Introduction
One of the
things I love about the Bible is also one of the things that frightens me—God’s
revelation of himself as the God of boundless mercy and blessing is also the
God of perfect righteousness and justice. It’s always so easy to rest in the
warm glow of God’s mercy and blessing and forget about his righteousness and
justice. We love to be loved—don’t we? We love to be encouraged and recognized
for who we are or what we do or what we look like or how much money we have or
how much power we have. Conversely, we hate to be criticized or corrected for
pretty much anything. The problem with this attitude is that we begin to treat
God as our personal servant—just give us what we want and don’t question what
we do with it. God has always wanted to bless us but the blessings have always
been conditional. Do you want to know the condition—be in a right, loving
relationship with him in our words and our deeds; always remembering and
acknowledging that all blessings come from Him. It seems easy enough, or so you
would think. We automatically think of our own culture and realize how far we
have strayed from this ideal. But can you guess how far you have to turn in
your Bible to get to the first event where God’s relational ideal goes off the
rails? Half-way in? Three quarters of the way in? How about towards the end?
Well if you guessed any of those, you’d be wrong. How about Chapter 3 of
Genesis! Yup, the third chapter of the very first book of the Bible. God
blessed Adam and Eve with every blessing imaginable—perfect relationship with
each other and with Him and the perfect place to live. However, they rejected
that ideal so they could pursue the one thing that was forbidden. When they
attained the one thing that was forbidden, do you know what they were left
with? Death! They had everything yet because they neglected God’s instruction,
they’re only option was to stand outside the gates of paradise looking back at
what was; lamenting the Squandered
Blessing.
If you look
through the pages of Scripture, you will see this pattern repeat itself over
and over again. God blesses his people; the people acknowledge His blessings
for a while; the people eventually take God’s blessings for granted and assume
that God will just keep blessing them regardless of their behavior toward Him
or each other; God removes the blessings and brings hardship, sometimes
terrible and terrifying hardship; the people repent—remembering everything that
God had done for them and lamenting their Squandered
Blessing; God once again blesses his people.
Interestingly,
if you look at this pattern closely, you can see it repeated on a national
scale (i.e. the nation of Israel) and on a personal scale (i.e. king David).
Sadly, we here in America don’t have to look at the pages of Scripture to see
this pattern at work. It is playing itself out right before our very eyes. When
our great nation was formed, the founding fathers wrote this opening statement
in the official document that declared our sovereign independence from Great
Britain:
“When in the course of human
events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands
which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the
earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of
Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires
that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We
hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these
are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
It is clear from this and so many
other official and non-official writings that the original founders of our
country were firmly committed to the belief that God must be the primary foundational
component in forming and governing our new nation. George Washington, the first
President of the United States, once wrote, “It is impossible to rightly govern
a nation without God and the Bible.” The original founders and many who
followed, rightly understood that the blessings of the nation came from the
hand of God. As a result, America and its people have been blessed beyond
imagining throughout its 200+ year history. America is the richest nation in
the world with the greatest advancements in technology and tremendous national
and personal wealth. America has done more than any other nation to advance the
cause of freedom around the world through financial resources and the lives of
its brave military men and women. And while caring for those in danger or less
fortunate around the world is part of our Christian calling to love our
neighbors, we have also done more to spread the message of the Gospel and the
love of Jesus Christ throughout the world than any other nation. There was a
time when America was rightly identified as a Christian nation. This is no
longer the case, either in title or in practice. Our nation is now identified
as post-Christian America. If you don’t believe me, let me give you just a few
examples:
1)
God or prayer is no longer permitted in our public schools or
at any public school events.
2)
Wishing someone “Merry Christmas” is now considered offensive
because of its Christian roots and has been replace with “Happy Holidays.”
3)
Babies are brutally murdered at taxpayer-subsidized abortion
mills around the country.
4)
The Boy Scouts, a boy’s club founded on Christian principles,
is now forced to accept openly gay men in leadership positions.
5)
Churches willingly relinquish their right to criticize
political officials in order to forgo paying taxes.
6)
Same sex marriage is now legal and recognized in virtually
every state.
7)
Virtually every Christian image or symbol has been removed
from all public lands and/or buildings.
8)
Military personnel are no longer allowed to share their
Christian faith or overtly practice their Christian faith.
9)
It is now quite fashionable to parody or overtly demean the
Christian faith in public.
There are many more examples I could give you to
demonstrate my point but I think you understand. If you step back and look at
the United States, you can see the biblical pattern I identified above even if
it has occurred slowly over the last 200+ years since the country was founded.
The purpose of this week’s lesson is to provide a biblical illustration to,
perhaps, serve as a bright neon warning sign that our country is in grave
danger—not from our decrepit and decaying culture or from an incompetent and
corrupt government. We are in danger of witnessing, first hand, God’s
righteousness and justice since we have rejected Him as the source of our
national and personal blessings. Thomas Jefferson, one of the signers of The
Declaration of Independence and our third President once wrote, “I tremble for
my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep
forever.” If you have ears to hear and eyes to see, pay close attention to what
is going on around you before it’s too late. Do not risk the very real possibility
that, in our lifetime, we may look back over our once Christian nation and
lament the Squandered Blessing.
Subject Text
Hosea 2:2-13
2“Rebuke your mother, rebuke her, for she is not
my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove the adulterous look
from her face and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts. 3Otherwise
I will strip her naked and make her as bare as on the day she was
born; I will make her like a desert, turn her into
a parched land, and slay her with thirst. 4I will not show my love
to her children, because they are the children of adultery. 5Their mother has been unfaithful and has conceived them
in disgrace. She said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my
food and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.’ 6Therefore
I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot
find her way. 7She will chase after her lovers but
not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. Then
she will say, ‘I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now.’ 8She
has not acknowledged that I was the one who gave her the grain,
the new wine and oil, who lavished on her the silver and gold—which they used for Baal. 9Therefore I
will take away my grain when it ripens, and my new wine when it is ready. I will take back my wool and my linen, intended
to cover her nakedness. 10So now I will expose her
lewdness before the eyes of her lovers; no one will take her out
of my hands. 11I will stop all her
celebrations: her yearly festivals, her New Moons, her Sabbath
days—all her appointed feasts. 12I will ruin her
vines and her fig trees, which she said were her
pay from her lovers; I will make them a thicket, and
wild animals will devour them. 13I will punish her
for the days she burned incense to the Baals; she
decked herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her
lovers, but me she forgot,” declares the LORD.
Historical Context
Hosea’s ministry takes place during
the divided kingdom of Israel in the north and Judah in the south. Written in
the waning days of the 8th century BC, it records the events of
prosperous Israel under the reign of king Jeroboam II. Although prosperous, the
rich grew richer at the expense and exploitation of the poor who grew poorer.
Israel eventually reached the point where they worshiped and recognized the
Canaanite gods as the source of their prosperity and prostituted themselves
spiritually and physically to the Baals, the false gods of Canaan, instead of
remaining faithful to the one true God and Creator. During the events recorded
by Hosea, Assyria was on the move to overthrow every kingdom in their path and
Israel was in their path. In an environment of increasing moral decay, Israel,
in an effort to retain their (sinful) lifestyle, attempted to establish a peace
agreement with Assyria and began to pay tribute to them. However, there would
be no alliance that could divert the coming Assyrian storm. God’s plan was to
use the Assyrians to punish Israel’s sin and disobedience. No matter how
prosperous the people were and regardless of whether the people believed there
would be no consequences to their unfaithfulness, God’s righteousness and
justice would prevail and in 722 BC the northern kingdom of Israel was
conquered by Assyria and would never again be restored as a separate kingdom.
Theological Context
The book of Hosea is like no other
book especially with respect to its first three chapters. Therein, God uses
Hosea’s relationship with his unfaithful wife, Gomer, as an illustration of
God’s relationship with an unfaithful Israel. God directs Hosea to marry the
adulterous Gomer as a representation of God’s relationship with Israel. Thereafter,
God instructs Hosea to name each of his children with names representing God’s
judgment. Their first child was to be named Jezreel representing the massacre
at Jezreel (2 Kings 10:11) as an illustration for the end of the kingdom of
Israel. Their second child was named Lo-Ruhamah which means “not loved” as an
illustration that God would no longer show his love to Israel. Finally, their
last child was to be named Lo-Ammi which means “not my people” as an
illustration that Israel would not be God’s people and He would not be their
God. The children, representing God’s justice, are used to rebuke Gomer,
representing an adulterous and unfaithful Israel, leading into our subject
text.
Text Analysis
We must remember the theological
context in order to properly understand our subject text. It can be confusing
at times trying to understand if we’re reading about God’s relationship with
Israel illustrated by Hosea’s relationship with Gomer or whether we’re actually
reading about Hosea’s relationship with Gomer. Hosea’s writing jumps back and
forth between the two so we have to keep them straight. In v. 2 Hosea is
writing about God’s relationship with Israel where we read that God is
instructing the children of Gomer to rebuke their mother—the people of Israel
are being called to rebuke the nation of Israel. God has rejected Israel when
he says that she is not His wife and He is not her Husband. “Metaphorically,
the sin of the nation through the generations could be concentrated on the
first fathers or on a personified mother.”[1]
The reference to unfaithfulness and “breasts” is a window into part of Israel’s
sinful behavior. “The reference to breasts suggests the sexual nature of the
nation’s unfaithfulness. The words of God are not just a legal accusation, but
a call to transform the people’s hearts and ways. God is trying to persuade
Israel, his people, to remove the pagan culture of Canaan and its sexual
fertility cult temples that dot the landscape.”[2]
God’s objective in v. 3 is an
attempt to first shame Israel into behavior modification and if that doesn’t
work to threaten her with hardship if she still fails to repent of her sinful
behavior. “Due to its objective and subjective aspects, the concept of shame
helps us to gain a fresh appreciation of the inherent connection between the
sin of Israel and the judgment resulting from that sin. The clearest way this
is achieved in the prophets is through the use of the sexual metaphor to
describe both Israel’s shameful behavior and the shame of Israel’s
punishment…The metaphor of fornication and adultery is most commonly used to
condemn worship of other gods and to convey the notion that idolatry is as
shameful as is indecent sexual conduct…Judgment is portrayed with the help of
the image of shaming a woman by exposing her nakedness.”[3]
God is not telling the people of
Israel that He will not show his love to them because they are guilty by
association. V. 4 is a difficult verse because it leads us to believe that we
are condemned personally by association regardless of whether or not we contribute
to the national sin. Well, that is true to a certain extent but only because
none of us are completely innocent of sin (cf. Rom 3:23). In this context, God
is referring to the people generally as opposed to each individual
specifically. “The judge, Yahweh, cannot hold the children, Israel’s citizenry,
guiltless. They, too, are prostituting. The term ‘prostituting children’ [children
of adultery] is a parallel to the ‘prostituting children’ of [Hos] 1:2 which it
recalls. It does not mean that they are the ‘offspring of a prostitute,’ but
rather they share the promiscuous unfaithfulness of a prostitute.”[4]
God clarifies his judgment in v. 5
by explaining that the people are complicit in the nation’s sin because they
enjoyed the benefits of the national sin without objection. They were happy
beneficiaries and willful participants in the relationships established and
nurtured by the nation’s leaders. Here, Gomer [Israel], is depicted as pursuing
relations with those she mistakenly believes will care for her and provide for
her. She will give whatever is necessary even if it means prostituting herself
literally and figuratively. “The children are children of adultery, and their
mother is deluded, thinking that having many lovers is the best way to obtain food
and clothing.”[5]
But God will not be mocked and
according to vv. 6-8, God will thwart the plans of Israel to continue in her
disobedience and adultery. God proves his point when he uses the overwhelming
military might of Assyria to brutally conquer Israel. When the text refers to
Gomer seeking her lovers but not finding them, it means that even though Israel
tried to appeal to its previously trusted alliance (even if that alliance was
one of subservience) with Assyria, they would still be condemned in the end.
There’s a story about a man stranded in a swamp with
his friends. They are surrounded by alligators and the man systematically feeds
his friends to the alligators with the hope that the alligators would eat him
last. And you know what? It worked—the alligators ate him last. The only
problem with his strategy was that the alligators ate him anyway! Appeasing the
alligators only served his purposes until the alligators got hungry again and
he was the only one left to satisfy their hunger. Appeasing Assyria by
assimilating their ways only worked until Assyria needed to move on to the next
stage in their quest for world domination. At that point, Israel was
expendable. You can almost imagine the outcry of the people claiming, to no
avail, “We did what you wanted! We’re just like you!” And when that didn’t
work, they acted just like little children and wanted to go back to the
blessings they enjoyed under God’s care and provision. But God would have none
of it. “The aftermath of adultery is suffering, disappointment, confusion, and
a pitiable desire to return home. The wayward wife has misjudged the source of
her wealth. The Israelites have not acknowledged that the basis of life is in
the Lord. All that he has given has been squandered on the delusions of Baalism.”[6]
We’re looking at a particular
biblical pattern as part of this lesson that God blesses his people; the people
fail to acknowledge that God is the source of that blessing and then God
removes his blessings. But there is another pattern at work within this pattern
that is not immediately obvious. It is the belief that just because God is slow
to act somehow means that God won’t eventually act. Instead of seeing it as
God’s mercy and ample opportunity to repent, we see it as license to continue
our sinful behavior. Eventually, however, God will act on our unfaithfulness
and disobedience the same way he always has, by removing his blessings to
whatever extent is necessary to get his people to wake up. Vv. 9-13 demonstrate
the extent to which God will go to shake some sense into his people and get
them to recognize their sin, repent and return to him. Read v. 9 and tell me if
you don’t see something very interesting—what do the grain, wine, wool and
linen have in common? They are all represented as belonging to God. It is
entirely consistent throughout the biblical narrative that all things are
granted to us as a blessing from God. They belong to God in the first place but
are given to us for our faithful use. Our provision, care and enjoyment are
only a small part of why God gives us all things. The most important reason all
things are given to us are ultimately for God’s glory. The perfect illustration
is Jesus’ parable of the talents (see lesson titled: The Tragedy of a Buried Talent at: http://seredinski.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-tragedy-of-buried-talent.html).
God’s objective according to v. 10 is
to reveal Israel’s sin by stripping away all her blessings and leaving her
naked and exposed for a watching world to witness her shame for thumbing her
nose at God. “The Lord would not allow his people to continue to violate their
relationship with him. Just as an adulteress was stripped naked and expelled
from her house so too the land would be denuded of God’s blessings and its
people sent into exile. The graciousness and mercy of God did not include
ignoring sin!”[7]
How insulting in must have been to
God that the people would recognize the festivals, sacrifices and other worship
practices ordained by God while at the same time prostituting themselves by
worshipping the Baals—the Canaanite gods! God would put an end to their
hypocrisy according to v. 11. There are just some things that don’t belong
together and worshipping God and
anything else is one of those things (see lesson titled Tough Love at: http://seredinski.blogspot.com/2012/05/tough-love.html).
Just to give you an idea of how
diluted the peoples’ thinking had become in v. 12, they believed that the
abundance represented by their wine and figs was a reward from their false
Gods! Seriously! Look at the destruction that their sin caused in their ability
to reason—they went from believing that all good things come from God’s hand to
attributing their blessings to false gods. Can you believe that? Wait…ever
heard someone say that their good fortune was the result of: Luck? Hard work? Good
looks? Knowing the right people? Being in the right place at the right time?
Being smart? Well I hate to tell you this but attributing anything we have to
those things makes them false gods. So to prove that God is the God of all
things, he will destroy the things Israel believed they received from their
false gods and used in the worship ceremonies of those false gods. “What Israel
believed to represent the gifts of her lovers will now be turned to wilderness
or devoured—displaying again the impotence of the Baals and fulfilling both the
desolation cruses and the wild animal curses of the Sinai covenant [Leviticus
26].”[8]
God’s indictment reaches its pinnacle in v.13. God
begins by withdrawing that which belongs to him in v. 9. He exposes Israel’s
shameful behavior in v. 10. He puts a stop to the worship ceremonies that were
supposed to be dedicated to Him in v. 11. He destroys and consumes the things
they believe were blessings from their false gods in v. 12. And now God takes
the final step and one word says pretty much everything you need to
know—“punish.” You must be willing to see in this verse God’s terrible pain
that pours out in Hosea’s words. “The concept of Yahweh as betrayed husband is
expressed with the emotional intensity of suffering, unrequited love. The motif
of ‘forgetting’ Yahweh recalls Deuteronomy 8, but in Hosea it has the added
force of betrayal with other ‘lovers.’ A key relational term for Hosea is
‘faithful love,’ which should mark relationships both within Israelite society
and between the people of Yahweh.”[9]
Unfortunately for Israel, the depth of God’s pain corresponds with the severity
of the punishment that awaits Israel. History tells us that Assyria’s military
prowess was enhanced by the fear associated with its utter brutality. This
would, in turn, lay the groundwork for the military conquests of succeeding
empires (i.e. Babylonians, Persians, Romans, etc.) that surpassed not only the
military might but the brutality as well of the Assyrians (see lesson titled How Long, O Lord! at: http://seredinski.blogspot.com/2012/12/how-long-o-lord.html). We see clearly in Hosea,
God’s pattern I previously identified—God blesses the people; the people
eventually forget where their blessings came from; God removes the blessings; God
punishes the people for their continued disobedience. “Israel is rebellious at
heart and has perverted a relationship that should have been grounded in love.
The effects of this rebellion are profound, disrupting the close synthesis of
Yahweh, people and land that Yahweh himself had put together…The radical
separation of Israel from its land could be taken to correspond to exile. In
Hosea’s terms it is expressed as a return to the ‘wilderness,’ which once lay
between exodus and land, or indeed back to ‘Egypt’ itself (Hos 8:13), in
powerful images of reversal of the history of salvation. The ‘return to Egypt’
is not meant literally; it is both a picture of the violent removal of Israel
from its land and a condemnation of Israel’s abortive attempt to seek political
assistance from Egypt in the diplomatic posturing that led up to the
overwhelming of the region by Assyria…Yahweh is the one who could oversee
events to free Israel from its subjection to a great power [Egypt], but by the same
token he can bring a new power to oppress them again. Egypt and Assyria are, in
a sense, the same thing, powers that have their own sustaining rationale in the
world, opposed to Yahweh and his project in Israel, yet ultimately under his
sway and liable to be recruited to his purposes. For this reason, Babylon and
Persia in their turn could take the place of Assyria, without having to be
named, and thus the message of Hosea in the eighth century BC could speak again
to the kingdom of Judah in the seventh century or to the people of Yehud in the
sixth century and beyond. Yahweh’s judgment upon Israel is an action on the
stage of world history, since his purpose for Israel is ultimately a purpose
for the whole world, and it is capable of
reenactment in ever new forms.”[10]
In other words, the pattern I outlined previously is in full force and effect
in our own day. At best we are fooling ourselves if we don’t think God will
repeat His long establish pattern and at worst we are selectively rejecting the
biblical witness that is flashing warning signs for us.
Application
I am generally very careful to
remember that more than half of the readers of my lessons are not in America. Therefore,
I work really hard to make lesson applications general enough to apply to
everyone regardless of country. However, I want those of you who are not in
America to use America as an illustration of the biblical pattern to which your
particular country or your personal life is not immune. Use America as an
example of what not to do. Over the last few weeks during the countless government
scandals our nation has experienced, I have followed the commentary of everyday
Americans who are fed up with the incompetency and corruption of the government
and their cries for revolution are growing louder and louder. However, I
promise you that revolution is not the answer. Specifically because corruption
due to sin is too pervasive on a personal and national scale. Therefore, the
solution to our personal and national decay is repentance. This too is part of
a biblical pattern. In fact, it is the primary pattern of the Gospel message
that started with the introduction of sin that separated humanity from God
leading to the death of Jesus as the penalty for humanity’s sin and His resurrection
from the dead that provided the opportunity for reconciliation with God. And
how do we get to that last step in the pattern? Repentance! Repentance for our
sin and belief in Jesus, the One who paid the price and paved the way for our
reconciliation. Until there is repentance personally and nationally, revolution,
threatened or exercised will be a waste of time. This is especially true in the
case of national repentance. That’s why it is essential that we are committed
to personal repentance as a precursor to national repentance. Only a repentant
leadership can successfully lead a campaign of national repentance. Unfortunately,
few will recognize or accept the need for repentance before it’s too late. In
fact, it may already be too late. Personal and national sin may be so deeply
entrenched in our country that we may simply have to pray for the strength to
endure God’s coming punishment. It is becoming increasingly obvious that fewer
and fewer people are listening to the warning cries for repentance. And even
fewer who are calling others to repentance and faith in Jesus. The only
revolution that will be successful is a revolution of the heart that leads to
repentance and acceptance of Jesus Christ. I’m begging you before it is too
late, repent and turn to Jesus and he will forgive your sins and take you back.
And encourage others to do the same thing.
I honestly have to tell you that I fear that the freedom
to call people to repentance and faith in Jesus without severe consequences will
come to an end one day. I have been following the comments of some
congressional lawmakers in Washington DC that are suggesting that people who write
and teach in the format of this ministry may not be protected by our First
Amendment rights of free speech. If they are successful in convincing other
lawmakers of their position then it won’t be long before they are able to
silence this ministry and my ability to communicate God’s message to you as I
have been doing for almost two years now. This is usually the place where in
the past people would have said, “Oh that could never happen!” However, after
witnessing the shameful actions of our government over the last few months, we
can’t say that anymore can we? Nevertheless, until that happens and even if it
happens, I promise you that I will find another way to preach the Gospel at any
cost and I will continue to call for personal and national repentance as long
as I am able. I pray you will continue to share my message and teachings with
as many people as possible for all long as possible. Will you please pray for
this ministry that God would not only continue to keep the access to the
message open and available to all who desire to know Him but that He would
expand its access particularly in the face of any opposition seeking to silence
it. Please join me in calling for personal and national repentance as the
ingredients for a successful revolution to the sin that is destroying our great
country. Don’t wait until it is too late and all we can do is look back on our
once great country and lament its demise as a Squandered Blessing.
[1]
Willem A. VanGemeren, gen. ed., New
International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology & Exegesis, Vol. 1,
(Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1997), p. 221.
[2]
Gary V. Smith, Hosea/Amos/Micah—The NIV
Application Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2001), p. 59.
[3]
Mark J. Boda and J. Gordon McConville, eds., Dictionary of the Old Testament Prophets, (Downers Grove, IL:
InterVarsity Press, 2012), p. 336.
[4]
Douglas Stuart, Hosea-Jonah—Word Biblical
Commentary, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1987), p. 48.
[5]
Walter A. Elwell, ed., Baker Commentary
on the Bible, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1989), p. 606.
[6]
Ibid.
[7]
Walter A. Elwell, Baker Theological
Dictionary of the Bible, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1996), p. 358.
[8] Stuart,
Hosea-Jonah—WBC, p. 52.
[9]
Boda and McConville, DOTP, p. 345.
[10]
Ibid., pp. 346-348.
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