“Do not rejoice, O Israel, with joy like other nations, For you have played the harlot, forsaking your God. You have made love for hire on every threshing floor. The threshing floor and the winepress
shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her. They shall not dwell in the LORD’s land,
but Ephraim shall return to Egypt,
and shall eat unclean things in Assyria.
They shall not offer wine offerings to the LORD,
nor shall their sacrifices be pleasing to Him.” (vv.1-4)
This does not simply refer to the physical act of adultery – it goes much deeper, into the spiritual realm of their heart and mind. Israel, like America, Britain and other nations today, went her own way, seeking after the "gods" of wealth, materialism, and power – sacrificing God’s laws at the alter of their own desires, even after repeated warnings.
Israel was not content any longer in worshiping God. The people looked at the pagan nations around them and decided, they liked the idols these nations worshiped better. So instead of serving God, the Israelites bowed down to Baal, the Canaanite fertility god (v.2). They then attributed their abundance to him and implored him for continued fruitfulness.
Therefore, God had no choice but to punish such arrogant faithlessness. And as we have seen throughout the book of Hosea, God's judgment was perfectly appropriate to Israel's sin. If the people wanted to defile themselves by worshiping unclean idols, God would see to it that they would eat unclean food during their captivity in Assyria (v.3).
Moreover, while in exile, Israel would not be able to offer the sacrifices to God prescribed by the Mosaic covenant, and her great feast days would pass unobserved (v.3). Once more, God matched His chastening to Israel's sins. They had treated His blessings as nothing and discarded Him. So they would waste away in a foreign land, discarded, while their possessions and homes back in Israel became overgrown with briers and thorns (v.6).
Hosea ends this chapter by saying, “My God will cast them away, because they did not obey Him” (v.17) This is exactly what the LORD promised under the terms of the Old Covenant (Deuteronomy 30:14-18). But thankfully, we can come to God by faith in a new and better covenant, where He promises to remember our sins no more.
The Truth: “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” (Hebrews 8:12)
This does not simply refer to the physical act of adultery – it goes much deeper, into the spiritual realm of their heart and mind. Israel, like America, Britain and other nations today, went her own way, seeking after the "gods" of wealth, materialism, and power – sacrificing God’s laws at the alter of their own desires, even after repeated warnings.
Israel was not content any longer in worshiping God. The people looked at the pagan nations around them and decided, they liked the idols these nations worshiped better. So instead of serving God, the Israelites bowed down to Baal, the Canaanite fertility god (v.2). They then attributed their abundance to him and implored him for continued fruitfulness.
Therefore, God had no choice but to punish such arrogant faithlessness. And as we have seen throughout the book of Hosea, God's judgment was perfectly appropriate to Israel's sin. If the people wanted to defile themselves by worshiping unclean idols, God would see to it that they would eat unclean food during their captivity in Assyria (v.3).
Moreover, while in exile, Israel would not be able to offer the sacrifices to God prescribed by the Mosaic covenant, and her great feast days would pass unobserved (v.3). Once more, God matched His chastening to Israel's sins. They had treated His blessings as nothing and discarded Him. So they would waste away in a foreign land, discarded, while their possessions and homes back in Israel became overgrown with briers and thorns (v.6).
Hosea ends this chapter by saying, “My God will cast them away, because they did not obey Him” (v.17) This is exactly what the LORD promised under the terms of the Old Covenant (Deuteronomy 30:14-18). But thankfully, we can come to God by faith in a new and better covenant, where He promises to remember our sins no more.
The Truth: “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” (Hebrews 8:12)
