Hosea 6:4-11 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away. ⁵ Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light. ⁶ For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. ⁷ But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me. ⁸ Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked with blood. ⁹ As robbers lie in wait for a man, so the priests band together; they murder on the way to Shechem; they commit villainy. ¹⁰ In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing; Ephraim’s whoredom is there; Israel is defiled. ¹¹ For you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed…

INTRODUCTION
Gerri and I have a son (who shall remain nameless and whose permission I have to share this) that we love very much. He has one of the tenderest hearts of all our kids. He’s often the first to help out when someone needs it. He generally responds to his own sin in quick repentance and is learning to give glory to God in his successes.

With all of that, throughout his entire life he’s made a good number of choices that also cause Gerri and me to scratch our heads. One of my personal favorites was when he (at maybe 6 years old) decided to climb up a (5-6′) snow pile, jump off, and try to hang on our basketball rim. Of course his gloves slipped on the rim and he fell all 10′ to the ground and chipped his tooth. In one of the more recent examples, he called me over to show me the fire he’d started with flint and steel, smiled proudly, and had no idea that the woodpile he’d put together next to the fire ring had also caught on fire and was burning significantly.

We love him deeply, but one of the more common questions that runs through our minds is “What are we going to do with you?”

I don’t mean to make too much of my son’s lack of foresight or too little of Israel’s rebellion, but in the case of my son and in the entire book of Hosea (including our passage for this morning) there is a father who loves his children deeply in spite of their unwise decisions. In this world a father’s love is sometimes an exasperated love.

That’s the essence of the first few words of v.4. Israel had sinned spectacularly and repeatedly. God had sent messengers offering rescue, forgiveness, and reconciliation, but Israel refused to listen. Thus, we find the words, “What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah?” It’s easy to hear the exasperation in God’s voice. It’s also easy to see that He would not be so exasperated if he did not deeply love Israel (and Judah) and grieve her sin.

This morning, then, we’re going to consider Israel’s sin, God’s response to her sin, and then the reason for God’s response. These are (for those of you who have been with us throughout Hosea) familiar headings. In this text, however, Hosea provides even fuller explanations. Let’s pray that God would be pleased to help us see our sin in light of his greater glory and therein turn to steadfast (though sometimes exasperated) love.

ISRAEL’S SIN
Again—if you’re just joining us—the situation presented in Hosea is one in which the 10 northern tribes of the people of God, collectively called Israel, had profoundly and persistently sinned against God in the worst ways imaginable. The book of Hosea is a collection of the prophesies of a man named Hosea declaring these things to Israel, calling her to repent, and warning her of the certain judgment that awaited because she wouldn’t.

Left Love
How many sins had Israel—the unfaithful wife and wayward child—committed? In just the first five chapters of the book, the number and seriousness are already astounding. In our passage for this morning we find several more; perhaps none worse than the one named in 4b.

Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away.

The greatest commandment of all, the first responsibility of all of God’s people, was to love God first and most (Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37-38). If God’s people did nothing else, it ought to have been to love God. Indeed, all other sins inevitably stem from a failure to do this one thing—love God above all else.

And yet, that’s exactly what Israel failed to do. “Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes away early.” Remember (from 6:3), that God’s love is certain and constant; like the sunrise and spring rain. But here Israel’s love is fickle and fleeting; like morning clouds and dew that quickly fade away.

Grace, you may jump through every Christian hoop possible. You may like reading and studying the bible. You may find peace in prayer. You may genuinely enjoy coming to church and serving the people of God. You may feel a deep sense of significance in caring for the vulnerable. You may feel stimulated by engaging non-Christians with the story of Jesus and his offer of forgiveness. But if you lack love for God—if these things do not flow from genuine, deep, grace-fueled love for God—then you are like the Israelites and you will eventually share their fate. First and above all, give yourself to loving God.

Again, it was on account of this lack of love that, for Israel, everything else unraveled so quickly and so thoroughly. That is, it was precisely because Israel had abandoned love for God that she began attaching her love to other things. That’s how it always is, Grace. We were made for love. We will love something. Either we will love God and all other things (properly) through him, or we will love something, anything else, and God wrongly. The question is not “Will we love.” The question is “What/who will we love?”.

Because Israel set her love on foreign, fake gods (instead of God) and the blessings they promised (but couldn’t deliver), her sin multiplied. Consider 7-10.

⁷ But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me. ⁸ Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked with blood. ⁹ As robbers lie in wait for a man, so the priests band together; they murder on the way to Shechem; they commit villainy. ¹⁰ In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing; Ephraim’s whoredom is there; Israel is defiled.

If lack of love was the root, in this passage we see more of the fruit.

Transgressed the Covenant
In v.7 we see another of Israel’s spectacular sins.

⁷ But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me.

A covenant is an agreement between two people (or parties) that defines some aspect of their relationship and stipulates the rewards for obedience and the consequences for disobedience. One of the most important, but often unknown or misunderstood truths of the Christian faith is that God has always related to his people through covenant. Like leaving love, then, covenant transgressing sort of sums up all sin. That is, all sin results from leaving love for God and because we always relate to God through a covenant, all sin is covenant transgression.

Of course, God always keeps his side of the covenant terms. The only question is whether or not man will.

Adam, the first man, under the first covenant (often called the “Covenant of Works”), failed quickly. The basic terms of that covenant were that God would love and provide for Adam in return for Adam’s obedience and love. But again, by Genesis 3, Adam and his wife had both transgressed the covenant and brought upon themselves and all their descendents the covenant curse of death.

After that first covenant, God made several others with his people. In Deuteronomy 26-27 we find language of the most defining covenant for the Israelites in Hosea’s day.

Deuteronomy 26:16-19 “This day the LORD your God commands you to do these statutes and rules. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul. ¹⁷ You have declared today that the LORD is your God, and that you will walk in his ways, and keep his statutes and his commandments and his rules, and will obey his voice. ¹⁸ And the LORD has declared today that you are a people for his treasured possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments, ¹⁹ and that he will set you in praise and in fame and in honor high above all nations that he has made, and that you shall be a people holy to the LORD your God, as he promised.”

The giving of this covenant was still ringing in the ears of Israel’s fathers.

⁷ But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me.

Adam did not keep the terms of the covenant that God had made with him. In the same way, Israel did not keep the terms of the covenant God had made with her. She, like Adam and Eve, was not faithful to God.

This is the first thing that happens when love leaves. When our hearts grow cold to God, covenant keeping no longer makes sense. It is only when we see God for who he is—infinitely glorious—that we will see his covenant offers as they are—loving, undeserved gifts from God for our everlasting satisfaction.

Practically, this means that sanctified obedience is not ultimately about discipline; it is about satisfaction. God’s commands are gold and jewels and the best foods and the most beautiful mountains. When we see things as they truly are, we don’t need to convince ourselves to trust in and obey God; we simply can’t imagine doing otherwise. Why would you take tin when gold is offered? Why would you take plastic when diamonds are offered? Why would you eat dirt when filet mignon is offered? Why would you look at a pile of garbage when the Canadian Rockies are offered? The simple fact is, you wouldn’t.

But we don’t see things as they truly are. Sin blinds us to these things. For us, sin has made God look dull while simultaneously making tin and plastic and dirt and garbage look satisfying. And so we too break the terms of the covenant. Indeed, because of Adam’s fall, his children, without exception continued to break every covenant that God made with them.

The good news for all who have ever truly hoped in God, however, is that there is a New Covenant. This Covenant is different in that it is not based on our keeping it. It is based on Jesus already having done so. We gain access to its benefits (and are rescued from its curses), not by our obedience, but by Jesus’. Instead of needing to keep its terms, we must trust (hope, place our faith) in the One who already did.

What a remarkable gift! God did for us what we did not deserve and could not do for ourselves. God has always kept his side of the covenant but in Jesus he kept ours as well! That’s another reason it’s so important to make our way through different and difficult books of the OT. It’s only once we’ve seen every attempt possible to keep God’s covenant terms that our confidence in our own ability fades to the point that we’ll look to Jesus. Again, what a remarkable gift!

Well, what did this love-leaving, covenant-breaking look like for the Israelites? Again, we’ve already seen many answers to this question. Hosea, in our passage for this morning, offers several more.

Did Evil
First, in v.8, we see the general indictment that Israel did evil.

⁸ Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked with blood.

Israel was filled with cities filled with evildoers. God made his people good and for good. Instead they had given themselves over to evil. The evidence—most notably, blood from murder—was all around.

Laid in Wait to Rob and Murder the Weak
One particular expression of Israel’s blood-marked evildoing was that she would band together (even the priests; the religious leaders) in order to rob and murder the weak.

⁹ As robbers lie in wait for a man, so the priests band together; they murder on the way to Shechem.

What’s worse than doing evil? Doing evil to those who are especially vulnerable. One of the most consistent themes of the bible is God’s care for the weak and his charge for his people to do the same.

God calls himself a Father to the fatherless and a defender of widows. God commanded laws that protected foreigners. He would not tolerate the abuse of women or children. The bible repeatedly speaks of God’s care and love for the poor. And he calls his people to imitate and obey him in all these things.

Grace, let me invite you to let this further explanation of the nature of Israel’s sin remind you of your own sin and the amazingness of God’s grace. The more you’re able to recognize the depth and breadth of your sin, the more you’re able to recognize the depth and breadth of the grace of God that has saved you from it.

Committed Villainy
In typical fashion, Hosea doesn’t use one word to describe Israel’s sin when he can use three or six. Not only did he charge Israel with leaving love, transgressing the covenant, dealing faithlessly with God, being evildoers, and robbing and murdering the weak, he also charged them with villainy.

⁹ …they commit villainy.

The word translated ‘villainy’ is a general term. “The noun can refer to wanton acts of desire and violence. It indicates sexual depravity and…it has connotations of folly and devising wickedness” (Dearman, NICOT, 199). This is another way of describing the evildoing of the Israelites.

Did a Horrible Thing
Finally, Hosea accused Israel with doing “a horrible thing.” Of course Israel had done many, many horrible things, but there’s one expression of her lack of love, her covenant breaking, her evildoing, her villainy that particularly stood out: her defiling whoredom.

¹⁰ In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing; Ephraim’s whoredom is there; Israel is defiled.

We’ve heard this charge and examined it many times already, Grace. Let me just say here, that there’s a reason for the number of charges of whoredom issued by Hosea. Israel’s sin—our sin—really is that bad. Hosea repeats himself not merely because he’s afraid Israel will forget, but also because the repetition was meant to serve as an amplifier.

But for us—those of us hoping in Jesus as partakers of the New Covenant—news of our greater and greater sin does not lead to greater and greater despair. Instead, it leads to greater repentance and gladness for the gospel.

In light of all of this, what was God’s response to Israel’s failure to turn from her sin?

GOD’S RESPONSE
As I mentioned earlier, God was disturbed and exasperated by Israel and Judah. That’s why he asked the rhetorical questions, “What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah?”.

But being disturbed and exasperated weren’t the only way God responded. Look at v.5. Because of Israel’s persistent and unrepentant sin…

⁵ Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light.

To Israel, God had sent (“hewn them by the”) prophets (from Moses to Hosea) to reveal to Israel the nature of her sin and its consequences. The consequences ranged from God’s withdraw, to his giving over to sin, to (this passage) slaying his people “by the words of [his] mouth.”

All of these consequences, Hosea said, were the result of God’s judgment which goes forth like light. God’s judgments are like light in that they spread and reveal and give life. Remember that, Grace. When you are convicted of your sin—even though it might not feel good in the moment—it is God’s grace to you; it is his light upon you. If you do not quench it, it will warm you and heal you and cause you to bear good fruit and lead you back to the right path.

There’s still more, though. Judah too was rebuked. Judah was not left out of God’s wrath.

¹¹ For you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed…

This is an interesting passage. Most scholars agree that the harvest appointed to Judah is a harvest of destruction and that the restoring of fortunes (of 11b) best fits with the following verse (7:1). Read that way, our passage for this morning (like the rest of Hosea) is a sharp and harsh condemnation on Israel with an “And you too Judah!” as an exclamation point!

None of God’s people were innocent. None rightly loved God. None had kept his covenant. All had violated its terms and were, therefore, eligible for its curses.

THE REASON FOR GOD’S RESPONSE
Finally, then, what was the reason for God’s response? We’ve already heard several explanations for God’s jealous love, fierce anger, disturbed exasperation, and the actions that resulted, but here Hosea gives another. Why did God hewn them by the prophets and slay them by the words of his mouth and send his judgment upon them? We find another answer in 6:6.

⁶ For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Again, the primary reason for the kindling of God’s jealous love, his anger, his promises of destruction, his exasperation was Israel’s lack of love. We began with love and we’ll end with love. It was on account of Israel leaving love that she sinned so spectacularly and it was on account of her lack of love that God brought his judgment down upon her.

We can make things so complicated, can’t we? If we’re not careful, we can turn Christianity into a head-spinning tangle of theological words and limitless requirements. Theology and obedience matter, but love must come first and love must remain. We will never truly know God or honor Him in our obedience if we are not filled with steadfast love.

Let’s slow down, then, Grace. Let’s take a collective breath. Let’s repent of our attempts to live a loveless Christianity—which is no Christianity at all. And let’s go back to the simple descriptions of God’s love for us as we look to live in love for him.

Psalm 136:1-26

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

² Give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever.

³ Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever;

⁴ to him who alone does great wonders, for his steadfast love endures forever;

⁵ to him who by understanding made the heavens, for his steadfast love endures forever;

⁶ to him who spread out the earth above the waters, for his steadfast love endures forever;

⁷ to him who made the great lights, for his steadfast love endures forever;

⁸ the sun to rule over the day, for his steadfast love endures forever;

⁹ the moon and stars to rule over the night, for his steadfast love endures forever;

¹⁰ to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, for his steadfast love endures forever;

¹¹ and brought Israel out from among them, for his steadfast love endures forever;

¹² with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, for his steadfast love endures forever;

¹³ to him who divided the Red Sea in two, for his steadfast love endures forever;

¹⁴ and made Israel pass through the midst of it, for his steadfast love endures forever;

¹⁵ but overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea, for his steadfast love endures forever;

¹⁶ to him who led his people through the wilderness, for his steadfast love endures forever;

¹⁷ to him who struck down great kings, for his steadfast love endures forever;…

²¹ and gave their land as a heritage, for his steadfast love endures forever;

²² a heritage to Israel his servant, for his steadfast love endures forever.

²³ It is he who remembered us in our low estate, for his steadfast love endures forever;

²⁴ and rescued us from our foes, for his steadfast love endures forever;

²⁵ he who gives food to all flesh, for his steadfast love endures forever.

²⁶ Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.