charge,
    let no one accuse another,
for your people are like those
    who bring charges against a priest.
⁵ You stumble day and night,
    and the prophets stumble with you.
So I will destroy your mother—
⁶     my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.

“Because you have rejected knowledge,
    I also reject you as my priests;
because you have ignored the law of your God,
    I also will ignore your children.
⁷ The more priests there were,
    the more they sinned against me;
    they exchanged their glorious God^[b] for something disgraceful.
⁸ They feed on the sins of my people
    and relish their wickedness.
⁹ And it will be: Like people, like priests.
    I will punish both of them for their ways
    and repay them for their deeds.

¹⁰ “They will eat but not have enough;
    they will engage in prostitution but not flourish,
because they have deserted the Lord
    to give themselves ¹¹ to prostitution;
old wine and new wine
    take away their understanding.
¹² My people consult a wooden idol,
    and a diviner’s rod speaks to them.
A spirit of prostitution leads them astray;
    they are unfaithful to their God.
¹³ They sacrifice on the mountaintops
    and burn offerings on the hills,
under oak, poplar and terebinth,
    where the shade is pleasant.
Therefore your daughters turn to prostitution
    and your daughters-in-law to adultery.

¹⁴ “I will not punish your daughters
    when they turn to prostitution,
nor your daughters-in-law
    when they commit adultery,
because the men themselves consort with harlots
    and sacrifice with shrine prostitutes—
    a people without understanding will come to ruin!

¹⁵ “Though you, Israel, commit adultery,
    do not let Judah become guilty.

“Do not go to Gilgal;
    do not go up to Beth Aven.^[c]
    And do not swear, ‘As surely as the Lord lives!’
¹⁶ The Israelites are stubborn,
    like a stubborn heifer.
How then can the Lord pasture them
    like lambs in a meadow?
¹⁷ Ephraim is joined to idols;
    leave him alone!
¹⁸ Even when their drinks are gone,
    they continue their prostitution;
    their rulers dearly love shameful ways.
¹⁹ A whirlwind will sweep them away,
    and their sacrifices will bring them shame.

Did Hosea demand, beg, or invite Gomer to come back?  He invites … And I said to her, “You shall stay with me many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man—so, too, will I be toward you.”  He invites her to come back as His wife/ not as a slave.  But He did require that she would remain faithful/ just as he is to be faithful.  God chose to show LOVE to her.  Vs. 2. He bought her for 15 shekels of silver and 5 bushels of barley.  He paid all he had… (Equal to 30 pieces of silver)>    What did he expect her to change? Fidelity to the marriage; to be intimate with Him, forsake all other gods, to be faithful to Him, & Love Him.                                         Hosea buys her back

3 important words in the NT: . Agorazo – “to buy in the market”.  . 1 Cor. 6:20 “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.”  . Rev.5:9 “And they sang a new song, saying: "You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood, Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,”

  Exagorazo [ex=out of] - “to buy out of the market” {so as not to be sold again}   Gal.3:13 “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us”  . Gal.4:5 “to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” 

]. Lutroo – “to set free”. (to release on receipt of ransom/Vines)  . Tit.2:14 “who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.”    1 Pet.1:18,19 “knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

Hosea bids for Gomer! The 1st bidder calls out, “12 pieces of silver!”…Hosea bids 13.  “14 pieces of silver!”…Hosea bids 15.  “15 pieces of silver & a bushel of barley!”…Hosea bids 15 & 1 & ½ bushels.  Seeing no more bids the auctioneer yells, “sold to Hosea for 15 pieces of silver & 1 & ½ bushels.”    This is the equivalent of 30 pieces of silver.  Look at Leviticus 27: 2-4- Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If anyone makes a special vow to dedicate a person to the Lord by giving the equivalent value, ³ set the value of a male between the ages of twenty and sixty at fifty shekels^[a] of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel^[b]; ⁴ for a female, set her value at thirty shekels^[c];    A female promised to the Lord was 30 pieces of silver.

 Matthew 26:15 ⁵ and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver.

 Jesus was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver.  What does 1 Peter 1: 18-19 say about your worth? ¹⁸ For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.   God sees value in the “worthless”. He gave all he had… his one and only son.     Trust God’s opinion of you.   

  And so Hosea took her off the streets, clothed her, led her back home, & back to his heart!

 . I guess you could say, “Hosea(which means Salvation) caught her(being unfaithful), sought her(vs.1), bought her(vs.2), & taught her(vs.3)”   We are Gomer. Standing on the auction block of sin. The world bids fame, wealth, prestige, influence, power…all of which are the world’s currency God bids for helpless sinful slaves! . God stepped into the marketplace of sin and buys us out of sin’s bondage by the death of Christ. (John 3:16- For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son. He bought us with Christ.

We will see God gives judgment and hope, destruction and restoration. God’s faithful heart of love wans His people for their Good. 

.

Read Hosea 4      Hosea 4:1- 2  (“There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. ² There is only cursing,^[a] lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed).  These reflect the 10 commandments. Since we are like Gomer, we need to see Why  Gomer make bad choices. She made bad choices out of fear, stress, shame, selfishness, etc.   What do these verses say Israel was doing?

Hosea 4:3 reflects the consequences.

In Hosea 4 what were the people’s bad decisions?  (Idol making and worship, consulting idols or diviner’s rods, mixing with foreign nation’s beliefs, and demanding their own king).

How do we do these things today?  We make idols out of what we want.  …whatever we Give full focus, credit or power in our lives. We consult the divining rod by listening to superstition or our feelings over God’s truth. We mix with other beliefs when we mix in secular thinking and dilute our faith. We demand our own king when we demand we are the boss of everything, our way or no way..  

Read Hosea 4 aloud…     How does God describe the people of Israel in Hosea 4: 1-2 ? (re is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land.² There is only cursing,^[a] lying and murder,stealing and adultery; they break all bounds,  and bloodshed follows bloodshed.

Hosea 4: 4-5 says that the priests and prophets were partly responsible for Israel’s sin problem. They weren’t following God so they couldn’t lead others to God. Consequently, when we don’t follow God, we can’t lead others to God.  Hosea 5: 1 calls them a “snare on Mizepah/ and a net upon Tabor.  Those are cities on high mountains. Hosea is saying the priest and prophets are elevating themselves and taking advantage of those they are suppose to serve and teach. 

Hosea 4:10 shows they were seeking happiness outside the boundaries God gave.

Hosea 4: 11 tells the 2 things that take away our understanding:   Understanding here is”” leb, “”to understand with your heart.  Promiscuity and Wine   take away your heart.    We can be filled with the Spirit so our heart is protected.  Ephesians 5: 18 says  Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,    Romans 8:9 says that Christians have the Spirit. So when you are filled, you are not getting more of the Spirit, because you already have all of Him and you can’t receive more than all. So being filled with the Spirit is not an issue of quantity—how much of the Holy Spirit you have. It’s not an issue of quantity, because you have all of Him. No, the issue here is control. The question in regard to filling that we need to ask is not, “How much of the Holy Spirit do I have?”, but rather “How much of me does the Holy Spirit have?” Let me just boil it all down for you: If you are filled by the Holy Spirit, you are simply being controlled by the Spirit. That’s it. What does it mean to be filled by the Holy Spirit? It means to be controlled by the Spirit. It means that the Spirit has all of you and is guiding your words, thoughts, and actions.

How do we identify false teachers/ preachers?   Isaiah 30: 10 says ¹⁰ They say to the seers,  “See no more visions!”
and to the prophets,   “Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things,  prophesy illusions  Jeremiah 6: 14 says ¹⁴ They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious .‘ Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.   False teachers only have good things to say. They talk about peace and prosperity, but don’t ever talk about sin and repentance. They are like doctors that treat cancer with aspirin and lollipops. They don’t demand the painful work of rooting out sin.

Discipline can feel like hatred. But it isn’t true. Proverbs 3:11-12 ¹¹My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, ¹²because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in. Proverbs 12:1 ¹Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid.

According to Hebrews 12:6, who does God discipline?   because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.

Revelation 3:19 ¹⁹Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.    God lovingly stops us in our tracks when it is leading us to choices, places or people that will bring us harm or pain.

According to Hosea 4:7 and 4:10, will she be satisfied or find happiness in rebellion? No, the harder she tried to find happiness in sin, the further it funs from her. It gave her an empty, unhappy identity crisis. A life of pursing pleasure doesn’t bring happiness, it brings exhaustion. ( She sought happiness outside the Lord/ Hosea 4:10).

Hosea 4:7 tells us we exchange our glorious god for something disgraceful.  Gomer exchanged her identify as a beloved bride to the indignity of a prostitute.

Other “lovers” will lead to idolatry, idolatry will lead to slavery.  Hosea 9:10 tells us “they consecrated themselves to that shameful idol
    and became as vile as the thing they loved.

But, God…….

Jeremiah 31: 3-   The Lord appeared to us in the past,^[a] saying:“I have loved you with an everlasting love;  I have drawn you with unfailing kindness

Hosea 4: 14 says I will not punish your daughters when they commit harlotry, Nor your brides when they  commit adultery; For the men themselves go apart with harlots,       You have to understand the culture to understand this verse.  Worship of the false gods involved cult prostitution. Fathers presented their daughters to Baal as temple prostitution.    How does God respond to this mistreatment of women? See Leviticus 20: 2 Tell the Israelites, Each and every Israelite and foreigner in Israel who gives his child to the god Molech must be put to death. The community must kill him by stoning.   Deut. 23: 17 ¹⁷ No Israelite man or woman is to become a shrine prostitute.      From these verses we see that freedom and dignity of women has grown and flourished because God valued women.  Jesus talked to the lady at the well.  Jesus treated the woman caught in adultery with kindness and dignity.  When Jesus was on the cross, he asked John to care for his mother. He first appeared to a WOMAN after resurrected . You matter to God.

Hosea 4: 16 says  ¹⁶ “For Israel is stubborn, Like a stubborn calf; Now the Lord will let them forage
Like a lamb in ^[i]open country. God compare’s us to a stubborn heifer.  God doesn’t want to drag us back instead… he wants to invite us to a lush meadow.  Which animal is more docile and submissive?  When we don’t cooperate with God’s restoration, we behave like a stubborn calf?   What brings our downfall according to Hosea 14: 1-2…?   Our sin. Repentance is our humble response to sin.  We repent and return. God receives and restores.

How do we know we are loved? 1 John 4: 9-10 ⁹ God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. ¹⁰ This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.  (To reject that God’s love applies to you is to reject the sacrifice of Christ and dismiss part of God’s character.  You are God’s beloved.  THAT is your identify.

1 Peter 2:9-  10 tells who we are.  ⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

John 15:16 you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.  (To be chosen means you are His 1^st choice/ best choice. You are a chosen woman of God. ).