Hosea 6:11b – 7:7 11b… I [would] restore the fortunes of my people. 7:1 When I would heal Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed, and the evil deeds of Samaria; for they deal falsely; the thief breaks in, and the bandits raid outside. 2 But they do not consider that I remember all their evil. Now their deeds surround them; they are before my face. 3 By their evil they make the king glad, and the princes by their treachery. 4 They are all adulterers; they are like a heated oven whose baker ceases to stir the fire, from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened. 5 On the day of our king, the princes became sick with the heat of wine; he stretched out his hand with mockers. 6 For with hearts like an oven they approach their intrigue; all night their anger smolders; in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire. 7 All of them are hot as an oven, and they devour their rulers. All their kings have fallen, and none of them calls upon me.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome back to Hosea. If you’re just joining us Hosea is the name of an OT prophet and a book containing a compilation of his prophecies. He prophesied primarily to the 10 northern tribes of Israel (collectively referred to as “Israel” and “Ephraim”). God’s primary message to Israel through Hosea was one of jealous love resulting in certain judgment for her unrepentant sin.
To this point in Hosea, there have been three main takeaways for God’s people today—for you and I. First, we are more sinful than we could ever know. Second, God is more holy and therefore intolerant of sin than we could ever know. And third, God’s grace in Jesus is more amazing than we could ever know.
Over the past few months we’ve seen these things as I’ve preached through the first six chapters of this book. This morning, then, we’ll begin looking at the seventh.
Concerning our passage for this morning, I can honestly say that I’ve never encountered a section in the bible where the specific meaning of the specific references is as hidden. One of the more helpful commentators (Mays, 103-108) repeatedly uses phrases like “One would expect the sentence to begin with…but” and “perhaps Hosea meant…” and “The subject of the clause is also ambiguous” and “The term, however, might be…may be…or could be…” and “Of the various options…” and “It would be wise not to found a particular interpretation of events solely on this verse…”.
Examples of this ambiguity begin before we even get to the text. That is, there is even a bit of confusion about where chapter 7 is meant to begin. As I mentioned in my last sermon on Hosea, in spite of how your bible is formatted, it is generally agreed that 6:11b should begin the new chapter (which is why it’s included in this sermon). Concerning the text itself, it can be difficult to tell where metaphor stops and historical accounts begin. It’s difficult to tell which kings, princes, and rulers Hosea is referring to in 7:3 and 5 (or if he has any particular men in mind at all). And understanding the specifics of Hosea’s main analogy in this passage—that of the baker/oven—is challenging.
All of these things may very well have been (and probably were) crystal clear to Hosea’s original audience, but the particulars are at least somewhat lost to us. That is not to say, however, that the overall meaning is unclear. That remains as clear to us today as it would have been for the Israelites in the 8th century B.C.
Hosea’s primary message in this passage is that (1) although God remained eager to “restore” and “heal” his people should they repent, (2) Israel remained eager to increase in sin. Let’s consider each of those two points.
GOD DESIRES HIS PEOPLE TO REPENT IN ORDER THAT HE CAN “RESTORE” AND “HEAL” THEM
First, God desired his people—the Israelites—to repent in order that he can “restore” and “heal” them.
The picture painted in the beginning of our passage (“6:11b … I [would] restore the fortunes of my people. 7:1a When I would heal Israel…) is one in which God is eager to be reconciled to his wayward people. In spite of all her past sin and rebellion, God remained willing to restore Israel’s fortunes and heal her wounds—restore the fortunes and heal the wounds brought on by her sin against Him!
To truly appreciate the remarkableness of this offer—of this expression of mercy and grace—I’d encourage you read back over the previous chapters and consider the absolutely horrific sins of Israel (physical adultery, spiritual adultery, child sacrifice, mutiny, idolatry, and on and on). As you do, keep in mind that these sins, these treacherous, despicable sins, were primarily against God himself!
Imagine having a nephew that was always getting into trouble. He’d have his car impounded and need a ride to work. He’d lose his job for missing too many days and need a little help with his rent. He’d get caught for shoplifting and need to get bailed out of jail. Even if he seemed genuinely sorry each time, it would require a good amount of kindness and mercy for you to remain willing to help.
Now imagine that same nephew’s trouble and its consequences increasing. Instead of shoplifting a pair of pants, he stole a car. Instead of getting fired for truancy, he viciously assaulted his boss. Instead of parking tickets, he committed vehicular homicide. These things, of course, would require another level of grace for you to continue to look for ways to save him from his trouble.
Finally, imagine that your nephew started doing all of these thing, not to others, but to you; the very one who had sacrificially helped him over and over. Imagine the kind of love and compassion and humility and self-control it would take for you to forgive him, let alone help make restitution for his crimes, let alone wait in genuine eagerness for him to acknowledge his fault and ask for your help—the very one who he offended.
If you can get that picture in your head, you’re probably closer to understanding the remarkableness of God’s disposition in the beginning lines of our passage. For God to be willing to restore and heal Israel from the effects of sins committed against others or one another would be gracious. For Him to be willing and even eager to restore and heal Israel from the effects of her sins against him is amazing grace.
And so it is today. God’s offer of restoration and healing is still available to all who will repent of their sin and trust in Jesus. Grace, hear this: No matter what you’ve done or what the consequences have been (for none of you have done anything close to what the Israelites had done), God remains eager to receive you back and restore all that your sins have destroyed if you would turn from your sins and place your hope in God.
He is not far off; He is near. He is not slow to forgive; He will wash your sins away right now. His offer is not fickle; His promises are sure. His grace is not limited; He will receive anyone and forgive everything. All of that because of and in the Lord Jesus Christ. He did for you what you could not do for yourself, and God is eager to apply Christ’s work to the account of all who would place their faith in Him (and in him alone).
That brings us to the second point. Although God desired his people to repent that he might restore and heal…
THE ISRAELITES, HOWEVER, CONTINUED TO INCREASE IN SIN
The Israelites, however, continued to increase (not decrease) in sin. In spite of God’s past grace and promise of future grace, the Israelites hardened their hearts and continued in their sin. In our passage for this morning we find eight more ways in which “…the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed, and the evil deeds of Samaria…” in the face of God’s offer of everlasting blessing. All of them are presented in the context of Israel’s political system.
- They dealt falsely (7:1a). That is, they were dishonest. They were liars. They were deceptive. The context tells us that they acted this way toward foreign nations, one another, and even God himself. While God is Truth and calls his people (made in his image) to reflect His character, God’s people had given themselves over to cheating, trickery, duplicity, and deviousness of many kinds.
- They lived as thieves and bandits, breaking in and raiding out (7:1b). While God is generous and calls His people to imitate him in it, they instead gave themselves over to dishonest gain. While God had promised to meet all his people’s needs and bless them in abundance beside, God’s people chose to hope in themselves and their own methods instead. While God is the protector of the weak and calls his people to the same, the Israelites were taking advantage of those who could not defend themselves.
- The leadership—the kings and princes, the ones most responsible for the nation’s response to God, were glad about the people’s evil and treachery (7:3). In one of the more disturbing lines in Hosea (and that’s saying something!) we read, “By their [the Israelite people’s] evil they make the king glad, and the princes by their treachery.” It’s one thing for a leader to know about and turn his back on the evil of his people. It’s another thing to tolerate it. It’s another thing still to participate in it. But it’s another class altogether for a leader to find joy in the sins of others—to view them as entertainment and sport.
- They committed spiritual adultery against God (7:4a). “They are all adulterers…”. This is Hosea’s go-to charge against the Israelites. It is an all-encompassing expression of Israel’s unfaithfulness to God. They were committing acts of physical adultery, but Hosea’s point here is that it was their spiritual adultery that led to their physical adultery and every other act of treachery. There is no more serious accusation that could be made against the people of God and God saw fit to make it over and over and over and over against the Israelites through Hosea.
- Their sin fed and grew their sin (7:4b, 6, 7). As I mentioned in the introduction, the meaning of Hosea’s main illustration in this passage is somewhat illusive. We see it used in vs.4, 6, and 7.
…4 they are like a heated oven whose baker ceases to stir the fire, from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened…6 For with hearts like an oven they approach their intrigue; all night their anger smolders; in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire. 7 All of them are hot as an oven….
The gist of the simile seems to be twofold: First, Hosea means to communicate to the Israelites the fact that their sins are planned, serious, and prolonged. A baker needs to decide what he is going to bake, plan out it’s prep and the fire needed to cook it. He needs to work the fire to a certain point and then let it settle before putting his food in the oven. In other words, baked goods aren’t spontaneous or accidental. They require forethought, intentionality, perseverance, and purposefulness. Likewise, Israel’s sin was not of the spontaneous, isolated, or accidental kind. Her sin required all the planning and commitment of a baker.
The second way in which Hosea used the furnace/oven/baking was to help the Israelites to see that unlike ordinary ovens, which begin to decrease in heat when left for the night, Israel’s unrepentant sin only fed their appetite for more sin. They leave their sin to smolder only to find it blazing hotter when they return to it. Their sin, like all sin, because it was unrepentant sin, became self-perpetuating and self-stoking.
- They, including their leaders, were drunkards and their leaders joined with mockers in their mocking of God (7:5). That’s the essence of verse 5. “On the day of our king, the princes became sick with the heat of wine; he stretched out his hand with mockers.” Again, we see the leaders giving themselves over to sin; particularly the sins of drunkenness and God-mocking. We saw earlier that they enjoyed the sins of their subjects. Here we see that they had no trouble enjoying their own sins as well.
- The people rose up against their own leaders (7:7a). It can be difficult even for good leaders to maintain the loyalty of their followers. But it’s often even harder for bad leaders to do so. Such was the case in Israel. The people “devoured all their rulers.” Indeed, ” All their kings have fallen”.
From 2 Kings 15 we know that “In Hosea’s time King Zechariah was assassinated by Shallum….Shallum was himself assassinated within a month by Menahem. Menahem reigned for 10 unhappy years before being succeeded by his son, Pekahiah. And finally Pekah was assassinated by Hoshea” (Chester, 120).
Israel’s rulers devoured themselves, often with the help of the people.
Here’s the key to this point, Grace. Where God has ordained leadership (as he did with the kings of Israel), to rebel against it is ultimately an act of rebellion against God. If God commands children to obey their parents, a child who does not clean their room is disobeying their parents AND God. When God’s people refuse to pay taxes we are disobeying the civil authorities AND the God who called us to be subject to them. This overthrow of their rulers, then, was really an attempt to overthrow God. That is another serious indictment by Hosea.
- Worst of all, in the midst of all of this sin-induced chaos, suffering, and murder, God’s own people refused to call upon God—the only one who can bring it—for help (7:7b). While we tend to scoff at those (even ourselves) who only turn to God in times of trouble, the Israelites had taken it a step further—they didn’t even do that.
… and they devour their rulers. All their kings have fallen, and none of them calls upon me.
Israel had abandoned God even to the point that in her most desperate need she no longer sought him.
This isn’t the first passage like this that we’ve encountered in Hosea. It won’t be the last. When we come to passages like this, then, I hope you’ve learned to ask yourselves a very important question: what do we do with these descriptions of such blatant, persistent, horrific, sin?
Observation leads me to believe that the normal responses are: 1) To mentally and spiritually gloss over it under the assumption that we’ve heard this before and we’ve got it, 2) To file it away as a thousands-of-years-old story about over-the top sinful people, or 3) To feel crushed by the severity of the whole thing.
Well, as I said, we have already heard this, it is thousands of years old and about people sinning in ways that are somewhat difficult to relate to, and it is a severe book/passage in almost every way.
But I think there are better ways to process this passage; ways that are certainly more honoring to God and helpful for our souls. I’ve suggested several already. This morning I’d like to suggest one more. The key to understanding this way is understanding that this passage is a description of God who never changes and every human heart since Adam. In other words, in books like Hosea and passages like this, we see God as he still is and our hearts as they still are apart from grace.
This means, non-Christian, even if it isn’t showing up exactly the same on the outside (as it did for the Israelites), your heart is still in rebellion against God and he still calls you to repent or face his judgment. Passages like this, although severe, are gifts to you. They are like a fire alarm…annoying on purpose (so that you cannot ignore the danger that’s afoot). This morning is your chance to respond in belief and repentance (faith). Do so today.
And Christian, this is a gift for us as well. Books like Hosea and passages like this one are exceptionally helpful in taking an inventorying our hearts. One of the great realities of Christian maturity is that as you and I become more holy we become more aware of our sin. I sin less today than I did when I first became a Christian, but I’m aware of 100x more sins in my life today than I was then. While that may seem discouraging, rightly understood, it is just the opposite. Knowledge of sin is a sign of holiness and a means to holiness. It is a sign of holiness in that only true Christians are able to rightly see their sin in relation to God (as opposed to in relation to others or their undesirable consequences). And it is a means to holiness in that for those who have the Spirit, knowledge of our sin increasingly disgusts us such that we increasingly desire to put it to death.
Again, while one of sin’s most wily tricks is to disguise the sinfulness of sin, passages like Hosea 7:1-7, where the evilness of the sin is clear, help Christians to start here (seeing and fighting against the big sins in our heart) and work backward (to the smaller and more subtle ones). When, by God’s grace, we begin to see and fight our big sins, we’ll inevitably be better able to follow the thread further and further into our hearts.
Look, therefore, people of God, for areas of dishonesty in your lives. If you are cheating on your taxes, you will probably be able to trace that back to more subtle exaggeration in ordinary conversation.
Look for ways that you are taking advantage of the weak. If you find yourself stealing from your employees, you will probably find a more subtle indifference to orphans.
Look for ways you enjoy sin (or the sins of others). If you have given yourself over to pornography, you will probably be able to trace that thread back to more subtle appetites for worldliness.
Look for ways that you are engaged in idolatry or spiritual adultery. If you find that you are really relying more on your retirement account than God to provide for you, you will probably find the more subtle dryness of prayer. And if you find that you enjoy video games more than God, you will probably find more subtle examples spiritual unfaithfulness if you keep pulling on the thread.
Look for things that are controlling you other than the Spirit. If you struggle with accruing significant debt or drunkenness, you will probably find more subtle threads of greed or pride.
Look for sins that you have (not killed but simply) left alone. If there is a person in your life with whom you have unresolved conflict or bitterness, you will probably find more subtle sins eroding your joy in Jesus.
And look for signs of insubordination. If you find that you are constantly disobeying your parents, you will probably find more subtle examples of rebellion against God.
How do we apply this passage? Non-Christian, receive it as a shock-and-awe invitation to repentance. Christian, use it as a means of seeing the beginning of a long thread that needs pulling as you seek to grow in holiness.
CONCLUSION
The title of this sermon comes from 7:2, “But they do not consider that I remember all their evil. Now their deeds surround them; they are before my face.” While the non-Christian ought to hear this and tremble, for the Christian this is one of the greatest sources of our worship. I want to close by quickly explaining what I mean.
Imagine two patients who have contracted the same terrible, excruciating, deadly disease. The first patient just found out this news and, as far as she knows, that’s the end of the story. What’s left of her life will be nasty, brutish, and short. What could be more miserable than that? The second patient had been given the same diagnosis previously. In her case, however, she had been made aware of and received a cure!
When the first patient feels pain because of her disease she is pricked by the bitterness of knowing it marks her imminent, painful death. When the second patient feels the same pain from the same disease, she is pricked by the sweetness of knowing that it marks the disease leaving her body.
It is each woman’s recognition of the terribleness of her disease and the tasting of its putrid effects that shapes everything that follows. For the first woman, despair and fear. For the second woman, gratitude and hope.
And so it is with news of our sin and the death it produces. For a non-Christian, rightly understood, hearing and considering the news that God remembers every one of your sins, all of your evil, that it is continually before the face of God should be devastating news. But for the Christian, having experienced the crushing weight of that reality only serves to amplify our thanksgiving, joy, and worship in the knowledge that God already fully and eternally punished all of our sin with all of his might IN JESUS!
Therein, once again, is the message of Hosea for the Church today. What is subtly alluded to in Hosea is made crystal clear in Hebrews 8:12. In Jesus the Father says, “I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”