Hosea 4

Week 4, Wednesday: The vicious cycle of sin
Sin in Israel had become such a way of life, so “normal”, that no one thought anything about it.

Except God.

God always remembers His covenant with His people, and, even when they fail to remember and keep it, He does not. All the sins the people had committed for generations would now be paraded before them, as God prepared His people to be trampled under foot by their own rebellion.

Read Hosea 4

Meditate on Hosea 4.11-14
1.  Instead of serving the Lord, Israel had become enslaved to sin (v. 11). How does sin “enslave the heart”? How might someone be able to tell when he or she was beginning to become a slave to sin?

2.  People these days – at least in the West – don’t “ask counsel” of wooden idols. But a “staff” could be seen as a scepter, a symbol of government authority (v. 12), and diversions that gratify our sensual nature – that merely entertain – are all around us, gobbling up our time and consuming our attention. What kind of “idols” can keep us from being devoted to the Lord with all our heart?

3.  The worship activities described in verse 13 were not commanded by the Lord. Indeed, they were explicitly forbidden. People did these because they were “fun” or “convenient” (note the mention of shade). But the people considered themselves to be very religious, even protesting that they “knew” the Lord (Hos. 8.2). While the people were going through these motions of “worship”, they would have been unable to worship God as He commanded. Are churches in danger of this today?

4.  Yet some of the people of Israel were apparently shocked to find their children and loved ones becoming involved in practices that were blatantly sinful (v. 14). Should they have been? Why not?

5.  The word “trampled” in verse 14 perhaps would have called to mind the grape harvest. What was God saying about the state of Israel’s rebellion, and where it was leading her as a nation?

Summary
Israel had become “ripe” for being trampled under the feet of oppressors, acting as agents of God’s wrath. Rather than seek the Lord and His counsel, they turned to foolish deities, fallible rulers, and fun times for all. It was a recipe for disaster then, and it remains so today. Are we in danger of playing the harlot against God today?

Closing Prayer
Praise the LORD!
For it is good to sing praises to our God;
For it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful.
The LORD builds up Jerusalem;
He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.
He heals the brokenhearted
And binds up their wounds.
He counts the number of the stars;
He calls them all by name.
Great is our Lord, and mighty in power;
His understanding is infinite.
The LORD lifts up the humble;
He casts the wicked down to the ground.

Psalm 147.1-6

T. M. Moore

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Each week’s studies in our Scriptorium column are available in a free PDF form, suitable for personal or group use. For all available studies in Hosea, click here.

A primary theme of the book of Hosea is Israel’s failure to keep covenant with the Lord. God’s covenant is a central theme and provides the organizing motif for all of Scripture. Learn more about God’s covenant by ordering a copy of T. M.’s book, I Will Be Your God, from our online store (click here).

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.