Hosea 4:1-5

ISRAEL'S INGRATITUDEA LACK OF KNOWLEDGE

TEXT: Hosea 4:1-5

1

Hear the word of Jehovah, ye children of Israel; for Jehovah hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in the land.

2

There is nought but swearing and breaking faith, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery; they break out, and blood toucheth blood.

3

Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.

4

Yet let no man strive, neither let any man reprove; for thy people are as they that strive with the priest.

5

And thou shalt stumble in the day, and the prophet also shall stumble with thee in the night; and I will destroy thy mother.

QUERIES

a.

Why was there no knowledge of God in the land?

b.

What does the prophet mean, blood toucheth blood?

c.

What is wrong with striving with the priest?

PARAPHRASE

Listen to the word of the Lord, you children of Israel. The Lord has an indictment against you and is going to bring judgment against you because there is no truthfulness, nor goodness, nor personal knowledge of God in the hearts of the people of the whole country. On the other hand there is false swearing and covenant breaking, murdering, stealing, adultery everywhere! There are men breaking in and robbing and one bloody death after another throughout the whole land. When the Lord brings drought and famine upon you for your sins, the whole land will mourn. The people and even the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens will grieveyes, even the fish of the sea will perish. When all this happens let no man blame anyone else for such disasterevery man is equally to blame. And so, God's judgment will come, unceasingly; the slaughter of an unfaithful people and of the false prophets who led them will have no respite neither day nor nightand I will destroy national Israel.

SUMMARY

These first five verses form the first stanza of a long ode of Judgment, They contain the theme of the whole remaining section of the book of Hosea, and especially this fourth Chapter cause and resultant judgment of God.

COMMENT

Hosea 4:1. JEHOVAH HATH A CONTROVERSY WITH THE INHABITANTS OF THE LAND. There is a similar arrangement of the covenant people (Judah in this instance) in Micah 6:2 ff. God is personified as both the Plaintiff, Prosecutor and the Judge. God has a case against the covenant people. They are arraigned. God presents His case listing the many ways and instances by which the people broke His covenant. He proves their guilt and pronounces sentence. In His prosecution God even bears witness to the causethere is no knowledge of God in the land. This specially blessed and favored people certainly could not claim ignorance of the terms of the covenant as an excuse (for the terms of God's covenant were reiterated over and over and they were plain enough for the dullest child to understand, cf. Deuteronomy 8:19-20). They could not claim that God had not warned them for He sent one prophet after another attempting to call the people back to covenant keepingall to no avail.

A nation is almost beyond hope when there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in the land. Jerome said, Truth cannot be sustained without mercy; and mercy without truth makes men negligent; so that the one ought to be mingled with the other. When there is no truthfulness no one trusts another (cw. Jeremiah 9:3-4).

Truth is the basis of all morality. The Bible, God's revealed will, is the only infallible standard of objective truth. Morality cannot be determined on any subjective basis. Morality cannot be determined on any humanistic basis. Morality cannot be reasoned on any philosophical basis. Morality must be determined by an objective standard and this standard must be infallible, supernatural truth. All other attempts to determine what is moral must ultimately end in complete moral anarchy (which leads to political anarchy) and the autonomous man. The dark ages of the covenant people, during the period of the Judges, was a result of every man doing that which was right in his own eyes! When the divine standard of truth, God's revealed word, is rejected moral and political suicide is the result. This is exactly what was happening to Israel in Hosea's time and also what happened to Judah in Jeremiah's timecomplete moral and political anarchy! The same will happen to any nation which rejects God's Word, the Bible.

Hosea depicts the situation in Israel as one in which there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God. The knowledge of God is an experiential knowledge, to be sure, but this experience of God in our hearts only comes as a result of knowing God from His revelation of Himself through His written Word. That God does exist may be known from nature (Romans 1:20-21; Psalms 19; Acts 14:14-18; etc.), but we must also know that He is a rewarder (Hebrews 11:6). In other words, we must know what kind of a Person God is. This can only be known by a knowledge of what He says about Himself and how He has proved Himself through His marvelous deeds in the past (cf. 2 Peter 1:3-9, where we know Him through His precious and very great promises, and also become partakers of the divine nature). Of course, when God tells us what He is like and promises us that His will put to practice in our lives will give us certain blessings such as peace, love, joy, fruitfulness, forgiveness and etc., we cannot know such blessedness until we do what He says. Then our knowledge of God becomes experiential. First, however, our knowledge of God must be intellectual, based upon facts of history which record God's deeds. We must be able to trust Him with our reason before we can experience Him with our hearts. We must know He is historically trustworthy before we can be convinced that what He says to do is the right thing to do!

Israel had long ago taken the revealed truth of God away from the people. They built false calf gods and instituted a false priesthood. The verbal revelation of God in the Mosaic Law was no longer revered or practiced. So the inevitable consequences of moral rottenness followed.

Hosea 4:2 THERE IS NOUGHT BUT SWEARING AND BREAKING FAITH, AND KILLING, AND STEALING, AND COMMITTING ADULTERY. AND BLOOD TOUCHETH BLOOD. Here the prophet merely enumerates the sins of the nation. In later Chapter s he describes in detail the immoral practices of the people. In this list we find violations of five of the ten commandments of the decalogue. The people are guilty of false witnessing, covenant breaking, murder, theft, and adultery. And this is on a national scale. There are not just a few isolated cases of such crimes but the prophet says, to the contrary, there is nothing else going in the land but such criminality! One bloody deed follows another (blood toucheth blood.)

Hosea 4:3 THEREFORE SHALL THE LAND MOURN. Such flagrant violations of all that is moral, right, good, reasonable and true inevitably beats fruit. God created the universe and sustains it through inexorable laws, both moral and physical, When those laws are transgressed the penalty must be paid, Where there is no penalty, there is no law; so where there is law there must be penalty, The penalty for violating a physical law of the universe is usually death or some other disastrous consequence, The penalty for violating a moral law is moral ruin, moral darkness, injustice, greed, cruelty, distrust and all the other decadent practices resulting from falsehood.

In Israel's case God brought pestilence, drought, plague and other forms of divine chastisement upon them. Not only does the inanimate creation suffer in consequence of the sins and crimes of men, but the moral depravity of man causes the physical destruction of all other creatures through such punishments of God. Even the beasts of the field, the birds and fish, mourn.

Hosea 4:4-5. LET NO MAN STRIVE. REPROVE. THOU SHALT STUMBLE IN THE DAY. The fundamental requirement of God's covenant was willing, unfaltering, obedience (Exodus 19:5; Exodus 23:20-22; Deuteronomy 6:1-25; 1 Samuel 15:22). Three times the people had solemnly pledged obedience (Exodus 19:8; Exodus 20:19; Exodus 24:3-7). But alas, they rebelled only forty days later and continued to rebel until their rebellion was culminated in the divided kingdom. Hosea writes to the people and tells them they are like those who strive with the priest. This is a reference to the Mosaic ordinance which prohibited people from striving or rebelling against a priestly decision (cf. Deuteronomy 17:8-13). It may also indicate that the people were trying to blame the priests for their waywardness. In any case, the nation is a nation of rebels, rebelling against the rule of God. They are like the wicked servants of the parable Jesus told concerning the pounds (cf. Luke 19:11-27) who said, We do not want this man to reign over us.

So they would have to bear the consequences of their rejection of the light of God's truth. When the divine Light is rejected the darkness of falsehood and lie must follow, When people love the darkness they will refuse to come to the Light (cf. John 3:18-21). When such people have their say they prefer teachers after their own lusts (cf. 2 Timothy 4:3-5) and they will be like the blind leading the blind (cf. Luke 6:39), they will both fall into the pit! This goes on all the timeday and night. And God is going to destroy the motherthe whole nation.

QUIZ

1.

What picture does the figure of speech controversy paint for us?

2.

What was the cause of God's controversy against the nation?

3.

Why is truth the basis for all morality?

4.

Why must we have a divine, objective standard of truth?

5.

When does one's knowledge of God become experiential?

6.

Why does the land mourn when people sin?

7.

How were the people like those that strive with the priest?