The Book of Hosea

See last week’s notes for general information about the book of Hosea

Notes

Hosea: Knowledge of God

Here is a quote that I found helpful concerning Hosea's message to Israel:

"This general description of faith is the consummate demand of Yahweh upon Israel:

"For i desire mercy not sacrifice,
and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings" (Hosea 6:6)

The knowledge of God (acknowledgement in NIV '11) was also at the heart of Isaiah' message to Judah, as it was in Ezekiel's prophecy several generations later. It was, as we have observed, far more than a mere cerebral function, for it included man's will and emotions. Rather than a function of the mind it was the reflex of the total person, the response of one to God and His revelation of Himself in law, history, and prophetic word. Even though we must be cautions in speaking of synonymous concepts in the Old Testament, we might suggest that the knowledge of God was to the prophets who use the phrase what the fear of the Lord was to the wisdom writers and the psalmists. It is the totality of Man's relationship to God. Hosea understood that Israel was tragically mistaken in her assumption that she knew God: "They cry out to Me, ' My God we of Israel know thee' (8:2). The deficiency itself was tragic, but believing that the deficiency did not exist was fatal.
(C. Hassel Bullock Prophetic Books, 123-124)

Jesus quotes this passage twice, in Matthew 9:12 and 12:7.

High Places in Hosea

The high places of wickedness will be destroyed— it is the sin of Israel. Thorns and thistles will grow up and cover their altars. Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!” (Hosea 10:8)

A high place was a localized or regional worship center dedicated to a god. Worship at these local shrines often included making sacrifices, burning incense, and holding feasts or festivals (1 Kgs 3:2–3; 12:32). Some of these high places contained altars, graven images, and shrines (1 Kgs 13:1–5; 14:23; 2 Kgs 17:29; 18:4; 23:13–14). The Canaanites, Israel’s enemy who worshiped Baal as their chief deity, also used them. The term conjures up images of remote hilltops, but in the biblical context, it wasn’t limited to mountaintops; Jeremiah 7:31 locates a high place in a valley and 2 Kings 23:18 at a city gate.

This is a picture of the remains of a "high place" located about one mile away from Shiloh in Israel. Remains excavated at this location clearly indicate that this stone altar was used for animal sacrifice.

High places in Israel were sometimes used to offer sacrifices to Yahweh before the temple was built (see 1st Samuel 9:12-25). However, this is not what God wanted. Sacrifices were only to be made in the Tabernacle and then the Temple. Remember the near-civil-war that was stoked when the Trans-Jordan tribes set up an altar (high place) at Geliloth on their way back home from the conquest of Canaan in Joshua 22 (they didn't even sacrifice anything on it)? Later in the history of Israel, the high places would be centers of pagan idolatry hated by God.

It would be extremely normal for people in the Ancient Near East to have a local altar on which they could sacrifice to their God. However, Yahweh, the God of Israel is not like the other gods. he did not desire frequent, local sacrifices to him on hills all over the promised land - they were only to be offered at the Tabernacle/Temple. We think of the Old Testament religion as one centered on sacrifice, but consider how much the Israelite religion limited* or reduced the practice of animal sacrifice compared to the religions of their culture/neighbors. People in Dan, Megiddo, Hazor, and Shiloh. would have to go to the temple in Jerusalem to offer sacrifice, and they could not do so frequently. They were not allowed to offer sacrifices in their hometowns whenever they wanted. Of course, the Israelites struggled to accept this practice, and they disobediently offered sacrifices to all manor of Idols on high places until the period of the kings ended with exile.

Samaria’s Calf Idol

Hosea 8:
5 Samaria, throw out your calf-idol!
    My anger burns against them.
How long will they be incapable of purity?
6     They are from Israel!
This calf—a metalworker has made it;
    it is not God.
It will be broken in pieces,
    that calf of Samaria.

When God’s people divided into two nations after the reign of Solomon, the ruler of the northern kingdom (Israel), Jeroboam, had a problem. He has been made king over the kingdom of Israel, but the temple of the God who gave him this position and his people worship was in the kingdom that they just split away from. His people would have to go there to worship because this God has said that His temple is the only valid place to offer sacrifices to Him. Jeroboam feared that if his people must frequently make this pilgrimage they would return to Judah (the southern kingdom) and kill off his dynasty. This fear caused Jeroboam to do something evil, something driven by self-interest.

Here are the remains of what is believed to be the religious site in Dan constructed by Jeroboam son of Nebat

Jeroboam sets up two religious sites with golden calves and altars; one in Bethel, the southernmost city in his kingdom, and one in Dan, the northernmost city in his kingdom.

"Like the Ark of the Covenant, the golden calves are not idols. Rather, both the ark and the calves function as thrones or pedestals upholding the glory of God. Calves were a reflection of syncretism, the religious and cultural borrowing from the Canaanites (because the calf was a symbol associated with the Canaanite gods El and Baal)... Since Jeroboams intent was to provide alternative worship centers to Jerusalem, it would have been necessary to furnish those shrines with a religious symbol just as powerful as the Ark... However, so that the calves would not be considered idols, the argument was made that they were instead merely the throne of Yahweh (Canaanite Gods were often depicted as standing on calf or bull)... Whatever its original intent or background, the calves ultimately became associated with false worship by the Israelite community, whether as a violation of commandment one or two. The latter seems more likely in that even a century later, when Jehu eliminates Baal worship from Israel, the takes no action against the calves (see 2 Kings 10:28-29)" (The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament)

Despite the fact that these sites may have been intended for the worship of the one-true God. They were a violation of how God had told the Israelites to worship him. They were a sinful work-around of God's clear instructions, made for purposes of political expediency. This particular sin, of worshiping at these sites, plagued the kingdom of Israel all through the story of their existence in the Bible. Here we see Hosea prophecy against Jereboam’s Calf, one of many such condemnations that God delivers to Israel for this sin.

Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus

We spent a Sunday at Madison Church talking about Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus in John 3 back in February of 2020. Here is the video of that Sunday - the sermon begins at 26:25.

Week 4 - Hosea 6-14 & John 3 (Jan. 22 - 28)