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HOSEA2
Lesson #03
PERSISTENCE DESPITE OPTIONS
· MemoryVerse: Jeremiah 3:20
· Review:
o Chapter1 introduced us to the prophet Hosea and his tragic life married to a prostitute and theirthree children, of which two probably endured the stigma of illegitimacy.
o ThroughHoseas tragic marriage and the names of his three children we learned howHoseas personal life paralleled Israels relationship with God.
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The Unequal Yoke of a Faithful Husband, Hosea, Married to an Unfaithful Wife, Gomer |
God, the Faithful Husband, Married to Israel, the Unfaithful Wife (Isa 54:5 Jer 3:20) |
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First Child: Jezreel (God scatters; God sows) = the unfaithful wife, Gomer, will reap punishment for her sinfulness, but God will use it all for His glory in the life of the believing husband.(1:4) |
Jezreel = After God scattered the Israelites by means of the Babylonian Captivity, He would re-plant them in the land to fulfill His promises to Abraham. |
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Second Child: Lo-ruhamah (Without a fathers pity) = According to the Law of Moses, a husband did not need to show mercy to an unfaithful wife. (Deu 24:1-4 Mat 5:31-32) (1:6) |
Lo-ruhamah = God did not need to have any mercy on the backsliding Israel for they did not merit mercy. |
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Third Child: Lo-ammi (Not my people; not my child) = According to the Law of Moses, a husband with an unfaithful wife had grounds for divorce (Deu 24:1-4 Mat 5:31-32) declaring that she is not his wife. (1:9) |
Lo-ammi = the Israelites turned their backs on God, their heavenly father. They ignored their responsibilities to God, so they could not expect the blessings of a loving Father. |
o Wealso found in the first chapter four points of prophecy regarding Israel.
§ =1=The population of Israel will increase greatly.
§ =2=The population will turn to God exceedingly.
§ =3=The Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom will unite to become one nation.
§ =4=The nation will choose to follow one great leader, Jesus Christ.
o Thesefour points of prophecy will be fulfilled in the Millennial Kingdom of Jesus Christ.
· ReadHos 2:1-5 The Current Situation
o Godspitiful people:
§ Say yeunto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah. (1)
· Hoseais speaking to his children as a father. However, God is also speaking through Hosea toHis children, the Israelites.
· Ammimeans = my people.
· Ruhamahmeans = pitiful; to be pitied.
o Theplea:
§ Thepeople are to plead with their leaders in the same way that Hoseas children are toplead with their mother. (2)
· Gomerwas not acting like a true wife to Hosea. She was not treating him like her exclusivehusband.
o Gomerwas living as a prostitute and was committing the sin of adultery.
· Israelwas not acting like the wife of God when they tolerated idolatry of every kind in thenation. Israel did not deal with God as their God exclusively.
o Israelwas indulging in spiritual prostitution every time she turned to a different idol or godfor some need in her life. Because Israel was not trusting in Jehovah, she was committingspiritual adultery.
· Theword, plead, is a forceful word that means = to contend with strongly as in a greatbattle.
o Hoseasthree children were told to go to their mother and beg her with strong crying andpersistent words to get her to RETURN home to them and to their father, Hosea.
o Thepoor, pitiful people in Israel should plead strongly to their leaders to RETURN to thetrue worship of Jehovah.
o Theconsequence of a rejected plea:
§ Hoseahad several options as a wronged husband dealing with an unfaithful wife under the Law:
· ReadDeu 22:21-22
o Option#1 Capital punishment
§ TheLaw specified death by stoning for a person caught in adultery.
· ReadLev 21:9
o Option#2 Capital punishment
§ TheLaw specified death by fire for a prostitute.
· ReadDeu 23:17-18
o Option#3Excommunication
§ TheLaw specified religious excommunication for a person in adultery.
· ReadNum 5:11-14, 18-22, 27-28)
o Option#4The Law of Bitter Waters
§ TheLaw specified that if a woman was accused of adultery and her husband suspected adultery,he could let God decide her guilt. This was called a trial by bitter waters. If, afterdrinking this liquid, she became sick and died, she was guilty. If she did not become sickbut survived it, she was innocent and free of the charge.
· ReadDeu 24:1 Divorce
o Option#5The Law of Divorce
§ TheLaw specified that a husband could divorce his wife for moral uncleanness.
§ Accordingto the Law of Moses, Hosea could have taken any of these options. He did not. God had toldHosea to marry this woman and God did not tell him to set her aside.
· Hoseathreatened to strip her of the provision that he had given her: (3)
o Herclothing that other men enjoyed the sight of her.
o Herfood and drink that other men were not obligated to buy for her.
§ Whatwere Gods options with Israel?
· Hecould have abandoned her and forsaken her. She was not worthy of Gods blessings.Instead, like Hosea, God would not abandon his wife, Israel.
o Godpromised he would never forsake them or his covenant with them. (Deu 4:31)
· Inthe book of Hosea, God was threatening Israel with the consequences of her own sin ofidolatry. (3)
o Godwould allow the destruction of all the blessings and provision that He had supplied toher.
§ Thishappened when the Assyrians attacked and destroyed the Northern Kingdom in 721-722 BC.
o Hewould not have mercy on the next generation because the children learn the sins of theparents. The problem was not only with the government leaders. The spiritual adultery ofidolatry had corrupted all the people.
§ Therefore,men, women and children of the Israelites suffered the Babylonian captivity for 70 yearsto purge them of idolatry.
o Theresponse to pleading: (5)
§ Inspite of the warning, Hoseas wife was determined to enjoy the luxurious gifts thather lovers could supply. There is money in prostitution that Gomer did not want to giveup.
§ Inspite of Israels warning, she would continue to seek the blessings of other gods.She falsely attributed Gods blessings as coming from the idols and foreign gods.Worldly lust accompanied idolatry.
· Oneof Israels sins was ingratitude.
· TheNew Testament Application:
o Forthe Christian, there are the blessings of the world system that seem elegant, luxurious,pleasurable, and irresistible, but in reality this adultery with the world, is deceptiveand demonstrates a lack of gratitude to God for the true spiritual blessings.
§ ReadMat 16:26-27
· ReadHos 2:6-13 The Plan of Action
o Hoseacontemplated the plan to lock Gomer in the house so that she could not run away to herlovers.
§ Godsplan was to bring restrictions to Israels freedom by allowing enemy nations toadvance diplomatically and strategically.
o Despitethese restrictions, Gomer would still desire the life style of prostitution because itpaid very well. However, the day would come when she was not as beautiful as she was inher youth. Then her lovers would not seek her and she would RETURN to Hosea with thethought that she was economically better off with her husband.
§ Theday would come when Israel would discover that she was better off with God than withidols.
· Thisactually occurred during the Babylonian captivity. When the Israelites RETURN ed to thePromised Land after the 70-year captivity, they did not RETURN to idolatry.
o Amisuse of blessings: (8-13)
§ Hoseawould restrict the material blessings that he gave to his wife, Gomer, because she usedthem to give to her lovers.
§ Theblessings of provision that God gave the Israelites were used to bless other gods, so Godwould take them away.
· Godwould permit attacks by Assyria that depleted the wealth of Israel.
o Bymeans of these attacks, God would reduce Israel to poverty and slavery under Assyria. Shewould be naked, beyond salvation, for no nation would come to save her even though Israelhad made defense treaties with Egypt. (10)
o Throughthe Babylonian captivity the Israelites were unable to keep the feast days of celebrationfor the abundance that God gave them because they misused and abused those celebrations toworship Baal in place of God. (11)
o TheNorthern Kingdom was totally destroyed. Then Assyria moved other captives from othernations into the Promised Land to eat the crops that the land produced. (12) (Isa 5:6)
o Thedays of Baalim (13)
§ Baalwas the principal pagan god that the Israelites worshipped.
· Thename, Baal, means = lord or husband.
o Theillustration is that Israel exchanged her true husband, Jehovah, for a false one, Baal.
o Therewere many gods called Baal. They were gods of specific geographical locations. In otherwords, each local area had its own god that was called Baal.
o Theword Baalim is plural that refers to all these local gods together.
§ Godpromised that Israel will pay for every year she worshipped local gods of Baal.
· TheBabylonian captivity of 70 years was the exact payment measured by the fact that from thetime the Israelites began to worship other gods, she neglected the Sabbatic year to notplant the land in the seventh year. (2Chr 36:21 Jer 25:11 Jer 29:10 Eze 39:23-24)
o ReadLev 26:32-35
· Theresult of Israels spiritual adultery was that they forgot God. The word, forgot,means that they did not acknowledge God, recognize Gods blessings, His love, or Hisauthority,
· TheNew Testament Application:
o Thereare times when believers forget the blessings that God showers on a believers life.Sometimes we use those material blessings to indulge ourselves in materialism and worldlypursuits for lustful pleasure. We forget that all we are and all we have come from God. Weforget to thank God. We forget to use those blessings to bless others and to extendGods kingdom. How sad!
o Weneed to repent and pray that Gods chastisement does not come upon us as it did uponthe Israelites.
· ReadHos 2:14-23 The Promises
o Hoseadecided that he would continue to love Gomer in spite of her unfaithfulness. He would notuse his legal options to get rid of her. He would not show his anger to her. He wouldspeak soft words of love to attract her while she was in isolation. He would try to winher back with love.
o Goddecided that he would continue to love Israel in spite of her unfaithfulness. He would notabandon her even though she deserved it. He would show his love and mercy to Israel whileshe was in exile in Babylon (the wilderness) to try to win her with love.
§ thevalley of Achor for a door of hope (15)
· Theword Achor means = the valley of trouble.
o Howcan trouble be a door of hope?
§ Itis in problems that we look up with hope to the Lord to meet our needs.
· Hoseashope was that Gomer would wake up to realize his love for her when she began to experiencethe consequences of her sins.
· Godgot Israels attention when he permitted the destruction of the Promised Land thatput His people in slavery. Then He could bring them out of slavery in hope to RETURN themto the Promised Land.
· TheValley of Achor first occurs in the Bible in Jos 7 where the Israelites first enter thePromised Land.
o AtJericho they met the first enemy which symbolizes the world. They won that battle.
o AtAi they met the second enemy which symbolizes the flesh nature. They lost the battle.
§ Achanwas the man that had sinned and caused them to lose the battle. They took Achan and allhis possessions to the Valley of Achor where they were destroyed and buried. After theydealt with the sin, they had hope for the victory.
§ thoushalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali. (16)
· Theword Ishi means = my husband.
· Theword Baali means = my lord and master. It is related to the word for the god, Baal.
o Inother words, Hosea looked forward to the day when Gomer would say to him, myhusband and God looked forward to the day when Israel would call Jehovah, myhusband instead of the many gods called Baal.
o WhenIsrael came out of the Babylonian captivity, she forgot all the gods of Baal. (17)
o Propheciesof the Millennial Kingdom of Jesus Christ
§ In thatday will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field (18)
· TheBiblical phrase in that day always refers to future prophecy that places aprophecy in the context of the Tribulation period and / or the Millennial Kingdom ofChrist.
· Inthe Millennial Kingdom of Jesus Christ, God will reverse the curse placed on nature atAdams first sin.
o Isaiah(Isa 11:6-9 Isa 2:4) also tells us that in the Millennium there will be:
§ peace between animals.
§ peace between animals and man.
§ peacebetween nations with no more war.
§ Iwill betroth thee unto me for ever (19)
· Theword betroth means = to woo a virgin.
o Godwill continually attempt to woo Israel with love.
· Wehave already seen that God considered Israel to be His wife. (Isa 54:5 Jer 3:20)
· InHos 2 God promises that she will be His wife forever.
o Thispromise is important in light of the fact that some theologians today believe that God haspermanently abandoned Israel and replaced her with the New Testament church. (This falseteaching is called replacement theology.)
o Becauseof this betrothal between God and Israel, He will be a husband to Israel throughrighteousness, judgment, lovingkindness, mercy, and faithfulness. (20)
§ Iwill hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth. (21)
· Inthe Millennial Kingdom of Christ heaven and earth will be in tune, united under Christ,with harmony and peace. (Isa 11:6-8 Isa 65:21-25)
§ AndI will sow her unto me in the earth (23)
· Godalready promised Abraham that He would give him and his descendants the Promised Land.
· Inthe Millennium God will fulfill that promise and plant Israel in the Promised Land.
§ Iwill have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God. (23)
· Atthe second coming of Christ, the Jews will turn to Christ for forgiveness. (Zec 12:10-13)He will bring them into the Millennial Kingdom as His people and they will acknowledge Himas their God.
· Verse23 is a play on words that relate to the meaning of the names of Hoseas children.
o Jezreel= scatter and sow. God will plant Israel in the land He gave her.
o Lo-ruhama= without a fathers pity. God will have mercy on Israel in the end.
o Lo-ammi= not my child, not my father. They will be Gods children and He will be theirfather.
· Summaryand Application:
o Inthis chapter we see Gods great love for His people even though they did not deserveHis love. In spite of legitimate and legal options to abandon an unfaithful people, Godsays that He will bear with her forever in love and perseverance.
§ Forthe New Testament Christian, we often presume upon Gods great love with ourrebellion, worldliness, and disobedience. God is faithful when we are not. We mustremember that God still chastises His people today for rebellion and disobedience. (Heb12:7-8) It is more blessed to remain faithful to God.
o Whatcharacteristics do we learn about God in this chapter?
§ Godscharacter is demonstrated in His love, His righteousness, His patience, His forgiveness,His perseverance, and His faithfulness.
HOMEWORK
HOSEA 3
Thisis a self-study. Please do not send homework answers to the teacher for correction.
· Applicationof Hos 2
o Howoften do you forget to thank God for his many blessings in your life?
o Ifthis lack of thanksgiving is a problem in your life, ask God to forgive you and make adetermination to be more faithful in your thanks to God.
· Preparationfor Hos 3
o ReadHos 3:1-5
§ Whatis it in the believers experience with Christ in the New Testament that verse 2reminds you?
§ Whatcharacteristic in Gods character is expressed in His plan to win the Jews to Christ?
· MemoryVerse: Psalms 60:5
