2025 Bible Study Group

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Something else to consider when you read the OT. We have a poor understanding of what 'prophet' means. We generally think of the Prophets as Greek oracles, that is "a guy who tells the future." But that doesn't fully capture what the Prophets were. The Prophets weren't so much in the soothsaying business as they were in the Covenant Attorney business. Their role was to deliver the Word of God to the people. If the people were unfaithful to the covenant, then the Prophet would deliver God's Word that said they will be cursed. If the people were faithful to the covenant, then the Prophet would deliver God's Word that said they will be blessed. God's Word doesn't only deal with the future, but the past and present as well. How you are meant to understand anything that happened before, now, or in the future is by faith in God's Word, and the Prophets served as God's representatives to the people.

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Hosea 3

1 Then Yahweh said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by her companion and is an adulteress, even as Yahweh loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.”

God commands Hosea to do a sign that reflects God's love for Israel, He loved them despite their infidelity. The raisin cake was always a symbol of luxury in Scripture. David had given raisin cakes for all the Israelites in his time as a token of celebration and good will.

5 Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek Yahweh their God and David their king; and they will come in dread to Yahweh and to His goodness in the last days.

After God deprives Israel of His blessings, they will come back to Him again. David had already passed at this point, but the king of Judah always was David, figuratively. The Israelites were to return to the king of Judah, to David, in the last days.

This is Messianic, Christological language. Jesus is the true King of Judah, the true David. The last days always refers to the days of the Messiah. Ever since Christ came, we have been living in the last days, the days of the Messiah. There is a direct prophetic fulfillment of this in John 4, when Jesus visits the woman at the well. The northern kingdom of Israel eventually became Samaria. She, a Samaritan woman, had placed her faith in Christ in the last days, and she was only the first of many:

John 4:25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when He comes, He will declare all things to us.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
40 So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41And many more believed because of His word; 42and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is truly the Savior of the world.”

 

[Thomas More]

Hosea 3


God commands Hosea to do a sign that reflects God's love for Israel, He loved them despite their infidelity. The raisin cake was always a symbol of luxury in Scripture. David had given raisin cakes for all the Israelites in his time as a token of celebration and good will.


After God deprives Israel of His blessings, they will come back to Him again. David had already passed at this point, but the king of Judah always was David, figuratively. The Israelites were to return to the king of Judah, to David, in the last days.

This is Messianic, Christological language. Jesus is the true King of Judah, the true David. The last days always refers to the days of the Messiah. Ever since Christ came, we have been living in the last days, the days of the Messiah. There is a direct prophetic fulfillment of this in John 4, when Jesus visits the woman at the well. The northern kingdom of Israel eventually became Samaria. She, a Samaritan woman, had placed her faith in Christ in the last days, and she was only the first of many:

The Samaritans came and talked to Jesus, and immediately knew that this One is truly Saviour of the world, but so many of the jews talked to him or heard about him and refused to accept him.

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

The Samaritans came and talked to Jesus, and immediately knew that this One is truly Saviour of the world, but so many of the jews talked to him or heard about him and refused to accept him.

In both cases, it went just as it was prophesied.

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Hosea 4

1 Listen to the word of Yahweh, O sons of Israel, For Yahweh has a contention against the inhabitants of the land, Because there is no truth or lovingkindness Or knowledge of God in the land. 2 There is swearing of oaths, deception, murder, stealing, and adultery.

You see what things God's covenant forbids. The swearing of oaths in particular is a faux-spiritual act. People pretend to be religious when they make a vow to God or swear on His holy name, but the way they use it is irreligious. They turn the name of God into a superstition, into a meaningless word. Do not make oaths or vows and don't take God's name in vain. Follow God's Word. That is true spirituality, true religion.

6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from ministering as My priest.

The knowledge here is not knowledge unto itself, but covenantal union with God, knowledge of Him. Not knowledge about God, but knowledge of God. The Gnostic heresy placed knowledge, gnosis, above all else, Greeks that they were. The problem is not sin so much as ignorance, sin is ignorance, they believed. As Paul says, professing to be wise they became fools. Salvation is not of knowledge, but of faith, covenantal trust and union with God. That is what is meant by knowledge of Him, heart knowledge over head knowledge.

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Hosea 5

3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me; For now, O Ephraim, you have played the harlot; Israel has defiled itself. 4 Their deeds will not allow them To return to their God. For a spirit of harlotry is within them, And they do not know Yahweh.

Ephraim is one of the minor tribes, one of the two tribes from Joseph. God has a case against them, among the other Israelites.

I want to focus on the word 'spirit'. When many hear the word, they think of invisible, mystical, woo-woo, superstitious things. "I am not religious, but I am very spiritual" they say. But this is not what the OT has in mind. Spirituality is not a code word for the mystical, that is a pagan magical definition. What the Bible has in mind when it uses 'spirit' has more to do with what we call character. When I say I want you to be a spiritual person, I am saying that I want you to have a godly character, a character that hears and follows the Word of God. That is the very character of the Holy Spirit. I am not saying that I want you to become a superstitious person who turns to trinkets and falls for wives tales about spirits floating around us.

The Ephraimites are said to have a spirit of harlotry, that is a sinful, idolatrous covenant-breaking character. They do not know the true God, they have turned aside to idols.

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Hosea 6

1 “Come, let us return to Yahweh. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has struck us, but He will bandage us. 2 He will make us alive after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, That we may live before Him. 3 So let us know, let us pursue to know Yahweh.

Here, God is prophesying what Israel will say when they will eventually turn back to God, after He has afflicted them. You see here a resurrection on the third day. You saw this as well in Jonah. And Christ, the true Israel, was Himself raised up on the third day.

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul expounds that the Gospel went as it was prophesied in the Scriptures:

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures

When Paul says that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, he must be chiefly referencing Isaiah. And when he says that Christ was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, he must be chiefly referencing Hosea, and perhaps Jonah.

4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your lovingkindness is like a morning cloud And like the dew which goes away early. 5 Therefore I have hewn them in pieces by the prophets; I have killed them by the words of My mouth; And the judgments on you are like the light that goes forth.

God's judgment is like the sun that chases the morning clouds away. His prophets, His words can kill. That is the power of the Law. The Letter kills, as Paul says.

6 For I delight in lovingkindness rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

This is an important enough verse that Jesus cites it twice in Matthew. "Go and learn the meaning of this" He said. Burnt offerings, holocausts, have to do with judgment, and so it is fitting that the Covenant of the Law should be characterized by them, with it's priests and repetitive sacrifices. But the New Covenant does not consist in these, but in lovingkindness, grace and mercy. Which covenant are you under?

7 But like Adam they have trespassed against the covenant; There they have dealt treacherously against Me.

One of my favorite Total Depravity verses. It can either be translated as "like men" or "like Adam" but the meaning is the same. As Adam sinned and broke covenant with God, so do all men. Like father, like son. There are some who deny that God made a covenant with Adam, but I invite them to read the text more carefully. If God did not make a covenant with Adam, then why does Hosea say that Adam trespassed against the covenant?

One of the deep rabbit holes that I believe in is something called republication theology. That is, the covenant given to the Hebrews at Sinai is a republication of the covenant given to Adam in the beginning. Adam broke the covenant, and condemned all his posterity, as in Romans 5. Israel could have succeeded where Adam failed, but like Adam, they broke the covenant. Thus, the Adamic Covenant and the Mosaic Covenant do not confer life, but death to those who are in them. But Christ, the true Adam and the true Israel, kept the covenant, and those who are in the New Covenant are conferred life. Which covenant are you under? Are you still under the Law? Or are you now under Grace?

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Hosea 7

11 So Ephraim has become like a silly dove, without a heart of wisdom; They call to Egypt; they go to Assyria. 12 When they go, I will spread My net over them; I will bring them down like the birds of the sky.

We have a poetry thread but I haven't posted in it because I would just post passages from the Bible, as cliche as that would be. The passages in the Bible are just too good. They're an acquired taste, but once you grasp the story and the themes in it then it all really clicks.

If Israel is the thesis of the OT then Egypt would be an antithesis. When the going got tough, the Israelites were tempted to go back to Egypt. This does not just mean that they were tempted to move back to the geographical area of Egypt, but that they were tempted to become Egyptians. God had taken them out of Egypt, but had He taken Egypt out of them?

This is the syncretistic tendency. They also would cut covenants with foreign nations, against God's Word, and the foreign nations would come back to oppress them, such as what the Israelites are doing here with Assyria. They eventually made a covenant with the Romans, only for the Romans to occupy them and eventually destroy them in due time.

There are many forms of Christian syncretism today. Some Christians are Platonists rather than Christians. Other Christians are into the Prosperity Gospel, which is a sort of syncretism between Americanism and Christianity. We must keep the faith pure.

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Hosea 8

5 He has rejected your calf, O Samaria, saying, “My anger burns against them!” How long will they be incapable of innocence? 6 For from Israel is even this! A craftsman made it, so it is not God; Surely the calf of Samaria will be smashed to splinters. 7 For they sow the wind, And they reap the whirlwind.

Israel had made two golden calves in their idolatry, harkening back to the one they made at Sinai. In idolatry, art functionally becomes theology. The nations surrounding Israel had excelled in image making, idols made of gold, silver, or lesser materials. The artwork of the idol would emphasize what the idol was being worshiped for. Idols of female deities accentuated the sexual body parts, since the people valued fertility. The calf was an image of power. The logic in the Bible says that if a craftsman made it, if it is art, then it is not God, it doesn't represent Him. The Greek religion had it's idols too, but their idolatry really excelled in the art of poetry. Poets such as Hesiod, Homer, and others were largely responsible for shaping the theology of the ancient Greeks. When the Greek philosophers came, they still practiced idolatry but of another form. They worshiped man's reason and man's language. That was their theology. In America, our art, our movies, also functions as our theology since it glorifies the idols we worship, such as sex, money, power, and self-sufficiency.

11 Since Ephraim has multiplied altars for sin, They have become altars of sinning for him. 12 Though I wrote for him ten thousand precepts of My law, They are counted as a strange thing.

I love this line. God wrote for them ten thousand precepts of His Law, yet the people account it as foreign. God has never been mute, but men have always been deaf. The wicked generation looks for a sign, and all along, God has given His Word so that they would know the truth and know Him. God's Word is there. What more do they need?

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Hosea 9

Let Israel know this! The prophet is an ignorant fool, The inspired man has madness

As Israel collectively functions as a priest, so does Ephraim function as a prophet. But Ephraim is no prophet, but a fool, a clown. They are not inspired by the Spirit of Wisdom but the spirit of unholy madness. The difference between prophets and fools, wisdom and madness is a matter of perspective, but God’s perspective is the only one that counts. I would rather be called a clown by clown world than be called a clown by God.

He will remember their iniquity; He will punish their sins.

I highlight this passage because I want you to see how these ideas are coupled together. If God remembers your iniquity, He will indeed punish. But if your sins are in the sea of God’s forgetfulness, He has forgiven indeed.

10 I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the earliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season. But they came to Baal-peor and devoted themselves to shame, And they became as detestable as that which they loved.

Israel was greatly loved by God, the apple of His eye. They were fruitful and they multiplied. But they loved the Baals, abominable and detestable in God’s sight. They became what they worshiped, and the Beloved became the detested

Surely, woe to them indeed when I depart from them!

At various times, God’s glory departed from Israel, Ichabod. The denial of His presence is punishment enough. Jesus said “This is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” So what is the departure of God but eternal death? You saw this theme in John 8:59: “Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.” How ironic it is for the Lord to depart from the temple, and how damning for those He hid Himself from. Even now, does the Lord hide Himself from you or do you know Him?

Hosea 10

Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” And to the hills, “Fall on us!”

God tells Israel that He will remove their golden calf and they will mourn for it. Then He says this. This line is picked up in the Book of Revelation. God’s Wrath is no trifle to be mocked. If men were given a glimpse of Hell, they would no longer sin. But they have been given many glimpses, they just refuse to see so that they may go on sinning. You know that the Lord Jesus experienced deep anguish and fear on the night of His trial. Why? Because He knows better than any of us what the wages for sin are. If we were not under the cross and in the infinite mercy of God in Christ Jesus, then we too would wish to be under the mountains to be shielded from God’s Wrath.

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Hosea 11

1 When Israel was a youth I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son.

When we think God as The Father, we tend to bundle His Fatherhood with His role as Creator. What if I told you that isn't very biblically accurate? When you read the creation narrative in Genesis, nowhere is God described as a Father. In fact, it isn't until you get to the Redemption narrative in Exodus that God comes to be known as a Father by His covenant people. If God is the Father, then who is the son? In Exodus, it is Israel. And that is what Hosea is picking up on here.

Exodus 4:22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Israel is My son, My firstborn. 23So I said to you, ‘Let My son go that he may serve Me’; but you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn.” ’ ”

So the Fatherhood of God is not a broad, universal term, but a particular, covenantal one. See here in Amos 3:

1 Hear this word which Yahweh has spoken against you, sons of Israel, against the entire family which He brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, 2 “You only have I known among all the families of the earth; Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”

The logic is clear. If Israel is the son and God is their Father, the only people He's known, then He will punish them as a father chastises a son. Unless you want to catch a bullet, you do not go around punishing other people's kids, but if you love yours, you most certainly punish them when they do wrong. What father doesn't chastise a son whom he loves?

Matthew 2:14 So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and departed for Egypt. 15And he remained there until the death of Herod, in order that what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled, saying, “OUT OF EGYPT I CALLED MY SON.”

For those who want to stick their head in the sand, ignore the Hebrew manuscripts, and only read the Septuagint, Matthew does not quote the Septuagint here but he quotes the Hebrew. Matthew, being carried by the Holy Spirit, makes this point. God did call His son Israel out of Egypt in the Exodus as in Hosea, but for Jesus to go to Egypt and be brought out is to signify something about Jesus. Israel is the son, but Jesus is the True Son, He is the True Israel, the Israel who never went wrong. Israel was given the Mosaic Covenant for a time, and if they were in that covenant then they were bnei brit, sons of the covenant, but Jesus was given the Eternal Covenant, being the Eternal Son to the Father. May you come to know God as Father through Jesus Christ.

2 The more they called them, The more they went from them; They kept sacrificing to the Baals And burning incense to graven images.

These are God's representatives, the Prophets, calling for Israel to return to covenant fidelity, which Israel did not heed.

3 Yet it is I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them in My arms; But they did not know that I healed them. 4 I led them with cords of a man, with bonds of love, And I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws; And I bent down and fed them.

Here, Israel is described as being like a baby to God. He carried them in His arms, He taught them how to walk, He knelt down to feed them. When they were powerless to do anything for themselves, God was powerful to save them. Regarding the cord imagery, if you are in Christ, then consider there to be cords and tethers that connect you to Him.

5 They will not return to the land of Egypt; But Assyria—he will be their king Because they refused to return to Me. 6 And the sword will whirl against their cities

This is exactly what happened. Assyria conquered the northern kingdom of Israel and dispersed the tribes. Though they could not conquer the southern kingdom of Judah as recorded in Isaiah, because God's angel killed 185,000 of their army in one night. The whirling sword is emblematic of God's wrath, as you saw in Genesis.

 

[Tippy]

Hosea 1

Hosea takes place hundreds of years after Judges. The Kingdom of Israel was united when David was king. The kingdom had split after Solomon into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Hosea primarily takes place in the northern kingdom of Israel.


Here, Hosea follows Judges in presenting God as the Husband and Israel as the Wife, though Israel is compared to a harlotrous wife due to it's covenant infidelity.


God will give up on the northern kingdom but He will continue to save the southern kingdom. As far back as Genesis, the promise was that Judah would have the right to rule until Christ would come, God could never be done with Judah until then. His salvation of Judah is unmediated, not by bow, sword, battle, horses, horsemen, but God Himself will be their savior. Idolatrous men love to worship the so-called means of salvation rather than the God who does the saving, but you are not saved by things, you are saved by the living God.


Here is an exact reversal of New Covenant language: "I shall be their God and they shall be My people."

Hosea 1

It's actually amusing that it starts of with advice to go and marry a promiscuous woman. Maybe some users on here could take similar advice instead of trying to escape the West!

One of the daughter is commanded to be named 'not loved' which seems a bit harsh.

Another one gets the affectionate and catchy name of 'not my people' just to rub it in

This is to mark a point as later on the people of Judah and Israel will indeed come together to be children of God.

If Hosea is with Israelites why all this talk of not being his people? Or does he mean not my people NOW cos they are sinning?

 

[Tippy]

Hosea 2


Here, God is pronouncing judgment on Israel. The book is still using the imagery of Israel as the unfaithful wife. These earlier verses refer back to God bringing Israel out of Egypt. The wilderness, dry land, thirst language harkens directly back to Numbers. The last line there is a reference to the Hebrews who wanted to go back to Egypt because they could not bear the desert wilderness. God's chief saving act in the Old Testament was to bring the Hebrews out of Egypt, cut a covenant with them, and to deliver them to the Promised Land and give them a kingdom. That is the archetypal blessing that the OT is always playing off of. God's covenant curse is like hitting the rewind button on that. Decreation, not redemption. He will make them be like as at the first. The chief curse that Hosea is prophesying is that Israel will be judged by the Assyrians, which did come to pass.

Verse 14 to the end of the chapter is significant since it looks forward to covenant renewal, New Covenant language.


These are the qualities of the New Covenant: righteousness, justice, lovingkindness, compassion, faithfulness. There is no idolatry, no covenant breaking, no discommunion. If you are in the New Covenant, which is by faith in Jesus Christ, then you know God. Not simply know about God, but know God intimately and directly, like a marriage.


Here is the ingrafting of the Gentiles. In the New Covenant, God will be the God of the Gentiles who are brought into His Covenant.

Hosea 2

More of an analagous book where yeah Israel is compared to a woman (a trope later rappers would enjoy as well)

I didn't really get the 'baal' reference but apparently this is militiary alliances

God is a little butthurt because 'I was the one who gave the grain' and doesn't feel respected

'I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her' (Gomer the unfaithful wife) is an interesting passage cos it almost aludes to God seducing this woman himself

But in the end there is a resolution of God calling himself the new husband and there will be a new covenant

'
I will say to those called ‘Not my people, ‘You are my people’;
and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”'

 

[Matsufubu]

Hosea was instructed to marry a promiscuous woman to serve as a living example of God's love and Israel's infidelity to Him. It was not dating advice, no matter how many 'modern women' might suggest!

 

[Tippy]

Hosea was instructed to marry a promiscuous woman to serve as a living example of God's love and Israel's infidelity to Him. It was not dating advice, no matter how many 'modern women' might suggest!

Well if modern cities/countries are as corrupt or more than these times maybe the same is needed today.

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Hosea 12

2 And Yahweh has a contention with Judah And will punish Jacob according to his ways; He will cause everything to return to him according to his deeds. 3 In the womb he took his brother by the heel, And in his maturity he wrestled with God. 4 Indeed, he wrestled with the angel and prevailed; He wept and sought His favor. He found Him at Bethel, And there He spoke with us, 5 Even Yahweh, the God of hosts, Yahweh is His name of remembrance.

This seems to confirm that Jacob did indeed wrestle with God Himself, not just a servant angel. As beautiful as Gustave Dore's drawing of Jacob wrestling with the angel is, it's not biblically accurate.

Hosea 13

1 When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling. He lifted himself up in Israel, But through Baal he became guilty and died.

Death in Scripture does not always refer to literal death but guilt. The Ephraimites did not drop dead the second they worshiped Baal, and neither did Adam drop dead the second he ate from the tree, but both broke the covenant, sinned, and became guilty; they "died." If death = guilt, then life = innocence, and this is indeed how the Scriptures speak in many areas.

4 Yet I have been Yahweh your God Since the land of Egypt; And you were not to know any god except Me, And there is no savior besides Me.

God is the only savior. There are no others, no co-saviors, nothing. Like Acts 4, there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved than the name of Jesus Christ.

 

[Tippy]

Hosea 3


God commands Hosea to do a sign that reflects God's love for Israel, He loved them despite their infidelity. The raisin cake was always a symbol of luxury in Scripture. David had given raisin cakes for all the Israelites in his time as a token of celebration and good will.


After God deprives Israel of His blessings, they will come back to Him again. David had already passed at this point, but the king of Judah always was David, figuratively. The Israelites were to return to the king of Judah, to David, in the last days.

This is Messianic, Christological language. Jesus is the true King of Judah, the true David. The last days always refers to the days of the Messiah. Ever since Christ came, we have been living in the last days, the days of the Messiah. There is a direct prophetic fulfillment of this in John 4, when Jesus visits the woman at the well. The northern kingdom of Israel eventually became Samaria. She, a Samaritan woman, had placed her faith in Christ in the last days, and she was only the first of many:

Hosea 3

Hey man...I didn't get the Messianic point at all
......
Alright, let's read Hosea 3. So it starts off by saying, Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.

Didn't really get the specificity of raisin cakes but G2 above linked that to a symbol of luxury.

The Lord told Hosea to love his wife again. And basically she's going to stop being a prostitute at that point. And basically the Israelites are going to come back to the Lord and King David. So just as he goes back to his wife, the Israelites are going to come back to the Lord.

So it seems to be about kind of, OK, you've been sinful, it's kind of symbolic I guess, the wife's been sinful, I've been detached from her because of her sin, she's going to stop that and come back to me, just as the Israelites are going to stop whatever they're doing as well and come back to the Lord. That's my analysis of Hosea 3.

 

[Tippy]

Hosea 4


You see what things God's covenant forbids. The swearing of oaths in particular is a faux-spiritual act. People pretend to be religious when they make a vow to God or swear on His holy name, but the way they use it is irreligious. They turn the name of God into a superstition, into a meaningless word. Do not make oaths or vows and don't take God's name in vain. Follow God's Word. That is true spirituality, true religion.


The knowledge here is not knowledge unto itself, but covenantal union with God, knowledge of Him. Not knowledge about God, but knowledge of God. The Gnostic heresy placed knowledge, gnosis, above all else, Greeks that they were. The problem is not sin so much as ignorance, sin is ignorance, they believed. As Paul says, professing to be wise they became fools. Salvation is not of knowledge, but of faith, covenantal trust and union with God. That is what is meant by knowledge of Him, heart knowledge over head knowledge.

Hosea 4

Hosea 4 is the charge against Israel. He's got a charge. The Lord has a charge. No faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgement of God. Only cursing, lying, and murder, stealing, and adultery. Yeah, sounds like modern times, right? Break all bounds, land dries up. Even the birds in the sky, and the fish are swept away. But he says basically that they shouldn't accuse one another because it's like somebody bringing a charge against a priest. They don't know what they're doing. Because they've rejected all the knowledge, they don't know what they're doing. Even with many priests, they kept on sinning. With sin. And God's going to punish them. They will engage in prostitution, but not flourish. That's a hard-hitting line. Old wine, new wine, take away understanding. Yeah, it's almost against alcoholism a little bit there. Constant reference to prostitution. I think it's not only the physical act, but also just kind of selling themselves short. Not having integrity, not having false idols. He mentions that with the sacrifices. They're in the wrong path. Again, more adultery. And a people without understanding will come to ruin. Israel commits adultery, do not let Judah become guilty. The Israelites are very stubborn. They keep on drinking and seeing prostitutes. Wow. It's a shameful, depressing existence. They've gone off the rails here, basically. I wasn't really sure what he meant by “though you, Israel, commit adultery, do not let Judah become guilty,” but I learned that the people in Judah are also Israelites, just another tribe that became separated from the northern kingdom. So it's like God is saying, “Even though Israel has fallen into sin, Judah, don’t follow their example.”

 

[Tippy]

Hosea 5


Ephraim is one of the minor tribes, one of the two tribes from Joseph. God has a case against them, among the other Israelites.

I want to focus on the word 'spirit'. When many hear the word, they think of invisible, mystical, woo-woo, superstitious things. "I am not religious, but I am very spiritual" they say. But this is not what the OT has in mind. Spirituality is not a code word for the mystical, that is a pagan magical definition. What the Bible has in mind when it uses 'spirit' has more to do with what we call character. When I say I want you to be a spiritual person, I am saying that I want you to have a godly character, a character that hears and follows the Word of God. That is the very character of the Holy Spirit. I am not saying that I want you to become a superstitious person who turns to trinkets and falls for wives tales about spirits floating around us.

The Ephraimites are said to have a spirit of harlotry, that is a sinful, idolatrous covenant-breaking character. They do not know the true God, they have turned aside to idols.

Hosea 5

Interesting deep dive on the word spirit. I didn't catch the significance there.

Sorry if this is a bit rambling or stream of consciousness ...

Hosea 5 is the judgment against Israel. Hear this, you priests, pay attention, you Israelites. Here we go. God's going to discipline all his people for being too corrupt. Again, the prostitution is mentioned, but it's more of a symbolic thing here. Israel stumbling, Judah stumbling. They're not faithful to the Lord. But it's not going to work out well for them. It's going to be a day of reckoning here.

Judah's leaders are like those who move boundary stones. I'll pour out my wrath on them like a flood of water. They're making changes, I think, but the wrong type. They're going in the wrong direction once they move further away from God. He's going to make them see that that is only leading them to punishment.

They're looking for solutions in humans, in the king, not going to work out. Until they have borne their guilt and seek my face in their misery, they will earnestly seek me. I guess that's showing that when you reach a dark place, you reach a state of abject misery. That is the time when a lot of us do turn to God. Because eventually sinful ways do not lead to fruitful happiness.

 

[Tippy]

Hosea 6


Here, God is prophesying what Israel will say when they will eventually turn back to God, after He has afflicted them. You see here a resurrection on the third day. You saw this as well in Jonah. And Christ, the true Israel, was Himself raised up on the third day.

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul expounds that the Gospel went as it was prophesied in the Scriptures:

When Paul says that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, he must be chiefly referencing Isaiah. And when he says that Christ was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, he must be chiefly referencing Hosea, and perhaps Jonah.


God's judgment is like the sun that chases the morning clouds away. His prophets, His words can kill. That is the power of the Law. The Letter kills, as Paul says.


This is an important enough verse that Jesus cites it twice in Matthew. "Go and learn the meaning of this" He said. Burnt offerings, holocausts, have to do with judgment, and so it is fitting that the Covenant of the Law should be characterized by them, with it's priests and repetitive sacrifices. But the New Covenant does not consist in these, but in lovingkindness, grace and mercy. Which covenant are you under?


One of my favorite Total Depravity verses. It can either be translated as "like men" or "like Adam" but the meaning is the same. As Adam sinned and broke covenant with God, so do all men. Like father, like son. There are some who deny that God made a covenant with Adam, but I invite them to read the text more carefully. If God did not make a covenant with Adam, then why does Hosea say that Adam trespassed against the covenant?

One of the deep rabbit holes that I believe in is something called republication theology. That is, the covenant given to the Hebrews at Sinai is a republication of the covenant given to Adam in the beginning. Adam broke the covenant, and condemned all his posterity, as in Romans 5. Israel could have succeeded where Adam failed, but like Adam, they broke the covenant. Thus, the Adamic Covenant and the Mosaic Covenant do not confer life, but death to those who are in them. But Christ, the true Adam and the true Israel, kept the covenant, and those who are in the New Covenant are conferred life. Which covenant are you under? Are you still under the Law? Or are you now under Grace?

Awesome depth as usual and I'm somewhat in awe of your ability to interpret this stuff

Here's my thoughts

Now, moving on to Hosea 6, Israel on repentance. Interesting, the whole three-day thing comes up, after two days he revives, on the third day he restores. That's the same as Jesus Christ, who was resurrected on the third day (I guess?)

As surely as the sun rises, he will appear. I think this is Hosea speaking, but I'm not sure. Basically, my quick summary of this would be: A would be the Israelites saying, my B, let's turn this around.