Wickedness in High Places
Notes
Transcript
I. Israel is rife with conspiracies, 7:1-7.
I. Israel is rife with conspiracies, 7:1-7.
Every time the LORD longed to heal Israel, new evidences of her sins come to light. The warnings He sent through His prophets have not stemmed the tide of rebellion. The people have reacted to the prophets with rejection which led to further hardening of their hearts. They reveal this in their actions; lying to one another and stealing from one another evidence civil and social injustices in the lives of the people in general.
Yet the Israelites hoped that the LORD would not hold some of their sins against them. The Lord remembers all of their wickedness, surrounding them like a wall, so that every time He looked in their direction, He was reminded of their sin.
The king and the princes should have opposed all forms of ungodliness as the LORD’s representatives on earth yet they rejoiced in the wickedness of the people.
In verse 4, the Israelites as a whole were all adulterers physically and spiritually. Their passion for evil is pictured like a fire in a baker’s oven which is very hot and constantly burning. Wood in his commentary on Hosea describes the baking process: “The oven was so hot that a baker could cease tending the fire during an entire night—while the dough he had mixed was rising—and then, with a fresh tending of the fire in the morning, have sufficient heat for baking at that time.” [Hosea, pg. 196-197]
Then in verses 5-7 we have a description of the assassination of one or more of Israel’s kings. This is an example of the passion the people and their leaders have for wickedness.
The leaders become drunk at some festive occasion
The king joins in the merriment, scoffing at what was holy.
The princes eagerly plot to overthrow the king; their anger toward him simmering just out of sight.
At the proper time, their anger flared up, consuming the king and his supporters. Hosea observed this four times during his prophetic ministry: Shallum assassinated Zechariah, Menahem assassinated Shallum, Pekah assassinated Pekahiah, and Hoshea assassinated Pekah.
This left the Israelites like a ship without a rudder. There was no continuing dynasty in Israel like there was in Judah. That was because none of the Israelite kings sought the LORD.
The prophecy fits during the tumultuous days when Israel’s final kings reigned (ca. 752-722 BC).
“So blinded had the people become that they did not realize that even though their kings had been of their own making, in destroying them they were destroying God’s order (Rom. 13:1).”
— H. L. Ellison
Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.
II. Israel’s reliance on other nations brings ruin, 7:8-12.
II. Israel’s reliance on other nations brings ruin, 7:8-12.
This message further condemns the foreign police Israel had set her heart upon. The first part of verse 8 paints a picture. Ephraim had mixed itself with the pagan nations like unleavened dough mixed with leaven. Ephraim did this by her leaders making alliances with neighboring nations as she also imported heathen customs and pagan rituals into the nation. The following verses describe their unsteady foreign policy. First, 2 Kings 15:19-20
Pul, king of Assyria, came against the land, and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver so that his hand might be with him to strengthen the kingdom under his rule.
Then Menahem exacted the money from Israel, even from all the mighty men of wealth, from each man fifty shekels of silver to pay the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria returned and did not remain there in the land.
Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him, and Hoshea became his servant and paid him tribute.
But the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea, who had sent messengers to So king of Egypt and had offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year; so the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison.
Talk about a “mixed up” foreign policy! Then, the second picture used describes Ephraim much like a pancake burned on one side, soft and runny on the other, half-baked and worthless for nourishing others—not at all what God intended for His people.
These alliances on foreign nations rather than on the LORD had sapped Israel’s strength but they failed to see this and imagined themselves just as strong as they ever were. They were unaware of their real condition.
The nation was too proud to return to the LORD and seek His help. They kept wanting to live in the past glory days rather than in the present. Yet following the death of Jeroboam II, the nation drew weaker and weaker.
Ephraim’s leadership in foreign policy is a joke, seen in their being pictured like a dove, a bird known for its silliness and naivete; Matt 10:16
“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.
The foreign policy of Israel had been guided for years by expediency and human wisdom, marked by vacillation—rather than the will of God. They sought aid from foreign nations without realizing the danger that these nations posed.
The LORD promised to bring Israel under His control and subdue her, like a hunter who would through a net over birds.
He would do this in harmony with what he had proclaimed to their fathers when He gave them the Mosaic covenant.
then I will act with wrathful hostility against you, and I, even I, will punish you seven times for your sins.
III. Israel’s ingratitude brings punishment, 7:13-16.
III. Israel’s ingratitude brings punishment, 7:13-16.
The LORD pronounces “Woe to them [Israel]”. The reason follows in verses 13-16. It is worthy of notice that the Me’s here are all emphatic in the Hebrew.
1. They have strayed from Me (v. 13).
2. They have rebelled against Me.
3. They speak lies against Me.
Israel made treaties with foreign nations; to defend themselves, since they thought the LORD would not or could not defend them.
4. They do not cry to Me (v. 14).
5. They turn away from Me.
Israel turned away from the LORD, the only One who could provide their needs, acting like stubborn children, to cry out, wail, and slashing themselves in their adaptation of the self-destructive Canaanite worship style they had adopted, seeking to get the attention of their idols.
6. They devise evil against Me (v. 15).
Though the LORD is the One who had taught His people how to be strong and made them strong militarily, Israel chose to display their ingratitude by treating the LORD as their enemy.
7. They return, but not to the Most High (v. 16).
They sought help from everyone but the LORD. Pictured as a warped bow, they could not shoot His enemies, but shot their own leaders and slew them. During the reign of Jeroboam II, they had even boasted insolently to the Egyptians about not needing the LORD. The Egyptians, who made treaties before with Israel, will deride them for their weakness.
Israel’s devotion to the LORD was non-existent as a nation in the days of Hosea. But what if you and I were to take an inventory of our own devotion to the Lord?
How lasting is it?
How deep is it?
How strong is it?
How serious is it?
How dependable is it?
May we always seek to love God with everything we are and have. He is our worthy God who provided salvation from sin through His Son, Jesus. Praise His name forever!