God Is Love

Boom! Expressing pain to a loved one can ignite a fiery outburst, especially if the loved one is the reason for that pain. In Hosea 5-10, God sets the example for us in His Word of expressing pain when hurt by the actions of those He loves. He does it to bring about a better relationship.

This type of prophetic word is not limited to the Old Testament prophets. Both Jesus and Paul expressed pain over the actions of those whom God’s loves.

In Matthew 23:37 and Luke 13:34, Jesus lamented over the city of Jerusalem. His people were “unwilling” to be gathered to Him “as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.” Jesus had deep, personal sorrow over the city’s rejection of God’s will. The “hen and chicks” metaphor expresses the protective and nurturing desire of Jesus, which was met with refusal. Their rejection of Jesus foreshadowed the city’s destruction in 70 AD.

In 1 Corinthians 5:1-5, Paul confronted the Corinthian Christians for not confronting the ongoing sin of man who was sleeping with his father’s wife.

In 2 Corinthians 2:4, Paul wrote to them again, “For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you.”

In 2 Corinthians 7:9-12, Paul rejoices that the sorrow that his words caused them led them to repent, and that their repentance produced a wide range of good outcomes including diligence, clearing themselves, zeal and vindication. Paul explained the “why” of his approach to this situation. He wrote, “I did not do it for the sake of him who had done the wrong, nor for the sake of him who suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear to you.” Paul wanted his care for their relationships to be obvious to them.

The Lord expresses His pain with the priests of Israel and their king in the Book of Hosea.

“Hear this, O priests! Take heed, O house of Israel! Give ear, O house of the king! For yours is the judgment, because you have been a snare to Mizpah and a net spread on Tabor. The revolters are deeply involved in slaughter, though I rebuke them all. I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me; for now, O Ephraim, you commit harlotry; Israel is defiled.” Hosea 5:1-3

The priests and king were a snare on Mizpah and a net upon Tabor. As hunters spread their net and snares, Mizpah and Tabor snared the people into idolatry and made them prey by injustice. Mizpah means “watch tower,” and Tabor means “lofty place.” High places are ideal for hunters. The Lord wanted the priests and king to be watchers for the people, but they were behaving as hunters entrapping them into idolatry.

“They do not direct their deeds toward turning to their God, for the spirit of harlotry is in their midst, and they do not know the Lord. The pride of Israel testifies to his face; therefore Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity; Judah also stumbles with them.” Hosea 5:4-5

The priests and king did not direct people to God. Why? They did not know the Lord. How can anyone bring someone to God when they don’t Him personally? The leaders had hearts for that which was not of God. Their self-pride prevented them from pointing people to God.

“With their flocks and herds they shall go to seek the Lord, but they will not find Him; He has withdrawn Himself from them. They have dealt treacherously with the Lord, for they have begotten pagan children. Now a New Moon shall devour them and their heritage.” Hosea 5:6-7

In the midst of declining circumstances, the priests and king of Israel attempted to lead the people back to God, but they had betrayed the Lord. They raised their children in pagan ways, but now they expected the Lord to act as though they had done nothing wrong and help them.

“The princes of Judah are like those who remove a landmark. I will pour out My wrath on them like water. Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment because he willingly walked by human precept. Therefore I will be to Ephraim like a moth, and to the house of Judah like rottenness. When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to King Jareb; yet he cannot cure you, nor heal you of your wound. For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear them and go away; I will take them away, and no one shall rescue. I will return again to My place till they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.” Hosea 5:10-15

God speaks of pouring out His wrath (his judgments) like water on Judah. Ephraim is another name for the northern tribes because Ephraim was the largest of the northern tribes. God diminished their vibrancy to bring them back to Him. What did they do? They turned to the paganistic Assyrians for help. So, God ups the judgment from being a moth and rottenness to them, to being a lion that tears and takes them away. The Lord refused to receive them until they acknowledge their offense. “In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”

“Come and let us return to the Lord; for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight. Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth.” Hosea 6:1-3

Torn and healed, stricken and bandaged, raised up on the third day to live in God’s sight. This is an allusion to the death and resurrection of Christ through whom there is forgiveness and salvation. When the Lord converts a soul, the person wants to know Him. The converted one wants the Lord to rain upon him or her.

“O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you? For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud, and like the early dew it goes away. Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets, I have slain them by the Words of My mouth; and your judgments are like light that goes forth. For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” Hosea 6:4-6

Morning clouds and early dew disappear almost as fast as they appear. So, brief were the moments of His people’s faithfulness to Him. God gave prophets to hew them like a stone cutter shapes a rock. God sent the sword of His Spirit against them to humble them.

In Matthew 9:10-12, Jesus quoted Hosea 6:6 in the context of Pharisees asking His disciples why He ate with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus said, “Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” The hard-hearted people in Hosea’s day needed to practice mercy to understand God’s mercy.

“But like men they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt treacherously with Me. Gilead is a city of evildoers and defiled with blood. As bands of robbers lie in wait for a man, so the company of priests murder on the way to Shechem; surely they commit lewdness. I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the harlotry of Ephraim; Israel is defiled. Also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed for you, when I return the captives of My people.” Hosea 6:7-11

The great commandment is to love God with all one’s entire being. The priests rejected this commandment and became untrustworthy lewd robbers and murderers. Israel was defiled. Judah was going to reap a harvest of judgments. What was that harvest? In 2 Chronicles 28:6, Judah lost a 120,000 “slain in one day.” Revelation 14:17-20 describes great military losses as a harvest of grapes being thrown into the great winepress of the wrath of God.

“When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered, and the wickedness of Samaria. For they have committed fraud, a thief comes in; a band of robbers takes spoil outside. They do not consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness; now their own deeds have surrounded them; they are before My face. They make a king glad with their wickedness, and princes with their lies.” Hosea 7:1-3

The king and princes were happy to have many defrauders and thieves in their kingdom. It strengthened their criminal network. They believed that they could sin without consequences.

“They are all adulterers. Like an oven heated by a baker—he ceases stirring the fire after kneading the dough, until it is leavened. In the day of our king princes have made him sick, inflamed with wine; he stretched out his hand with scoffers. They prepare their heart like an oven, while they lie in wait; their baker sleeps all night; in the morning it burns like a flaming fire. They are all hot, like an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kings have fallen. None among them calls upon Me. Ephraim has mixed himself among the peoples; Ephraim is a cake unturned. Aliens have devoured his strength, but he does not know it; yes, gray hairs are here and there on him, yet he does not know it. And the pride of Israel testifies to his face, but they do not return to the Lord their God, nor seek Him for all this.” Hosea 7:4-10

They are hot like an oven due to their adulterous longings for other gods. Their judges and kings have not held the line for God. Ephraim was a cake unturned... burned on one side and not fully cooked on the other... not good. The gray hairs speak of their era coming to an end. Their society was in decline, but no one turned to God.

“Ephraim also is like a silly dove, without sense—they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria. Wherever they go, I will spread My net on them; I will bring them down like birds of the air; I will chastise them according to what their congregation has heard. Woe to them, for they have fled from Me! Destruction to them because they have transgressed against Me! Though I redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against Me. They did not cry out to Me with their heart when they wailed upon their beds.” Hosea 7:11-14

They looked to pagan nations to rescue them, but God was going to catch them and ensure that they paid for the evils that they had done. He redeemed them. They lied about Him. They needed to cry out to God, not look to co-conspirators against God to rescue them.

Have we only turned to God as a last resort? Why not turn to God first? What’s not to trust about God. He is faithful. His power is great. He loves us and is willing to help us.

“Set the trumpet to your mouth! He shall come like an eagle against the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My Law. Israel will cry to Me, ‘My God, we know You!’ Israel has rejected the good; the enemy will pursue him. They set up kings, but not by Me; they made princes, but I did not acknowledge them. From their silver and gold they made idols for themselves—that they might be cut off. Your calf is rejected, O Samaria! My anger is aroused against them—how long until they attain to innocence? For from Israel is even this: a workman made it, and it is not God; but the calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces.” Hosea 8:1-6

Israel set up Jeroboam and his successors as kings, whereas God had appointed the house of David as the rightful kings of the whole nation. In 1 Kings 12:28, 32, Jeroboam set up two calf idols and told the people that the golden calves were their gods. He set up false priests to lead his false religion. Thus, Samaria, the capital city of the northern tribes, was built on a bad foundation that would not last. God told the city’s watchmen to prepare the people for war.

“They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no bud; it shall never produce meal. If it should produce, aliens would swallow it up. Israel is swallowed up; now they are among the Gentiles like a vessel in which is no pleasure.” “I have written for him the great things of My law, but they were considered a strange thing.” “For Israel has forgotten his Maker and has built temples; Judah also has multiplied fortified cities; but I will send fire upon his cities, and it shall devour his palaces.” Hosea 8:7-8, 12, 14

They experienced food shortages. They hired mercenaries who did not fight for them. They treated God’s Word as a strange thing. They forgot God but built temples for false gods. They built great defenses for their cities and palaces, but God’s plan was to destroy them with fire.

“The days of punishment have come; the days of recompense have come. Israel knows! The prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is insane, because of the greatness of your iniquity and great enmity. The watchman of Ephraim is with my God; but the prophet is a fowler’s snare in all his ways—enmity in the house of his God. They are deeply corrupted, as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity; He will punish their sins.” Hosea 9:7-9

What happened to their spiritual leadership? Sin rendered them foolish and crazy. They were a part of the problem not the solution. They were corrupt.

“I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstfruits on the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal Peor and separated themselves to that shame; they became an abomination like the thing they loved.” Hosea 9:10

At first Israel was a delight to the Lord, but after they abandoned Him for other lovers, they became like the abomination they loved. An abomination is something that is not stomachable.

“Because of the evil of their deeds I will drive them from My house; I will love them no more. All their princes are rebellious. My God will cast them away, because they did not obey Him; and they shall be wanderers among the nations.” Hosea 9:15-17

God confronted their misbehavior. He expressed His pain over their betrayal of Him but they disregarded His overtures of love so He cast them away and let them wander the world.

“He will break down their altars; he will ruin their sacred pillars.” Hosea 10:2

The Lord’s goal was to destroy the idols that were holding them captive.

“They shall say to the mountains, “Cover us!” And to the hills, “Fall on us!” Hosea 10:8

In Luke 23:27-31, Jesus quoted Hosea 10:8 while on His way to be crucified. Women were mourning and lamenting for Him. He told them not to weep for Him, but for themselves and for their children. He prophesied that the days were coming when people would want to be covered by mountains and hills. He said, “For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?” Hosea 10:8 is also quoted in Revelation 6:15-17, “the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man want to be hidden from Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. They say, “For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” A rhetorical question because what they are saying is that no man can stand up to God’s wrath on sin.

The Lord urged the people in Hosea’s day and I am sure this word is valid for us today...

“Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till He comes and rains righteousness on you.” Hosea 10:12

The fallow ground is metaphor for a harden heart against God. Break it up. Let His Word by like a stone cutter who removes rough edges and shapes your heart into God’s image. Stop sowing seeds of sin and start sowing seeds of mercy and love for God’s glory. You take the first step and God will bless the next step after that. He will send the rain when our intentions are good.

“It is time to seek the Lord, till He comes and rains righteousness on you.” That is, He will help us to correct all that is wrong about our relationship with Him and with the people we love.

Expressing pain that others have caused us and acknowledging the pain we have caused them is uncomfortable. It can cause explosions. However, the Lord shows us in His Word that He is able to bring healing and reconciliation if we do. The Corinthian Christians experienced increased diligence, a clearing of themselves, a new zeal for love and vindication after they approached a relational breakdown with God’s help. In Hosea 5-10, the Lord expressed His desire for a healed relationship with the people of Israel and Judah. Praise be to God! He is a God of love.