[Note: I felt led to preach this sermon during the period leading up to Christmas.] Today is the beginning of the Advent season in churches that follow the ecclesiastical calendar. It celebrates the past, present, and future of God’s coming into the world. In fact, “advent” originates in the Latin root for coming (venire) combined with the preposition “toward” (ad). So, this season celebrates the historical fact that the Word became flesh and came toward humanity in Jesus—both the baby of Bethlehem and the Christ of Calvary. For believers, the season also celebrates the present reality that our Savior lives within us through the miracle of the Holy Spirit, the method by which He comes to us in the present. And for those who believe God’s Word, we also look to God’s future coming toward us when our Lord comes upon a cloud, demonstrating power and glory.
The malls may be filled with Muzak telling us that “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” but this is the season that churches should be full of carols proclaiming that “Jesus Has Come to Us,” hymns describing that “Jesus Resides in Us,” and choruses sharing that “Jesus Will Yet Come Back to Us!” What a perfect message for celebration! At every time and in perfect ways, “God comes to us.”
But this Advent season, I am reminded of the message of prophet from 800 years before Jesus’ birth. This prophet asked, “What is the Day of Lord to you? It is darkness and not light.” This morning, as the first Advent candle was lit and we remembered the “Light of the World” and the promise of HOPE, I’m afraid I hear the counterpoint to that message of hope, Amos’ question (Amos 5:18) rings in my brain. Already during this Advent season, I’ve heard a minister tell his congregation not to worry about the judgment inherent when our Lord comes again, but merely to focus on the joyous promise of His coming. And I wished I had been able to ask him, “What is this coming Advent to you? It may well be darkness instead of light.”
I hope you’ll all keep listening (or reading), even though I doubt very many other pastors are looking at the message of Hosea in the light of Advent. It isn’t a very “Christmas”-style message. Yet, I feel God’s direction in sharing this text and its troubling aspects with you. Someone here (or out there in cyberspace) needs to hear it and grapple with it. Somewhere in this litigation that God is prophetically bringing against the People of God must be hope for a settlement that works in our favor. After all, that’s the real hope of Advent, isn’t it? Once again, as we explore the text, I’ll be reading from my translation of the Hebrew text and encourage you to follow in the translation with which God most blesses you.
Hosea 4:1 Hear the word of the Lord, children of Israel, because (this word is) a lawsuit belonging to Yahweh with the ones dwelling in the land because (they are) without truth and without covenant love and without knowledge of God in the land.
Listen to those initial charges in God’s lawsuit against Israel. They lack truth, relationship with God, and experiential knowledge of God. Does that sound familiar? Does that resonate with modern society? There is a school of philosophy that styles itself as Pragmatist. Within that school are people like the late Richard Rorty who say that the question is not whether we are talking about something with intrinsic meaning or our words express real/unreal problems, but whether the resolution of the debate will have an effect in practice. In short, be useful by his definition. It doesn’t matter if “God” is real or unreal to such a philosopher; it matters if “God” solves a problem in our lives. It doesn’t matter if there is any authentic Truth or not, merely that what we discover works for us. And as one French philosopher called him on this point in a debate, it doesn’t matter whether there is real evil or not, merely whether it seems evil to us. Frankly, when we lose sight of what is evil, we’re on a downhill slide to real torment.
Now, the bulk of the population may not be able to phrase this quite as eloquently and precisely as a trained philosopher would, but there are lots of people who confront the question of God with a “What does it matter to me?” attitude. Like Herod in Jesus’ day and Woody Allen in our day, they refuse to believe unless they see a miracle. There is a dearth of Truth in our society because we no longer value the Truth. We value what seems to work—in the SHORT term. If lies and dirty tricks work in the short term, we go for it. If misleading accounting practices or “bait and switch” marketing works, we use it and proclaim that everybody does it. Even the media that once held such high ideals for publishing and broadcasting the Truth is now only concerned with printing, posting, and broadcasting what works for them. There is a dearth of wisdom in our society because we no longer have that relationship with God as the author of Proverbs maintained (“The fear/reverence of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom.”). We don’t know what’s important. We don’t know what’s important enough to LIVE for, much less to DIE for. We don’t know what’s important enough to KEEP much less to SACRIFICE. As a result, life becomes humdrum because we have no wisdom. And finally, the reason we don’t understand or seek after the Truth and the reason we don’t know what to LIVE for is because we have cut ourselves off from the guidance, energy, and strength provided to us by God. Without a relationship with God, we don’t know God and we don’t seek God for the same reason a thief doesn’t try to find the police. We don’t know God and we don’t seek God because we know encountering God will change us and humanity is change-resistant. But let’s read on.
Hosea 4:2 Cursing, lying, murdering, stealing, and committing adultery. They break out violently and strike blood with blood.
It’s interesting to me that we start with two verbs dealing with words: cursing and lying. It seems like the verbal sins lead to the other sins. Cursing is not merely using bad words. Cursing, as it is used here, is calling upon the gods (or even the real God) to invoke something evil to befall a person. Lying, interestingly enough, has a root idea of growing lean. The very word suggests that saying something untrue about a person actually reduces who you are.
The sequence begins with desiring evil for another and losing a sense of who you yourself may be. When you lose a sense of Truth and relationship, you lose your self-esteem and are much more likely to commit crimes against another—against another’s life, against another’s possessions, and against another’s relationships. No wonder the verse ends by stating that “they” (I think it means the verbal sins) break out into violence (physical manifestations) that strike blood with blood (with costly consequences).
It isn’t a pretty picture, but isn’t it a reasonably good snapshot of the rot in our modern society?
Hosea 4:3 Therefore, the land is mourning (so it’s dried up with no harvest) and those who dwell in her are withered. Along with the creatures of the field, the birds of the heavens and even the fish of the sea, they perish.
This verse indicates that sin has consequences. In fact, sin has consequences in two different ways. First, sin gives humanity a myopic view of various situations where it is difficult to see the logical, natural consequences of certain acts: drug addiction, venereal disease, certain birth defects related to drug use and venereal disease, unwanted pregnancies, abortion to cover up unwanted pregnancies, alienated and resentful family members (who act out in dangerous and violent ways), criminal charges (when social laws have been broken), financial disaster (when irresponsible decisions or ethical lapses take place), pollution (when greed causes nature to be abused), and so forth. Second, sin causes God to discipline those God loves lest the sin lead God’s People into even worse situations with even worse consequences. Hence, God sometimes allows disasters, plagues, illnesses, and problems to get the attention of God’s People. [Note: I didn’t say that all disasters, plagues, illnesses, and problems were direct punishment. Sometimes, God allows such things for us to learn to depend upon Him and learn how to overcome, to be all that we can be.]
In Israel’s case, the population had shifted allegiance from God to the fertility god, Baal. Since the fertility god was in charge of rain, survival, and prosperity, God withheld the rain and caused a drought. The land was dried up and even the population was dried up and experienced a dryness—lack of energy, strength, and purpose. There was a listlessness, a general “malaise” (as President Carter once said, rightly, of the population of the U.S.). Even the wildlife was affected by Israel’s sin, in much the same way that our own great industrial machine and worship of the fertility god known as “Technology” has led to oil slicks, polluted water basins, dangerous smog, and dying ecosystems which, in turn, create unhealthy overpopulations of various fish, birds, and animals.
And guess what? Many evangelical pastors and preachers are guilty accomplices to the corporate polluters because they preached a false gospel of exploitation and refused to hear the Bible’s words on ecological stewardship. They were so focused on the new heaven and the new earth that they didn’t act with gratitude or teach their congregations to act with gratitude toward the present earth. No wonder God is allowing certain natural disasters to school us, punish us, and challenge us! We’ve thumbed our noses at God’s good gift and then, blamed God when we “broke it.”
Now, verse 4 sort of interrupts the flow. In fact, it seems like another voice has interrupted Hosea in mid-sermon. The famous Hebrew rabbi, Rashi, as well as modern scholars like Dr. David Noel Freedman, author of the Anchor Bible Commentary on this book, and Hans Walter Wolff, believe that the first line of verse 4 is the priest speaking and the second line is Hosea responding to the challenge.
Hosea 4:4 [Priest] Certainly, a man cannot litigate and a man cannot reprove
[Hosea] But with you, priest, is my lawsuit.
The priest’s line begins with the Hebrew word that sounds like “AK.” It means, “Surely,” or “Certainly.” It’s usually used at the beginning of a speech to be emphatic or, in this case, it might be used in the same way we would say, “Come on, let’s be reasonable!” To me, it reads like the priest is sarcastically asking Hosea who he thinks he is. This line is pretty much the equivalent of “Who died and made you king?”
But Hosea doesn’t miss a beat. He says that the lawsuit starts with the priest. How incredibly sad! The priest is the very one who is supposed to help people find the truth, wisdom, and a personal knowledge of God. Instead, the priests (and their colleagues) are guilty of leading God’s People in the wrong direction. This reminds me of a popular song from a couple of decades ago. The British group, The Alarm, sang about someone of great influence who had brought himself down. I remember this song because I went through a period of personal crisis after a time of career triumph. In my depression, I heard these lyrics being about me:
Once your words were the first and last on the subject
Now they hang like a noose around your neck
Once you held the light
That could be seen from near and far
Now you fall and stumble in the dark
How the mighty fall
I’ve seen it all before
From the highest heights
To the lowest of lows
How the mighty fall
Once you held the secrets of the world within your hands
Now you’re just another grain of sand
Once you were the first
Revered to the last
Now they talk about your fall from grace
How the mighty fall
I’ve seen it all before
From the highest heights
To the lowest of lows
How the mighty fall!
They sort of fit with the next verses, don’t they?
Hosea 4:5-6 And you will stumble by day and even the prophet will stumble with you by night and I will destroy your mother. v. 6 My people will perish with you from a lack of knowledge BECAUSE you rejected the knowledge and I rejected you as a priest belonging to me and you proceeded to forget the law of your God even as I will forget your children (sons).
Of course, since most of you are not professional ministers, you’re probably wondering why I’m harping on this text. It’s really because the New Testament teaching is that all of God’s People are supposed to be “priests.” All of us have the responsibility to teach the truth, share wisdom, and introduce people to God. But when we water down our beliefs in order to accommodate a materialistic lifestyle and just go with the flow, we risk influencing people in the wrong way. Notice the harsh words where God says that the people are dying because God’s priests weren’t faithful to their tasks. What does that say about us when we fail to teach and share God’s goodness?
Hosea 4:7-9 As they increased, so they sinned against me. They traded their glory for ignominy. v. 8 They ate the sin (or sin offering) of my people and lifted up their soul (desire?) to their iniquity. v. 9 And it is like people, like priest: I will visit (with judgment) his ways upon him and cause his deeds to boomerang upon him (literally, return upon him).
There is a parallel to verse 7 in Psalm 106:19-20. There, as in Isaiah 22:18 and Proverbs 3:35, “their glory” is the presence and power of God’s own person in their midst. But they traded the truth of God for a lie, they accepted a counterfeit god, they banked on a bounced check, or they bought a fake diamond. Instead of God’s best, they invested in a con job. They were “taken.”
But like people who get caught up in pyramid schemes or the old Nigerian bank scams, these people thought they were rich. And the worst part of it was that these priests would bring other people down with them, just like we’ve recently seen some of our greedy financial institutions bring people’s wealth down with them. Yet, what about our own actions or inactions? Are our deeds going to boomerang back on us?
The truth is that trying to avoid God’s purpose for our lives doesn’t work. Listen to the rest of the text.
v. 10 And they shall eat and not be satisfied. They shall fornicate and they shall not be fruitful BECAUSE they have forsaken Yahweh to celebrate (ie. In the fertility cults).
v. 11 Harlotry, wine and new wine has taken his heart.
v. 12 My people inquire with his wood (idol?) and his staff reveals to him . By a spirit of adultery, he has led them astray and they commit adultery in defiance of their God.
v. 13 Upon the tops of mountains they sacrifice and upon the high places, they burn incense. Under oak and terebinth and poplar because the shade is good. Therefore, you daughters commit harlotry and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.
v. 14 I will not visit (judgment) upon your daughters because of harlotry and upon your daughters-in-law because of adultery BECAUSE they (your sons) go apart with harlots and with sacred prostitutes (root = holy) and a people that doesn’t discern shall be ruined.
v. 15 Though you, Israel, participate in sacred prostitution, let not Judah assume such guilt. And do not enter into Gilgal and do not go up to Beth-awen (house of trouble—a pun used by Amos, as well, to describe a fouled Bethel) and do not swear on the life of Yahweh (reference to a phrase in Baal liturgy “Alive is the powerful Baal, Existent the Prince, the Lord of Earth!” that may have been used with Yahweh substituted for Baal?)
v. 16 BECAUSE like a balky cow, Israel balks. Now, can Yahweh pasture them like a lamb in a good meadow.
v. 17 Ephraim has been joined to idols, he has forsaken (them) for him
v. 18 He has turned from drunkenness (while) they intensely play the harlot and they love intensely the Ignominy (shame) and its coverings (shields, trappings?).
v. 19 A wind (spirit?) has trapped them in its wings and they shall be ashamed of (what happened at) their altars.
Here is a description of people involved in both sexual sin and fertility religion. They can’t control themselves. But the more they get, the more they want. They eat and overeat, but they’re not satisfied. Nothing seems to be enough.
Sound familiar? People looking for sex, something new to believe in, and intoxicants (mind-altering substances?)?
Then, look at the pun in verse 19. The word usually translated as “wind” just as often means “spirit.” You don’t suppose this verse says people are trapped by a spirit? The imagery here (with wings and everything) could be figurative or could refer to an evil spirit. But let’s think of it as being trapped by the spirit of the age.
You see, there are lots of people who simply float through life. They have no convictions and they build their ethics on the basis of what everyone else is doing. They have no sense of anything other than pleasure and survival. They think that is the key to success and they chase it with all the gusto possible. But like Israel in the description in our text, their appetite is filled with empty calories—plenty fattening but not nutritious.
It’s Advent season. But we can’t really celebrate if all we’re doing is focusing upon the baby in the manger. God came to earth and has come into our lives in order to allow us the highest privilege—priests of the most-high God. And God is coming again! If we want to be able to welcome God’s return, we not only need to prepare ourselves, but others! If the people around us respond to us as the priests we are, will we be condemned like the priests in Hosea’s message?
