Lesson #13

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HOSEA 12
Lesson #13
THE KEY TO SUCCESS IN LIFE

• Memory Verse: Hos 12:5

• God continues His declaration of a coming judgment on His people, and with that warning of judgment, God continues to plead with His people to bend to His will based on His love for them.
• With this thought comes a very pertinent concept that is necessary for the believer in the New Testament time to understand.
• If blessing and love come by way of obedience to authority, why do believers find it so difficult to do the will of God?
• We will revisit this question at the end of this lesson.
• Read Hos 12:1-6

• “Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind…”

(1)

• The Northern Kingdom of Israel or Ephraim continued their lifestyle that was taking them closer and closer to judgment.
• The Bible frequently mentions the “east wind”. This is a specific term that refers to God’s judgment.
• This wind (called a sirocco) is an extremely hot wind that blows from the eastern desert. It scorches everything in its path. It causes vegetation to shrivel and die for lack of moisture.
• No human would choose to be caught in a severe wind storm from the east.
• Likewise, no wise believer would put himself under God’s judgment. But that is exactly what the Israelites were doing with their lives.
• “…they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt.”

(1)

• The Israelites made an unholy agreement to buy peace with their enemy, Assyria.
• They also tried to buy the participation of Egypt in a defense treaty by sending gifts of olive oil to Egypt. (2Kin 17:3-4)
• The Northern Kingdom wanted Egypt’s help in breaking the treaty with Assyria.
• These deceptive political practices based on lies exemplified their lack of integrity. Their promises were as empty as the wind and reaped God’s judgment of the east wind.
• The armies of Assyria came from the east and destroyed everything in their path.
• “The LORD hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways…”

(2)

• The Southern Kingdom of Judah was equally guilty. God extends his warning to include the Southern Kingdom along with the Northern Kingdom.
• Notice that God calls the people “Jacob”. Of what significance is this?
• If we remember the story of the life of Jacob in the book of Genesis, we see that Jacob’s character was that of constant deception, lies, selfishness, and self-determination. He stole his brother’s inheritance by taking advantage of his brother’s weakness. (Gen 25) He stole his father’s blessing by deceiving his father (Gen 27), and then he deceived his uncle, Laban, for his own benefit and profit. (Gen 30-31)
• The name, Jacob, means = supplanter.or deceiver. (Gen 27:26) This was the nature of his character from the womb.
• Finally God revealed himself to Jacob. He changed his heart, and He changed his name to Israel (which means = God strives). (Gen 32:24-31) (Gen 35)
• Because the true name of God’s people is Israel and not Jacob, whenever God uses the name Jacob for His people, He is telling them that they are acting like Jacob the deceiver. Their character and actions reflect rebellion, deception, and self-determination. It is the name of rebellion against God.
• “He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God.”

(3)

• What is the significance of verse 3?
• Read Gen 25:22-26
• From the story of Jacob in Genesis and from what we already know about Jacob’s life, what is the principle for success in life?
• For success in life, we must have a zeal for the things of God by allowing God to take our basic character and mold it to His will.
• Jacob was supposed to grab hold of the things of God by faith and trust in God to raise him above his brother. Instead, he manipulated, lied, deceived, and took advantage of people to bring his own personal success.
• However, instead of success in life, he had bad relationships with all the members of his family. He succeeded materially, but he failed spiritually.
• The significance of verse 3 is that the national character of Israel was exactly like the character of the patriarch Jacob before God changed his name to Israel. Because they were so stubborn, they would not permit God to mold their character to the will of God. As a result, they were failing to succeed spiritually as a nation.

• “Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed…”

(4)

• Read Gen 32:24-28
• What is the significance of Jacob’s battle with the angel?
• The battle is that battle that occurs between the flesh nature and the spirit nature.
• The flesh nature struggles to live life in a person’s own strength. However, true success in life comes by surrendering the flesh nature to the control of the Holy Spirit.
• “Even the LORD God of hosts; the LORD is his memorial.”

(5)

• The name, LORD, is the name Jehovah. This is the name that God used to identify himself to Moses. (Exo 3:13-15)
• The name, Jehovah, refers to God’s covenant making character that is unchanging and self-existent.
• Jehovah delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Equally He can deliver the Israelites from their current enemies.
• This statement should remind the Israelites that when they found themselves in slavery again, but this time in Babylon, Jehovah was there to deliver them again.
• Like a memorial, God is always there ready to deliver, to forgive, and to restore.

• “Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment and wait on thy God continually”

(6)

• Read Hos 12:7-14 Business Integrity
• Israel had become like the Canaanites in their business practices.
• Originally the Canaanites were Phoenician traders. They were well known for their corrupt business practices.
• Israel was becoming like the Canaanites in religion, immorality, and in business.
• They cheated people with deceptive scales.
• God forbid this practice in Deu 25:13.
• They had pride in their craftiness and their wealth. This pride was self-deceptive. They did not think God would care how they made their money.
• They were so deceived that they said their business practices were not sinful. (8)
• God promises a recompense: (9)

• “And I that am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast”

(9)

• God remembers where they came from when they were in slavery in Egypt. He will Return them to slavery again. He would destroy their cities and homes. They would RETURN TO wandering in the world as they had wandered in the desert.
• How had God spoken to the Israelites in the past?

• “I have also spoken

by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.” (10)

• We are familiar with visions and the words of the prophets, but what are similitudes?
• These are the prefigures and types of God’s New Testament truths that God has sprinkled through all of the Old Testament. There are hundreds of them. Here are two from the book of Exodus.
• For example, the Passover lamb was a prefigure of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.
• The Old Testament tabernacle was a prefigure of the presence and work of Jesus Christ.
• The widespread nature of Israel’s sin:
• God mentions Gilead and Gilgal.
• Gilead was on the east side of the Jordan River.
• This area was totally submerged in idolatry, immorality, evil and crime of every kind. It was not a safe place to live or a safe place for the traveler.
• Gilgal was on the west side of the Jordan River.
• It was a place where they sacrificed bulls to the Egyptian god of the Apis Bull.
• Stone altars were numerous throughout all of Israel.
• God says these two cities will become “gallim”. This is the Hebrew word for heaps of stones.
• The play on words is that when the Assyrians were finished with the destruction of the Northern Kingdom, all that remained were heaps of stones.
• The results? “…they are vanity…” (worthless). (11)
• The theme of the chapter RETURN s to the story of Jacob. (12-13)
• After Jacob deceived his father, he fled to Syria where he worked as a shepherd for Laban for 14 years to pay for his bride, Rachel. (Gen 29)
• Even in that rebellion outside of the Promised Land, God was watching over him.
• Later the Israelites left the Promised Land to go to Egypt.
• Even there, God was watching over them and caring for them for He called Moses to be the prophet that would lead them out of slavery in Egypt.
• “Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly: therefore shall he leave his blood upon him, and his reproach shall his LORD RETURN unto him.”

(14)

• In the Old Testament, sin was to be covered by the blood of animal sacrifices. Instead of the worship of God by faith in the forgiveness of sin that would come through the Messiah, Jesus Christ, their animal sacrifices were made to the god Baal.
• That means their sins were not covered by faith in the blood.
• Frequently in place of animals, the Israelites offered their own children as human sacrifices to the god Molech.
• This evil god had the form of a large idol of metal. They heated the idol until the arms were red hot. Then they placed a baby in the hot arms as a sacrifice.
• This practice was not only an abomination to God because of its idolatrous nature, but it also jeopardized the existence of the next generation.
• Through the Old Testament, God was always concerned about the blood line of the subsequent generations that would lead to Jesus Christ.
• Summary and Application:
• We began this lesson with a question pertinent to our relationship to God in this current era.
• If blessing and love come by way of obedience to authority, why do believers find it so difficult to do the will of God?
• It is from the story of Jacob that we arrive at an answer.
• Jacob discovered that it is the battle between the flesh nature and the Spirit nature that presents man with the difficult choice. The flesh nature is strong and desires to be in control. Only as the believer exercises his free will and chooses the Spirit of God will God have control of his life.
• Only through the guidance and dependence upon the Holy Spirit can the believer maintain his obedience to the will of God. This means that the flesh nature must surrender to the Spirit nature in the same way that Jacob finally surrendered to the Angel of the Lord in Gen 32:24-28.
• Blessing and love come through obedience. Therefore, success in life is accomplished through surrender to the Holy Spirit.

HOMEWORK
HOSEA 13
This is a self-study. Please do not send homework answers to the teacherfor correction.

• Application of Hos 12
• How successful is your Christian life?
• If you are having trouble with obedience, it is most likely due to an attempt to live the Christian life in your own strength.
• How successful are you in surrendering to the Holy Spirit?
• Preparation for Hos 13
• Read Hos 13:1-16
• What is the meaning of verse 7?
• How many times did God promise something with the words “I will”?

Memory Verse: Hos 13:9