a Grace Notes course Hosea by Rev. Mark Perkins, Pastor Denver Bible Church, Denver, Colorado Lesson 7 Hosea 4:6-19 Grace Notes 1705 Aggie Lane, Austin, Texas 78757 Email: [email protected] Hosea Lesson 7: Hosea 4:6-19 Instructions Lesson 7: Hosea 4:6-19 ......................................................................................................7-4 Lesson 7 Quiz ......................................................................................................................7-11 Instructions for Completing the Lessons Begin each study session with prayer. It is the Holy Spirit who makes spiritual things discernable to Christians, so it is essential to be in fellowship with the Lord during Bible study. Read the whole book of Hosea often. It is a short book, and reading it many times will help you understand the story much better. Instructions 1. Read the introduction to the study of Hosea 2. Study the Hosea passage for this lesson, by reading the verses and studying the notes. Be sure to read any other Bible passages that are called out in the notes. 3. Review all of the notes in the Hosea lesson. 4. Go to the Quiz page and follow the instructions to complete all the questions on the quiz. The quiz is “open book”. You may refer to all the notes and to the Bible when you take the test. But you should not get help from another person. 5. When you have completed the Quiz, be sure to SAVE your file. If your quiz file is lost, and that can happen at Grace Notes as well, you will want to be able to reproduce your work. 6. To send the Quiz back to Grace Notes, follow the instructions on the Quiz page. Hosea Lesson 7 KEN work together to form the 'as... so' clause. It Hosea 4:6 is a clause of equal expansion. My people will be destroyed from the failure The qal infinitive construct of the verb RABAM of knowledge, for you have rejected the describes an expansion. Expansion in numbers knowledge, and I will reject you from and expansion in territory both apply to Israel ministering as a priest to me. Because you during the period described. Expansion in forgot the instruction of your God, I will also spiritual greatness did not occur at all. forget your sons. The verb HATA' is the equivalent of the Greek "my people" is AMMI. Hosea's second son was (hamartano). It describes a missing of the mark in Lo-ammi, and here we are about to gain some way. Here, it is very exact: it is the missing explanation on his name. of God's mark... the sin is against God. We know The verb DAMA again explains destruction from from other Scripture that sin is any thought, word, the viewpoint of the quiet after the violence of the or act against the perfect righteousness of God. actual destruction of the nation. The result of this expansion of sin is described by This verb is in the niphal perfect. The niphal is the the last sentence. God will change [MUR] the passive stem, so the action applies back to the glory of Israel [KEBHODHAM] into dishonor subject of the sentence instead of being produced [QALON]. by it. The perfect tense reveals an event that is set The glory harkens back to the expansion. into the divine decree as absolutely certain. This is Therefore, the dishonor must affect the two parts another foretelling. of that expansion. The preposition MI plus the noun BELI describes The expansion of population will be reversed the cause for the destruction. "From failure of" through war, disease, and famine. BELI shows a failure that finds its source in just The expansion of territory will be destroyed plain wearing out. It is like an automobile tire that through foreign acquisition and war. goes flat. The tread wears down until it is bald, and then until the cord shows through, and then Hosea 4:8 the tire goes flat at the first sharp object. In the same way, the positive volition goes down, and They eat [endure the consequences of] the then down some more, until disaster strikes. sin of my people, and they increase their DA'ATH points to Bible Truth. It defines appetite through their sin. knowledge by what God knows. This concentrates The subject of this sentence is an unspecified on the perceptive end of faith perception, the 'they'. They are the people of Israel. intake side. They have failed in getting the truth The verb eat is YO'KHELU, and it is a metaphor into their souls. for bearing the consequences of your actions. In Next is a tit for tat kind of construction, "you reject the agricultural society of the time, a common me, I reject you." There is nothing irregular here. figure of speech was 'eat the fruit of your labor', Because Israel has rejected God, He rejects them that is, what you grew on your farm. This figure from being His priest nation, His ambassadors. then expanded to embrace the negative side in the law of volitional responsibility. Hosea 4:7 The idea is further expanded by the phrase, 'and As they were becoming many [expanding] so they increase their appetite through their sin.' they sinned against me. I will change their The more they sin, the more they suffer. glory into dishonor. The more they suffer, the more they hate God, the The sin grew commensurate with expansion of the more they reject His word, the more they accept nation of Israel. The preposition KI and the adverb the cosmic counterfeits and lies, the more 7 - 4 Hosea Lesson 7 unhappy they become, the more entrenched they Hosea 4:10 become in lust and addiction. Indeed they will eat but they will not be The people of Israel are trapped in the cycle of sated. They will commit fornication but they self-destruction. will not give birth. For they have forsaken to Hosea 4:9 wait for Yahweh. Verse ten reminds us of the fruitlessness of sin And it will be like the people, like the priest. and life in the cosmic system. And I will visit his ways against him, and I will personally turn his deeds back to him.' No sin finds reward. No system of sin results in prosperity. This verse adds more to the law of volitional responsibility as presented in the previous verse. The reason. The have left behind waiting for God. It shows that the priests will follow the people Waiting for God means letting Him solve your into their degenerate ways. problems. It means utter dependence on Him for everything in life. This waiting is the Hebrew verb The comparison is drawn with the inseparable SHEMOR, which has a basic meaning of 'keep'. It preposition KI, and is set up in an exact parallel. comes to mean "wait", with the idea of So the priests will follow exactly in the people's dependence over time. footsteps. You can only do this if you know Him through This came true with chilling accuracy, and is a faith perception. Waiting for God is the end result reliable historical trend today. of the faith perception process. The priests without integrity will cave in to the The verb 'AZABH describes leaving or departing demands of the people. something, and thus being absent from it. If the people want entertainment and stimulation, then the priests will provide it. Hosea 4:11 If the people want a populous local assembly, then Fornication and wine and new wine take the priests will do what it takes to bring people in. away heart. If the people lack integrity, then priests without This verse is a cute verbal joke. It is written in the moral courage will follow. language of a two-year-old, and it describes the There are certain demands that should never be taking away of the human comprehensive met. If the people demand from the priests that abilities. which does not promote spiritual growth, then the New wine is TIROSH, the wine from the most people should be put in their place. recent grape harvest. It is not much good for taste, For 'priest' you can substitute 'pastor', or even but it intoxicates just as well. 'politician'. Priests, politicians, and pastors all The people are getting drunk from the new wine follow the people. because they are too full of lust to wait for the The rest of the verse is a rehash of the law of wine to age. volitional responsibility that centers on the priests. They are so anxious to get drunk that they are They will pay for their catering to the wrong exhausting the wine supply, so that the most demands of the people. recently fermented stuff must be drunk. Watch this historical trend in our own nation. The new wine is the cheap wino kind of wine. When the people want a church that is a social The abstract noun ZENUTH describes the concept club, they hire social director types as their of sexual immorality without focussing on the act. pastors. When the people want a government that This was before they allowed nudity in films, substitutes their responsibilities as citizens, they before the age of cinematic realism. elect bureaucrats instead of leaders. 7 - 5 Hosea Lesson 7 The three things listed here are all the objects of the absence of virtue. Guidance, guidance, addictive sin. It is worthwhile to note that this guidance! verse reflects on the idea of addiction as it applies But the thing is, they are trying to fill a God sized to the destruction of the soul. emptiness, and only God will do.