By John McKennaBy John McKenna
In the beginning of our study of the book of Hosea (January WN), we saw how the I-AM of God in Israel's Exodus (Exodus 3:13-14) lies behind the development of the prophetic vision of the People of God.
We saw how the People of God became Not-My-People because they turned the I-AM of God into the Not-I-AM and made way for themselves to "marry" their idols to the names of God in the Old Testament.
Hosea's marriage to the temple priestess Gomer and the three children she bore him portrays God's judgment upon Israel.
The final consequence of this judgment will bring about, in the latter days of the history of God's People, a great messianic salvation for Israel. It is with the grace of this judgment and the judgment of this grace that we can see the book's shape and substance for us.
If we consider chapters one to three as an introduction to the whole of the vision, then we notice that both judgment and salvation are bound up with one another in the mind of the author with a passionate and personal commitment to the covenant between God and his people.
God and Israel are in relationship with each other just as Hosea and Gomer are married to one another. The reversal of their broken marriage is surprisingly described throughout the book. Though an oracle of judgment is announced, Israel's ultimate salvation is proclaimed (Hosea 2).
Then the call of Israel to hope in her God is made with great anticipation (Hosea 3). We cannot understand the judgment apart from the salvation proclaimed in the book. We cannot understand the reversal of her fortunes foretold in the book apart from this judgment.
How can we learn to think the modes of judgment and salvation in the being of God's great I-AM? How may we develop some meaningful concept of the message of this prophet to the People of God?
After this introduction to the prophecy of Hosea, we begin to read two judgment speeches. They are addressed first to all Israel and her corruption of the covenant with her God (Hosea 4) and secondly to Israel's priesthood (Hosea 5:1-7).
To come to an appropriate understanding of the judgment, we may study Hosea 4:1-3: "Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites, Because the Lord has a lawsuit against you: There is no faithfulness, there is no covenant love, there is no knowledge of God in the land. Instead there are only curses, lying and murder, stealing and adultery. All the boundaries are broken, and violence follows bloodshed. Because of this, the land mourns, all who live on it waste away. The beasts of the fields, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea are dying" (my translation).
This judgment speech begins with a call to attention. The exhortation is important in Israel. Deuteronomy 6:4 ("Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One!") also calls Israel to attention. Without hearing the word of God, his people will not obey.
Once the attention is obtained, the covenant lawsuit is announced against the nation. In it God will act through the message of the prophet as a prosecutor of his people. The irony is not lost upon the prophets. His people will be convicted and punished through the very prophets they refuse to hear.
This is because they have turned the great I-AM of God into a Not-I-AM, according to what we have read in chapter one: "There is no truth or faithfulness, no covenant loyalty or love, and no knowledge of God throughout the nation living on God's promised land."
These three terms mark the reason for the judgment just as, in the introduction to the prophecy, the names of Gomer's children marked the curse of God upon the monarchies of Israel and Judah.
1) There is no truth, no ultimate reality upon which Israel can rely. She is doomed for desolation.
2) There is no covenant love (hesed) in the land. Scholars have studied this term thoroughly. It is the fundamental concept by which the promise of God in covenant with his people will be kept.
He took it away from Saul's house, but promised never to remove it from the House of David (2 Sam. 7:13-14). It is with the freedom of the Lord God's divine passion to keep the promise made once to Abraham that the term achieves its significance. The whole history of Israel is bound up with its meaning (see Psalm 136).
There is no knowledge of God in the land. Knowledge of God is knowledge gained in an intimate and saving relationship with him. This knowledge cannot be divorced from the wisdom by which the Lord gives himself to be known in covenant with his people.
When they turn the great I-AM that he truly is into the Not-I-AM that he is not, then whatever they possess as knowledge is no knowledge. It is but the dumb and deaf dreams of idols and idol makers. It is also the stuff that allows the Torah of God, given through Moses at Mount Sinai, to go unheeded.
That is what the list of sins against Israel are--deafness to the Torah of the People of God. There was a prohibition against swearing and cursing in the Law. There was a prohibition against lying and deceiving in the Law. There was a prohibition against murdering, thievery and adultery in the Law.
When all these are broken, what can the land do but mourn, and when the land mourns, what happens to those who live upon it? They waste away. Beasts of the fields, birds of the heavens and fish of the seas die.
In his lawsuit against his people, we are plainly taught that all of the creation suffers under the curse upon God's people. When Israel is cursed, the whole world suffers. The creation itself is made to bear witness to this judgment.
The covenant lawsuit of the Lord God against his people does not result merely in a lack of knowledge about him, from lack of loyal love for him, from lack of a faithfulness that belongs to his truth's faithfulness, but it results in the demise of the whole world.
When Israel is punished, the whole world knows death rather than life.
The profundity of this judgment must be announced throughout the society of ancient Israel. Beside the people, priest, prophet and king must understand the thoroughness of its accusation against all Israel.
Thus we read the progress that is made with the writhing repetitions of judgment that whirl on throughout the rest of the chapters of the book's accusations against Israel.
Though all of society protests, still Israel is judged. Hosea announces in no uncertain terms the reasons for the judgment against people, priesthood, prophet and royal rule alike.
All of them together shall experience not only the thoroughness of the judgment, but surprisingly also the faithfulness, the holy love and the wisdom of God in his covenanted interaction with Israel.
Without this kind of judgment, there will be no salvation of the God who would be known among his people. In the latter days he will be known for who he truly is.
It seems that the judgment is absolutely devastating, but it also is not the last word from the Lord God.
There will come again the salvation of the Lord God for them. There will be real knowledge of God in the land. There will true loyal love for God among his people.
Faithfulness and holy love will be wed in Israel once again. Israel will know in the latter days the deep and profound love of God for her. He will win her back to himself. We shall look into the nature of this passion in the salvation speeches we find in Hosea for Israel in our next study.
Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 1999