HOSEA 10 the DANGER of a DIVIDED HEART DATE:Sunday, January 17, 2021 INTRODUCTION: If You Have Your Bible, Please Turn To
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HOSEA 10 THE DANGER OF A DIVIDED HEART DATE: Sunday, January 17, 2021 INTRODUCTION: If you have your Bible, please turn to Hosea chapter 10. This morning we are going to talk about “The Danger of a Divided Heart.” In 1839, a 30 year old French writer named Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, became editor of a Paris newspaper Le Figaro. While Karr served as editor of that newspaper, he coined a phrase that would prove to stand the test of time; “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Today as we read Hosea 10, you will see Karr’s phrase coming to fruition in the Israelites. The more they increased, the wealthier they became, the more sophisticated they appeared to be, the more they proved that they hadn’t changed a bit. They still continued to wallow in their sin of idolatry. TEXT: 10 Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit. The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built; as his country improved, he improved his pillars. 2 Their heart is false; now they must bear their guilt. The Lord will break down 3 their altars and destroy their pillars. F or now they will say: “We have no king, for we do not fear the Lord; and a king—what could he do for us?” 4 They utter mere words; with empty oaths they make covenants; so judgment 5 springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field. T he inhabitants of Samaria tremble for the calf of Beth-aven. Its people mourn for it, and so do its idolatrous priests— those who rejoiced over it and over its glory— for it 6 has departed from them. T he thing itself shall be carried to Assyria as tribute to the great king. Ephraim shall be put to shame, and Israel shall be 7 ashamed of his idol. S amaria’s king shall perish like a twig on the face of the 8 waters. T he high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed. Thorn and thistle shall grow up on their altars, and they shall say to the mountains, 9 “Cover us,” and to the hills, “Fall on us.” F rom the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, O Israel; there they have continued. Shall not the war against the 10 unjust overtake them in Gibeah? W hen I please, I will discipline them, and nations shall be gathered against them when they are bound up for their 11 double iniquity. E phraim was a trained calf that loved to thresh, and I spared her fair neck; but I will put Ephraim to the yoke; Judah must plow; 12 Jacob must harrow for himself. S ow for yourselves righteousness; reap 1. steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, 13 that he may come and rain righteousness upon you. Y ou have plowed iniquity; you have reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your warriors, 14 therefore the tumult of war shall arise among your people, and all your fortresses shall be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of 15 battle; mothers were dashed in pieces with their children. T hus it shall be done to you, O Bethel, because of your great evil. At dawn the king of Israel shall be utterly cut off. PRAYER: Thank the Lord for the congregation. Ask for grace to pay attention and to be faithful to the text. Ask that God’s grace will help us to commit to Christ with greater and greater fervency. EXPOSITION: If you can remember back at the beginning of our study, we mentioned that Hosea’s prophetic ministry lasted between 25 and 40 years. Because the prophecy of Hosea was chronological, the content of chapters 9 and 10 would have been delivered when Hosea was an older man. So for decades, Hosea was faithful to deliver God’s word in the midst of criticism and hardship. Year after year this man would be given God’s word and year after year he would bear the burden of delivering that word to the people. When Hosea gave his prophecy, the Nation of Israel was divided into two kingdoms; the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah. This division occurred in 1 Kings 12:16-24 under the reign of Solomon’s son Rehoboam (circa 930 BC). The Northern Kingdom of Israel was ruled by a succession of wicked Kings which led to even greater wickedness. The Northern Kingdom was composed of various cities such as but not limited to Shechem, Penuel, Samaria, Bethel and Ephriam. Now down south in the Southern Kingdom of Judah, things weren’t quite as bad as the Northern Kingdom, yet they still had their problems. During the split of the nation, the southern kingdom of Judah would have it’s capital in Jerusalem and was also composed of cities like Hebron, Beersheba and Lachish. The prophecy of Chapters 9-10 of Hosea are directed towards the Northern Kingdom of Israel and in particular towards the cities of Samaria, Bethel and 2. Ephriam, which were all cities that were located relatively near each other. The prophecy of chapters 9-10 are a foretelling of judgement that will soon come upon the people. This coming judgement has been a theme that has been consistent throughout Hosea’s ministry, and is coming closer and closer to fruition. As Mike mentioned last week, Hosea 9 and 10 are really one prophecy. Last week Mike covered chapter 9 and this week I’m covering chapter 10; and so today’s sermon is the “Part B” of Mike’s sermon. I would like to let you know that there is a lot of content to chapter 10. In fact there are 422 English words that were translated from the original Hebrew, that make up this chapter, and in all honesty every verse of chapter 10 could be a sermon in itself. Because of time constraints, I won’t be able to break down all of the content in chapter 10. However, I will try my best to do the text justice in our short time together. 10 Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit. The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built; as his country improved, he improved his pillars. Hosea chapter 10 is another indictment on the spiritual rebellion of the Israelites through their idol worship. In verses 1-4, Hosea continues the agricultural imagery that he began in chapter 9 verse 10 when he wrote, “Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. Like the first fruit on the fig tree in its first season, I saw your fathers.” However, in 10:1, Hosea elaborates on this theme by calling Israel a “luxuriant vine that yields its fruit.” The term “luxuriant” is a difficult word to translate. The word actually means to empty, to lay waste, to drain, to consume with no regard to give. It’s like the Israelites were committed to “all take and no give.” They were given so much from God and never gave anything back to him. In fact, instead of giving to God, they gave to the false gods they were worshiping. Israel had experienced great increase over the years. Israel had experienced great wealth and acquisition of land and possessions, however, they attributed their prosperity to the wrong thing. They attributed the increase to the idolatrous practices that they had been involved in and instead of heeding the words of Hosea as a young man, the Israelites continued in their rebellion. Years have gone by and the worship of these false gods has grown all the more. We actually see that in the second sentence of verse 1. 3. Hosea then says that these idolatrous practices would manifest itself in the building of, and improving of, altars and pillars. What is interesting about the use of Altars and Pillars in pagan worship is that it communicates the totality of the idolatrous practices of the Israelites. You see, when Hosea mentions the construction of an altar, he was communicating one idea, and when he mentioned the improvement and construction of a pillar, he was communicating another idea. Altars were constructed by a group of people so that the collective whole could worship their deity and pillars were constructed by individuals for the purpose of individual or household worship. In order to accommodate the amount of sacrifices the Israelites were giving, the altar at Beth-Aven would have been very large, while a pillar was a small, simple, cylindrical object that stood about 3 feet tall. These pillars would hold a carved image of a deity and the individuals would worship these idols in their personal time. Because the Israelites believed that their increase in goods was caused by these false god’s, the people would “improve” or add embellishments to their pillars in hopes of impressing the deity, with the hope of gaining added blessing from that deity. But why? Why did the worship of the Israelites get to this point? Verse 2 will shed light on this question. 2 T heir heart is false (chalaq - means divided. Mike talked about this last week, and it is reiterated in today’s text that the collective heart of the Israelites was divided between the worship of the false gods and the worship of Yahweh. Mike mentioned last week that Israel believed themselves to be orthodox and honoring God, but the opposite was actually occurring.