by
Rev. Mark Perkins, Pastor
Denver Bible Church
326 E. Colorado Ave.
Denver, Colorado 80210
To: Hosea
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"What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do
with you, O Judah? For your virtue is like a morning cloud, and
like the dew which goes away early."
A. The question is whether the people of the two Jewish nations
emulate God's faithfulness.
B. First there are two rhetorical questions, one addressed to
each of the Jewish nations. Each is the same: What shall I do
with you?
C. God knows what He should do with them, but they do not. So
the purpose of the question is to introduce to them the idea
that God is thinking on this subject, and that maybe if He is,
then they should be as well.
D. Then comes the Divine evaluation of their character, and it
does not look good.
1. The one character trait that God concentrates on here is hesed, or virtue love.
a. HESED is the Hebrew word that describes the application of virtue in mercy. It describes the outcome of pure motive.
b. HESED is a major theme of this book and especially of this chapter. God has HESED for Israel and Judah, but what do they have for Him?2. The HESED of Israel and Judah is characterized by natural phenomena.
a. The first natural phenomena is the morning cloud. Illustration: San Francisco fog.
b. The second is the morning dew which goes away early.3. In both cases, it is something that looks good, but does not actually do anyone any good.
4. A little sunlight and it is all over and gone. A little undeserved suffering, and they pitch their relationship with God to the wind, and go back to the idol worship. Yet during all this time, God is faithful to them.
"Therefore I have hewn into pieces by the prophets; I
have killed them by the words of my mouth."
A. The combination word AL-KEN is the hebrew equivalent of "therefore".
It comes to a conclusion based on what evidence has gone before.
B. The immediate context of this verse is the last half of verse
four. The virtue of Israel is exceptionally weak; it falters
unders the least adversity.
C. On this basis of this weakness of character, God has hewn
this nation into pieces by means of the prophets.
1. The qal perfect verb denotes that the hewing is in the past, that it is completed action.
2. The verb itself, HATSABHTI, envisions a strong man, with great rippling arms and sweaty brow, laboring in cutting stone or mining. The nation of Israel is the stone; the prophets the hewers. They use words for tools, and the power of the Spirit for muscle.
3. Israel is cut to pieces by the teaching of the prophets; their idolatry makes them an easily cuttable rock.
D. The parallel statement is this: 'I have killed them by the
words of my mouth.'
1. This is the more direct statement of the two. HARAGETEM is the qal perfect again, this time the verb means to kill, and to do so in battle. That is the primary function. From it comes a figurative meaning, as here.
2. God has not actually killed Israel yet, but He has done so with His words. Those words have been spoken, but they have not yet come to pass. Yet when God speaks such words they are certain to do so, and the death of Israel is certainly set in the Divine decree.
E. This is a fascinating prelude to the keystone verse of Hosea's
ministry. It reveals the final disicipline of Israel as being
a part of the divine decree. It shows that discipline approaching
ever nearer, like LeFanu's sheeted ghost in 'O Whistle and I'll
Come to You, My Lad.'
F. As the disicipline approaches, God once more reveals His desires
for His chosen nation, and that desire is a relationship.
"For I delight in virtue love, and not sacrifice; and
knowledge of God instead of whole burnt offerings."
A. The first verb is HAPHETS, and its meaning reveals a sensual
and emotional response to stimuli.
1. It is used of sexual delight for both men and women, and for matters and things that are fun to do. It is pleasure of any kind, and is the basis for many systems of motivation.
2. It is in the qal perfect, which here reveals a principle of God's nature. This verse reveals God's very soul.
B. The object of God's delight is H.ESED - virtue love and the
sum of human virtue in every expression of character. H.ESED
is the revelation of motivation as it extends from the complex
of thought in the soul. And God delights in this.
C. The converse of H.ESED is ZABBAH, the actual slaughter of
the sacrificial animals. The picture here is the actual act of
sacrifice. God does not delight in the acts of sacrifice. He
created the animals, too. They, too are the objects (thought
lesser) of His pleasure, and in sacrifice they are destroyed.
God does not take pleasure in that, nor does he delight in just
the act.
D. The Jews had gotten to the point where the ritual system meant
absolutely nothing to them; where they just went through the
motions, without the slightest thought of the representation.
E. And yet the sacrifices of the ritual system were magnificent
representations of Bible doctrine. The rituals taught many aspects
of Divine character and interaction with sinful mankind.
F. The ritual system was an ingenious way to teach Bible truth,
and it was never designed for just going through the motions
in order to please God.
G. Going through the motions was a part of idolatry, but it was
not any part of the plan of God. The idolaters perceived going
through the motions as a way to please the idol and soothe his
wrath, and bring his blessing.
H. Going through the motions is anti-relationship, and is a philosophy
that keeps its adherents ignorant of the person of God.
I. The second half of the parallel statement is similar, but
brings its own distinctions.
J. YADHA is the intimate kind of relationship knowledge that
God earnestly desires. He wants His people to have a knowledge
of Him.
K. the converse of YADHA is again a part of the ritual system:
it is the whole burnt offering, the ME'OLOTH. But the idea again
is relationship, and so it has been since the beginning of time.
1. Genesis 1:26-27, "Then God said, 'Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness...'"
a. Why are we made in His image? So that we might have a relationship with Him, and bring praise to His name.
b. The image is the soul image, not the physical one. God is not just a really big human being.2. In the garden, there was a spiritual time of day, a time when the man and the woman would meet with God. It was relationship from the very beginning. Gen 3:8, "And they heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden in the spiritual time of the day."
3. All of the patriarchs and great believers of old were such because of their quality relationship with God. Noah, Abraham, Moses, Ruth, Esther, Rahab - all are great because they know Him and reflect His greatness in their own lives.
4. The ten commandments are based on relationship with God, Ex 20:1-3, "Then God spoke all these words, saying, 'I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no others gods before Me."
5. All of the covenants to Israel were based on the precept that they must function in the framework of relationship with God.
6. Deuteronomy 6:1-9 says it best, "Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it, also that you and your son and your grandson might fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. Hear O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlet bands on your forehead. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."7. The content of this verse is quite valid in the church age. Never get means mixed up with substance.
a. The means is the ritual system, or in our dispensation the study of the written word.
b. The substance is a dispensational constant, that is, it is valid at all times in human history. The substance is relationship with God.8. We must never ritualize relationship with God. To ritualize that is to trivialize it. God never intended for something so personal to be institutionalized or monopolized in any way.
9. The means are there for a reason, and are to be employed to maximum advantage. But the means are never going to be the substance, and God is never, ever pleased just by your 'doing' the means.
"But they like Adam trampled a covenant; there they acted
treacherously against me."
A. The conjunction waw shows that this verse continues the thought
of the preceding. Since the thought of this verse contrasts the
preceding, we translate the waw as an adversative - "but".
B. The subject of the sentence is HEMMAH, "they", a
reference to the Jews.
C. The Jews are made the object of a comparison with Adam by
the preposition KE, but the comparison is not a flattering one.
D. The point of comparison is 'ABHERU BHERITH "have transgressed
a covenant."
1. The word for transgress is 'ABHERU. It depicts a stream passing through a pasture, cutting a deep course, or an army cutting through a nation, leaving a well worn path behind (or even a passage of destruction, like Sherman's march through Georgia.
2. The covenant can be any of the covenants between God and Israel, but is specifically Adam's covenant in Eden.
3. The covenant is one of the least understood of Biblical phenomena; too many theologians have failed to understand the grace aspect of all the covenants to man.a. In any covenant, God agrees to apply His grace to a person or group of persons.
b. The basis for the covenants to all but Adam is belief in Jesus Christ. Adam did not have this requirement because before the fall he did not require a savior.1. To illustrate one from our civilization, Abraham's covenant will suffice.
2. Abraham believed in God, and thus could enjoy the covenants that God gave to him. His belief made him eligible.
3. Abraham's circumcision was a post-covenant command, designed to remind him of the relationship that he had with God, and how it had brought him to the point of maturity.c. But Adam was prohibited from eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And when he did eat, he trampled the covenant which God had made with him.
d. The grace part of Adam's covenant was the trees in the garden. He could eat from and enjoy any of them, and they were great! But the one tree represented Satan's plan; from that he could not eat.
e. The word BERITH itself comes from the word "to eat", BARATH. It harkened to the time when those who were making a covenant would eat a meal together to show outwardly that they were at peace over the matter,Psalm 23:5, "You prepare a table bedfore me in the presence of my enemies."
Gen 31:54-55.Indeed, today most weddings have a rehearsal dinner, which is a throwback to the wedding feast of Biblical times. That feast represented the covenant between the two families.
f. Furthermore it was customary to sacrifice an animal when making a covenant, so that it was considered an agreement in the sight of God. Thus the phrase came about, "to cut a covenant".
g. Any covenant with God had one requirement: relationship with Him, the maker of the covenant. But all covenants are gracious - they are offered freely and their blessings are truly free. The personal rejection of God results in the rejection of the person by God, Deut 29:10-28.
h. The covenants did not require obedience - see Hosea 6:6. The grace disposition always preceded anything that Israel had done. The blessings were not given as rewards for past obedience, nor as bribes for future. They were given in love and grace.4. Now Adam trampled on his covenant with God by choosing relationship with the woman over relationship with God; and so he was ejected from the garden and its wonderful fruit.
5. Israel in the same way has trampled the grace blessings which they had from God.a. They had the land, and they were God's chosen nation on that land.
b. They were the recipients of the Davidic king.
c. And in spite of all of this grace, they rejected a personal relationship with God for one with idols.
d. Our verb 'ABHERU is in the perfect tense, showing a state of completed action. The trampling is finished - the dust has settled - it is almost too late.
E. The remainder of the verse further describes the nature of
the trampling. The adverb of place, SAM, points the area in which
the treachery took place - "there", meaning, the covenants.
F. Their action is treacherous, from the verb, BAGEDHY. It is
a description of an adulterer or one who is treasonous against
his own country.
G. The target of treachery is God, as portrayed by the first
person singular preposition bhi - "against me".
Grace Notes
Warren Doud, Editor
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Phone: 512-458-8923