Hosea 10 [NLT]
June 26, 2013
Oak Park Baptist Church – Wed Bible Study Series
Hosea Bible Study
A Study of the Minor Prophets Hosea (750-725 BC)
HOSEA to Israel (Northern Kingdom)
Once again, I want us to review what we have learned so far in our study through this prophetic book. We have learned that the nation of Israel was rebellious & stubborn when it came to serving/obeying God. They wanted to do things their own way, and they had ‘replaced’ the God of their deliverance with false god and idol worship!
Hosea had told them that God knew about their rebellion and that they had rebelled to the point where God was ready to discipline them harshly! His judgment would be the total destruction of the nation and its inhabitants taken into captivity as well.
Hosea was very clear that God did desire to bring judgment against Israel, but that He would rather see repentance and reconciliation from the people… It was God’s ultimate desire that Israel turn away from their false gods & come back to Him in their worship.
God had promised to NOT go thru with His destruction of the nation, if they would turn back to Him, but God understood that the nation of Israel’s hearts were NOT focused on turning to Him, but on their own selfish desires!
So, tonight as we look at ch10 we are going to find see a principle from Scripture that did not ‘jive’ with the society of the day… and it still does not ‘jive’ with what society thinks about God!
Here in ch10 we find first (v.1-4) that God wanted Israel to know and understand that material prosperity does NOT always equal right standing with God. Second we see (v.5-8) that Israel (Samaria) had replaced God with a false god/an idol of worship. Finally we will look at v.10-15 where God is clear in His prophetic voice that He will choose the what, when, where, and who of how He disciplines.
Earthly Prosperity is NOT necessarily a sign of Godly Approval! v.1-4
READ VERSES HERE… Reading from NLT
1How prosperous Israel is—a luxuriant vine loaded with fruit.
But the richer the people get, the more pagan altars they build. The more bountiful their harvests, the more beautiful their sacred pillars. 2The hearts of the people are fickle; they are guilty and must be punished. The Lord will break down their altars and smash their sacred pillars. 3Then they will say, “We have no king because we didn’t fear the Lord. But even if we had a king, what could he do for us anyway?” 4They spout empty words and make covenants they don’t intend to keep. So injustice springs up among them like poisonous weeds in a farmer’s field.
What this verse implies here is that EVEN though Israel seemed prosperous from the point of view of the world, it did NOT mean that they were prosperous in God’s eyes or in God’s economy.
We have all heard the phrase/saying about someone comes into a large amount of money OR has great circumstances come about in their lives… People will say things like, “They must be living right!” OR “God is really blessing them!”
We have also heard the saying said for the opposite affect as well… If someone is struck by calamity or hardship there are many who will say things like, “…where is their God now?” OR “How could God allow this to happen?”
As humans we have a tendency to place all calamity on God or all blessing on God… and while God is in control we all have free will and make decisions and God judges us on those decisions.
Israel had made the choice to turn away from God and thru Hosea God had promised discipline for their choices… but from the outside, the world saw a nation who was prosperous and thriving, although on the inside they were dead or dying because of their disobedient hearts.
The world saw prosperity… but more importantly the people of Israel saw prosperity and mistook that earthly prosperity as the blessing of God, and ignored the warnings from the prophet Hosea.
We cannot ever think that just because we have material prosperity that God is blessing us… Now God will bless those who are obedient and God may choose to use material blessing as His blessing… BUT we cannot confuse material accumulation or earthly success with godly approval for our lives!
As I stated, God will honor those who honor Him, but it will not always be what we may expect! Israel had put their trust in material successes and they ignored God’s voice of warning about their spiritual condition. WE cannot be like Israel!
Israel replaced God with an idol v.5-8
5The people of Samaria tremble in fear for what might happen to their calf idol at Beth-aven. The people mourn and the priests wail, because its glory will be stripped away. 6This idol will be carted away to Assyria, a gift to the great king there. Ephraim will be ridiculed and Israel will be shamed, because its people have trusted in this idol. 7Samaria and its king will be cut off; they will float away like driftwood on an ocean wave. 8And the pagan shrines of Aven, the place of Israel’s sin, will crumble. Thorns and thistles will grow up around their altars. They will beg the mountains, “Bury us!” and plead with the hills, “Fall on us!”
In this particular section we find Samaria (Israel) fearful and fretting over the possible loss of their idol at a place called Beth-aven…they were afraid of what may become of their idol made of a calf…
Here was this nation who was delivered out of Egypt by the very hand of God! A nation whom God delivered from slavery and set them up in the Land of Plenty… The nation had forgotten where it had come from, and who it was who delivered them out of bondage.
This was a nation who had forgotten about God and had swapped the one True God for a god of gold, silver and wood…
Here at Oak Park we must ask ourselves the question, “Are we becoming too much like Samaria?” We have to look at this story and see that these people had fears that their sacred cow… their sacred idol was going to be stolen or taken away!
The focus should have been on obedience TO God but for many if not all of the people; the focus was on what they wanted not what God wanted!
Are we hanging onto something that WE deem to be so important… something that we have assigned so much value to that we have lost sight of what is really important!!
Israel had put so much value on their own desires that they actually replaced God with an idol… when we focus on THINGS or METHODS or TRADITIONS more than we focus on serving God… it becomes an idol and replaces God! Are we that church?
God informed Israel that He was in control v.10-15
10Now whenever it fits my plan, I will attack you, too. I will call out the armies of the nations to punish you for your multiplied sins. 11“Israel is like a trained heifer treading out the grain—an easy job she loves. But I will put a heavy yoke on her tender neck. I will force Judah to pull the plow and Israel to break up the hard ground. 12I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.’ 13“But you have cultivated wickedness and harvested a thriving crop of sins. You have eaten the fruit of lies—trusting in your military might, believing that great armies could make your nation safe. 14Now the terrors of war will rise among your people. All your fortifications will fall, just as when Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel. Even mothers and children were dashed to death there. 15You will share that fate, Bethel, because of your great wickedness. When the day of judgment dawns, the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.
God grabbed my attention in v.10-13. In v10 Hosea tells us that God is going to discipline at HIS discretion. In other words, God is going to determine the ‘when’ and ‘how’ of discipline –
BUT an even more broad concept here is that God not only chooses the when and how of discipline--- He also chooses the when and how of ALL things!
How often do we break the heart of God with our disobedience? How often do we disappoint God when we PIPE up and try to tell God the when and how to do things?
I pray that we can have patience… that God would grant us the patience to trust Him and wait on Him. In v13 we read about sowing evil, reaping injustice and eating the fruit of lies!
This is all because of our trying to do things our OWN way… of US trying to dictate the when and how of things… of us NOT trusting God for the when and how and US trying to manipulate it to our favor!
Israel felt that they could dictate the terms of the covenant to God as THEY saw fit… in THEIR timing… and on THEIR terms, but here God is reminding them that He is the one who dictates terms or allows terms to be dictated. This reminded them of God’s control and sovereignty over them!
WE too must remember that God is sovereign and we cannot dictate our terms to Him but we are called to surrender our lives, our hearts, and all our desires to Him… and He will lead, guide and direct our steps!
When we choose to step out of that role of obedience and following God, we step into a role where God will judge us on HIS terms!
Israel had stepped away from the covenant with God and had tried to set their own terms for that covenant. Here God lets them know in NO uncertain terms that He is in control and it is only under His terms will He act! AND if we are not in concert with His terms we will face discipline and judgment…
