HOSEA: LOOKING BEYOND JUDGMENT TO RESTORATION

VI: God's Indictment Of Israel's People For Vile Idolatry

(Hosea 4:11-19)

I. Introduction

A. God's punishment is very painful, but afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness, Hebrews 12:11.

B. This was the theme of Hosea, the "'death-bed prophet of Israel'" and the last prophet to the Northern Kingdom of Israel before it fell to Assyria in divine judgment. (ESV Introduction to Hosea)

C. Hosea 4:11-19 presents God's indictment of Israel's people for vile idolatry, and we view the passage for our insight and edification (as follows):

II. God's Indictment Of Israel's People For Vile Idolatry, Hosea 4:11-19.

A. Having indicted the priests for their misleading of the people (Hosea 4:1-11), God turned His direction to the people themselves, accusing them of indulging in the sensual pleasures of idolatry with its immorality and wine that took away their spiritual understanding, Hosea 4:11; Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 1390.

B. Consequently, the people had gone into vile idolatry, Hosea 4:12-14:

1. They sought spiritual guidance from an idol that was a mere piece of wood and their walking staff gave them alleged oracles for direction in life, Hosea 4:12a,b ESV.

2. The people had resorted to practicing cultic immorality in their spiritual adultery of abandoning God for false Baal deities, Hosea 4:12c ESV.

3. Indeed, they sacrificed on the tops of the mountains, burning offerings to the Baals on the hills, and under oak, poplar and terebinth where the shade was good, their daughters and brides committed immorality and adultery with male cult prostitutes, Hosea 4:13 ESV; Ibid.

4. However, God said that He would not punish their daughters when they practiced immorality nor their brides when they practiced adultery, for the men themselves went astray morally by cohabiting with female cult prostitutes, sacrificing with them as a people without understanding, Hosea 4:14a,b ESV.

5. Accordingly, such a people would come to ruin under divine discipline, Hosea 4:14c ESV.

C. God warned Judah that was not as advanced in sin as the Northern Kingdom of Israel not to practice the spiritual immorality of Israel, not to enter the Northern Kingdom's town of Gilgal or go to "Beth-aven," what means "house of wickedness" where its true name was "Beth-el," "House of God" so named for the dream Joseph their patriarch had received of the Lord there long before, Hosea 4:15a,b ESV; Ibid. God hated Israel's pollution with the golden calf worship at Bethel (cf. 1 Kings 12:25-13:3), and He added that Judah was not to swear falsely as did the people in Israel when they said, "As the Lord lives," Hosea 4:15c ESV.

D. Israel was like a stubborn heifer, so the Lord could not then feed them like a lamb that could be led to a broad pasture to graze leisurely due to Israel's spiritual stubbornness, Hosea 4:16 ESV; Ibid.

E. Indeed, Ephraim, Israel's dominant tribe that represented the Northern Kingdom of Israel, was joined to idols, strongly attached to them, so she would be left to herself to go to her doom in judgment, Hosea 4:17 ESV.

F. Referring again to their devotion to sensual activities, God complained that when their wine was gone, the people gave themselves to immorality, that their leaders (Hosea 4:18 ESV), here figuratively called "shields" in the Hebrew text to depict their proper roles to protect the nation, had miserably failed to protect the nation from calamitous judgment by themselves yielding to sensual pleasures and idolatry in shameful deeds, Ibid.

G. Israel would soon be swept away in judgment, the wind of God's judgment having already enveloped her wings, Hosea 4:19a ESV; Ibid. In the end, when they were taken into captivity, the people of Israel would be ashamed because of their vile sacrifices that had led to such judgment, Hosea 4:19b ESV.

Lesson: Though Israel's priests had failed to teach God's people Scripture truth, the people themselves were responsible before God of going into vile Baal worship with its open immorality that violated family relationships. God thus warned Judah not to follow Israel's apostasy, and He let Israel as a stubborn heifer go into judgment.

Application: (1) May we in the pew realize that God holds not only teachers and pastors accountable to heed His Word, but us in the pew to do the same, ESPECIALLY if we recognize how our sin is damaging our own family relationships! (2) If we see people in other churches practice sins that we know are evil, God wants us to avoid following their sins like Judah was to avoid practicing Israel's sins. (3) If we see professing Christians commit many major sins while not being soon punished for it by God, it is because God views them as stubborn, and He is letting them rush into judgment. We should view the seeming lack of God's discipline on them as a warning to us!