Author: Scott Walter

Hosea 6 is a poem calling for Israel to return to God for redemption and restoration of a right relationship. This is not the first or last time we will see a plea for Israel to return and repent. All of Hosea is about rebellion, consequences, and the power of God’s mercy.

In Hosea 4, Israel’s downfall is described clearly. It reads, “my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge” (v. 6). This idea of destruction coming from a lack of knowledge of God is not lost on us. We live in a culture that gleans information about God from short sound bites in social media. Hosea 6 describes a knowledge of God that requires his people to press on and in. Our knowledge of Him is meant to be an intimate pursuit, an endeavor, and a life-long quest for the Almighty. Too often, we settle for second-hand knowledge. A snippet of a sermon here. A podcast there. When we do, we bypass what God desires. He wants us to know and love Him with our whole heart, mind, and soul.

So often, we think, like Israel, our sacrifices to God is what He wants from us (Hosea 6:6). If only we could stop doing that one thing we know is bad or start doing that one thing we know is good, then we will be in good standing with God. We fool ourselves just like the Israelites did when we think that way. Sure, we should stop doing bad things we know are bad and start doing things we know are good. That is not the point. The point is God does not desire our sacrifices as much as He would rather have our hearts full of mercy and acknowledgment of Him. Sacrifice without mercy and knowledge of God is a vain attempt to please God.

God desires a relationship with His people. The right relationship goes beyond sacrifices. He wants us to pursue Him and know Him with our whole heart, mind and soul. He wants to revive and restore us. There is a harvest waiting for us.

Hosea 5 has much to teach us about the character of God. Specifically, this chapter teaches us about God’s wrath and our pride. God’s anger towards Israel is described as unrelenting, crushing, rotting, and mighty. The image of a cup poured out is used to describe the overwhelming and unrelenting fury of God (v. 10). Next, God is described as “a moth” and like “dry rot” to Israel (v. 12). This is depicting that God will slowly eat away and destroy Israel. Finally, God’s wrath is compared to a lion–mighty and fierce. Israel can do nothing to stop His wrath; in fact, they deserve it. Verse 4 states, “Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God.”

The first 14 verses of Hosea 5 paint a picture of the Israelites being guilty and how deserving they are of God’s punishment. But, if Hosea 5 ended there, we would have an incomplete view of the character of God. Verse 15 is the most important verse in understanding God’s wrath. His wrath comes with a purpose: to push the Israelites to earnestly seek him. God’s anger is not for the sake of destruction or His enjoyment; it is for the Israelites’ own good. The only way for them to truly seek God is in their distress, which illuminates Israel’s pride, showing their need for God.

We are just like Israel. Our deeds are similarly deserving of judgment. Our pride is at the center of our rebellion, and we too, have earned the full wrath of God poured out on us. There is nothing we can do to save ourselves from it. But God, in his love, made a way for us to be restored even when our deeds do not permit us to return. Romans 5:9-10 says “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by from the wrath of God, for if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” Only through believing in Jesus can we be saved from God’s wrath. Only by understanding that we were enemies of God, but instead been saved by Jesus, can we fully grasp our need of our Savior. 

Many parents know that anxious feeling—“How is my kid going to act in public and how is it going to reflect on me?” Probably just as many of us have seen a kid throwing a tantrum in the grocery store and shaken our heads in judgment of the failed parenting on display. Sure, we think the kid should know better, but somehow, he has come to understand from his parents that acting out is acceptable.

In Hosea, we see a somewhat similar, albeit holy, perspective from God regarding the degradation of Israel. Yes, the people are faithless, loveless, adulterous, and murderous (v. 1-3), but God reiterates, “With you is my contention, O priest” (v. 4). He doubles down, saying, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, [but this is] because you have rejected knowledge” (v. 5). If the world is Godless, Hosea states that it flows specifically from the failure of its priests to seek the one true God, to submit in obedience to Him and to diligently and unwaveringly call others to do the same. In our clinical reading of this historical book, we can appreciate the failure of the Levites to guide the children of Israel towards God. But it is much harder to internalize the fact that in the New Testament church, we are the royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9) established by God as the catalyst for holiness in the world.

As we look at the world around us and bemoan the godlessness, the dissolution of truth and the humanistic elevation of self, God says that failure falls at our feet. For those of us who have sought to represent Christ to the culture and call all men to repentance, we feel affronted by this. But of course, we alone hold truth, so we alone are responsible to disperse it. This affront is less about guilt, however, and more about opening ourselves to conviction. Paul writes, “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.” (Romans 2:1)

The challenge before us is less about changing the world for righteousness and more about submitting ourselves in obedience to the holy convictions of the Spirit. The current state of our world is less an indictment on the godless and more an indictment on those who know God but fail to live from that truth.

This chapter of Hosea is short but packed with beautiful truth. Look beyond the words in these verses and see the greater story of God’s love for all of us. His character is powerfully on display here.

The chapter opens with a personal directive from God for Hosea to go and show his love for his wife again, even though she is caught in a life of adultery. While the case of adultery would permit Hosea to divorce his wife, God is asking for him to do something radically different. Illustrating the Lord’s love for Israel though they too have been an adulterous people. Hosea then goes, buys her back and brings her home to stay with him. He isn’t casting her aside amid her sin but paying a price to restore a relationship with her.

This act is a perfect depiction of God’s love for us. Romans 5:8 states that “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” He doesn’t ask us to come to Him clean and perfect. He rescues us in the midst of our mess. Not because we deserve it, but because that is how much He loves us! Christ was the payment for us, so we could have a relationship with God. It’s simple and yet radical. It’s incomprehensible yet true.

The chapter ends with a focus on the restoration of Israel. Their idolatry will result in a long period of separation both politically and spiritually. This ruin will cause them to return to the Lord. When we find ourselves in similar ruin or desperation, God welcomes us to return to Him. We are an adulterous people. Our lives when examined often display things that we have put before God. Career, family, comfort, fun, money, pleasure, and any number of our own selfish desires. God is calling us back to him. If we confess to Him, He will cleanse us (1 John 1:9). As with Israel, there may still be earthly consequences to face, but Christ is where we find life. John 1:4 says, “in Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.”

That is what radical love looks like. God sees us in our sin and makes a way for us to experience life! For those that believe, it should shake and transform us. May we go forth and display the same radical love and forgiveness.

Like the relationship between Hosea and Gomer, God compares Israel to an unfaithful wife. Hosea is wronged and wounded by Gomer’s pursuit of other lovers. The Israelites left behind their covenant relationship with God and turned toward idols. They took the gifts God had given them and used them to worship Baal. The start of this chapter describes the judgment an unfaithful wife receives because of the pain and brokenness she caused.

Without warning, the tone of the chapter changes. In verse 14, the Lord begins to explain the purpose behind the punishment Israel is receiving. Through reminding Israel of what He has done for them, He is drawing His people back to Himself. Because of God’s love, His covenant with them remains despite their unfaithfulness. 1 Corinthians 13 reminds us that love is patient, it keeps no record of wrongs, and it always perseveres. In God’s love, He demonstrates this patience and perseverance by having mercy on His people. This is not because they had already turned back to God. They did not beg Him for forgiveness. They did not acknowledge the covenant they had broken or express a desire to change their ways. This chapter gives us a picture of God’s faithfulness to Israel, and reminds us that He loves us in the same way.

God’s judgment and discipline always leads to restoration. He loves His people in a way that invites them back into a relationship with Him. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Although Israel turned away from God and did not recognize His provision for them (v. 8) and used the very gifts they received from God to worship an idol, God continued to restore them to Himself. In the same way, God sees us in our idolatry and our choice to continually turn away from Him and loves us anyway. Verse 19 says, “I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord.” Knowing we are sinners, God still holds us close. May we respond to His faithfulness by directing our worship to the only One who is truly worthy.