December 12

HOSEA 6

⁴ What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?
    What shall I do with you, O Judah?
Your love is like a morning cloud,
    like the dew that goes early away.
⁵ Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;
    I have slain them by the words of my mouth,
    and my judgment goes forth as the light.
⁶ For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
    the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. – Hosea 6:4-6

HOSEA 6 WHAT GOD DESIRES FROM HIS PEOPLE

In these following verses, God speaks to his people just as our parents would when we continue doing what is against what they have in store for their children. In other words, because of the unconditional love, God presents a rhetorical question to them to make them accountable for what they have done to breach their promise to him to stay loyal and faithful only to the One true God who loves them and cares for them the most. Hosea described the fickleness of their love to the Lord by comparing it to the morning cloud and the dew that goes quickly away. Clark comments “Ephraim and Judah had too much goodness in them to admit of their total rejection, and too much evil to admit of their being placed among the children. Speaking after the manner or men, the justice and mercy of God seem puzzled how to act toward them. When justice was about to destroy them for their iniquity, it was prevented by their repentance and contrition: when mercy was about to pour upon them as penitents its choicest blessings, it was prevented by their fickleness and relapse!”

God’s response to the idolatry and unfaithfulness of his people is laid down in verse 5. The synonyms for the word “hewn” are: cut, chopped, axed. God poured such judgments upon them because he didn’t want his people to perish. Clark once again comments on this verse “And my judgment is as the light going forth.  It shall be both evident and swift; alluding both to the velocity and splendor of light.”

Verse 6 defines how God wants them to worship him. Matthew 9:13 reiterates this desire of God. He says “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices. ’For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

REFLECTION

• How have you responded to God’s desire from you as his child?

December 11

HOSEA 6

“Come, let us return to the Lord;
    for he has torn us, that he may heal us;
    he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.
² After two days he will revive us;
    on the third day he will raise us up,
    that we may live before him.
³ Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord;
    his going out is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us as the showers,
    as the spring rains that water the earth.” – Hosea 6:1-3

HOSEA 6 LET US RETURN TO THE LORD

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

In this account, Hosea invites the people of God to return to Him. He humbly reminded the Israelites that although they have sinned, there is a time for healing and binding them up again. We witness Hosea’s knowledge of God and his loving kindness and steadfast love and leads the people to return to the Lord as his love for them never changes despite all their sinfulness. Hosea presents how much God loves them just like a parent would unconditionally love a child and discipline is part of that loving kindness. When we are being disciplined, it may be very painful at the time that we are being corrected, but that is what true love is. The one who loves us deeply will never want us to go astray.

Verse 2 shows us again how much Hosea knew the Lord. He prayed confidently and trust that God will restore his people back again. He knew he is a promise keeper and he will never abandon his people. In this prayer, there is a foreshadowing of the resurrection of Jesus as he mentions that on the third day, God will raise them up. Just like how Jesus was torn on Calvary, died and raised up to life again.

Verse 3 summons the people of God to get to know him more. We are given his word so we can build up our faith and our intimacy with him. His mercy is abounding as Lamentation 3:22 says. His steadfast love never ceases. It is new every morning just as certain as the rising of the sun. Clark comments on the verse as surely as the early and the latter rain comes: “The first, to prepare the earth for the seed; this fell in autumn: the second, to prepare the full ear for the harvest; this fell in spring. Here is strong confidence; but not misplaced, however worthless the persons were.”

REFLECTION

• Why is it important for us to return to the Lord especially after sinning?

December 9

HOSEA 5

⁵ The pride of Israel testifies to his face;
Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt; Judah also shall stumble with them.
⁶ With their flocks and herds they shall go to seek the Lord,
but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them.
⁷ They have dealt faithlessly with the Lord; for they have borne alien children.
Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.

⁸ Blow the horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah.
Sound the alarm at Beth-aven; we follow you, O Benjamin!
⁹ Ephraim shall become a desolation in the day of punishment;
among the tribes of Israel I make known what is sure. – Hosea 5:5-9

HOSEA 5 THE CONSEQUENCE OF PRIDE

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

When a child of God decides to choose arrogance

He will have struggles to follow God’s commands

His loyalty will be divided between God and himself

And he will most likely prefer to please the idol inside him

He will then suffer the pain of God’s wrath and punishment

For God hates those who think highly of themselves.

Sources say that the pride mentioned in verse 5 refers to the arrogance of the nation. Their pride was so visible throughout the Old Testament. Coffman comments “They jealously opposed Gideon, were disrespectful to Jephthah, made an Ephraimite concubine’s son king over Israel, presumptuously called their bastard nation “Israel,” the true name of the nation they had rebelled against, upheld for seven years the house of Saul against David, even though they knew it was against God’s will, joined Absalom in the rebellion against David, and in the final rebellion they supported Jeroboam of Ephraim against Rehoboam of the house of David. They were also conspicuous in their setting up of the bull-gods at Dan and Bethel in opposition to the worship of the true God in Jerusalem.”

In Isaiah 65:24 we hear that even before God’s people call on him, he has already answered them. We know that this time, God withdrew hearing their prayers. This shows how serious God judged their sins. In James 4:6, we know that God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. Continued pride shows no humility and much idolatry as 1 Samuel 15:23 says. How can the Israelites have forgotten their covenant promise to God that they will be his people?

REFLECTION

• How is pride the sin of idolatry and what are its consequences?

December 7

HOSEA 4

¹⁵ Though you play the whore, O Israel, let not Judah become guilty.
Enter not into Gilgal, nor go up to Beth-aven, and swear not, “As the Lord lives.”
¹⁶ Like a stubborn heifer, Israel is stubborn;
can the Lord now feed them like a lamb in a broad pasture?

¹⁷ Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone.
¹⁸ When their drink is gone, they give themselves to whoring;
    their rulersdearly love shame.¹⁹ A wind has wrapped themin its wings,
    and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices. – Hosea 4:15-19

HOSEA 4 STUBBORN SPIRIT

According to Dr. Constable’s commentary, verse 15 was a warning to the Israelites not to influence the Southern Kingdom with their adultery. He also warned them not to go to the pagan shrines and take an oath in His name since they did not really worship Him. Gilgal and Beth-aven were representative pagan cultic sites mentioned in Hosea 9:15. The prophet had come to refer to Bethel (house of God) by the name Beth-aven (house of wickedness) because it had become one of the main centers of idolatry in Israel since the reign of Jeroboam I mentioned in Amos 5:5. The use of one name to represent a different though similar place is a figure of speech called atbash. Verse 16 indicates that God asked rhetorically if He could continue to guide Israel as its Shepherd since it was not behaving like a compliant heifer or lamb but had become stubborn and obstinate. Verse 17 refers to Ephraim, the largest tribe in the Northern Kingdom that stood for the whole nation had abandoned her Shepherd and replaced him with idols.  God instructs others to leave Israel alone with her sinfulness. Verse 18 states that the adultery was influenced by their drinking but even when they weren’t drinking, they have embraced such idolatrous acts. They loved their sins so much.

Aren’t we also prone to act like the Israelites? They have grown in their rebellion that the stubborn spirit was the result of such unfaithfulness to God. No wonder the first command of God was not to have any other gods but him. It opened their hearts to stubborn spirits. 1 Samuel 15:23 says that rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols. 

REFLECTION

• Why do you think stubbornness is as bad as worshipping idols?

December 6

HOSEA 4

¹² My people inquire of a piece of wood, and their walking staff gives them oracles.
For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray,

 and they have left their God to play the whore.
¹³ They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains and burn offerings on the hills,
under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is good.
Therefore your daughters play the whore, and your brides commit adultery.
¹⁴ I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore,
    nor your brides when they commit adultery;
for the men themselves go aside with prostitutes and sacrifice with cult prostitutes,
and a people without understanding shall come to ruin. – Hosea 4:12-14

HOSEA 4 ISRAEL’S WHOREDOM

According to the topical encyclopedia “whoredom” in the Bible alludes to numerous forms of sexual immorality, such as prostitution, adultery, and idolatry. It is often used metaphorically to illustrate unfaithfulness to God, comparing spiritual infidelity to marital disloyalty. This word is mostly found in the Old Testament and is used to convey the gravity of disobedience to God’s laws. In Leviticus 19:29, one of the statutes of God says that daughters must not be profaned by making her a prostitute or else the land falls into prostitution and the land becomes full of wickedness. The account of Hosea and Gomer is a very poignant illustration of whoredom. God literally commanded Hosea to marry a whore so he could point out the unfaithfulness of Israel with their spiritual adultery.

These following verses describe what whoredom looked like. Verse 13 demonstrates the acts of such unfaithfulness to God. They sacrifice on mountain tops and burn offerings on the hills under oak, poplar and terebinth because they gave them good shade and it was convenient for them to do so. Verse 12 indicates that they consult wooden idols and their wooden staff instead of going to God’s truth. Vese 14 rebukes the Israelites for engaging both men and women in prostitution and offering sacrifices with cult prostitutes.

As a result of Israel’s whoredom, they are destroyed by such wickedness and unfaithfulness to God.  Proverbs 6:32-33 cautions that whoever commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself.

REFLECTION                                                                          

• What are some acts that a believer can do that is synonymous to whoredom?
• What are the reasons why believers become unfaithful to God?

December 3

HOSEA 3

And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” ² So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. ³ And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” ⁴ For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. ⁵ Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days. – Hosea 3:1-5

HOSEA 3 THE COMMAND TO LOVE AGAIN

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

As we serve the Lord Jesus Christ we are instructed to love

This command includes forgiving those who have betrayed us

When we show mercy to those whom we vowed to love ‘til eternity

We are exercising the same love that God has given us unconditionally

God will do anything to pursue us back into relationship with him

Shouldn’t we respond to that pursuit by turning away from all sins?

Why would God instruct Hosea to forgive his wife after her adultery and buy her back again? What was God showing to Israel when he commanded Hosea to forgive and love again his wife? God is manifesting his great mercy for his beloved wife, Israel when he asked Hosea to redeem Gomer. God was illustrating the unconditional love he has for his people despite their unfaithfulness to him. He loves them despite what they have done. He is always looking after her welfare and wouldn’t want her to perish.

The world system will never comprehend forgiveness. In such a system when a spouse has an affair, the other spouse will automatically give up on them and just contemplate divorce. But in God’s economy, we do differently. We forgive those who have sinned against us just as God forgave our sins and did not punish us with what we deserve punishment for. Instead, he gave his only begotten Son to free us from his wrath. This is unconditional love at its core.

REFLECTION

• What do you think forgiveness does to a sinful person who has received it?

December 1

HOSEA 2

¹⁴ “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. ¹⁵ And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁶ “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ ¹⁷ For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. ¹⁸ And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety.

                                                                     – Hosea 2:14-18

HOSEA 2 GOD’S MERCY ON ISRAEL

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

If God chose you to be his bride, he will never break his promise

Even if that wife is unfaithful, God stays uncompromised

He is a God of mercy, he will pardon the deceitfulness

He will do everything to lure back his wife to their declarations

He will never give up because he is steadfast in his love

Even if she betrays him, he can never stop loving her.

In the beginning of this chapter, we hear how God rebuked Israel when she was unfaithful to Him by worshiping Baal and using all the resources God gave to them to serve this pagan god. We learned God’s discipline on those whom he loves. He will never let them be endangered by their ignorance and he reminded them of those consequences that resulted in their infidelity to him.

In these following verses, we see a shift from God’s rebuke to his alluring them back to him. He does this by gently making them see how much he could forgive them for being weak not to see the enticement of the world. Just like how parents would do anything to ensure their children are not perishing with the choices they make, God does the same unconditional love for his people. This account focuses more on the relationship between a husband and wife. God is the husband and the Israelites are his wife. Many marriages where one spouse has been unfaithful can still be restored if it’s based on true love.

REFLECTION

• What’s the difference between the world and God’s view on adultery?

November 30

HOSEA 2

⁸ And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal. ⁹ Therefore I will take back
my grain in its time, and my wine in its season, and I will take away my wool and my flax,
which were to cover her nakedness. ¹⁰ Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one shall rescue her out of my hand. ¹¹ And I will put an end to all her mirth, her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her appointed feasts. ¹² And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she said, ‘These are my wages, which my lovers have given me.’ I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall devour them.¹³ And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals when she burned offerings to them and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry, and went after her lovers and forgot me, declares the Lord. – Hosea 2:8-13

HOSEA 2 AFTERMATH OF IDOLATRY

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

When the people of God begin to worship other gods

They will be unable to recognize God’s provision and love

They are blinded by their idols and they become lifeless

Idolatry strips them of the fulfillment of their covenant promise

Unfaithfulness to your beloved one is going to bring ruin

It will create chaos and confusion between the two parties.

In this account, God lays down the aftermath of Israel’s idolatry. In verse 8, the Israelites forgot that everything they have was from God. They became blind to see that even their gold and silver and all their riches came from their Lord. Instead, they used it to worship Baal. In verse 9, God retrieves back all that he had provided for them and in verse 10 God will expose her adultery to shame her. In verse 11, he will hinder them from celebrating their festivals and in verse 12, God won’t provide a good harvest for them and they will be punished for a burnt offering given to Baal instead of to Him.

We can see how such a big deal it was for God when his wife (the Israelites) became unfaithful and served other gods. Let us remember that the Lord won’t take lightly any competition against him. There is no one like him. He is the One true living God.

REFLECTION

• Share insights how the aftermath of adultery affects the unfaithful believer.

November 29

HOSEA 2

Say to your brothers, “You are my people,” and to your sisters, “You have received mercy.”² “Plead with your mother, plead— for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband—that she put away her whoring from her face, and her adultery from between her breasts; ³ lest I strip her naked and make her as in the day she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and make her like a parched land, and kill her with thirst. ⁴ Upon her children also I will have no mercy, because they are children of whoredom.⁵ For their mother has played the whore; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’ ⁶ Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths. ⁷ She shall pursue her lovers
but not overtake them, and she shall seek them but shall not find them. Then she shall say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now.’

                                                                     – Hosea 2:1-7

HOSEA 2 THE SIN OF ADULTERY

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

When you commit to someone, you are in a covenant

Keeping your promise to this person is part of your contract

If one does not fulfill the promise they partook

That person has breached that pact  

Unfaithfulness is the sin of adultery

It wreaks havoc in any relationship.

In this account, God punishes Israel for turning their backs to God and worshipping Baal instead. God’s people broke their covenant with God by serving another god. In this chapter, God speaks through Hosea the spiritual adultery by the clear declaration of the consequences of Gomer’s unfaithfulness to Hosea. Because she wouldn’t stop her harlotry, her children are also bearing the sin of adultery. Verse 4 may sound harsh to us when children bear their parent’s sins, but God cannot change. He hates sin and he has to punish the sin itself. In verse 6-7, God shows Gomer what she’s losing by pursuing men who cannot provide for him as He can.

REFLECTION

• How can spiritual adultery manifest in a marriage?

November 28

HOSEA 1

⁶ She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will have no more mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. ⁷ But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”⁸ When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. ⁹ And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.” ¹⁰ Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” ¹¹ And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

                                                                        – Hosea 1:6-11

HOSEA 1 ISRAEL’S FATE BECAUSE OF THEIR ADULTERY

The prophets were mouthpieces of God. Every word in the book of Hosea is God’s message for his people. Hosea repeated every word that God spoke to him. The name ‘Hosea’ is like ‘Joshua’. It means ‘God is our Saviour’. In those times, names have special meaning. Sources say that the names of the children of Hosea are a way for God to speak to Israel. It was God who gave these names to Gomer’s children. These names will show what will happen to Judah and Israel in the future. It is a prediction that another nation will ruin Israel.  

Gomer’s children are part of a bad nation. Some commentaries say that Jezreel, who was born first, was Hosea’s son. But it is possible that Hosea was not the father of the next two children. We cannot be sure because the book does not mention him as the father. The name Lo-Ruhamah means ‘Not Pitied’ or ‘Not Loved’. This means that he will not meet the Israelites’ needs anymore since they have pledged allegiance to their idols. The name Lo-Ammi means ‘Not My people’. God says that his covenant with Israel is over. In the future, he will destroy Israel. The name Jezreel means ‘God sows’. The name Lo-Ammi shows that there is no mistake about what God thinks about Israel. The nation of Israel ended because God gave a judgement on the people. This was because of their sin. Hosea explains this again later in the book. But God will have mercy on Judah because they were still God’s covenant people. The last verse of these verses sounds that God will reunite Judah and Israel and will multiply as much as the sand of the sea which is immeasurable.

REFLECTION

• What character of God is revealed in this account?