The Book Of Hosea. Day 23, Rejecting The Law

The Lord talks about how the people rejected His law and then embraced the practices of other cultures. As we closed our last study session we found Him saying that the people had erected many altars in the land that they used for sinning. On those altars some of them sacrificed to other gods, though some were presumably making offerings to the Lord, but even in those cases He's told us that most of their  hearts were far from Him.

He says, "I wrote for them the many things of My law, but they regarded them as something foreign." (Hosea 8:12) In some translations the word "foreign" is "strange". The word "strange" is used in the Scriptures to describe things that don't belong in the life of the child of God, such as idolatry. It should have been the idols and the pagan religious practices that the children of Israel considered "strange" but instead they treated the law of God as if it were something that didn't belong in their lives. 

The Lord takes no pleasure in anything offered on any of the altars of the northern kingdom. He did not authorize the golden calf sites at Dan and Bethel. He no longer has a stamp of approval on the hilltop altars of old that were used prior to the construction of the temple. He wants the temple to be the central location of worship where the males of Israel are required to appear at three major holy festival per year, although if feasible they should go even more often. As we talked about in our last session, the importance of corporate worship cannot be overstated. God's people need to gather together to encourage one another and to learn about Him together. But this is not happening and He doesn't place a stamp of approval on the things that are happening in the northern kingdom. "Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to Me, and though they eat the meat, the Lord is not pleased with them." (Hosea 8:13a) 

They love idols so much that the Lord is going to disperse them among the idolatrous nations. "Now He will remember their wickedness and punish their sins: They will return to Egypt. Israel has forgotten their Maker and built palaces; Judah has fortified many towns. But I will send fire on their cities that will consume their fortresses." (Hosea 8:13b-14) Hosea lived during the time of King Jeroboam II during whose reign the northern kingdom was the most prosperous. The king won some major military conquests in which he took back territories of Israel that had been seized by other nations. Militarily, economically, and politically the nation appeared to be doing well---from the outside. But on the inside it was as if the people were still slaves in Egypt because they had voluntarily given themselves over to the bondage of idolatry. In their hearts they were in Egypt (the name of Egypt being used in the Old Testament as a symbol for idolatry) and soon they will physically be scattered among idolatrous nations. 

No matter how many palaces stand in Israel, no matter how many fortified cities are present in Judah, both nations will fall prey to invaders. The northern kingdom will fall to the Assyrian Empire and about 130 years later the southern kingdom will fall to the Neo-Babylonian Empire. It won't matter how thick the walls are around their cities. It won't matter how fierce are the soldiers stationed at the garrisons around the countryside. The Lord has determined to allow the fall of these nations to happen because the majority of the people already have, or soon will, forsake Him. I am reminded of the wise words of King Solomon who said, "Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain." (Psalm 127:1) 

The "house" of the northern kingdom wasn't built by the Lord's laws or in His honor. A form of idolatry was introduced at the very outset, by the northern kingdom's first king, when he was afraid to let his subjects go to Jerusalem to the temple lest they decide to transfer their allegiance to the king of Judah. That was the beginning of their slide into widescale idolatry and rejection of the Lord's laws. The guards can stand watch all they want but it will do them no good, for the sins of the northern kingdom have reached their tipping point and the Lord will bring about the things He warned the people of before He brought them into the promised land. He warned them of defeat and captivity if they turned away from Him. Now these things will soon come to pass.

It is only by building our lives on the solid Rock---our God---that we can stand firm. The Lord is our security. The Lord is our strength. When we replace Him with anything or anyone else, we become weak and frail spiritually and are headed down a very slippery and dangerous slope.