The Book Of Hosea. Day 22, Altars For Sinning

I'm sorry for not having a Bible study post for Thursday. I've been having problems with my laptop disconnecting repeatedly from my wifi and it happened so many times yesterday morning that I ran out of time to complete the Bible study before I had to go to work.

In today's text the Lord talks about the altars of sin in the northern kingdom. As we concluded Wednesday's passage we found the Lord warning Israel that she would "reap the whirlwind" because she had sown nothing but wind. In other words, she had occupied herself with vain things that produced no fruit. She had fallen into idolatry, a thing that is useless. The idols will be no help to her when judgment begins to fall.

Today's text picks back up on the theme of fruitlessness before speaking of all the religious sin going on in the nation. "The stalk has no head; it will produce no flour. Were it to yield grain, foreigners would swallow it up." (Hosea 8:7b) Israel, like a stalk of grain that produces no head, has yielded no fruit of a spiritual nature. Even if a little fruit is borne at this point, judgment is still coming. Just as enemy invaders steal or destroy crops, the nation is going to be destroyed and its people stolen.

"Israel is swallowed up; now she is among the nations like something no one wants." (Hosea 8:8) A stronger empire (Assyria) will attack and conquer, carrying the majority of the people away captive and scattering them among other nations and tribes the Assyrians have already conquered. This was the practice of the ancient Assyrians and of many other ancient countries; they would deport the citizens of a region they conquered and settle it with conquered people from other regions. They would create mixed multitudes in each of these areas as a method of preventing the people from effectively banding together to form a powerful rebellion, for they would speak different languages and have different customs and different religions. They could not communicate well with each other and, due to their cultural clashes and religious differences, would harbor prejudices against each other. 

"For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey wandering alone. Ephraim has sold herself to lovers. Although they have sold themselves among the nations, I will now gather them together. They will begin to waste away under the oppression of the mighty king." (Hosea 8:9-10) The people looked to heathen nations for friendship and help. The people called upon heathen gods. Therefore the Lord says they sold themselves to lovers, playing the harlot instead of being faithful to Him. In return He will put them under the control of the pagan nations and the pagan religious systems with which they've flirted and committed adultery against Him.

"Though Ephraim built many altars for sin offerings, these have become altars for sinning." (Hosea 8:11) In the northern kingdom the people worshiped at the perverted religious sites at Dan and Bethel, where the golden calves were erected. They worshiped at the old altars on the high places. They built altars to foreign gods. All of these things were sins against the Lord. They were forbidden to make an image of Him. They were forbidden to bow to an image made of man or of animal or of any so-called god. They were no longer supposed to use the high places of the patriarchs but were to come together in communal worship at the temple in Jerusalem so they would not be separated from the body of believers---so each of them would not customize their worship of the Lord to suit themselves and so they could be taught of the priests at Jerusalem. Instead they preferred to do their own thing and those altars dotting the landscape became a snare to them. 

In the New Testament we find the Lord Jesus at a synagogue or at the temple on the Sabbath. I am sure He spent many other days of the week at religious centers of worship. If the Son of God thought it was vital to associate with the body of believers at the Lord's house, how much more should you and I make it a regular practice to attend a house of worship? Separating ourselves from the body of Christ is a slippery slope. It will almost certainly cause us to listen to the word of God less often and to read the Bible less often and to pray less often. We will begin to drift from a close relationship with our Lord. We will be going about our days without the godly examples of fellow believers and we will be going through the trials of this world without the very important encouragement of fellow believers. Keeping ourselves apart from the Lord's house and from fellow believers is a trap the devil eagerly desires to see us fall into. Just as a lion finds it easier to take down an animal that has separated itself from the herd, Satan finds it easier to cause a person to sin if they have separated themselves from the body of Christ.