Loyal - Week 4 Day 1
Hosea 5:1–2
[1] Hear this, O priests!
Pay attention, O house of Israel!
Give ear, O house of the king!
For the judgment is for you;
for you have been a snare at Mizpah
and a net spread upon Tabor.
[2] And the revolters have gone deep into slaughter,
but I will discipline all of them. (ESV)
Remember GOD is still at the prosecutor’s table in the court room. He is still going down the list of offenses.
Who are the offenders GOD is talking to here?
1.
2.
3.
Underline priests above.
Who are the priests? Again, do these spiritual leaders of the community represent not just the people that GOD instilled in the family line Levi but also the priests that Jeroboam instilled for worship of the false gods?
Underline “house of Israel” in blue, to represent Israel, the northern tribes. These again are the tribes that were initially lead by Jeroboam when GOD tore them away.
Underline “house of the king” in purple, to represent Judah. Why would GOD have said house of the king instead of house of Judah? Maybe because we now know that JESUS’s bloodline is from this tribe and He is the KING of kings. Possibly because some of the kings of Judah were pleasing in the sight of the LORD while all of Israel’s kings were evil in the sight of the LORD.
Where is Mizpah? (Look at the map included)
Where is Tabor? (Look at the map included)
GOD makes it clear that this judgement is for all of them.
Hosea 5:3–5a
[3] I know Ephraim,
and Israel is not hidden from me;
for now, O Ephraim, you have played the whore;
Israel is defiled.
[4] Their deeds do not permit them
to return to their God.
For the spirit of whoredom is within them,
and they know not the LORD.
[5] The pride of Israel testifies to his face;
Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt; (ESV)
The LORD details again offenses of Israel.
What should we think of when we see the word whore? Pursuing a faithless, unworthy, and/0r idolatrous desire. It seems that Ephraim has influenced all of Israel and multiplied with the sin of Jeroboam.
Why does GOD say that their deeds do not permit them to turn back to Him? (Look at the last of verse 4.)
A spirit of faithless, unworthy, and idolatrous desires prevent the people from knowing GOD. This knowing is possibly not just to know of GOD and acknowledge that He indeed ids GOD, but instead know GOD in an intimate relationship. Their Spirit of whoredom prevents them from surrendering to GOD.
What about us? Do we, as a people, a community, or a nation have a spirit of whoredom that prevents us from surrendering to GOD? Do you have a spirit of whoredom preventing you from surrendering to GOD?
Again, don’t put extra weight and burden on yourself, but if you are carrying around faithless, unworthy, and/or idolatrous desires, please get on your knees and tell GOD. Tell GOD how you want to rid yourself of this extra burden and love GOD the most. Pray also for your leaders. GOD is waiting, ready and able. GOD loves you and wants an intimate relationship with you.
Loyal Map
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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.