Hosea 11
In this chapter, we see the pleading of a loving God as He begs His people to return to Him and avoid the judgment that is coming. Hosea paints a word-picture of a heart-broken Lover who is desperate to restore the relationship with the object of His ardor.
As we’ve seen before, Jesus, God the Son, is revealed in the New Testament but concealed in the Old Testament. We see that again in this chapter, so be sure to look for prophetic references to Jesus, even if I don’t point them out.
Hosea 11:1
Verse one begins the chapter with a clear declaration of God’s love for Israel. He has loved Israel since the very beginning. There’s a beautiful truth about God’s love hidden in the word translated as “loved”.
What does the word “love” indicate about God’s feelings toward us? (Follow the BLB link below and check Gesenius’ Lexicon).
It’s difficult for us to fully comprehend the love God has for Israel. The word translated as “love” indicates a deep longing, a love that transcends all mistakes, all unworthiness. This is a love that depends not at all on the object of love, but is initiated, sustained, and nurtured by the One doing the loving.
PRAYER PAUSE:
The Most High God longs to have a relationship with His people, including you and me. It’s mind boggling, but He is the One who loves us most, the One whose love never lets go, the One whose grip on His children never slips. He loves us. He loves you.
Take a moment and revel in the truth and warmth of His love toward you.
Spend some time loving Him back, whispering words of love and gratitude for His mercy and grace.
Don’t ask God for a single thing. Simply love Him as He loves you.
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When Hosea says that God “called My son” out of Egypt, the reference is both historical and prophetic.
2) How did God call His son from Egypt (historical)? (See Exodus 4:21-23)
3) How did God call His Son from Egypt (prophetic)? (See Matthew 2:13-15)
Hosea 11:2
4) To whom does this refer as “calling” Israel? (See 2 Kings 17:7-14)
Lest we think Hosea was a lone voice in the wilderness, calling God’s people to repentance, take a look at the prophets God sent to the divided kingdom.
During the years from 931 B.C. to ~420 B.C., God sent thirty prophets to His people. (I’ve included references for the lesser-known prophets.)
We’ve seen the response of the people to God’s calls for repentance, and verse 2 reminds us of this again.
5) How did the people respond to the call of God delivered through the prophets?
Hosea 11:3
This verse makes reference to God’s tender care for the Israelites in the wilderness, as well as their unwillingness to acknowledge Him as the One who had met their needs.
When the children of Israel stood just outside the Promised Land, yet refused to go in because they feared the people, Moses spoke wise words about God’s faithfulness. Despite his encouragement, they chose the wilderness over the blessings of Canaan.
6) What do Deuteronomy 1:29-32 and Deuteronomy 32:10-18 tell us about God’s care and His people’s response?
This God we serve does not send us out alone. Instead, He holds us in His arms, close to His heart, all the way through the difficult places.
PRAYER PAUSE:
Think about the times your parents carried you and the times you’ve carried your children. Held tight against the chest, the child is close enough to hear their parent’s heartbeat. In that same way, those difficult times when our Lord carries us through can be the sweetest of all because of the closeness we experience.
How have you experienced the tenderness of God carrying you through a hard time? Be sure to thank Him, both for the hard time and His loving embrace.
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Hosea 11:3 concludes by saying that they “did not know that I healed them.” Israel had seen mighty works of God over and over again. It’s difficult to understand how they “didn’t know”, but there’s a difference between seeing and understanding, isn’t there?
7) What does the word translated as “know” indicate? Here’s the BLB link: (Also see Isaiah 6:9)
We’ve come to something that took my breath away as I studied it. It’s so exciting that I’m tempted to forge ahead, but you’ll remember it better if you see it for yourself.
Let’s take a look at the kind of healing God does. Head to BLB and read through the entry, with special attention to Gesenius’ Lexicon.
8) What kind of healing can human healers offer? (See Gesenius’ #1)
9) What kind of healing does God offer? (See Gesenius #2)
10) To what does God restore? (Gesenius #2)
If you’re not familiar with those terms, here’s a link to a dictionary:
pristine: (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/pristine?s=t)
felicity: (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/felicity?s=t)
11) What does God use to bring healing? (See Psalm 107:20)
Let’s put it all together. When we are brokenhearted, suffering, sin-sick, we can go to the One who loves us most.
12) How does Scripture tell us He will respond?
13) When we immerse ourselves in His Word, what happens to our brokenness, our suffering, our sin-sickness?
14) How thoroughly will God heal us (if we are willing)? (This comes from the Gesenius lexicon above)
If you’ve made it this far in the Hosea study, you have already immersed yourself in the Word of God. Whether you realize it yet, or not, God has been working in your hurt places, your places of pain and disillusionment, to bring healing with His Word.
Before we leave Hosea 11, we will see a beautiful picture of just how much our God loves His people. We will see just how much He loves you and me.
We cannot be restored to the “pristine felicity” God intends without dealing with our disease of sin. Repentance and forgiveness are not optional. (See Isaiah 6:10 and Isaiah 53:5)
I don’t want to leave this verse without addressing the issue of physical illness. There are some illnesses that are clearly the result of our own sin. A sexually-transmitted disease contracted by having sex with a prostitute is an example, albeit extreme, but not all illness is a direct result of personal sin.
In heaven, there is no sickness. We, however, are fallen humans living in a fallen world. What was once perfect, at creation, has been marred by sin. In a way, all disease happens as a result of our corporate sin (that Sin that began in the Garden of Eden), but not all disease happens because of our personal sin.
We’ve just looked at verses that point to the divine healing of God and that brings us to the question of whether or not God will heal our illnesses.
When we ask for healing, God always responds. Sometimes, God chooses to heal the diseases with which we suffer when we enter heaven. Sometimes He chooses to heal while we are still in this world. Sometimes that healing is instantaneous; sometimes He uses the work of humans (doctors, nurses, therapists) to accomplish His work of healing.
What we sometimes fail to understand is that all healing comes from God. Physical. Spiritual. Psychological.
All healing comes from God.
Without Him, there is no lasting healing, for He, alone, is Jehovah Rapha.
Hosea 11:4
My translation begins, “I led them with cords of a man…” The word translated as “led” is not exactly what I expected, so follow the link to BLB.
15) What does “mashak” indicated about the kind of “leading” God has done for His people?
In a way, God has not so much led His people as He has drawn His people to Himself. Verse 4 tells us He has used two means to draw us to Him.
16) In what two ways has God drawn His people?
a)
b)
17) The “cords of a man” may well refer to literal “cords” but look at BLB for an alternate explanation. How might this lead us to God?
18) How does God draw us with His love? How does that love become a “bond” that draws us?
PRAYER PAUSE:
How has God’s love drawn you to Himself? How have you seen His love demonstrated to you this week? This year? Now is the time to thank Him for His love and offer your love back to Him.
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Verse 4 continues with God’s declaration. “I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their neck.” In this instance, the yoke is a symbol of servitude, of slavery. If God “lifts the yoke of slavery” from us, He, in essence, frees us from our bondage to sin.
19) In what ways has God freed you from your bondage to sin?
Verse 4 closes with these beautiful words. “I bent down and fed them.” God Almighty saw their pitiful state and reached down from heaven to give them the provision they so desperately needed.
PRAYER PAUSE:
Stop for a moment and consider the implications of those words. God bent down and fed you. How have you seen the evidence of this in your life? Pause to thank Him and honor Him for His faithfulness.
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Take a few minutes to read the words God spoke to Ezekiel about how He found Israel and how He made her a beautiful treasure among the nations. It’s a lovely picture of the lavish love God bestowed on His people.
20) Read Ezekiel 16:1-14 and make notes as you are moved.
Hosea 11:5-7, 12
In these verses, God again speaks of the sins of His people and the coming judgment meted out by Assyria, who will “consume them because of their counsels.”
The word translated as “consumed” does not mean that the riches of Israel made a tasty meal for the Assyrians. It is a judgment against the Northern Kingdom, a note of finality.
Follow the link to BLB:
21) What will happen to the Northern Kingdom?
22) See Psalm 81:12. To what did God give over His people?
In verse 7, God’s people are described as “bent on turning from Me.”
23) What does the word translated as “bent” indicate about the turning away of God’s people? See BLB:
At last, we come to one of the most stunning passages in Scripture, as we glimpse the agony of God over His wayward children.
PRAYER PAUSE:
Read Hosea 11:8-9 aloud and consider the heart of our God. Read it aloud again, putting your name in the place of Ephraim and Israel. Pause for a moment to revel in the great love our Lord has for you and for your children. Be sure to thank Him for His unending love.
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When God makes reference to “giving up” Ephraim and “surrendering” Israel, the words translated here indicate “giving up”, “delivering over”, or “yielding”. In a way, giving up on Ephraim and surrendering Israel would be a kind of yielding to their sin. Although judgment is both justified and unavoidable, God is not willing to relinquish His hope that they will turn back to Him.
Admah and Zeboiim are usually mentioned together in Scripture. The events described in Genesis 14 make it clear that Admah and Zeboiim were neighbor-cities that were closely allied with Sodom and Gomorrah. They likely participated in the same sinful lifestyle, as well.
Genesis 19:24-25 describes the judgment of God on Sodom and Gomorrah. Verse 25 tells us that “all the valley” was overthrown, as well as anything that grew from the land. Some commentators believe that the four cities were located at the Southern tip of the Salt Sea and are now submerged beneath its waters. (https://bible.org/seriespage/genesis-101-32 Accessed 7.5.16)
Deuteronomy 29:23 describes the area where these four cities were located. Based on Genesis 19:25, we can presume that Admah and Zeboiim suffered the same fate as Sodom and Gomorrah.
24) What sins of Sodom does Ezekiel 16:48-50 describe?
25) Jude 7 also makes reference of the “cities around Sodom and Gomorrah”. What was their sin?
26) What does Jude say is their punishment?
27) How did the sin of Israel compare to the sin of Admah and Zeboiim (and Sodom and Gomorrah)?
In Hosea 11:8, God says, “How can I do to you, my own people, what I did to Admah and Zeboiim?”
28) Contrast the judgment of Israel and Ephraim with the judgment of Admah and Zeboiim.
29) What does Hosea 11:8 tell us about God’s emotional response toward His children?
After all the “I will’s”, we come to what seems almost unbelievable. Almighty God had been betrayed, rejected, and trivialized by His people. He had wooed, begged, demanded, disciplined. He had vowed to destroyed them, and yet His great loved exceeded His anger. And still it does. Where God had spoken “I will”, He now speaks “I will not”.
30) List the “I will not” phrases found in Hosea 11:8-9.
Hosea 10:11 tells us that, after all the discipline, God will roar like a lion to call His children. The phrase is repeated. “Indeed He will roar.” When a phrase is repeated in Scripture in this way, it is a kind of “confirmation of two” that indicates its imperative truth. In a way, God is saying, “I have said it, and I will definitely do it.”
A few basic facts about lions may help us understand the simile a little better. Lions live in groups, known as “prides”. The pride is composed of related females with no more than one or two males in the group. The male’s job is to protect the terrority of the pride, usually about 100 square miles. The male lion’s roar, mainly intended to warn intruders or call stray pride members back, can be heard up to five miles away.
(http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/lion/#lion-male-roar.jpg Accessed 7.5.16)
If you want to hear the roar of a lion, you can click here:
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/african-lion/'
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/african-lion/'
When the roar of God is sounded, it will be heard far and wide. He will claim His territory, and call His own to Himself.
31) What does Isaiah 31:4 tell us about God as a lion?
32) See Joel 3:16 for a word picture of what will happen when God roars. How will most people respond? What will His people discover about God?
33) See Revelation 5:5 - Who is the Lion of Judah and what will He do?
34) How will God’s children respond?
35) From where does Hosea 10:11 say God’s sons will come?
In geographical terms, a hemisphere is half of the globe’s sphere. There is a Northern Hemisphere above the equator and a Southern Hemisphere below the equator.
The Eastern Hemisphere is “east of the prime meridian and west of the 180th meridian, with the Western Hemisphere being west of the prime meridian and east of the 180th meridian. (=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemispheres_of_the_Earth accessed 7.5.16)
Israel, then, is located in the Eastern Hemisphere, as is Egypt and Assyria. North and South America (among others) are both located in the Western Hemisphere.
When Hosea said God’s sons would come from the west, he may well have been speaking prophetically of those of us living now in the Western Hemisphere, even though the Western Hemisphere had not been discovered at that time.
Pause for a moment and consider the implications of this. God spoke through Hosea more than 2700 years ago about the children He would have in our area of the world, even before the greatest minds of the time knew this land mass existed.
PRAYER PAUSE:
We are known by our God, who made reference to us more than 27 centuries ago. He knows us. He loves us. He calls us to Himself. Stop now to thank Him for His faithfulness, for calling you to Himself, and for His great love that transcended the generations to reach out to you.
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Closing thoughts:
We're 80% through with Hosea. Only 39 more verses to go. We'll sail through them faster than you can imagine. In Hosea 12, we'll see God's response to the sin of Judah. In Hosea 13, we'll see how costly pride can be. When we reach Hosea 14, however, it's a chapter of love, forgiveness, and restoration.
I'm stunned by your faithfulness, proud of your effort, and delighted to see what God is doing in you through this.
It's worth the journey to learn what God has in store for us, so don't give up.
A little extra:
The picture below is also of the Salt Sea. It has become a popular tourist attraction because of an unexpected benefit. The "mud" at the bottom of the sea is rich in chemicals and is especially desirable for its positive effects on skin.
God's desire is to restore to the utmost. In a way that only God could do, even the "mud and dirt" left behind after His judgment on Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim can be used to bring beauty from ashes.
Here's the link to Chapter Twelve.
#Hosea #Biblestudy #indepthBiblestudy
