Hosea 5:8-15 Blow the horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah. Sound the alarm at Beth-aven; we follow you, O Benjamin! ⁹ Ephraim shall become a desolation in the day of punishment; among the tribes of Israel I make known what is sure. ¹⁰ The princes of Judah have become like those who move the landmark; upon them I will pour out my wrath like water. ¹¹ Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because he was determined to go after filth. ¹² But I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like dry rot to the house of Judah. ¹³ When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to the great king. But he is not able to cure you or heal your wound. ¹⁴ For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear and go away; I will carry off, and no one shall rescue. ¹⁵ I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me.

INTRODUCTION
Every person on earth, the bible teaches (Romans 1:18-20), knows that there is a God and that they fall short of his perfect moral standard. This is part of what it means to be created in God’s image; and since every person who has ever been created has been made in God’s image, every person who has ever lived has had an inward understanding of these two things.

Sin and rebellion can suppress our experience of these two great truths, but they can never entirely wipe them out (Romans 8:21-25).

Practically speaking, this means that there are no true atheists and morality isn’t subjective. It also means that we are all forced to live with a measure of uncomfortable conviction. As we become increasingly conscious of our creatureliness and guilt, we can do our best to ignore those things, but they will eventually become too uncomfortable to bear. Once that happens (and it always will), we will be confronted with a choice between the (only) two available options. (1) We can attempt to come up with our own solution, or (2) We can accept the solution provided by God. Everyone chooses some variation of the first option first (Matthew 7:13).

In Hosea’s day the primary man-made solution was to look to other (fake) gods. That is, in the OT times, the primary solution for overcoming the uncomfortable feelings associated with the knowledge that they were under the God of the bible and that they fall short of his requirements, was to attempt to deny his esistence. The Israelites were looking to Baal to define morality (in a much more palatable way) and to rescue them from whatever they needed rescuing from. This is, of course, a fool’s errand because God is real and there is salvation in no one other than Him (Acts 4:12).

In our day the solution of choice seems increasingly to be an attempt to deny the need for a solution. That is, having assumed God’s non-existence, people today have also begun to assume objective morality’s non-existence. If we’re free to define morality according to our appetites rather than God’s nature, sin is only doing that which goes against our desires. Since we all live according to our desires all the time, there’s no need for a solution. We’re OK! But this too is a fool’s errand because, as I mentioned earlier, God has put this knowledge and nature and imprint into our very being.

To experience true forgiveness, restoration, freedom, and peace, then, we must look to God’s gracious solution; namely, salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. And in order to do that we need to have our eyes opened to the reality of God and the depth and evil of our sin. We cannot find help if we deny or minimize any of this.

An again, this is largely the purpose of Hosea. The book as a whole is meant to help God’s people recognize the futility of (1) denying the reality of God and the absoluteness of his moral standard, (2) the need for atonement and (3) looking for it in anything other than in God himself. With that, let’s pray a familiar prayer, asking God to help us see the depravity of our sin in order that we might see the amazingness of grace.

WAR IS COMING
To this point in the book Hosea has painted a lot of pictures for us. He has drawn from his own marriage and childbirth with Gomer as a living illustration. He also used pictures of (real and imagined) wilderness, prostitution, adultery, creation, redemption, courtroom, and agriculture. The number and type of images used by Hosea already is impressive; but that’s because the nature of Israel’s sin and rebellion was so impressive. The level of evil to which they had sunk required the most colorful language and imagery if Israel was ever to see it. We should not be surprised, therefore, to find that in our section for this morning Hosea introduced yet another dramatic (and very real) image: war.

The Call to War
In the beginning of 5:8 Hosea sounded another warning siren. This time it signaled an invading army. People of Israel, “Blow the horn…Blow the trumpet…Sound the alarm!” Get everyone on high alert; war is at your door. It cannot be avoided, so ready yourselves for battle.

Israel failed to hear and heed God’s warning through Hosea. Continuing to trust in herself, her resources, foreign nations, and fake gods, she did not see coming that which God had told her was coming.

That’s ridiculous, isn’t it? Who would be so foolish? Who would ignore the voice of the Almighty God?

Grace, would you consider for a moment the fact that we all do that constantly? God has sent his spokesmen to sound the same alarm for you and me. He is coming again and he will again destroy all those who remain in rebellion against him. He has told us how to live and the consequences of failing to do so. He has told us to live with a type of urgency in the knowledge that Jesus will return to bring one final war.

Hear this, Grace. Hear the gospel once again. We are all as guilty and treasonous as Israel was. Our hope, then, can never come from believing that we deserve to be on God’s side, or that any who are not will stand, or that there is any chance to be rescued after God brings this war upon his enemies.

Our hope, our only hope, is in Jesus Christ who absorbed the full war-wrath of God on behalf of those who will hope in him. He is the Conquering King. He is the Great Rescuerer. He is the Perfect Restorer. He took on death (and won) because we couldn’t. And as we place our faith in him, he will transform us and make us into what we were meant to be. War is coming. This is your alarm. Look to Jesus. Hope in him and be saved.

The Immediate Outcome of War
But what, specifically, would happen to the Israelites when war came upon them? At the hand of another the LORD promised judgment resulting in punishment and desolation (5:9a). 5:9-15 is a direct address from God. Therefore, we must read it not as about what might happen, but what would certainly happen. The events described are certain and sure (5:9b). Again, war with her neighbors was coming and it’s immediate outcome is that Israel would be destroyed by it.

It is interesting to note, however, that there is disagreement among scholars as to whether the invading army mentioned by Hosea (in this passage) was Israel’s northern neighbors, Assyria, or her southern neighbors, Judah. Eventually, her final destruction would come at the hand of the Assyrians, but is that what Hosea had in mind when he spoke these words? While most scholars seem to agree that Hosea is referring to an attack (a civil war) from Judah, each of these two possibilities has its own strengths and weaknesses within the text.

Either way, however, the point remains the same: 5:8-15 is what happened when God withdrew his help and protection from the Israelites as he promised he would in 5:6. “The pride of Israel testifies to his face; Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt; Judah also shall stumble with them. With their flocks and herds they shall go to seek the LORD, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them.”

The cities mentioned in 5:8 (Gibeah, Ramah, and Beth-aven) were cities on Israel’s southern border (on the border between Israel and Judah). If Hosea had Assyrian invasion in mind, this would certainly have struck fear in Israelites; letting them know that from the north all the way to the south Assyria would conquer. This is serious trash talking. Even the southern cities needed to be warned because the destruction was going to be that complete.

And if Hosea had Judean invasion in mind this would have described a different kind of judgment, the kind that turned brother against brother and family against family. This too is a terrible proclamation. Again, regardless of who specifically Hosea had in mind, the point was that Israel would most certainly be destroyed in war as an expression of God’s judgment upon them.

Know this, Grace, when God sets himself to war he never loses. Do not pit yourself against God. You will lose; every time. What’s more, he offers you a chance to be on his side, the only side of righteousness, goodness, truth, beauty, and victory. To join any other side is to choose a side of deceit, darkness, and defeat.

The Spread of War
As if this weren’t bad enough, at the very least Judah was taking advantage of—seeking to profit from—Israel’s chaos and confusion, That’s the essence of 5:10.

The princes of Judah have become like those who move the landmark…

I remember getting in trouble a good deal as a kid. On my good days I was “energetic”. Because my parents loved me, this led to spending a decent portion of my childhood under some sort of discipline. Occasionally, this discipline would come just after desert had been handed out. I would be sent to my room and my ice cream would be just sitting there. What could my sister do but serve our family by eating it? In cases like that, my sin was a chance for her to gain.

It seems that while Judah had not yet gotten as bad as Israel, she wasn’t far behind. Evidently, while Israel was struggling in sin and diplomatic issues, the leaders in Judah decided this would be a good time to attempt to annex some of Israel’s land by moving the boundary markers north. They were trying to steal Israel’s land while Israel was distracted (perhaps, as I mentioned earlier, by war). And for this reason, God promised that war would come to Judah as well. “On them I will pour out my wrath like water.”

In other words, it was as if Hosea said,…”You need to hear this too, Judah. If you persist in faithlessness (bringing war to Israel, robbing her of land, or both), the same fate awaits you. I will eventually send war to you as well. And like your northern neighbor, you too will not be able to withstand it if I withdraw from you.” “Upon [you] I will pour out my wrath like water.” Hosea’s message is that war would spread.

Grace, let us stay 1000 miles away from attempting to profit from sin. There are countless examples of what this might look like in our culture and we need to do our best to avoid them all. If we sit back and wait to eat from the sin scraps of another (even if we do not engage in the original sin ourselves) we take on their guilt. War spreads to those who rebel against God and those who seek to profit indirectly from the rebellion of others.

The Cause of War
But why, specifically, was God bringing war to Israel (and eventually Judah)? In 5:10 the stated cause of war for Judah (as we just saw) was her seeking to profit from Israel’s sin. And in 5:11 the stated cause of war for Israel was her determination to go after “filth”.

Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because he was determined to go after filth.

The word “filth” in this context comes from a Hebrew word meaning “stinking” and is the root of the Hebrew word for “excrement.” This is another way of saying the same things we’ve seen over and over in Hosea. War (as an expression of judgment and God’s means of destruction) was coming because Israel had forsaken God and would not repent; because she continually gave herself to vileness of the most disgusting kind.

And so it is for all mankind. God’s wrath has only ever been kindled by one thing: his people forsaking him for filth; for excrement made to look pretty. God will only ever go to war against filth. But he will always go to war against filth…either completed in Jesus or forever in hell. This was a message for the Israelites then and there, and it is a message for the whole world here and now.

The Bringer of War
As I mentioned earlier, we know from the bible that it was the Assyrian army who would eventually route Israel. But we also know from God’s word that it was God who was the ultimate bringer of war to the Israelites. The Assyrian army was merely the tool which God used. He brought war to his people.

Consider with me the several ways in which God identified Himself as the one who would bring war and the kind of devastation he would unleash.

1. I am a torrent of water. Again, in 5:10 we read, “…upon them I will pour out my wrath like water.” We cannot help but to remember the destruction that God wrought on the entire world through water. And though he promised never again to destroy the entire earth by flood, attentive Israelites and Judahites would not have been able to miss this reference or avoid trembling at its implications. It was God who would bring destruction and it would be like an unstoppable flood.
2. I am like a moth. And in 5:12a, ” But I am like a moth to Ephraim…”. Most of us don’t worry about moths very much, but the bible speaks of them almost exclusively in devastating terms. One bible dictionary (Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary) reads, “Moths are mentioned several times in the bible as a symbol of destructiveness and the perishable nature of all earthly goods…Just as the destruction of moths takes place slowly and undetected, so God…quietly, but inevitably, [brings] judgment…” to the unrepentant sinner. Again, the points to see are that moths destroy and God would be like a moth to Israel.
3. I am like dry rot. In 5:12b, “…I am like…dry rot to the house of Judah.” Like Israel, Judah would experience the wrath of God. He would be to them as rotting wood is to a home—entirely destructive. Again, the point to see is that even if it would be through certain means (like the Assyrians), it would be God who brought destruction to his faithless people.
4. I am like a hungry, fierce lion. 5:14 says, “For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah.” What does this mean? What would Israel and Judah experience when God came as a lion? “I will tear and go away; I will carry off, and no one shall rescue.” It doesn’t get much more clear and vicious than that. Again, God was the bringer of judgment and war.

To make sure that Israel didn’t mistake God’s meaning, God said, “I, even I…”. It was God, who would do this (“I”). And it was God, the very God who was like a husband to Israel who would do this (“even I”).

As God began to bring this judgment upon Israel, what would she do? Would she recognize it as a sign of her rebellion and repent? Would she remember God’s promise of destruction and flea to Him for His promised mercy? Would she wake up to the reality of her treachery and confess her breaking of the covenant? Look at v.13 for the answer.

¹³ When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to the great king. But he is not able to cure you or heal your wound.

Israel’s brilliant plan continued to be to look to anyone and anything for rescue, besides the One who alone had the power to affect it. In particular she would and did (evidently) look to the “great” king of Assyria. Israel would turn to the very thing that brought war and destruction upon her in the first place. But, of course, there was nothing the king could do to stay the mighty hand of God. And that leads to our final point.

The Final Outcome of War
If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve heard me say two things that seem to contradict one another. (1) Israel’s destruction was certain and (2) there was hope for her salvation. It doesn’t seem possible that both can be true. Either she would be certainly wiped out or there would be hope for her to be saved.

The simple explanation for that is the fact that as a nation Israel would be no more. To demonstrate the severity of His holiness and her rebellion, God would devour Israel. Her destruction was indeed certain.

And yet, some of the people of Israel would survive and live to tell the tale of God’s jealous love. Salvation was offered not for the nation, but for her children’s children. Those who survived from Hosea’s generation were to declare God’s mighty works to the next, in order that they would not repeat Israel’s treachery, in order that they would not be duped into taking God’s reign or their rebellion against it lightly.

All of that is the point of passages in Hosea like 5:15, “I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me.”

God would bring war to Israel as a judgment upon her for her unrepentant covenant faithlessness. But he would do this in order to drive her to repentant covenant faithfulness! God would destroy Israel, pull back and allow her (and the watching world) to feel the distressing effects of her sin and God’s judgment, all in order that her guilt would become plain such that she would return to God, earnestly seeking His face.

In a passage of such severe and prolonged promise of punishment, there is still hope. The point of rebreaking a bone isn’t to keep it broken, but to allow it to heal stronger. The point of chemotherapy isn’t to keep cells killed, but to allow the healthy ones to thrive. And God’s point in destroying Israel wasn’t to destroy her; it was to ultimately save her.

Grace, when you find yourself in sin-induced distress (yours or another’s or the general effects of the fall), seek God. Do not turn to the things of this world; to man-made gods or philosophies or wisdom or inventions. All of those things lead to greater distress. God alone is able to help you in your guilt and distress.

It wasn’t for some time yet that Israel’s true Savior would come, but He would most certainly come. As certain as was her judgment and destruction, so certain was her Messiah. Jesus could come. He would atone for all that the people of God had done. He would be a water of new birth, a weaver of a new covering, a restorer of an unshakable foundation, and a lion who would conquer every one of God’s enemies and protect every one of his people.

CONCLUSION
And that is why we turn now to this great meal; to the Lord’s Supper. This isn’t just something we do to fill up a few spare minutes. It isn’t merely something we do because others have done it before us. It isn’t even something we do merely because Jesus commanded us to do it. In light of this passage, we celebrate Communion because it is an acknowledgement and acceptance of God’s holiness and our sinfulness, it is an act of thanksgiving and worship for the rescue plan of God, and it is a means of proclaiming Jesus’ death and resurrection (as that which saved us from war) until he comes again.