Studies in Hosea
3 - A Remarkable Man
The ministry of Hosea has been a comfort to millions. The break-up of his marriage and his broken heart were the very avenues through which God gave him a ministry. What happened to him enabled him to see into God’s heart – and God was heartbroken too.
Hosea bought his wife back. He paid half price: fifteen shekels. She was shop soiled, damaged goods. Did her other lover tire of her? Hosea told her, “You are to live with me … you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will live with you” (3:3).
What a remarkable man! What an amazing reaction! He refused to divorce her, because he loved her. So too with God. His love was present even while His people were enmeshed in their idolatry and harlotry. The Lord had spoken so clearly in Deuteronomy 16:21 - 22. “Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole beside the altar you build to the Lord your God, and do not erect a sacred stone, for these the Lord your God hates.” But that’s not what was happening. Chapter 3 verse 4 is a clear reflection of the present state of Israel even in our day. They have rejected their king, their true priest after the order of Melchizedek, their Messiah, and are rejecting the sacrifice He offered.
The short chapter 3 ends with a glimpse at the distant future. It says, “Afterwards 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” (verse 5). Divine love is a force that knows no bounds. God still loves relentlessly.
Chapter 4 to the end of the book covers many years. It is Hosea’s condensed ministry. The complaint of backsliding is directed to the nation as a whole from 735 BC onwards. These chapters reveal the ways of God. It’s like a court of law and God is prosecuting. The nation is guilty of all the sins in the book. Listen to the charge in verses 1 - 2: “There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgement of God in the land. There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.” That is why the land is not productive.
God holds the priesthood accountable. This breakdown in law and order is the result of the priests not doing their job, so everyone is stumbling. “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests’ (verse 6). To ignore the law of God is to invite trouble. The priests had so corrupted their religion that they relished wickedness, because it meant more fresh meat to eat as sin-offerings. ‘Like people, like priests’ – both groups would face judgement. There would be no exemptions.
Just think of the courage of Hosea in confronting this intense struggle against the paganizing tendencies of his day. After a hard day opposing a bent priesthood, the thought of going home was not comforting. There he would face even more trauma, conflict and grief.
The fact is, Israel had been playing the harlot, flirting with false gods and was guilty of spiritual wantonness. Food and sex have been their obsession. “They will eat but not have enough; they will engage in prostitution but not increase, because they have deserted the Lord to give themselves to prostitution” (verse 10).
A people, once enlightened by the living God, have become befuddled with wine and have turned to bits of wood for guidance – praying to an idol, and for divination studying the way a stick, thrown up at random, might fall and point.
The problem, in a nutshell, is spelt out in chapter 4:12 “A spirit of prostitution leads them astray; they are unfaithful to their God.” Canaanite fertility rites involved sexual activity and these sins were being repeated (verse 13).
Hosea was addressing a society that was running downhill, where sin flourished unchecked. There was an unholy mixture of true religion and aspects of paganism resulting in decadence. Under Jeroboam the state was a powerful military nation, influential in international affairs, but sick at heart. In 746 BC Jeroboam died.
The royal shrine at Bethel (‘house of God’) was nicknamed ‘Bethaven’ (‘house of evil’) (verse 15). In the words of the Authorised Version ‘Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer’ (verse 16). Israel is like a headstrong, stubborn cow, wilfully resisting her Master’s orders, whilst expecting still to be treated like a pet lamb (verse 16). “Ephraim (God’s pet name for the Northern Kingdom) is joined to idols’ (verse 17). Israel is wedded to idols, spellbound by idols. The outcome is clear. “A people without understanding will come to ruin!” (verse 14). It will end in shame – ‘a whirlwind will sweep them away’ (verse 19).
What more can God do? He is married to His people Israel and He hates divorce. He couldn’t just walk away from the covenant. So He sends His last chance prophets to plead with Israel to be reconciled to Him.