Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20080120.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Hosea: God's BALANCE Of Judging And Blessing His People
Part VIII: God's Need To Judge Due To The Vileness Of Israel's Sin
(Hosea 7:1-16)
  1. Introduction
    1. The theme of divine judgment that is often found in Scripture has been used by Liberal Theologians to criticize the "Old Testament God" as being "unloving".
    2. Actually, understanding how vile were the sins God judged in the Old Testament reveals there was no choice for a morally upright God but to judge them, a truth revealed in Hosea 7:3-16 (as follows):
  2. God's Need To Judge Due To The Vileness Of Israel's Sin, Hosea 7:1-16.
    1. God testified in Hosea 7:1-2 ESV that when He wanted to heal the nation Israel, its iniquity was exposed to be abundant, and the nation did not consider that God both remembered all its evil, that its deeds surrounded it and were conspicuously before His face.
    2. To show how vile were Israel's sins, God used (primarily) the illustration of a baker's oven, Hosea 7:3-12:
      1. By way of an analogy with a baker's oven, the Lord alluded to the great treachery that occurred against Israel's kings since they were repeatedly being toppled by lustful, conspiring princes, Hosea 7:3-7a:
        1. Likening the treachery of the princes who sought the throne to a baker's oven, the princes initially would secretly burned with treachery against the king like a dull fire in a baker's oven, Hosea 7:6a.
        2. Then, in the morning when the fire is fed, and the dull fire blazes into the full flame, the dangerous treachery would erupt to slay the king so that some other prince might come to power, Hos. 7:6b, 7a.
        3. Specifically, these princes would celebrate with the king in a drunken party, pretending to be is supporters while simultaneously planning to assassinate him, Hosea 7:3, 5.
        4. Yet, like an oven whose smoldering fire of conspiracy is quickly inflamed into an overheated fire that destroys the loaf within, the king would scarcely be enthroned before he was slain, 7:4, 6b, 7a.
      2. Yet, regardless of all this instability, none of the rulers bothered to call on God for help, Hosea 7:7b.
      3. Instead, "Ephraim [Israel's dominant tribe] launched a futile foreign policy" for stability, Hosea 7:8-12 (Bible Knowledge Commentary, Old Testament, p. 1395):
        1. Like a cake that is mixed with foreign ingredients and put into the oven to bake, Israel had turned to foreign alliances for stability, Hosea 7:8a; Ibid.
        2. However, these foreigners with whom the nation had sought alliance soon discarded the nation like a cake left unturned and so half-baked, Hosea 7:8b. Such nations devoured its financial and military strength while the nation Israel, like an aging man, was unaware of its waning power, Hosea 7:9.
        3. Nevertheless, Israel's proud refusal to acknowledge the Lord testified against her before God, 7:10.
        4. Thus, in seeking the help of Egypt and Assyria like a silly, senseless dove, God like a hunter fowler would spread over the nation a net to bring it down in discipline, Hosea 7:11-12 ESV.
    3. Ultimately, Israel had strayed from God to the extent that she rebelled against Him, Hosea 7:13-16a:
      1. Israel's effort to seek the help of foreign nations was tantamount to rebelling against the Lord, replacing Him with the "idols" of pagans around her, Hosea 7:13.
      2. Then, when God had withdrawn His agricultural blessings for such rebellion, instead of repenting toward God, Israel had practiced idolatrous rituals to impress false agricultural gods like Baal to deliver the rain and crops they lacked, Hosea 7:14 NIV, ESV, Ibid, p. 1396.
      3. Thus, though God had trained and strengthened Israel, she had devised evil against Him, Hosea 7:15.
    4. Accordingly, God promised that Israel's princes who not only treacherously vied for the throne like a treacherous bow would fall by the sword, but had turned on Him as well, "would become an object of derision among the Egyptians, whose aid they had foolishly sought (cf. v. 11)," Ibid., p. 1396; Hos. 7:16b.
Lesson: God NEEDED to punish Israel as her sins were so VILE and HURTFUL: departing from the Lord, Israel's rulers lacked any accountability to God, and turned self-centered and practiced treachery against their kings; that led to national instability and a loss of God's blessing, to which Israel went further into sin by making godless alliances with nations and seeking idols and not God for blessing.

Application: May we VALUE God's DISCIPLINE as the SIN it addresses is so VILE and HURTFUL!