Hosea 12 [NLT]
July 17, 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)
God is angry at the nation because they have turned away from Him and turned TOWARD idols and idolatrous worship practices… the practices of the nations around them. Hosea has been tasked by God to open their eyes with His words!
In this chapter we find Hosea expounding on the apostasy of BOTH Israel (Northern Kingdom) and Judah (Southern Kingdom) and he does this by using their ancestor Jacob’s life as an example for where they are in service to God.
Let’s look at this chapter and what God was saying to Israel and what WE can learn from it…
1Ephraim chases the wind and pursues the east wind.
He continually multiplies lies and violence. He makes a covenant with Assyria, and olive oil is carried to Egypt.
In this verse Hosea references Ephraim which is a reference to the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Ephraim was the largest tribe and dominant political factor within the nation… their tribe carried a lot of political weight and influenced a great deal of political decisions!
The phrase Hosea uses here that Ephraim is ‘chasing or pursuing the wind’ is a metaphor. What he is saying is that the nation is trying to control that which is uncontrollable!
Have you ever tried to chase, pursue or capture the wind? We may use the wind but there is no way we can control the wind…
They were seeking to control that which they could NOT control. Seeking alliances with countries and seeking trade agreements with nations… they believed they were securing their safety but did not understand the inherent danger in what they were doing.
How often do we do the same thing in our lives? We believe we can align ourselves with this belief or that movement and it will bring us happiness or peace… only to see it NOT deliver on its promises… but not only did not deliver on its promises but actually turns on us and harms us!
This is like getting a pet tiger or pet alligator and believing that because you have raised them or been feeding them for an extended period of time that you are totally safe with them…
Israel was seeking alliances with anyone BUT God and instead of turning to the ONE that could help them they relied on themselves and their alliances to save them! Hosea was warning them that this was not going to save them!
2The Lord also has a dispute with Judah. He is about to punish Jacob according to his ways; He will repay him based on his actions.
Here in v.2 Hosea begins to compare the nation of Israel with the life of Jacob… Jacob whose name was changed to Israel…
Judah is now being placed into the guilty party by God. Judah is now considered just as guilty as the nation of Israel. It is almost as if Hosea is setting up a courtroom scene in which he will describe the failings of the nation. By comparing their actions with the actions of Jacob in his life…
Look at v3-5
3In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel, and as an adult he wrestled with God. 4Jacob struggled with the Angel and prevailed; he wept and sought His favor. He found him at Bethel, and there He spoke with him. 5Yahweh is the God of Hosts; Yahweh is His name.
Here Hosea details some of Jacob’s life actions… the grabbing of Esau’s heel from the womb, and his defiance of the angel with whom he wrestled…
What we can take from this is that Hosea is portraying that the nation has taken up with all the bad qualities of Jacob and none of the good qualities…
Jacob is portrayed as a man desperate, but a man that is ultimately transformed by God. The desperation of Jacob begins in the womb as he struggles with his brother and it continues in the conflict between the brothers.
In these verses, Jacob is portrayed as a man who is willing to push aside even his brother to see success. Jacob’s life was filled with his conniving struggles and battles for survival, but it is at Bethel were God offers His covenant to Jacob…
The order of the story of Jacob’s life is rearranged by Hosea to offer us a picture of how Jacob believed he could ‘fight for’ and make happen what needed to happen but in the end it is only through the grace and gift of God does he receive blessing!
This is a picture of the nation of Israel at this time… a picture of a nation that was scrapping and fighting and bargaining to MAKE happen what they wanted to happen… but what Hosea wants them to see is… that they only need to turn to God and allow Him to provide as He has throughout their history!
In v.6-8 we see
6But you must return to your God. Maintain love and justice, and always put your hope in God. 7A merchant loves to extort with dishonest scales in his hands. 8But Ephraim says: “How rich I have become; I made it all myself. In all my earnings, no one can find any crime in me that I can be punished for!”.
Hosea points out here that the nation is living AS Jacob had lived… a conniver… a nation without grace! Like the old Jacob’s struggles for success and seeking of security thru wealth and position… they were going to fail just as Jacob had failed!
Here Hosea lays out a call for 3 things from the people:
Repentance
Justice
Faith
He tells them that they must return to their God… this phrase in the Hebrew carries with it the express implication that turning TO God entailed them abandoning their own pursuits of idols and position and security on their own merit!
Hosea was calling them to follow God’s plan for the nation to live out His love and justice in their actions and in their faith toward Him!
If the nation would repent they could receive the blessings that Jacob did receive, but if they were to continue down the path they were on… doing things their own way, seeking to make their own way of things… then they would fail.
What a great picture for us today… how often do we FORCE things and try to make things happen when we should be relying on God for His leading and guidance?
How often do we rebel against God’s leadership to do it our way… because God’s way does not suit us? When we force our will upon God the result is always going to be something bad…
Hosea wanted them to turn BACK to God because God has NEVER left them and has been there for them always…
In v.9-11 we read…
9I have been Yahweh your God ever since the land of Egypt. I will make you live in tents again, as in the festival days. 10I spoke through the prophets and granted many visions; I gave parables through the prophets. 11Since Gilead is full of evil, they will certainly come to nothing.
They sacrifice bulls in Gilgal; even their altars will be like heaps of rocks on the furrows of a field.
Here God resumes speaking thru Hosea and He tells the nation that he is going to return them to exile just like Egypt… return them to wilderness wanderings…
He asserts His sovereignty here by revealing His role in delivering them FROM slavery in Egypt…
He tells them you are going to live in tents AGAIN, just like you do on the Festival of Booths… which was a festival Israel celebrated each year celebrating God’s deliverance of them from their Egyptian captivity and their wilderness wanderings!
Each year they would leave their houses and live in tents or ‘booths’ for a week to simulate the wilderness journey… Here God is telling them that they will be BACK in those wilderness tents again, not for the festival but for good!
He then shifts from the Exodus of the people to the prophets He had sent to them time and time again…
This is NOT the distant past, but God is now referring to the very recent past and even the present in that God has tried to get their attention via the prophets for many years and they have ignored His warnings through the prophets!
Gilead is only mentioned one other time in Hosea… 6:8 where Hosea says, “Gilead is a city of evildoers,
tracked with bloody footprints.”
Here he speaks of deception in Gilead and that at Gilgal the altars will come to ruin… this brings us back to the theme of the nation of Israel being like their ancestor Jacob and conniving and desperate to MAKE things happen!
Bethel was the place where Jacob had his dream about the stairway to heaven when he was running from Esau…
Gilead was the place where Laban caught up to Jacob when Jacob was fleeing with Rachel and some stolen property when he was trying to return home…
In BOTH cases Jacob was using ANY means necessary to get ahead of a close relative… trying to gain the slightest advantage… and in BOTH cases God met him and showed him grace!
Once again Hosea points out that the nation of Israel is exhibiting all the worst traits of their ancestor, but in spite of all their conniving and desperate dealings, God is willing to show His grace!
He has promised to forgive and restore the nation if they but repent… if they meet God where He is…
Gilgal is associated with evil in Hosea and he points out here that all things offered on the altars at Gilgal will come to nothing… because they are defiled!
Once again we can see the parallel in that we can try and try to MAKE things happen of our own power… in our own way… for our own purposes, but God’s desire is for us to turn to Him… and He is there to take us back when we fall in repentance at His feet!
12Jacob fled to the land of Aram. Israel worked to earn a wife; he tended flocks for a wife. 13The Lord brought Israel from Egypt by a prophet, and Israel was tended by a prophet.
Here Hosea returns to the story of Jacob’s life as an illustration… he cites some instances from Jacob’s life!
But here Hosea compares Jacob’s experiences to the exodus…
Aram and Egypt were both foreign lands where refuge was sought and initially received…
Jacob fled to Aram 2 times and was rec’d by his uncle Laban…
Israel took his family to Egypt for the food offered and found refuge…
In Aram, Laban deceived Jacob and caused him to work 14 yrs for the bride he desired instead of 7…
In Egypt, the Pharaoh turned on the people of Israel and made them slaves…
Laban did not wish Jacob to become wealthy, but God blessed Jacob’s ‘tainted’ flocks and he became so wealthy that Laban actually wanted Jacob to leave…Jacob ends up leaving with a great treasure that came from Laban’s flocks!
Egypt did not desire to bless the people of Israel but after the plagues sent by God, they not only wanted them to go but they left with much of Egypt’s treasure!
Hosea speak about being delivered from Egypt by the prophet… which is a natural insinuation to Moses as a prophet… the definition of prophet here would be that Moses listened to God, spoke God’s words to the people, and the people followed Moses’ words/leading!
Hosea proclaimed to be a prophet like Moses… if they were going to disagree with Hosea and ridicule and reject his message… it was like they were ridiculing and rejecting Moses as well!
Finally in v14 we find Hosea pronouncing judgment
14Ephraim has provoked bitter anger, so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him and repay him for his contempt.
Here Ephraim or Israel (northern kingdom) has PROVOKED God’s anger… which implies that God is fed up with their shenanigans.
The phrase, “so his Lord will leave His bloodguilt on him…” is a direct reference to the severe punishment and discipline God had in store for the nation of Israel if they refused to repent and turn back to God.
God is going to ‘repay’ Israel for its ‘contempt’ (its willful and self-centered rebellion against God)!
Contempt usually falls in the realm of personal insults, but here it more than likely Hosea’s reference to the nation’s blatant disregard for God’s commandments/ Law!
Especially when they refused to honor God and gave honor to Ba’al in the shrines that had been set up to honor GOD!
When we look at this chapter we find that it speak loud and clear to us about surrendering to God and His plan and purpose for our lives!
When we insist on ‘telling’ God how to do things or insist on forcing our will upon God… this is REBELLION and God is not going to stand for it and he will bring discipline to His children in rebellion!
When we serve God, our place is NOT to instruct God on how to do things, but our place is to accept God’s instruction and direction and move ahead obediently!
The nation of Israel was stiff-necked and unwilling to submit to God, and because of their sinful hearts and unwillingness to repent and turn back to God… they were going to pay the price!
We will pay the same steep price if we believe we can treat God as One who is at our beckon call OR One who’s will should bend to our will…
God is sovereign and He will prevail! Pray…
