The Book Of Hosea. Day 14, Stumbling In Sin

As Chapter 5 opens we find the Lord speaking more on the subject of "stumbling in sin". We typically think of stumbling as something that happens accidentally, such as when we stub our toe or turn our ankle. Humans don't tend to intentionally stumble, physically speaking, because we don't want to injure our physical bodies. But we do have a tendency to make deliberate decisions that lead to us stumbling spiritually. That is what has happened to the people of Israel in Hosea's time. They made deliberate decisions (engaging in idolatrous practices) that led to them stumbling spiritually.

What does a person do when they stumble physically? They get up, if they can, and if they cannot get up on their own, they call for someone to help them. We ought to handle spiritual stumbles in the same way. As soon as we realize we've made an error, we should get up and stop doing the thing that caused us to stumble. We should repent, in other words, and call upon the Lord to help us not to make that same mistake again. But we don't always treat physical falls and spiritual falls in the same way and that is because our carnal natures take pleasure in sin. For example, if I slip and fall in my front yard, I'm not going to find that to be a pleasant experience and I'm not going to just lie there wallowing on the ground for fun. I'll get up and take extra care not to fall again. But falling in my front yard doesn't provide any gratification for the "reward centers" in my brain like committing sin does. If our carnal nature enjoys something we've done in disobedience to the Lord, we are more likely to do the same thing again, and after a while a pattern forms as we gratify the reward centers in our brain over and over. Every time we commit the same sin, it becomes more difficult to turn away from it. 

This is why in our text today the Lord will say of the people of Hosea's day, "Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God." It's not that it's impossible for them to decide to repent and turn back to Him, but many of them have lived in disobedience to Him for so long that they've lost the desire to change their behavior. They enjoy their manner of living and do not want to change it. The things they are engaging in are more appealing to them than having a personal relationship with their Creator. 

The Lord calls out to all the citizens of all walks of life in the ancient northern kingdom of Israel. "Hear this, you priests! Pay attention, you Israelites! Listen, royal house! This judgment is against you." (Hosea 5:1a) Idolatry has entered the hearts of people of all income levels and of many different professions. Priests are involved in it. The king and the members of the royal household are involved in it. The wealthy, the middle income, the poor---a majority of people from every class are now living in ways that do not honor the Lord. This is why the situation has reached such a tipping point that the Lord will not refrain from judgment much longer.

He says, "You have been a snare at Mizpah, a net spread out on Tabor. The rebels are knee-deep in slaughter. I will discipline all of them. I know all about Ephraim; Israel is not hidden from Me. Ephraim, you have now turned to prostitution; Israel is corrupt. Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. A spirit of prostitution is in their heart; they do not acknowledge the Lord. Israel's arrogance testifies against them; the Israelites, even Ephraim, stumble in their sin; Judah also stumbles with them." (Hosea 5:1b-5) 

The reference to snares and nets is a reference to hidden traps, such as those a hunter would set in order to catch game. The setting up of the golden calf idols at Bethel and at Dan was a hidden trap in that the northern kingdom's first king, Jeroboam I, presented these idols as representing the Lord who had brought them out of Egypt. When we studied the kings we noted that the Bible expressly explains to us that Jeroboam created these sites of worship in order to prevent the people of his kingdom from going into the kingdom of Judah to worship the Lord at the temple in Jerusalem; Jeroboam was afraid his people would defect and give their allegiance to King Rehoboam of Judah. He presented the religious sites as alternative sites---as being just as good as worshiping at Jerusalem---and persuaded a large number of people to accept these sites without them knowing he was doing so for his own political gain. Many of the priests of the tribe of Levi and other citizens left the northern kingdom and moved into Judah because they refused to commit the sin of bowing to representations of the Lord, but most of the people did not abandon their homes and lands and occupations but accepted the sites instead. Doing so gradually led them into mixing other idolatrous practices with their worship of the Lord or abandoning Him altogether for idolatry. 

Satan doesn't lay a trap for us and then place a big red X on it. We'd avoid it if he did that. Instead he disguises the trap. He dresses it up. He makes it attractive to us. He makes it look harmless to us. And even though, once we fall into the trap, we realize we are committing an error, there is pleasure in sin for a season. (Hebrews 11:25) The carnal side of our nature sometimes wins out and we continue wallowing in sin. That's what happened to the people of the northern kingdom. They fell into the trap and began worshiping the Lord in ways He had commanded them not to worship Him. It was easier to remain in the northern kingdom than to travel (against Jeroboam's wishes) into Judah. It was easier to worship nearby and it was easier to ignore some of the Lord's laws and commandments while they remained at a distance from the temple where the priests were still being faithful to the Lord and teaching the people. It was easier to begin "customizing" their religion to suit their carnal natures and, in time, it became easier and easier to fall into wholehearted idolatry and to serve deities who did not require godly living.

The carnal side of our nature likes to take the path of least resistance. It was the path of least resistance for most of the people of the northern kingdom to remain there and worship where Jeroboam told them to worship. It was the path of least resistance to stop closely following the Lord's laws and commandments. During the era of King Ahab, it was the path of least resistance to follow his state-sponsored worship of Baal. Idolatry really began to abound then and not everyone gave it up to go back to the golden calf sites when Jehu (who slaughtered the descendants of Ahab and took the throne) ordered the people to forsake Baal and go back to the religious practices first put in place by Jeroboam, but even if they had all done as Jehu said, they would still have been living in disobedience to the Lord who commanded no idols be fashioned to represent Him and no sacrifices to be brought to Him anywhere but at the temple. The Lord knew if there was no central location of worship, and if the people weren't commanded to attend it, they would start doing their own thing and customizing their religion to suit themselves. That is exactly what has happened and, in spite of sending them prophet after prophet to urge them to repent, they have not repented. At this point they have chosen to remain lying in the pit into which they originally stumbled. 

If we compare spiritual stumbling to physical stumbling, remaining in a pit of sin is as illogical as continuing to lie in a mud hole when help is available to lift us out. The Lord has offered, time and time again, to lift them out. There is a limit as to how long this situation can continue, which is why He will say in our next study session, He has "withdrawn Himself".