Hosea Chapter 4 – 11/23/2025

Podcast

Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun

Come, Lord, join us here today.
Grant us peace in all things
Knowing you are with us
Helping us through
Teaching us
Correcting us as we need it
Comforting us
Giving us strength
Refocusing our attention back to you
Back to our neighbors
In love
With hearts full of gratitude
Making all things new
Making us whole
Together
Moment by moment
In all things
Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

Intro: I think you most likely know that I love the Scriptures

The more I read them, the more I get from them,
– and the deeper I go, the richer my experience
• however, the journey is not always pleasant, and
◦ some parts of the Bible are not as easy to digest as others
◦ Hosea is not one of my favorite books
• still, there are verses in it that are among my favorites
◦ other than those few, working my way through Hosea,
is like crawling through a long, dark tunnel
◦ but the Bible doesn’t have to please me; I only need to let it speak to me
– in chapter 4, Hosea continues to hammer theme of spiritual adultery
• it’s like he can’t let go of it–perhaps God won’t allow him to let it go
◦ or maybe his own painful experience haunts him
• so far, it’s been the central metaphor of his prophecies
◦ he will move on to other more pleasant analogies, but not yet

The message begins with an announcement
Hear the word of the LORD, O Israelites
for the LORD has a brief
against the dwellers of the land.
For there is no truth and there is no trust
and there is no knowledge of the LORD in the land.
Falsely swear and murder
and steal and commit adultery.
They burst bonds — and blood spills upon blood.
Therefore the land does languish,
and all those dwelling within it are bleak.
With the beasts of the field and the fowl of the heavens
and with the fish of the sea, too — they shall perish Hosea 4:1-3

“The LORD has a brief” – this is a “legal brief” or “indictment”
– remember in chapter 2 Israel was summoned to appear in court?
• God picks up that theme again, and now it’s directed to “the dwellers of the land”

The “land” was God’s gift to Israel, which he promised to bless with bountiful harvests and pastures for their herds and flocks. But now he has a judgment to pronounce against “the dwellers of the land,” because “there is no knowledge of the LORD in the land, and therefore “the land does languish.” So right off, what the people have put at risk is the very land that their nation rests upon and defines the boundary of their lives and to a degree their identity.

• here are the charges God levels against his people:
First, there was no truth or trust or knowledge of Yahweh
– the Hebrew words for “truth” and “trust” are a famous word-pair in Hebrew Scriptures:
emeth and chesed
• the King James Version usually translates them “truth” and “mercy”
◦ but both of them are rich in multiple meanings
emeth: trustworthy, faithful
chesed: loving-kindness, loyalty, an undeserved benevolence
• Israel lacked the necessary honesty and empathy that makes a society run well and pleasing to God
– “knowledge…” – not being informed about God was just part of problem
• knowing the person of God, in a way they could walk with him daily was the more serious problem
Second, what was common in their society included:
– falsely swearing – that is, lying under oath, which would include daily business as well as the courtroom
(no one could be trusted)
– murder, theft, and adultery – sounds like we’re revisiting “ten commandments”
– burst (or break) bonds – would include contracts or agreements
• there was an absence of moral restraint and integrity
Then, blood spills upon blood – this could have multiple meanings
– the statistics of Latin American governments killing their own people are staggering
◦ such mass spilling of blood has been world-wide from ancient civilizations
◦ there was no place for that in the social structure of God’s nation
• blood also played an important role in worship
◦ to them, blood contained a life-force that was sacred
◦ that is why it could be used in worship
▫ if handled carefully and properly, it could atone for sin
▫ however, if mishandled or misused, it could become bad juju
(for instance, an unresolved murder could affect the health of “the land”) “You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it. You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell . . . .” (Nu. 35:33-34)
• the significance of this indictment regarding the spilling of blood comes in verse 3
◦ the entire landscape and topography of what was supposed to be “milk and honey” was wasting away
• the dire consequence of sin does not require an act of God
◦ human sin–especially greed–has ecological consequences:
◦ pollution, deforestation, and extinction

Who is to blame for this messed up society?
But let no man inveigh
and let no man rebuke
when your people inveighs against priest.
And you stumbled by day,
and the prophet, too, stumbled by night,
and I will destroy your people.
My people is destroyed without knowledge,
for you — you rejected knowledge,
and I rejected you from being priest to Me.
And you forgot your God’s teaching —
I will forget your sons on My part.
As they increased, they offended against Me,
I will exchange their honor for disgrace.
My people’s offense offerings they eat,
and they long for its crimes Hosea 4:4-8

God answers the question above in a round-about way
– he begins by saying, “Do not inveigh [sharply criticize] priest”
• that is not because the priests were innocent–they were not!
◦ but they weren’t the only guilty party
• if the priest stumbled by day, the prophet stumbled by night
◦ so there was twenty-four hour, around the clock failure
– God holds Israel’s spiritual leaders responsible for the Israel’s bleak condition

We’ve seen already that a true knowledge of God had vanished
– now we learn that was the fault of the priests and prophets
• from the start, the Levitical priests were to be teachers
“They shall teach Jacob your rules
and Israel your law . . .” (Deut. 33:10)
• it was bad news when a prophet told King Asa,
“For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law . . . .” (2 Chron. 15:3)
– the priests were to teach the law and the prophets filled-in the gaps when the people needed a word from God in the here and now
• both priest and prophet were to inform Israel regarding God’s will
• both were responsible to give direction and correction to kings as well as subjects
Robert Alter, “Both have betrayed their calling of providing moral instruction to the people.”

How did the spiritual leaders get so turned-around?
– one of the reasons was personal gain
• the last two lines are sort of this section are cryptic, but expose a motive
• whenever a sacrifice was made for a specific sin,
◦ the priest was given a portion of the meat for his food
(meat was not part of an everyday diet for most people)
◦ the more people sinned, the more meat the priest received
So, because
“My people’s offense offerings they eat,
they long for its crimes”
– more “crimes” (sins) meant more sacrifices and more meat for the priest

God could not let this confused and sinful state continue
And it shall be, people and priest alike,
I will make a reckoning with them for their ways,
and for their acts I will pay them back.
And they shall eat yet not be sated,
play the whore yet not burst bonds.
For they have forsaken the LORD
to keep on whoring and drinking
and new wine that takes away the mind.
My people asks oracles of a tree,
and his rod tells him what to do.
For a spirit of whoring made them stray,
and they played the whore against their God.
On the mountains they sacrificed,
on the hills they offered incense,
beneath the oak and the poplar,
and the teribinth of goodly shade.
Therefore their daughters go whoring,
and their daughters-in-law are adulterous.
I will make no reckoning with your daughters for whoring
and with your daughters-in-law who are adulterous.
For they themselves go off with the whores
and with the cult-harlots they sacrifice,
and a people undiscerning comes to grief Hosea 4:9-14

God was going to take action, make a reckoning, hold them responsible
– everyone will be included in this, “people and priest alike”
• I find it interesting that he takes this approach
◦ he will prevent them from experiencing any pleasure or satisfaction from their sinful pursuits
• Israel’s excess of pagan festivity and wine “takes away the mind”
◦ the Hebrew, word translated mind is lev – is the “heart,” but with broad range of application
◦ it includes perception, awareness, appetite, drives, and desires
▫ so here it can mean, “whoring and drinking dulls the senses”
– I’m reminded of the Rolling Stones’ song in the 1960’s “Satisfaction”
• they sang of the failed promises of advertisers and society at large
• but I also think of drug addiction and alcoholism
◦ after all the pleasure is exhausted, all that’s left is the need for another “fix”
◦ there is no more pleasure, no satiation, no satisfaction

I imagine hearing a tone of frustration in God’s voice,
“My people asks oracles of a tree”
– this is an insulting way of referring to sacred wooden objects,
• for making idols or using in divination
• this is the next strong charge against them
– specifically, God mentions daughters who have gone whoring
• this could mean these young women were engaged in idolatry
◦ but it could also have a stronger and more explicit meaning
◦ that they actually became cultic prostitutes in Canaanite fertility rituals
• at any rate, God would not have a specific reckoning for them over that
◦ the reason being: their fathers and brothers were consorting with cultic prostitutes themselves
– again, they are faced with the consequence of sin
“a people undiscerning comes to grief”
• sin blurs the lines between right and wrong, healthy and sick, sane and crazy
• losing clarity, we make bad decisions that end in regret and grief

The southern kingdom of Judah receives warning
If you go whoring, Israel,
let Judah not be held guilty
And do not come to Gilgal
nor go up to Beth-Aven,
and do not swear, “As the LORD lives.”
For like a wayward cow
Israel was wayward.
Now shall the LORD herd him
like a sheep in an open field?
Ephraim is stuck fast to idols,
Let him be!
When their swilling is over,
they go on to the whore.
They love the disgrace of their defenders.
The wind bundles them in its wings,
and their altars are shamed Hosea 4:15-19

When the northern tribes of Israel broke away from Judah,
– there first king, Jeroboam, invented a cult to prevent his subjects from seeking God in his temple in Jerusalem
• he designated two sacred sites for worship
• one was in “Gilgal” to the far north and the other was “Bethel” in the south
◦ Beth-el means “house of God”
◦ only Hosea calls it “Beth-Aven” “house of wickedness”
Henry McKeating, referred to this as “a nasty nickname for Bethel”
• Ephraim was one of Israel’s key cities, and Hosea uses it in place of “Israel”
“Ephraim is stuck to idols,
Let him be!” (or, “Keep your distance”)
– in the end, the northern tribes would be bundled in the wind and carried away
(like the wicked who are “like chaff that the wind drives away” (Ps. 1:4)

Conclusion: When I began developing today’s talk, I asked myself,

“How can I turn this into a Happy Thanksgiving talk?”
Obviously, I’ve given up on that

So, instead, here’s where I’ll leave us today
If we put ourselves in the place of Judah,
can we pay attention to the warning; take it seriously?
There are many spiritual leaders today misleading people
A few of them seem to assume that if they can draw a crowd,
they’re reproducing the Jesus Movement
It isn’t the same
Back then, the crowds were drawn to Jesus
It grieves me that there are pastors who identify with Christian Nationalism;
someday they’re going to have to make a choice which one it will be
It seems that even some of the Calvary Chapel pastors have lost their way
I get it, when the pastor is young, a third or fourth generation Calvary Chapel pastor,
who was not even alive when the Jesus Movement occurred
But I don’t understand how someone who sat under my dad’s ministry
could drift so far away from the path he walked back in the day
If the sort of person who attended Dad’s church in the late 60’s or early 70’s
walked into some of the Calvary Chapels today,
they would receive a very cold reception, rather than open arms;
they would run into a barrier rather than a bridge
Many professing Christians today make a lot of noise regarding what they are against,
many are misguided,
and many have been walked into the wrong “ism”
Don’t be one of them