In Hosea 11, we went over God’s love letter to His people. In it, God was wistful, remembering when faithfulness was more a part of His people. Yet, looking forward, God stated that His children would come to Him, specifically from Gentile lands.
God had not abandoned those whom He called to be His own. Through His Son, the Messiah to come, God will even call those in Gentile lands to be His own. Yet, now, God deals again with His people in the present tense of Hosea’s day.
Read Hosea 11:12-12:6
– How does Hosea 11:12 contrast the Northern and Southern Kingdoms?
– Israel feeding on the wind does not mean the Holy Spirit (ruach). Hosea meant wind. What results from chasing after the wind?
– What’s going on with God describing Judah in two different ways (11:16, 12:2)?
– Using Jacob as an example, how did Jacob not trust in God to provide for him?
– Like what was needed in Jacob, who was renamed Israel, what change was needed in Israel, the nation?
Hosea arranged the events in Jacob’s life–not according to their original sequence, such as Jacob wrestling with the angel years after God’s vision came to him at Bethel–but according to the theological point he was making. Through Jacob’s life, Hosea shows us the sequence of the Christian life: After a confession of sin (at the Jabbok, 12:4), there is a word of good news from the Lord (at Bethel, 12:4), and finally living a life, as a response of faith, marked by loyalty to God, service to the neighbor, and hope for the future (12:6).
Paul’s letter to the Christians at Rome also follows the same pattern as Hosea made clear. It also proceeds from struggles with sin to the good news of Christ (from the Jabbok to Bethel). Like Hosea, Paul then proclaimed to the people of God: “Love sincerely. Hate evil. Hold on to what is good. Be devoted to one another with mutual love, outdoing one another in showing honor” (Romans 12:9-10).
– Recognizing this pattern, fit your Christian life starting with confession and the Divine Service (worship service).
– Where then do you primarily serve God in your life? How?
Read Hosea 12:7-10
– How did many of Israel’s merchants become wealthy?
– How did they interpret their wealth in relation to their standing with God?
In verse 9, God now speaks to Israel in the first person.
– Instead of using Israel’s Egyptian experience as bringing out Yahweh as the God who rescued them, how is that motif now used? What does this portend?
Read Hosea 12:10-14
Gilead, was the cattle country of the Northern Kingdom (Amos 6:13). Gilgal was another prominent place for the Israelites, a center of their religious life, where they sacrificed bulls to Baal.
– What is God doing in verse 10 about the content of what His prophets had preached?
– These verses, as a whole, do what about God’s voice coming through the prophets?
– Although not directly stated, how was Israel to respond to what the Prophet Hosea was saying?
– What was Hosea saying about how Joseph became wealthy, as opposed to the practices in the Northern Kingdom (12:12, 12:7)?
– What does leaving the bloodguilt on Israel mean?
Four Sayings from Hosea before the Death of the Nation
Hosea, chapter 13, delivers four of the prophet’s sayings just before the death of the nation in 722 BC. No other chapter in the Hosea provides a better example of Hosea’s descriptive power, who delivers a chilling message both literally (vs. 9-11, 16) or with imagery (vs. 3, 7-8, 13, 15). In this chapter, all four of Hosea’s sayings are permeated with the stench of death.
Read Hosea 13:1-3
– What are the accusations (vs. 1-2)?
– How hideous did Israel’s worship get? (vs. 2)
– What is the resulting punishment?
In these verses, “kissing” was a gesture that symbolized a commitment of love. It suggested unity with the false god an idol represented (or the incompatible, syncretistic version of their Baal-Yahweh amalgam).
New Testament Tie-In: In the New Covenant, Christians kissed one other for the same basic purpose. It showed two things:
- It showed the unity they had with one another in Christ.
- It recognized that Jesus was dwelling in another Christian, and for that reason kissing another Christian helped confess that truth.
The New Testament mentions such a kiss five times: Romans 16:16, 1 Corinthians 16:20, 2 Corinthians 13:12, 1 Thessalonians 5:26, and 1 Peter 5:14.
Read Hosea 13:4-8
– Who does Hosea show God to be in verses 4-5?
– What spiritually followed material prosperity?
– What kind of death can Israel expect?
Next week will look at the last two sayings from Hosea in chapter 13, look at the Apostle Paul’s use of that chapter, and then end our study of Hosea.
Click here to go the last lesson for Hosea.
