Loyal Week 3 Day2
Imagine sitting in a courtroom as you read these next verses.
Hosea 4:1–3
[1] Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel,
for the LORD has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.
There is no faithfulness or steadfast love,
and no knowledge of God in the land;
[2] there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery;
they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
[3] Therefore the land mourns,
and all who dwell in it languish,
and also the beasts of the field
and the birds of the heavens,
and even the fish of the sea are taken away. (ESV)
Still sitting in the courtroom, the LORD is in the prosecutor’s seat and the children of Israel are in the defendant’s seat. The LORD has a controversy, an accusation or legal case, against the children of Israel, the inhabitants of the land.
The LORD says there is no…
1.
2.
3.
The hebrew word that is translated here to faithfulness is ‘emeth, which can also be translated to truth. GOD is saying there is no truth in the land. (On a side note in the english language, faithfulness and truth are synonyms for each other)
The hebrew word that is translated to steadfast love here is checed, which can also be translated as mercy. GOD gave mercy, but the Israelites were unwilling to give each other mercy. GOD is saying there is no mercy in the land.
The Prosecutor, GOD, is also saying that there is no knowledge of Him. The people possibly know of GOD as their Creator and Giver, but do not know Him. They do not have an intimate relationship with GOD; knowing His personality, His sense of humor, His likes and dislikes. Yes, He is GOD, but He so graciously desires a relationship with us, being fully known to us and us fully known to Him. What a Great GOD!
What five things does the LORD says there is?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Below is a list of rules for the people of GOD to live by. As you read, put a checkmark in the margin beside any offense broken in Hosea 4:1-3
Exodus 20:1–17
[1] And God spoke all these words, saying,
[2] “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
[3] “You shall have no other gods before me.
[4] “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. [5] You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, [6] but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
[7] “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
[8] “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. [9] Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, [10] but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. [11] For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
[12] “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
[13] “You shall not murder.
[14] “You shall not commit adultery.
[15] “You shall not steal.
[16] “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
[17] “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”(ESV)
Back in the courtroom, we hear from the prosecutor in his opening remarks, that because of these offenses, extreme violence is happening! “Bloodshed follows bloodshed!” Yikes! Because of these offenses, living in the land is miserable. There does not seem to be any food; the animals, birds, and even the fish have left. Remember that GOD is still waiting to reconcile if only His people will obey. Tomorrow we will hear from the prosecutor the list of suspects.
Works Cited
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.
“Dictionary by Merriam-Webster: America's Most-Trusted Online Dictionary.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/.
Green, Jay P. “Hosea.” The Interlinear Hebrew-Aramaic Old Testament: With Strong's Concordance Numbers above Each Word, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, MA, MA, 1985, pp. 2075–2092.
Publishing, Rose. Rose Book of Bible Charts, Maps, and Time Lines. Rose Publishing, 2015.
Strong, James. The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible: Showing Every Word of the Text of the Common English Version of the Canonical Books, and Every Occurrence of Each Word in Regular Order, Together with Dictionaries of the Hebrew and Greek Words of Th. Hendrickson Publishers, 1990.