The Book Of Isaiah. Day 9, Poor Leadership

As we begin Chapter 3, which is titled in the NIV as "Judgment On Jerusalem And Judah", we learn that part of this judgment involves the Lord allowing poor leaders to rise to positions of power. The Lord is the one who chooses the leaders of every government of every era, according to Daniel 2:21 and Romans 13:1. We may think we are in charge of electing our leaders in democratic nations but everything falls into place according to the Lord's will. He sends good leaders to bless us and He sends poor leaders to correct us. In today's text we find Him orchestrating the rise of poor leaders to power because the people have forsaken Him.

"See now, the Lord, the Lord Almighty, is about to take from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support; all supplies of food and all supplies of water, the hero and the warrior, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder, the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor, skilled craftsman and clever enchanter." (Isaiah 3:1-3) We learned in our study of the kings that the Babylonian army laid siege to the Jerusalem for some time and that the city finally fell to King Nebuchadnezzar. Whenever a city is under siege, its citizens eventually run out of food and water and other supplies, which is the purpose of siege. Going without the necessities of life can soon make a city's citizens surrender to the enemy army and that saves the enemy army from having to scale the walls and engage in hand-to-hand combat, thus saving many soldiers' lives. It's a more cost-effective method of defeating a city, in manpower and in horses and in chariots and in weapons. Siege doesn't always result in surrender, but even when it doesn't it makes the city's citizens less effective in fighting off an invasion if the enemy army has to engage them in battle.

Not only will supplies be cut off, but good leadership will be cut off as well. "I will make mere youths their officials; children will rule over them." (Isaiah 3:4) A succession of young and inexperienced men will attempt to lead the government and the army rather than wise and godly elders or battle-hardened warriors or political veterans.

Lawlessness will abound. "People will oppress each other---man against man, neighbor against neighbor. The young will rise up against the old, the nobody against the honored." (Isaiah 3:5) In their distress, people will turn on each other and lash out at each other. The strong will forcefully take things from the weak. The aged ones will be cast aside when resources become scarce, for the people will reason with themselves that these resources are better spent on the young and strong who have a better chance of surviving and who might be able to do something against their invaders.

Resources will become so scarce that a man who has managed to hold onto anything---even the smallest of valuable items---will appear to his fellow man as a good candidate for leadership. "A man will seize one of his brothers in his father's house, and say, 'You have a cloak, you be our leader; take charge of this heap of ruins!' But in that day he will cry out, 'I have no remedy. I have no food or clothing in my house; do not make me the leader of the people.'" (Isaiah 3:6-7) He will say, "I don't have any answers! I can't keep food on my own table or clothes on my own family member's backs. We are barely keeping body and soul together at my house. How can I advise anyone in the nation what to do when I don't know what to do for my own household?"

"Jerusalem staggers, Judah is falling; their words and deeds are against the Lord, defying His glorious presence." (Isaiah 3:8) This is the reason for everything to come---everything Isaiah is prophesying about: the majority of the people have defied the Lord. They could have had peace on every side. They could have had peace with God and peace in their hearts. But because they scorned Him in favor of the idols of the heathens and for the idols of this world (money, power, prestige, and so on), He will allow a heathen nation to overcome then. Then, in a foreign nation, they will turn their eyes and their hearts toward God.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 8, The Day Of The Lord, Part Three

We are studying a prophecy in Chapter 2 regarding the time known as "The Day Of The Lord" or "Judgment Day". Yesterday we talked about how the child of God need not fear that day. It is a day of judgment for the wicked, not for those who love the Lord.

We are going to back up a couple of verses because they are so closely connected with the remainder of the chapter. The theme is that, once everything has been said and done, only the Lord will be exalted in the end. The pride of mankind will amount to nothing. The idolatry of mankind will amount to nothing. Only what the Lord has done---and only what man has done for His honor---will last.

"The arrogance of man will be brought low and human pride humbled; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day, and the idols will totally disappear." (Isaiah 2:17-18) When studying the Old Testament we generally see idols represented as actual objects that symbolize the gods of the pagan peoples. But even then, as now, an idol could be anything that a person valued more than the Lord. After all, an idol is something that stands in place of the Lord. An idol can be money, power, prestige, a relationship, worldly possessions, a habit, an addiction, or anything that means more to a person than his or her relationship with the Lord. These are things that will be of no help when they face the God whose love and mercy they considered of little significance during their lifetime. That is why the Bible says "the idols will totally disappear". What use are idols when a person is standing before the judgment seat of the living God?

In the end times, when the various natural disasters described in Revelation strike the earth, and when the military and economic disasters described in Revelation strike the nations of the earth, many who have scorned the Lord will continue to scorn Him but will cower in fear at the prospect of facing Him. "People will flee to caves in the rocks and to holes in the ground from the fearful presence of the Lord and the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth." (Isaiah 2:19) Even then there will be those who refuse to bow on their knees before Him, attempting instead to conceal their sins from Him. 

"In that day people will throw away to the moles and bats their idols and silver and idols of gold, which they made to worship. They will flee to caverns in the rocks and to the overhanging crags from the fearful presence of the Lord and the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth." (Isaiah 2:20-21) In Isaiah's day, many people of his nation of Judah and of the nation of Israel were putting a lot of time and effort and expense into serving the gods of the heathen nations. In our own day, many people all around the world are putting a great deal of energy into serving the gods of the modern age. But none of these gods will be able to help anyone. Can the Lord be bribed with money? Is the Lord impressed by anyone's worldly power or fame? No, a relationship with the Lord is the only thing that matters. It is the only thing of any eternal significance. Without Him, nothing really matters or brings any true satisfaction in this life. Without Him, there is no forgiveness for sins. Without Him, there is no eternal joy and peace after this life on earth is over.

Idols cannot save the people. Their fellow man can't save them either. The nation of Judah enjoyed quite a bit of prosperity during a lot of Isaiah's lifetime, as did the nation of Israel during the lifetime of Hosea whose book we just finished studying. But no national leader is powerful enough to save his people from judgment for their sins. No military or economy is strong enough to protect people from judgment for their sins. Isaiah ends Chapter 2 on this note: "Stop trusting in mere humans, who have but a breath in their nostrils. Why hold them in esteem?" (Isaiah 2:22)

I was born and raised in the United States of America during an era when this nation has been the most powerful and prosperous nation on earth. But if I did not know the Lord, what good would it do me on judgment day to have been a citizen of the United States? What good would it do me if I'd been closely related to one of our presidents? What good would it do me if I'd accumulated wealth or fame? Do those things mean anything at the judgment seat of Almighty God? No, the only thing that will matter on that day is whether we are a child of God through faith in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle John said the same thing in one of his epistles and we will close today's study session with his wise advice about valuing the Lord above all else: "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world---the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life---comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever." (1 John 2:15-17)

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 7, The Day Of The Lord, Part Two

Chapter 2 contains a prophecy that is titled in the NIV as "The Day Of The Lord". This term in the Scriptures is usually a reference to the final day of judgment at the end times but Isaiah appears to be using the term in a twofold prophecy. Part of the prophecy, which we studied yesterday, seems to be primarily to do with the soon-to-come fall of Judah. The remaining verses of the prophecy mostly correspond with the ultimate day of judgment in which the Lord will judge all wickedness.

"Go into the rocks, hide in the ground from the fearful presence of the Lord and the splendor of His majesty! The eyes of the arrogant will be humbled and human pride brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day." (Isaiah 2:10-11) We know that no one can hide from God but it's a common human reaction to want to hide sin or to want to hide from the consequences of sin. You'll recall that Adam and Eve hid from the Lord in the Garden of Eden after they had sinned against Him. When the Lord asked Adam why he hid from Him, Adam stated, "I was afraid." No one had ever sinned before and Adam did not know exactly what to expect; therefore we cannot be certain whether he felt sorry for his sin at that time or was simply terrified of the consequences. The hiding from the Lord that Isaiah speaks of in our text today does not necessarily indicate that people are sorry for their sins but that they are afraid to face the God against whom they have sinned. 

"The Lord Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled), for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty, and all the oaks of Bashan, for all the towering mountains and all the high hills, for every lofty tower and every fortified wall, for every trading ship and every stately vessel. The arrogance of man will be brought low and human pride humbled; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day, and the idols will totally disappear." (Isaiah 2:12-18) Tall cedars and mighty oaks are often used to symbolize powerful human leaders. When the day of the Lord's judgment comes against those who have rejected Him, no president or prime minister or king will be able to save sinners from His wrath; they won't be able to save themselves from His wrath either. No government, no leader, no military, no economy will be a buffer between evildoers and the penalty that is about to fall upon them.

This next segment corresponds to a passage from the book of Revelation. "People will flee to caves in the rocks and to holes in the ground from the fearful presence of the Lord and the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth." (Isaiah 2:19) "Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?'" (Revelation 6:15-17)

Those who are crying for the rocks and mountains to fall on them and hide them are those who turned their faces away from the Lord all their lives. From the least to the greatest, all who scorn Him will answer His charges against them. The Bible is not saying that all the people who have ever been wealthy or who have ever held positions of power in the government will face His wrath; it's only those who eschewed the Lord in favor of idols (and idols can be power, wealth, and many other worldly things), who repeatedly rejected Him, and who lived in opposition to His holy laws and commandments. 

Those of us who are the children of the Lord have no reason to dread the day of judgment. The day of judgment is not for us. It's not His children He's going to judge. Believers will appear before His throne for an accounting of our lives but that appearance at His throne has to do with eternal rewards, not with eternal punishment. (You may take a look at the Apostle Paul's discourse on the subject of rewards for believers in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15.) The child of God does not need to be looking fearfully ahead toward a day of wrath. We are to be looking ahead in joyful eagerness for the day our Lord and Savior begins to reign over the world in righteousness and peace forever. 

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 6, The Day Of The Lord, Part One

In Saturday's study we looked at a beautiful prophecy for the future when the Messiah will reign over the world forever from Jerusalem. That portion of Chapter 2 was titled "The Mountain Of The Lord". The next portion of Chapter 2 is titled "The Day Of The Lord", and whenever the day of the Lord is mentioned in the Bible, it signifies a time of judgment. We could accurately refer to it as "The Day Of The Lord's Wrath". Sometimes it indicates a soon-coming time of tribulation, such as the fall of Israel to Assyria or the fall of Judah to Babylon, and other times it indicates the era known as "The Great Tribulation" or "The End Times". The remaining text of Chapter 2 appears to be a combined prophecy: a prophecy regarding the fall of the nation due to the people's abandonment of the Lord and a prophecy regarding the end times. The portion we will study today refers to the soon-coming fall of Judah. 

An eternal kingdom of righteousness and peace is coming, as the Lord foretold in yesterday's text, but that day is not yet. Judgment is going to fall on the nation because of the sins the prophet Isaiah names in verses 6 through 8. He states that the Lord has "abandoned" the people; this is because the people have abandoned Him. This doesn't mean that the Lord is turning His back on the nation and cutting all ties with it but that He's going to take His protective hand off the nation and allow an enemy army to defeat it.

Isaiah says, "You, Lord, have abandoned Your people, the descendants of Jacob. They are full of superstitions from the East; they practice divination like the Philistines and embrace pagan customs. Their land is full of silver and gold; there is no end to their treasures. Their land is full of horses; there is no end to their chariots. Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made. So people will be brought low and everyone humbled---do not forgive them." (Isaiah 2:6-9)

The Lord commanded the people to have no god except Him but they have adopted many gods from many cultures. Some of the people are mixing these pagan religious rites with their worship of the Lord and some of them have completely rejected the Lord in favor of foreign gods. You'll recall from our study of the kings that human sacrifice even took place in Israel and Judah, with a few of the kings and who knows how many citizens sacrificing their children to that abominable god Molek. Not everyone went that far, of course, but a number of them engaged in the debauchery and sexual immorality of heathen festivals and a number of them took up occult practices such as trying to divine the future or attempting to contact the dead. 

In addition to these sinful spiritual practices, the people were trusting more in their military power and economic power than in the Lord. They had accumulated great wealth, and although wealth obtained by honest hard work is not a sin, prosperity often has a way of causing a person to call upon the Lord less than they would if they were in financial need. Not all of their wealth was gained honestly, for we've already studied some verses regarding the greed and dishonesty taking place in the nation. Wealth will not be enough to save them when the king of Babylon sets his sights on Judah. 

The reference to horses and chariots is likely a reference to Judah's relations with Egypt. The Lord warned them not to go back to Egypt for any reason and He warned them not to accumulate large numbers of horses and chariots. But the finest horses and chariots to be had were in Egypt and the fact that the nation had so many is a clear indication that they went to Egypt time and time again to buy horses and chariots. Egypt was the most idolatrous nation on earth in those days, if the number of gods and goddesses is what we're going by, and it was not spiritually healthy for the people of Judah to associate with the people of Egypt. Another danger in engaging in commerce with them was that by accumulating thousands of horses and chariots they were depending on the strength of their military to fight off invaders instead of depending on the Lord. No amount of horses, chariots, soldiers, or weapons is going to be enough to fend off invaders if the Lord is not on their side---and He is not going to be on their side when their sins reach a tipping point. Conversely, no army would be able to stand against the nation of Judah, regardless of how enormous that army might have been, if the Lord were on Judah's side.

Our text today ends with Isaiah saying to the Lord, "Do not forgive them." I don't believe Isaiah wants to see judgment fall on his nation. I believe Isaiah loves his people and his country. I believe Isaiah wants to see them repenting of their sins and turning back to the Lord and being forgiven for their sins. But in taking an inventory of the people's grievous sins against the Lord, he can't help acknowledging the Lord's right to judge them. I think Isaiah looks at their sins from the Lord's viewpoint and agrees with Him that something must be done, as much as it pains Isaiah's heart to contemplate the tribulations to come. I think Isaiah knows how hard-hearted the people have become and that there is unlikely to be a widescale repentance and revival in the land. Knowing that they will not repent, Isaiah's spirit is in agreement with the Spirit of the Lord, and in saying, "Do not forgive them," what he is saying is, "Do not relent. They will not repent and stop bowing down to false gods. They will not stop disenfranchising the poor and bribing judges to rule in their favor. They will not stop committing crimes against their fellow man. They will not refrain from bloodshed. Since they will not repent, do not relent. Do not change Your mind and withhold judgment."

If the people had repented, of course the Lord would have forgiven them. Isaiah is not asking the Lord to withhold forgiveness if they repent. He knows they will not repent. Forgiveness cannot occur if repentance does not occur. What Isaiah is saying, although it must be breaking his heart, is that the Lord should judge their sins. If the Lord does not judge their sins, there is no hope for the descendants of Jacob or for the nation. The Lord is not going to make a complete end of the people or of the nation and, when their time of captivity in Babylon is up, they will return in a completely different attitude than the attitude they have now. Also, if the Lord did not judge their sins, how would the other nations of the world have viewed Him? If the God of Israel and Judah did not judge His people for transgressing His laws and forsaking Him, would the people of other nations have laughed at Him? Would the people of other nations have concluded He is too weak to avenge His honor? Would the people of other nations have concluded that their gods are stronger than He is? Some of them would decide He doesn't exist at all! His judgment is going to bring about repentance among the survivors of Judah and it is going to prove to the Gentile world that He is real and that He is righteous and holy and that He is powerful enough to do anything He says He can do.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 5, The Mountain Of The Lord

In yesterday's study session we looked at a prophecy about future restoration for Israel. Although the Lord was warning the people of a soon-to-come defeat and captivity, He also foretold better days in the future. We pick up where we left off at the end of Chapter 1 and then look at the first segment of Chapter 2.

"Zion will be delivered with justice, her penitent ones with righteousness. But rebels and sinners will both be broken, and those who forsake the Lord will perish." (Isaiah 1:27-28) I am sure that some people must have repented at Isaiah's message, though the majority of them did not. And we know that, after Judah's defeat by the Neo-Babylonian Empire and their captivity in Babylon, we never see the people bowing to idols again after a large number of them return to the land of Israel. We know by this that many repented of idolatry but that does not mean everyone acknowledged God as their Lord. At no time did everyone repent and accept Him as Lord, for at no time has everyone of any nation repented and accepted Him as Lord. In every era and in every country there are those who accept Him as Lord and those who reject Him as Lord. This is why the Lord says that the "penitent ones" will be granted righteousness but "rebels and sinners will both be broken" and "those who forsake the Lord will perish".

Those who forsook Him for idols will have nothing to show for their lives. No righteousness can be imputed to them by false gods. No salvation can be granted to them by false gods. The references to oaks and gardens in the following verses are references to the groves in which the people performed pagan religious rites. "You will be ashamed because of the sacred oaks in which you have delighted; you will be disgraced because of the gardens you have chosen. You will be like an oak with fading leaves, like a garden without water. The mighty man will become tinder and his work a spark; both will burn together, with no one to quench the fire." (Isaiah 1:29-31) 

Psalm 115, which is believed to have been composed after the Babylonian captivity by an unnamed author, said this about idols: "Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them." (Psalm 115:8) The Lord is saying the same type of thing here in the book of Isaiah; those who trust in futile idols will live lives of futility. They are producing nothing that lasts. Like an idol carved of wood that can be burned in a fire, the works of those who worshiped idols will be destroyed, just as the idolaters will be destroyed. Only the life lived for the Lord produces good fruit of eternal significance.

As we begin Chapter 2 we need to go back and remember that yesterday's passage ended with a prophecy regarding the reign of the Messiah. The Lord foretold a restoration of the nation---both a spiritual and a political restoration. This prophecy has begun to be fulfilled (many captives returned to the land and eventually Israel became a sovereign nation again) but it won't find its complete fulfillment until the Messiah reigns over the earth from Jerusalem. Chapter 2 begins with a vision of the Lord reigning from Jerusalem.

"This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem: In the last days, the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it." (Isaiah 2:1-2) Jerusalem will be the capitol city of all the earth in those days. The Apostle John spoke of the kingdom of the Messiah and about the way ambassadors from the nations would stream into Jerusalem, saying of the city: "The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it." (Revelation 21:24) Jerusalem will be the seat of righteousness in those days for believing Jews and Gentiles, and the Lord will forever rule over the earth from His throne in the city.

That is when Isaiah's vision of Jerusalem as the shining example of all that is good will come true. "Many peoples will come and say, 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, so that we may walk in His paths.' The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord." (Isaiah 2:3-5)

Isaiah foresees peace on earth. Peace on earth will not come until the Prince of Peace sits on the throne of His forefather David, reigning as the eternal Lord and King over the earth. But what a blessed hope this is! We do not know when our Lord will return to be crowned King of kings and Lord of lords but we know that when He does come, this future will be ours: "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (Revelation 21:4) Amen!

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 4, A Future Restoration And A Messianic Prophecy

Just as He has done in the books of the prophets we've already studied, the Lord speaks of a coming disaster but also speaks of a day when things will be much better.

Isaiah is a prophet from Jerusalem and it is Jerusalem to which the Lord refers when He says, "See how the faithful city has become a prostitute! She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her---but now murderers!" (Isaiah 1:21) Jerusalem was the center of government and the center of worship. The royal palace and the temple were there. At one time this city stood as an example of godly leadership and godly living but by Isaiah's day many leaders and many priests had gone astray. This is why the Lord calls the city a "prostitute" because she has been unfaithful to Him. She has transgressed against her holy covenant with the Lord. In the Bible we often find the Lord speaking of Himself as a husband to the nation and referring to the unfaithfulness of the nation as adultery or prostitution. 

The Lord continues His indictment against the city, "Your silver has become dross, your choice wine is diluted with water. Your rulers are rebels, partners with thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow's case does not come before them." (Isaiah 1:22-23) Injustice abounds. Instead of attending to the cares of the needy, the widow and the orphan and the foreigner and the destitute are being disenfranchised. Judges are being bribed to rule against them. The Lord compares those who are unrighteous to impure silver and to wine that has been diluted to the point of being tasteless and worthless.

People's hearts do not have to be this way. Conditions in the nation don't have to be this way. The Lord is going to uphold the cause of the needy and defenseless. Just as silver must be heated in the fire to burn off the dross and make it useful for something, the Lord is going to heat the nation in the fire of His wrath because of the sins taking place there. The purpose of this fiery judgment is not to wipe out the descendants of Jacob or to destroy the nation from the earth but to bring about repentance, redemption, and restoration. "Therefore the Lord, the Lord Almighty, the Mighty One of Israel, declares: 'Ah! I will vent My wrath on My foes and avenge Myself on My enemies. I will turn My hand against you; I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities.'" (Isaiah 1:24-25)

Those who have forsaken the Lord have made themselves the enemies of the Lord. Those who are mistreating and defrauding the helpless ones in their midst are going to answer to the Lord for their inhumanity. He warned the tribes of Israel back in the book of Deuteronomy that if they did not look out for the needy in their midst, He would: "For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. Fear the Lord your God and serve Him." (Deuteronomy 10:17-20a) The Lord will stand up to defend the needy and He will pass judgment against those who are taking advantage of the needy.

After the Lord has purged the dross (the idolatry, the violence, the greed, the dishonesty), what is left will be useful. Godly leaders will again be found in the nation. Godly people will look after their fellow man. Jerusalem will be an example of justice and righteousness. "I will restore your leaders as in days of old, your rulers as at the beginning. Afterward you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City." (Isaiah 1:26) This prophecy has been fulfilled in part, as we do not find the people of Judah and Jerusalem turning again to idolatry after their fall to Babylon and their eventual return to the land. But the prophecy won't find its complete fulfillment until the Lord Himself reigns over the earth from Jerusalem, so in that sense this is a Messianic prophecy. Not only will the Lord not wipe the descendants of Jacob from the earth, and not only will He not make an end of Israel as a nation, but the Promised One will arise from the descendants of Jacob and someday He will sit on David's throne as King of kings and Lord of lords forever. This is a beautiful promise! This is a hope to hold onto in their darkest hours. The Lord is assuring the people that He was not finished with them in spite of their sins. He's not finished with them, not by a long shot; He is just getting started!

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 3, A Merciful Offer

We concluded yesterday's study session with the Lord calling the offerings of the people "meaningless" because they were simply going through the motions. They were performing the rituals of worship but their hearts weren't in it. Today's passage continues with that theme but ends with a merciful offer of a fresh start if the people will accept the Lord's invitation.

After referring to their offerings as meaningless, the Lord says, "New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations---I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all My being. They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them." (Isaiah 1:13b-14) 

As we discussed yesterday, the Lord had commanded the people to observe the Sabbath and to observe several religious holidays throughout the year. But the Lord intended them to observe these occasions in the right spirit. If it was the Sabbath, then they were to abstain from working to attend religious services, to meditate upon the word of God, and to commune with God in prayer. If it was a harvest festival, they were to offer the firstfruits of the harvest to the Lord in thankfulness for supplying their needs. If it was an occasion for atoning for sin, they were to bring their sacrifice in an attitude of repentance and humility, admitting they had transgressed the laws of a holy God and being grateful that (although the penalty of sin is death) He allowed animal sacrifices in place of human bloodshed. But since so many of the people are not observing these holy occasions in the right spirit, their rituals are meaningless to the Lord and He is sick of watching them going through the motions.

Have you ever known anyone who says a lot of flattering words without meaning them? Perhaps it was a co-worker who was always fawning over the boss while talking about the boss behind his or her back. Isn't it annoying to watch them sucking up to the boss, knowing you'll hear them saying ugly things about the boss later? Or perhaps there's someone in your life who you know can't stand you (either because you've discerned it in spite of their pretense to like you or because you've heard what they've said about you to others) but to your face they are always being complimentary. Isn't it sickening? Wouldn't you rather they just didn't talk to you at all instead of putting on a false front? That's how the Lord feels about the people who are putting on a show of bringing offerings to Him while having no real relationship with Him in their hearts. He sees right through their hypocrisy.

Because He sees their hypocrisy, the only prayer He wants to hear and respond to is a prayer of repentance, so He says, "When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide My eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening." (Isaiah 1:15a) The Lord Jesus spoke out against hypocrites who loved to make loud and long public prayers to be seen of others but who, in their private lives, were living against the Lord's laws by mistreating their fellow man. He said that those who were living in such sin, but who "for a show make lengthy prayers", would be "punished most severely". (Mark 12:38-40) 

What needs to be done in order to get their prayers heard? They must repent and turn away from their unrighteous lifestyles. "Your hands are full of blood! Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of My sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow." (Isaiah 1:15b-17) Is the Lord saying they can be saved by works? Is He saying they can do enough good deeds to erase their evil deeds? Absolutely not, for He is the only source of righteousness; salvation is by faith in Him and not by performing human works. The only thing they can do to help themselves is to repent and ask for His mercy and forgiveness, in faith believing that He exists and that He can redeem them from their sins. He is the One who does the work of imputing righteousness to them, which He makes very clear in the verses we conclude with today.

"'Come now, let us settle the matter,' says the Lord. 'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.' For the mouth of the Lord has spoken." (Isaiah 1:18-20) To use modern slang term, He's offering them a deal. He says, "Here's what I will do for you. If you repent, I will accept your repentance. Though your sins are many, it will be as if you never sinned. I will impute My righteousness to you in return for your faith and repentance. I will also protect your nation from falling to an enemy nation. But if you continue to reject Me, I will allow calamity to occur. Which choice sounds better to you? You can have forgiveness and an abundant life in your own land or you can remain in sin---that can never satisfy you---or you can experience defeat and captivity. It's your choice."

The Lord makes the same merciful offer to every person on earth. We can repent, ask for forgiveness, and accept Him as our Lord and Savior. Or we can persist in rebellion, living a life on earth that doesn't satisfy the deepest longings of our souls, and spend eternity separated from His good and loving presence.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 2, Meaningless Offerings

In our second study session of the book of Isaiah the Lord talks about the condition of the heart. It doesn't matter how many good deeds we do or how many religious rituals we perform; if our hearts aren't in it, our works are meaningless.

The people of Isaiah's day are sin-sick. The Lord tries to reason with them, telling them that things don't have to be this way. If they will make their hearts right with Him, He will heal their land and protect them from their enemies. "Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted. From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness---only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with olive oil." (Isaiah 1:5-6) 

I believe the reference to wounds and sores is metaphorical---that it's intended to create a mental picture of how spiritually unwell they are---although it's possible they were falling prey to more physical illnesses than usual due to their participation in idolatrous practices. Heathen idolaters ate foods that were forbidden to the Jewish people (some of them even drank blood) and they engaged in fertility rituals that involved sexual immorality. As a result, parasite infestations and sexually transmitted diseases were rampant among the pagan people and were possibly contracted by many of the Jewish people who had adopted some heathen ways.

Isaiah's people wouldn't have to worry about contracting the health issues that are peculiar to the pagans if they will avoid those unclean practices. In addition, they wouldn't have to worry about raids perpetrated by their enemies. "Your country is desolate, your cities burned with fire; your fields are being stripped by foreigners right before you, laid waste as when overthrown by strangers. Daughter Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a cucumber field, like a city under siege." (Isaiah 1:7-8) 

During the years of Isaiah's ministry, Judah was attacked by several of her neighbors, including the northern kingdom of Israel. They were also attacked by Syria, Edom, Philistia, and Assyria. These invasions primarily occurred during the reign of King Ahaz of Judah, who was a wicked man, but Judah must have greatly feared Assyria for quite some time, especially after the northern kingdom of Israel fell to that nation. The Lord preserved Judah from Assyria because some good kings arose who instituted religious reforms in the land, but Judah eventually fell into so much idolatry that the Lord allowed it to be conquered by Babylon. He compares Judah, in the verses above, to temporary shelters that are set up in fields at harvest time. This demonstrates how precarious their position became due to their sin. 

The Lord will not make an end of the nation but will allow a remnant of the people to survive. Isaiah foresees this and says, "Unless the Lord Almighty had left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah." (Isaiah 1:9) The prophet realizes that it's only the Lord's mercy that keeps Him from making a complete end to the nation in the way that He made a complete end to Sodom and Gomorrah. 

Isaiah now compares the nation to Sodom and Gomorrah because the Lord would be justified in destroying Judah, for the people know His laws and commandments and call themselves by His name but are living like heathens. "Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah!" (Isaiah 1:10) This is a scathing indictment to be compared to the two cities whose names have become synonymous with sin. Even in today's world we sometimes hear an especially wicked region or situation referred to as Sodom and Gomorrah. I am sure Isaiah's people looked down upon the ancient people of Sodom and Gomorrah and did not think of their own sins as being equally (if not more) reprehensible. I think we can all probably agree that the sins of a person who knows the word of God are far less excusable than the sins of heathen people who know less about the Lord.

Here is what the Lord tells Isaiah to say to the people: "'The multitude of your sacrifices---what are they to Me?' says the Lord. 'I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before Me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of My courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings!'" (Hosea 1:11-13a) 

Although the Lord did prescribe certain offerings to be brought at particular times and for particular reasons, those offerings were to be brought with a sincere heart. Thank offerings, such as would be made from the crop harvest, were to be brought as acknowledgment that the Lord is the giver of all things and that they owe their prosperity to Him. Sin offerings, which required animal sacrifices, were to be brought in a repentant spirit, not as something done for show. The person was to come in a humble attitude, admitting he or she was a lawbreaker deserving of death but being grateful that the Lord mercifully allowed a stand-in to take their place. From what the Lord says in the verses above, we can conclude that the people were still bringing many offerings and sacrifices. They had not slacked off on going through the motions. But their heart wasn't in it and that's what made everything they did meaningless.

It's possible to get caught up in going through the motions and to lose the heart of our worship. It's possible to become so consumed with works that we stop spending time with the Lord. Time with Him should come first, not last. Then everything else will fall into its proper place.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 1, Rebellion Against The Lord

Today we begin the book of Isaiah, a prophet who lived in Jerusalem in the southern kingdom of Judah. He prophesied against both the southern kingdom of Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel, but primarily to Judah because the nation of Israel fell to Assyria during the years of his ministry. 

This book contains prophecies along with detailed descriptions of big events that took place during the years Isaiah served as a prophet. He served during the reigns of four kings of Judah. "The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah." (Isaiah 1:1)

The book opens on an accusatory note, with the Lord talking about how rebellious the people have been toward Him. He compares them to children who have been well-loved and well-raised but who have turned their backs on Him. The Lord calls upon the creation itself to witness His charges against the people. "Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth! For the Lord has spoken: 'I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against Me.'" (Isaiah 1:2) 

His charges are not unfounded. The blood of the innocent that has been shed on the earth cries out to Him, just as Abel's blood cried out to Him when Cain slew his brother. The people's unrighteous actions (their idolatry, their greed, their sexual immorality, their murders, their disenfranchisement of the poor and helpless) have been witnessed by the heavens above. 

The Lord compared those who have forsaken Him to ungrateful children who cast their parents aside. Next He goes a step further in His righteous indignation; He states that farm animals display more sense than they do. "The ox knows its master, the donkey its owner's manger, but Israel does not know, My people do not understand." (Isaiah 1:3) This is insulting indeed, but justified. Domestic animals know who their owners are. They know who feeds them and gives them shelter. They don't say to themselves, "I don't need him. I can take care of myself. I think I'll just strike out on my own and make my own way in the world." 

One of my neighbors has a small farm on which he keeps cows and goats. Those animals graze in the fields every day but when they hear his car coming up the road after work, they gather near the trough where he puts their grain feed out every evening. Or they gather where he places a new large round hay bale every few days. They know when the hay bale starts running out that he will supply them with a new one. They don't pack their bags and leave town, thinking they will find more fun and prosperity somewhere out in the world; they remain close to home where they know their owner will give them food, water, medical care, and shelter. How foolish it would be of them to run away, and yet that's what the Lord says the people of Isaiah's day have done! They have forsaken Him, who supplies all their needs, and have decided to do their own thing and serve other gods---gods who have provided no proof of their existence. No one has ever spoken to or helped the people except the Lord because no other god exists.

This is why their sin is so great. It's not as if the Lord never gave them the proof of His existence. It's not as if the Lord never performed signs and wonders among them. It's not as if He didn't rescue them from Egypt, drive the heathen nations out of Canaan, and plant them in their place to make a great nation of them. It's not as if He hasn't supplied their needs in a land of plenty. Yet they said, "We will not serve You!" So He confronts them with their enormous guilt, "Woe to the sinful nation, a people whose guilt is great, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on Him." (Isaiah 1:4)

The Lord would be justified in allowing any nation to fall that does not acknowledge that He has been the source of their prosperity and protection. The USA has enjoyed a great deal of prosperity and protection since its founding, but if more and more people continue to forsake the Lord, He certainly is not obliged to continue protecting us from our enemies. Our nation could fall just as the southern kingdom of Judah fell. Our nation could fall just as the northern kingdom of Israel fell. We are not immune from destruction just because we have been very powerful for a very long time. It is not our own strength that has made us powerful, but God's strength. We have long been a nation with a large population of Jewish and Christian people who acknowledge the Lord, but fewer and fewer people these days claim to be religious at all. We must take the lessons of the Bible to heart and pray for the tide to turn back in the right direction, spiritually speaking, so that souls will be saved and our country can continue to enjoy the blessings of the Lord. 

The Book Of Hosea. Day 41, Conclusion Of The Book Of Hosea And A Personal Testimony

We are concluding the book of Hosea today with the remaining two verses and a personal word of testimony about something the Lord revealed to me during this study. 

Chapter 14 contains a message of hope for the future. The Lord has been warning the people that if they do not repent of idolatry and turn away from it, their nation will be conquered and their people scattered. We know from our study of the kings that they did not heed these warnings and that the nation of Assyria conquered them and deported all but the poorest of citizens to other territories. But we also know that the nation of Israel is in existence today and that in ancient times many from the northern kingdom of Israel returned from where they had been dispersed and that many from the southern kingdom of Judah returned from their captivity in Babylon. Many more have returned in the centuries since then. The Lord foretells a coming defeat but He also foretells a coming victory. Some of the beautiful promises concerning Israel have already been fulfilled, at least in part, and some will find their full fulfillment when the Lord comes to reign over the earth.

As we finish our study of the book of Hosea we find the Lord reminding the people that He alone is their provider and protector. No idol has ever done anything for them. Idols have done nothing but harm them. That is all an idol can do: harm us. That is its intention because, although no god but the Lord exists, there is a Satanic influence behind the practice of idolatry. This is why the Apostle Paul warned believers not to eat or drink at a feast where a portion of the food and drink had been offered to an idol. Although the gods represented by the idols are not real, there is a force behind idolatry that is very much real, and it is evil. Paul said, "Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons." (1 Corinthians 10:19-20) The pagans who made offerings to idols thought they were making offerings to gods and not to demons but there is a demonic force behind idolatry, for Satan wants to be worshiped in place of God and if he cannot be worshiped as himself then he wants to entice people to worship a substitute for God. 

The Lord says to the people of the northern kingdom of Israel, "Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols?" (Hosea 14:8a) In other words, what fellowship does the Lord have with idols? None, and the people should have no fellowship with idols either. Or as the Apostle Paul phrased it, "What do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?" (2 Corinthians 6:14b-16a) It is the Lord to whom Israel must look---and only to Him. He says, "I will answer him and care for him. I am like a flourishing juniper; your fruitfulness comes from Me. Who is wise? Let him realize these things. Who is discerning? Let them understand. The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them." (Hosea 14:8b-9)

I would like to close our study of the book of Hosea on a personal note because during this study the Lord revealed to me that I had an idol in my own life. We have a tendency to think of an idol as something enjoyable, as something that provides us with a rewarding experience even though it's a sinful experience. Examples of that might be a sexual affair, or an addiction to pornography, or an obsession with a relationship that's bad for us, or putting ambitions ahead of God, or being greedy and focusing on money all the time. Another thing we have a tendency to consider as an idol might be an addiction or bad habit, such as drinking too much or doing drugs. I had never realized that something that gives us unpleasant experiences could become an idol in our lives but the Lord revealed to me that I had made an idol of something that causes me quite a bit of distress.

I have made worry/fear/anxiety into an idol. In my family there is a genetic component to it (OCD and panic/anxiety disorders run in my family and I first had to see a doctor due to OCD and panic attacks when I was only twelve years old), but in my case there's a huge habitual component to it as well. The Lord pointed out to me that I spend far more time obsessing over my cares and concerns than I do in thinking about Him, meditating on His trustworthy words, or praying. He's right! He's right and I've had to acknowledge this thought pattern as an idol in my life, repent of it, and ask Him to help me tear down this sinful altar. I have spent untold hours of my life bowing at the altar of worry when I should have been bowing at the feet of my Lord. I could have had so much more peace if only I'd been consistent in taking every thought captive to Christ, as we are commanded to do in 2 Corinthians 10:5. I could have enjoyed my life so much more if I'd obeyed these words: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." (Philippians 4:6) 

Instead of turning a problem over and over in my mind, which makes it seem larger and larger, I need to go to the Lord with it. I need to thank Him for all the problems He's solved for me in the past, for such thoughts strengthen my faith and confidence in Him, and I need to lay my current problems at His feet and turn my worried thoughts over to Him. Would He have told us to take our thoughts captive to Christ if He isn't going to give us the power to do so? No. We can go to Him and thank Him for His power and protection on our behalf, tell Him we are turning these troubles over to Him because we can't solve these problems ourselves anyway, and trust Him to do what is best and right about our troubles.

I've served at the altar of fear long enough. This idol has not benefited me. It can't! It has only harmed me. The Lord never intended us to bear such burdens, which is why the Bible says, "Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens." (Psalm 68:19) These burdens are meant for His shoulders alone and we must hand them over to Him. He will bear for us each day what needs to be borne, which is why the Lord Jesus Christ said, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow." (Matthew 6:34a) The Lord will bear our burdens today. When we arrive at tomorrow, He will bear those burdens too. He will bear every burden of every day of our lives if we will let Him.

I'm not saying that I've already overcome the habit of obsessing over problems and making myself anxious. I will be fifty-four years old in a couple of months and that means there are many years of conditioning to undo. But I believe that with the Lord's help my thoughts can be retrained to follow more positive patterns. And speaking of positive patterns, we will close with the Apostle Paul's pattern for positive thinking. Instead of obsessing about our cares and concerns, we are to fix our thoughts on what is true (and the only certain truth is the word of God) and on things capable of uplifting our hearts. "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable---if anything is excellent or praiseworthy---think about such things." (Philippians 4:8)

The Book Of Hosea. Day 40, Healing Of Waywardness

We are in the final chapter of the book of Hosea and the book ends with words of hope. We will be taking two days to complete this chapter.

First we are going to back up and reread the text we concluded with yesterday. This is a call to repentance. "Return, Israel, to the Lord your God. Your sins have been your downfall! Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to Him: 'Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips.'" (Hosea 14:1-2) They must be sorry for sinning against the Lord. They must confess their sins to the Lord. They must ask the Lord to forgive them.

True repentance means feeling sorry for having transgressed the Lord's laws. It means admitting that He is right and that the person is wrong. A person can be an atheist and feel guilty for having done something that goes against a moral or societal principle but this is not the type of repentance the Lord is talking about here. He is talking about the type of repentance that acknowledges that He exists, that He is holy, that man is sinful, and that man needs His mercy and forgiveness. As the Apostle Paul said, "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death." (2 Corinthians 7:10) Worldly sorrow is what we might refer to as a guilty conscience. Unbelievers can have guilty consciences; they can feel sorry for having gone against their own moral code or for having gone against the laws of society. A person should feel guilty for having done something wrong but that type of sorrow doesn't save a person. Acknowledging that they have transgressed the laws of a holy God is the type of sorrow "that leads to salvation", as the Apostle Paul said. That's what the Lord is calling upon the people of Israel to do in today's text.

The people must admit that no one but the God they've offended can help them. They are to say, "Assyria cannot save us; we will not mount warhorses. We will never again say 'Our gods' to what our own hands have made, for in You the fatherless find compassion." (Hosea 14:3) They must not trust in alliances with other nations, such as Assyria or Egypt (the reference to horses is believed to be a reference to Egypt, since that is where they obtained their horses). They must not trust in idols. A god that can be accurately represented by an image made by human hands is not a god worthy of worship, even assuming such a god exists. The Lord is indescribably powerful and holy in ways no human mind can fathom and in ways no human hands can reproduce. 

When the people repent, the Lord will accept their repentance. He will extend mercy to them and help them to remain faithful to Him. They will not live perfect lives (no one who lives in frail mortal flesh can live a perfect life) but they will stop wandering away from Him into idolatry. "I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for My anger has turned away from them." (Hosea 14:4) We can't heal our own waywardness. In fact, the impulse to repent to the Lord in the first place is instigated by the Holy Spirit and not by our carnal flesh. And then, even after we have admitted our sins to Him, we are incapable of pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps and staying on the path of godliness. We cannot do it without the Lord's help. The Lord---the Great Physician---does the work of healing us of our waywardness. Hosea's people did not repent of their idolatry, which would have prevented them from being conquered by Assyria, but after their defeat and captivity we do not find the people of the kingdom of Israel (or the people of the kingdom of Judah, who were conquered by Babylon) worshiping heathen gods again. They still made mistakes after renouncing their idols, of course, because all people make mistakes. But they didn't forsake the Lord for idols again.

Because they are going to forsake idolatry in time, the Lord makes this beautiful promise to them: "I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots; his young shoots will grow. His splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon. People will dwell again in his shade; they will flourish like the grain, they will blossom like the vine---Israel's fame will be like the wine of Lebanon." (Hosea 14:5-7) The Lord promises not only blessings to Israel, but blessings to others through Israel. All the world will see how He has blessed the nation whose God is the Lord (Psalm 33:12) and many will be drawn to Him as Lord because of His kindness toward the nation of Israel.

 

The Book Of Hosea. Day 39, Destroying Death

In the midst of a passage about defeat and capture and deportation and death, the Lord includes a word of hope: the surviving people will return from where they have been scattered and eventually the Lord will destroy death itself.

He says, "I will deliver this people from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction?" (Hosea 13:14) Many scholars interpret this as a twofold prophecy. The ancient northern kingdom of Israel will be conquered by the Assyrian Empire and the majority of its citizens, who survive the war, will be taken captive and removed from the land; in this sense the deliverance from "the grave" and "death" may represent the Lord's intention to allow them to return to the land. In a future sense, this verse represents the literal resurrection of the dead, for the Apostle Paul quoted (and paraphrased somewhat) this verse from the book of Hosea as a promise to believers who would be raised from the dead never to die again. "When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: 'Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?'" (1 Corinthians 15:54-55) 

We know from our previous studies of the book of Revelation that all the dead will rise from the grave at the end of time as we know it; believers will spend eternity in the Lord's presence and those who have rejected Him will spend eternity separated from His presence. But Paul was speaking to those who had accepted the Lord as their Savior. And for anyone who has made Him the Lord of their lives, death has no victory or power over them. Believers will rise in a perfect, immortal body like that of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

But the promise of a return to the land and the promise of an end to death are still in the future here in the book of Hosea. The people have so far refused to repent of idolatry and will continue to refuse to repent until they are conquered by the enemy. The Assyrian army was known for its callous treatment of prisoners and for its lack of compassion on women, children, the elderly, and the infirm. Because it is the Lord who is going to allow Assyria to perpetuate cruelty upon the nation that has rejected Him, He speaks of the deeds of the Assyrians as though it is He Himself who is carrying out these acts because He is allowing these things to take place as judgment for sin. If the people had remained faithful to Him, He promised them long ago that no enemy could prevail against them, but He also warned them long ago that they would be conquered if they turned away from Him. He warns, "I will have no compassion, even though he thrives against his brothers. An east wind from the Lord will come, blowing in from the desert; his spring will fail and his well dry up. His storehouse will be plundered of all its treasures. The people of Samaria must bear their guilt, because they have rebelled against their God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to the ground, their pregnant women ripped open." (Hosea 13:15-16)

The segment above ends on a very graphic note. The behavior mentioned there is the type of behavior heathen soldiers typically engaged in when attacking another nation. The Lord's references to "he" is a reference to Ephraim, the name by which He has been calling the entire northern kingdom of Israel in our current chapter. His reference to Samaria, the capital city of the northern kingdom, is likely due to the way the Assyrians will attack that city in particular since it is the seat of government. It is also probably the most idolatrous city of the nation since the primary golden calf site, where the king and the royal officials took sacrifices and offerings, was located very close to Samaria at Bethel.

These things do not have to happen, not if the people will repent. "Return, Israel, to the Lord your God. Your sins have been your downfall! Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to Him: 'Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips.'" (Hosea 14:1-2) I think some people may have repented at the preaching of Hosea or at the preaching of the other prophets and I hope the lives of those were spared, but the majority of the people scoffed at the warnings of the prophets. Earlier in the book of Hosea we learned that they rejected his message and called him a madman. But to those few who may have repented and made God the Lord of their lives, we know they have the promise of an eternal life with Him, regardless of how things may have turned out for them here on earth. 

The Book Of Hosea. Day 38, Rejecting The True King

The Lord had always intended for Israel to recognize Him as king. But He predicted in Deuteronomy 17:14 that after they had settled in the promised land and were prospering, they would desire a human king like the other nations had. Rather than being very different from other nations, they would want to become more like them, and in 1 Samuel 8 the Lord's prediction came true when the elders of Israel went to Samuel the prophet and demanded that a king be appointed over them. Samuel was very distressed and cried out to the Lord about this but the Lord said to do as they asked, although it was a rejection of Himself as king.

Even with a human king over them, the people were meant to recognize God as their Lord and as the supreme authority above all others. But they did not; indeed, it was the kings of the northern kingdom who led them terribly astray. So now the Lord says, "Where is your king, that he may save you? Where are your rulers in all your towns, of whom you said, 'Give me a king and princes'? So in My anger I gave you a king, and in My wrath I took him away." (Hosea 13:10-11)

Most scholars believe that the Lord is speaking of King Saul, Israel's first king, when He says He gave and took away a king. When the Lord predicted that someday the people would demand a king, He never said He wouldn't grant their wish, but He did say that the king must be "a king the Lord your God chooses". (Deuteronomy 17:15a) Instead the people chose a king based on outward appearances: Saul was the tallest, handsomest man in the entire nation. He looked like what they thought a king ought to look like. He wasn't as tall and formidable as some of the kings and soldiers of other nations (several of them were of gigantic stature) but he would certainly look impressive riding out ahead of his army. And He did do some good things militarily for Israel; as the Lord said, he would "deliver them from the hand of the Philistines". (1 Samuel 8:6b) Saul had a great deal of heart for his nation but he didn't have much of a heart for the Lord. He sinned against Him time and time again, resulting in the Lord rejecting him as king. A number of years before the Lord allowed Saul to fall in battle, He ordered Samuel to anoint David as the next king. So this is why the Lord says of Saul, "In My wrath I took him away." 

The sins of the northern kingdom have reached a tipping point. Like a pregnant woman whose time has come to give birth, the sins of the nation have come full term. "The guilt of Ephraim is stored up, his sins are kept on record. Pains as of a woman in childbirth come to him, but he is a child without wisdom; when the time arrives, he doesn't have the sense to come out of the womb." (Hosea 13:12-13) This is a double metaphor in that Ephraim (Israel) is the woman in labor but is also an infant that will not emerge. The Lord has said before that the nation has brought forth nothing but wind; in other words, has produced nothing of benefit. So here we see the nation laboring but laboring in vain, for idolatry can produce nothing of value. No blessed event is occurring here, as one would expect at the end of labor. In rejecting the Lord as king of their hearts, the people have rejected the One who gives any meaning to life.

The Book Of Hosea. Day 37, Real Help Rejected

The Lord, Israel's only helper, has been repeatedly rejected by Hosea's day by a majority of the people of the northern kingdom while they serve foreign gods and participate in even the most abominable of pagan practices.

The nation began in a glorious way while the people still served the Lord. No nation on earth could stand against them while they were faithful to the Lord. But their coming national downfall is a direct result of their spiritual downfall. "When Ephraim spoke, people trembled; he was exalted in Israel. But he became guilty of Baal worship and died." (Hosea 13:1) 

Hosea's ministry began during the most prosperous era of the northern kingdom---the reign of Jeroboam II---but the people's hearts could scarcely have been more destitute. As the Lord Jesus says to the church at Laodicea of the Apostle John's day (this church also represents the final age of the church, during the last days): "You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked." (Revelation 3:17) The same thing can be said of the people in Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II. Their military and economy are strong but their spirits are languishing due to having forsaken the Lord. Outwardly they are prosperous but spiritually they are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.

The northern kingdom's first king, Jeroboam I, introduced the two golden calf sites as centers of worship so his subjects would not travel into the southern kingdom of Judah to worship at the temple. He presented these calves as symbols of the Lord, not as symbols of some other deity, but the Lord had expressly forbidden fashioning any image to represent Him. This sin set them on a slippery slope to full scale idolatry because anything fashioned to represent the Lord diminishes Him in human eyes. The images intended to symbolize Him were much like the images intended to represent heathen gods; soon the people began to believe He was just one of many gods and that they could choose to worship Him or a deity of the other nations---or they believed they could worship Him along with those deities. They began heaping sin upon sin upon sin. "Now they sin more and more; they make idols for themselves from their silver, cleverly fashioned images, all of them the work of craftsmen. It is said of these people, 'They offer human sacrifices! They kiss calf-idols!'" (Hosea 13:2) Eventually they began committing the most heinous religious practice of all: sacrificing their own children to that abominable heathen god Molek. 

Because of their sins, the Lord is going to allow them to be swept out of their nation just as He swept their heathen predecessors from the land. "Therefore they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears, like chaff swirling from the threshing floor, like smoke escaping from a window." (Hosea 13:3)

If the people had not turned from the Lord, they could have enjoyed all the blessings He promised them for obedience. Deuteronomy 28 contains a list of all the blessings that would have been theirs, perpetually, if they had remained faithful to Him. But they have not remained faithful to Him, even though He reminds them that He is the one and only God. No one else has ever done anything for them. No heathen deity ever spoke to them, ever rescued them from Egypt, ever planted them in the promised land, or ever made a covenant with them. "But I have been the Lord your God ever since you came out of Egypt. You shall acknowledge no God but Me, no Savior except Me. I cared for you in the wilderness, in the land of burning heat." (Hosea 13:4-5) No other god ever supplied their needs; there is no other god. Yet the more the Lord blessed them, the more they forsook Him. They began to trust in their own wealth and might, and in the help of heathen allies, rather than in the Lord who made them into a nation in the first place. "When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot Me." (Hosea 13:6)

Because they have forgotten the Lord, the curses of Deuteronomy 28 will fall upon them instead of the blessings. "So I will be like a lion to them, like a leopard I will lurk by the path. Like a bear robbed of her cubs, I will attack them and rip them open; like a lion I will devour them---a wild animal will tear them apart." (Hosea 13:7-8) We can be the friend of God or we can make ourselves the enemy of God. We have been given free will to make such a choice but we have to accept the consequences of our choice. We can love and serve the Lord who loves us or we can spurn His love and help, heaping sin upon sin and causing harm to ourselves and to those around us. The Lord is righteous and must judge sin. He would not be holy and worthy of our worship if He did not judge sin. 

If only the people had not rejected His help! They could have had this: "The Lord will establish you as His holy people, as He promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in obedience to Him. Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you." (Deuteronomy 28:9-10) But they rejected their one true source of help, as He says: "You are destroyed, Israel, because you are against Me, against your helper." (Hosea 13:9) The people could have enjoyed the blessings of fellowship with the Lord and they could have influenced people of other nations to convert to the Lord when those nations saw how the Lord protected and provided for Israel. Instead they've behaved just like those pagan nations and the Lord, for the sake of His holy name, cannot let them get away with it. Who would be drawn to Him if the people called by His name behave just like people who don't even acknowledge Him? 

The same can be said of us today as Christians; if we behave like unbelievers, who will be drawn to Christ by observing our character? How can we testify about Christ if we don't set an example for godly living? If we don't appear to love our fellow man, why should they believe Christ (whom we claim to serve) loves them? If we don't have any joy in our hearts, why would a depressed or discouraged person think we have any useful spiritual advice for them? If we are committing the same sins as unbelievers, and yet claim to be saved, they can look at us and say, "They're no better than I am! Some of them do even worse things than I'm doing. And yet they tell me I need to go to church? It hasn't done them any good, from what I can see." 

Calling ourselves Christians but living like unbelievers gives unbelievers an opportunity to blaspheme the Lord's name and to ridicule the church. In this same way, the people of ancient Israel were still calling themselves by the name of the Lord but living like heathens. This made heathen people bold enough to blaspheme His name and ridicule Him, which is something they wouldn't have done in times past when they feared Israel's God. They feared Israel's God because He drove the tribes of Canaan out and planted Israel in their place and then defended Israel time and time again from armies too big for them to fight without supernatural help. The Lord will defend His honor, not only for His own sake but for the sake of those who will believe on Him when He defends His honor. If He does not discipline the Israelites for their sin, many people will conclude that He is not righteous at all or they will conclude that He doesn't exist at all.

The Book Of Hosea. Day 36, Remembering Where We Came From

Yesterday's text concluded with the Lord reminding the people that He is the only deity who ever spoke to them. He is the only one who called them out of Egypt, performed many signs and wonders and miracles for them, brought them into the promised land and made them into a great nation, and gave them His laws and commandments. Yet they forsook Him for the false gods of the heathen nations. Their cities are now filled with idols and with a multitude of sins.

"Is Gilead wicked? Its people are worthless! Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal? Their altars will be like piles of stones in a plowed field." (Hosea 12:11) By Hosea's day the region of Gilead had already been subjugated by Assyria. Gilgal will soon share the same fate because its people are just as sinful as the people of Gilead. The altars where they've spent so much time making useless sacrifices to non-existent gods will become as useless as the stones a farmer removes from land he intends to cultivate. The stones will end up in a heap, out of the way like a pile of garbage.

The people have forgotten how far the Lord has brought them. Their forefather Jacob (later renamed "Israel" by the Lord) was a man of little means when he fled his home in fear that his brother Esau would kill him. He had to submit to his future father-in-law for seven years, tending the man's sheep and obeying his every instruction, in order to obtain the hand of Rachel in marriage. Even then he was tricked, because Rachel's father substituted Leah instead and forced Jacob to work seven more years, during which time he was dishonest with him in various ways. Yet the Lord blessed Jacob and made a great nation out of Jacob's descendants---the Lord, not some other god!---and in the text below He reminds them that He alone is responsible for bringing them out of slavery in Egypt and for settling them in a bountiful land. 

"Jacob fled to the country of Aram; Israel served to get a wife, and to pay for her he tended sheep. The Lord used a prophet to bring Israel up from Egypt, by a prophet He cared for him. But Ephraim has aroused His bitter anger; his Lord will leave on him the guilt of his bloodshed and will repay him for his contempt." (Hosea 12:12-14)

It behooves us to take time on a regular basis to reflect on everything the Lord has done for us and to be thankful. The people of Hosea's day had become ungrateful. They had stopped giving the Lord the glory for their nation and for its prosperity and had begun to serve idols that had never lifted a finger to help them. The gods of the nations couldn't lift a finger to help them because they weren't real. Only the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had ever done anything for them because He is the one and only God. The apostasy of the people of Hosea's day could be compared to you and I becoming ungrateful for the Lord saving us from our sins, for providing our needs in this world, and for coming through for us time and time again when we have a problem. Their apostasy as bad as if you and I decided to renounce the Lord to serve something or someone else. The idols of our day may not be graven images but instead usually take the form of putting someone or something else ahead of God.

I'm not saying that the Lord doesn't intend for us to enjoy wholesome pursuits in this life. The Lord, like any good father, enjoys seeing His children enjoying their blessings. Many things aren't sinful in themselves but human beings have a tendency to find some way to make an idol out of almost anything. We can idolize our careers, our romantic partner, our children, our hobbies, our financial dealings, our bad habits, or something else to the point that those things are given the place of preeminence in our hearts that is intended only for God. I truly believe that thinking on the Lord every day, and maintaining a grateful spirit and giving thanks to Him, will go a long way toward helping us not to give anything or anyone precedence over our God.

The Book Of Hosea. Day 35, Don't Trust In Wealth

In today's portion of the book of Hosea we find the Lord accusing many of the people of having become wealthy through dishonest means. Even if they had gained their wealth through honest means, wealth would be no barrier against judgment for their sins of idolatry. The Bible doesn't condemn being wealthy if a person made their money with honest hard work, but the Bible does say, "Though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them." (Psalm 62:10b) Our trust is to be in the Lord; wealth may come and wealth may go. The only thing we possess in this life that we cannot lose is our relationship with the Lord. That is to be our main priority.

In addition to warning us not to set our hearts on wealth, the same verse of the Bible says, "Do not trust in extortion or put vain hope in stolen goods." (Psalm 62:10a) Yet committing extortion and fraud and theft is exactly what the people have done, according to our text from Hosea. "The merchant uses dishonest scales and loves to defraud. Ephraim boasts, 'I am very rich; I have become wealthy. With all my wealth they will not find in me any iniquity or sin.'" (Hosea 12:7-8)

The Lord cannot be bribed like a human judge. We've already learned in our study of the prophets that wealthy people were buying the verdicts they wanted in court. The poor were being disenfranchised because their oppressors were able to pay dishonest judges to rule in their favor. But the Lord doesn't judge according to a person's wealth or status; He judges according to righteousness. The people may think their wealth protects them but the Lord cannot be bought off. 

He says, "I have been the Lord your God ever since you came out of Egypt; I will make you live in tents again, as in the days of your appointed festivals. I spoke to the prophets, gave them many visions and told parables through them." (Hosea 12:9-10) Displacement is coming. There are many fine homes in Israel in Hosea's day. The economy is booming during the reign of Jeroboam II, who was king around the time Hosea first began prophesying to the nation. The military is strong. Some of the land previously taken from Israel by enemy nations was regained by Jeroboam, so the nation is comprised of more territory than it has been for decades. But all this will be lost because the people have placed their trust in all the wrong things: in false gods, in wealth, in the army, in the economy, in the king. They have forsaken the Lord who brought them out of Egypt and made them into a nation in the first place. 

The Lord has given them many opportunities to turn this situation around. He sent the prophets to confront them with their sins, to warn them to turn away from their sins, and to tell them what will happen if they do not repent. But all these warnings have been ignored. If the warnings continue to be ignored, the enemy is going to pour into the nation like a flood and sweep them away.

The Book Of Hosea. Day 34, Be Like Jacob

As we conclude Chapter 11 and begin Chapter 12 the Lord speaks of the futile pursuits of the people. They have pursued the wrong things and have nothing---nothing spiritual and lasting---to show for it. He urges them to follow the example of their forefather Jacob who gave up the deceitfulness of his early life (gave up depending upon worldly means) and sought a relationship with the Lord. 

"Ephraim has surrounded Me with lies, Israel with deceit. And Judah is unruly against God, even against the faithful Holy One." (Hosea 11:12) Hosea was a prophet to the northern kingdom of Israel but there were those in the southern kingdom of Judah whose hearts weren't right with the Lord either. It took the southern kingdom longer to fall deeply into idolatry, for the people there had the temple and the priests in their midst, plus they had several godly kings whose upright behavior encouraged spiritual revivals. But there is a restlessness under the surface in Judah; indeed, the word translated here as "unruly" means "to wander restlessly, to roam, to tramp about". Some scholars also interpret this word to mean "to wrestle, to contend with". Since Chapter 12 contains a reference to how Jacob wrestled with the Lord at Bethel, this is a valid interpretation because it depicts a struggle between the flesh and the spirit. The people of Judah still have a heart for the Lord but at the same time they long for carnal things and have a wandering eye, so to speak, where idolatry is concerned.

We now begin Chapter 12 with the Lord comparing the futility of idols (and the futility of trusting heathen nations) with the futility of swallowing air instead of food. "Ephraim feeds on the wind; he pursues the east wind all day and multiplies lies and violence. He makes a treaty with Assyria and sends olive oil to Egypt." (Hosea 12:1) Swallowing wind will not satisfy a hungry tummy. If anything, it will make a person more uncomfortable. Likewise, worshiping idols will bring no satisfaction. Allying themselves with heathen, untrustworthy nations will bring them no help. Assyria oppressed and eventually conquered the nation and Israel's alliance with Egypt against Assyria failed, for Pharaoh's army was not powerful enough to defeat the Assyrian forces and he ended up paying tribute to Assyria himself.

Judah will fall into the same trap of idolatry and unwise alliances as Israel, in time. "The Lord has a charge to bring against Judah; He will punish Jacob according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds." (Hosea 12:2) Jacob was a deceiver, a double-crosser. A large number of the people of the southern kingdom will honor the Lord with their lips while their hearts are far from Him, as He will say later on through the prophet Isaiah. They will be smooth talkers, like Jacob who tricked his brother into giving up the birthright and who tricked his father into giving him the blessing of the firstborn.

The Lord compares Jacob's character (in his early life) to the character of the people of Judah. "In the womb he grasped his brother's heel; as a man he struggled with God. He struggled with the angel and overcame him; he wept and begged for his favor. He found Him at Bethel and talked with Him there---the Lord Almighty, the Lord is His name! But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always." (Hosea 12:3-6) 

In the book of Genesis, when Jacob wrestled with the angel of the Lord, he did not defeat the angel. Hosea says Jacob "overcame him" and the word translated as "overcame" means "to endure, to attain, to gain strength, to achieve victory", but the victory Jacob attained in his struggle with the angel was his surrender to the Lord. He clung to the angel, weeping, saying, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." (Genesis 32:26b) Jacob recognized that the things he obtained by human craftiness would never satisfy him at his soul. He knew he needed a relationship with the one true God and the blessings of the one true God in order to have real victory. The Lord is urging the people of the nation to win by surrendering. He's telling them to stop being doubleminded, to stop depending on their own smarts and their own strength, to stop calling upon heathen nations to help, to stop bowing to false gods for help, and to follow Jacob's example by clinging to Him---to Him alone!---and by crying out with tears, "I will not let You go unless You bless me!" 

The Book Of Hosea. Day 33, Resettling

The Lord has been talking about how He called Israel out of Egypt, referring to Israel as His child. He talked about how He had taken care of and raised Israel as a father raises a child, yet the people turned away from Him when they were grown, so to speak. He has vowed to bring judgment for the people's idolatry and, although the judgment could very justly be as harsh as that which He poured out on exceedingly sinful cities such as Sodom and Gomorrah, we learned in our last study session that His heart is too moved with compassion to destroy the nation. 

He is going to allow the Assyrian Empire to conquer Israel and take the majority of the citizens captive to other lands but in time the Neo-Babylonian Empire will conquer Assyria and then the Medo-Persian Empire will conquer the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Cyrus the Great of Persia will issue an edict allowing all the captives to return home if they wish. That is what is being spoken of in today's passage.

The Lord says, "'They will follow the Lord; He will roar like a lion. When He roars, His children will come trembling from the west. They will come from Egypt, trembling like sparrows, from Assyria, fluttering like doves. I will settle them in their homes,' declares the Lord." (Hosea 11:10-11) 

Many scholars believe that quite a few people from the northern kingdom of Israel fled to Egypt for refuge when it began looking like invasion from Assyria was unavoidable. When Cyrus issues the decree to allow the captive people in Babylon to go free, many will go home from there and many will also go home from Egypt.

I love the way the Lord depicts Israel following after Him like a little child toddling after its father. He has been using the analogy of Himself as a parent to Israel. He said earlier in Chapter 11 that He "taught Israel to walk" and that He took them by the arms as a father holds the arms of a child that is learning to stand and to take its first steps. He said He drew them with cords of love, which is a reference to the way a parent or nursemaid would hold or tie one end of a cord to themselves and place the other end in the child's hands, thus giving the child something to hold onto while it follows them around the room. That would be the next step after the child learned to stand and walk a little without its arms being held. But by the time Israel should have been able to stand firmly in faith, the people backslid. They stumbled due to the introduction of the calf-idols at Bethel and at Dan. This led to them falling deeply into the sin of idolatry, which led to them committing many other sins as they failed to maintain fellowship with the Lord and as they eschewed the reading of His word and the meditation upon His word. 

A stumble doesn't have to lead to a terrible fall but it can if we don't reach up for the Lord's hand---the hand He is extending to us---to be helped back onto our feet. If we don't correct the problem right away, we tend to stumble more and more until we've fallen headlong into a sin we could never have imagined ourselves committing. I speak from experience because it's happened to me. I didn't go from zero to one hundred in a split second; most of us don't. It was a gradual decline. It was a failure to correct small stumblings before they turned into a shocking fall. I found myself in a situation in which I never could have pictured myself. If somebody had ever told me I'd commit that particular sin, I'd have though they were crazy. I'd be willing to state that the Israelites never foresaw themselves falling into idolatry, and it didn't happen overnight, but it was a more gradual decline. The Lord gave them opportunities for several hundred years to correct their stumblings, sending them prophet after prophet to confront them with their sins, but most of them ignored His warnings. Now, like any good father, He must take corrective action. But also, like any good father, His corrective action is not intended to destroy the child. He will restore the nation of Israel and He will make it possible for the people to return there.

The Book Of Hosea. Day 32, God's Compassion On The Nation

The Lord continues to state His intention to discipline the northern kingdom for their idolatry (and the lawlessness which ensued from their idolatry) but He also states that He feels compassion for the people. He will not make an end of the tribes of the northern kingdom, though He could do so in righteousness as judgment for sin, but will spare a remnant who will return to the land. 

One thing I think it's important to keep in mind is that the penalty for sin---any sin---is death. (Romans 6:23) We have all sinned against God and, as a result, we must all face death with the exception of those believers who are still alive when Christ calls the church out of the world. Death is the penalty for sin. But because the Lord has compassion on us, He extends forgiveness and mercy toward us because He does not want to destroy us. He has been extending forgiveness and mercy toward the northern kingdom for many decades by the time Hosea is called to be a prophet to Israel, yet the majority of the people have not accepted His invitation to repent. We must repent in order to receive forgiveness but the people have clung to their wicked ways instead. 

Because of this, the Lord says, "A sword will flash in their cities; it will devour their false prophets and put an end to their plans. My people are determined to turn away from Me. Even though they call Me 'God Most High' I will by no means exalt them." (Hosea 11:6-7) They kept making a conscious decision to disobey Him. A number of them are still giving lip-service to Him, referring to Him as "God Most High", but they don't exalt Him in their hearts and He will not exalt (honor or reward) them for merely going through the motions of worshiping Him.

This next statement is a cry from the Lord's heart. It pains Him deeply to discipline Israel. We can almost hear the anguish in His voice when He says, "How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboyim?" (Hosea 11:8a) 

These two cities were mentioned in Deuteronomy 29 when the Lord warned the people that if they turned away from their covenant with Him, Israel would end up like the heathen cities He had destroyed. "It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim, which the Lord overthrew in fierce anger. All the nations will ask: 'Why has the Lord done this to this land? Why this fierce, burning anger?' And the answer will be: 'It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the covenant He made with them when He brought them out of Egypt.'" (Deuteronomy 29:23b-25) 

The cities of Admah and Zeboyim must have been very wicked indeed, considering they are mentioned in the same verse as Sodom and Gomorrah, and this tells us that the Lord considers Israel's breaking of the covenant to be every bit as wicked (if not more so, because the Israelites knew the Lord in a personal way in which the heathens did not know Him) as the deeds of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim. 

The Lord vowed to utterly destroy the land if the people turned to the idols of the pagan nations, and yet His compassion is stronger than His anger. He will allow the nation to be conquered by the Assyrian Empire, as we already learned in our study of the kings. He will allow the majority of the people to be taken captive and deported to other lands, which we also learned in our study of the kings. But He will not rain down fire and brimstone on the land. He will not allow every person from every tribe of the northern kingdom to perish. He will preserve a remnant from each of the ten northern tribes. Although He has the right to carry out the same judgment He carried out on Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboyim, He will not. The people have not kept their side of the covenant but the Lord cannot bring Himself to completely reject them. He refuses to be ruled by anger, unlike humans who often give themselves completely over to that emotion and end up going too far, doing things they regret later but cannot take back. So He says, "My heart is changed within Me; all My compassion is aroused. I will not carry out My fierce anger, nor will I devastate Ephraim again. For I am God, and not a man---the Holy One among you. I will not come against their cities." (Hosea 11:8b-9) 

Have you ever said or done something in anger that you wished you could take back after your temper had cooled off? I know I have. There are times when we experience what could be called "righteous indignation", when we truly have been terribly wronged and have a right to be upset about it. But even when we have a right to feel upset we often handle it poorly. And then there are times when our anger is out of proportion to what has actually happened; we react too strongly because the thing that finally sets us off is something that's happened on top of several other frustrating things that already happened during the day. As human beings, we sometimes allow our emotions to get the better of us and we end up doing or saying things we wouldn't have done or said if we'd taken more time to think before reacting to our circumstances. The Lord, thankfully, doesn't operate that way. He's never going to become enraged and go too far. He's never going to take an action He'll regret later. The Lord, unlike us, is incapable of losing control in anger and doing the wrong thing. He is going to allow hardship to come to the northern kingdom but it's going to be a controlled form of hardship because He is God, not a weak and sinful human being.

The Book Of Hosea. Day 31, God As A Father To Israel

Today we will be concluding Chapter 10 and beginning Chapter 11.

As we closed our last study session we found the Lord imploring the people to seek Him but this is what they have done instead: "But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception. Because you have depended on your own strength and on your many warriors, the roar of battle will rise against your people, so that all your fortresses will be devastated---as Shalman devastated Beth Arbel on the day of battle, when mothers were dashed to the ground with their children. So it will happen with you, Bethel, because your wickedness is great. When that day dawns, the king of Israel will be completely destroyed." (Hosea 10:13-15) 

The reference to the destruction of a city called Beth Arbel is unclear in a historical context. Some scholars and historians propose that Beth Arbel was the Armenian city of Arbela which was conquered by Shalmaneser when he was the top general over Assyria's army, before he became king of Assyria. Wherever Beth Arbel was, and whatever happened there, it's clear that this was a well known example of atrocity. The soldiers who conquered the city not only struck down its fighting men but its women and children too, having no mercy on anyone. The Lord is predicting that an enemy (which we know is Assyria) will sweep in and destroy Bethel and show no mercy to the city's inhabitants. Bethel was the primary center of worship in the northern kingdom, where the king himself made offerings and sacrifices to the golden calf.

Chapter 11 opens with the Lord speaking of Himself as a father who brought up His child in the right way but whose child has gone terribly astray. "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son." (Hosea 11:1) The exodus took place about 500 years before the time of Hosea. The Lord is speaking of the early days of Israel, when the people were still faithful to Him, and He talks about the nation as if it were an infant.

The Lord called Israel out of Egypt but the call of the Baals (the idols of the heathen nations) was a siren song they answered. Instead of remaining faithful to the Lord, they went astray and began bowing to false gods. "But the more they were called, the more they went away from Me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images." (Hosea 11:2)

They did this in spite of the Lord being the one---the only one---who had ever spoken to them or who had ever helped them. He now speaks of what we might call their toddler years. "It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them." (Hosea 11:3-4)

The Lord is depicted as a patient and loving father. He taught Israel to stand just as a father holds his young child by the arms. He taught Israel to walk; He speaks of the ancient method of using a cord for the child to hold. A parent or nursemaid would hold one end of a cord (or tie one end to themselves) and the child would hold the other end while learning to toddle around. The Lord speaks of His affection for Israel by comparing Himself to a father who lifts a child up in a hug, snuggling the child against His cheek. He speaks of His willingness to stoop down low to help mankind. Although the Lord is so high above us that we cannot truly fathom His power and majesty and righteousness, He never considers it beneath Him to bend down to help weak and fragile human beings. 

Though He brought the nation out of Egypt, gave them His laws and commandments, provided for them in the wilderness, uprooted heathen nations from the promised land and planted them in their place, and prospered them in the promised land, they forsook Him. They forsook Him for things that were of no benefit. They forsook Him for useless idols that were incapable of speaking to them, providing for them, or saving them. The Lord took them out of bondage in Egypt and then they willingly gave themselves in bondage to the sin of idolatry. Since they preferred bondage to freedom, the Lord is going to allow them to become captives again. "Will they not return to Egypt and will not Assyria rule over them because they refuse to repent?'' (Hosea 11:5)

The Apostle Paul said that we are slaves to that which we give ourselves. If we give ourselves to the Lord and strive to live godly lives, we are slaves (servants) of the Lord. But if we give ourselves to sin, we are slaves to sin, and sin leads to death. (See Romans 6:16-18.) The people gave themselves to idolatry and became slaves of sin. Nothing good comes from sin. Sin comes in between a person and the Lord. Sin comes in between a person and their loved ones. Sin has consequences. The consequences of the people's sin---their constant and unrepentant sin---will be invasion by Assyria. Some will flee to Egypt while they still can, while others will be taken captive by the enemy army. Either way, they will end up dispersed among the heathen nations. There they will see idols everywhere and it will become clear to many of them that idols are nothing and that the Lord is their only helper.

In today's world idolatry usually doesn't look like it looked in Hosea's day. There are some areas of the world where people still bow to images, but idolatry in most nations has taken other forms. Idolatry occurs when we place more importance on anyone or anything than we place on the Lord. We typically think of idolatry as something we find pleasurable but the Lord has recently revealed to me that this isn't always the case. Idolatry can be a negative habit or an unhealthy obsession. The Lord revealed something to me that is an idol in my own life and before we conclude our study of the book of Hosea I will discuss my own struggles in more detail as a personal testimony. I am thankful the Lord has revealed this to me because this particular thing has enslaved me in ways I was never aware of before. So when we think of idolatry in modern times, it isn't necessarily some sort of pleasurable sin. It can be an unpleasant or even debilitating habit or obsession to which we are clinging.