Journal Through the Bible: Week 54 Thursday

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Hosea 3:1-4:19

Does God issue any commands?

• God told Hosea to go and claim again as his wife the adulteress to whom he was married. Hosea did so. He bought his wife back for 15 pieces of silver, and 1 1/2 homers of barley. This was God's picture of His love toward Israel, the nation that had played the adulterer against Him.
• Through Hosea God commanded people to hear His word proclaimed. Their sins were so abundant that they were no longer listening to Him.
• God told them not to argue and fight with each other when their punishment of captivity came because they were all guilty. He said they were destroyed for a lack of knowledge because they rejected knowledge. (This sounds very much like today.) God would reject them because of it.
• God commanded that Israel not carry her immoral behavior into the nation of Judah. God desired for them to be kept separated.

Does God make any promises?

• Through Hosea God told Israel that they would be many days without a king, a prince, a sacrifice, an image, or the ephod and teraphim.
• God told them that the land would mourn, every one who lived there would languish as would the beasts, fowl, and fish of the area. Their glory would become shame.
• The nation of Israel had rejected the tribe of Levi as priests and had set their own standards for the priesthood of the golden cows. Those priests were ungodly in every way, including taking advantage of the people and leading them into immorality.

Does this passage teach anything about Jesus?

• Jesus is the princely King that Israel is "without" today. They do not properly worship God the Father because they have rejected His heir, Jesus Christ. They also do not now offer sacrifices or carry out any of the ceremonies of worship as instituted by Moses. Of courses, they do not need to sacrifice animals as pictures of the atonement any more because those were only pictures of Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God that takes away sin. 

Does this passage teach anything about yet-future events?

• 3:5 - The children of Israel return to the LORD and their rightful king of the lineage of David (Jesus) in the latter days. This will be completely fulfilled when Jesus rules Israel upon the throne of David from His capital city of Zion in New Jerusalem.