Thursday, September 12, 2024

Hosea 4 - the Lord calls Israel to leave idolatry and prostitution

Israel in Hosea days doesn't worship the Lord in Jerusalem (because Jerusalem belongs to Judah) and therefore doesn't celebrate the Passover accordingly. Israel mix the worship to the Lord with the worship to false idols with a lot of sex included that are against the will of the Lord.

1-3 Attention all Israelites! God’s Message!
    God indicts the whole population:
“No one is faithful. No one loves.
    No one knows the first thing about God.
All this cussing and lying and killing, theft and loose sex,
    sheer anarchy, one murder after another!
And because of all this, the very land itself weeps
    and everything in it is grief-stricken—
animals in the fields and birds on the wing,
    even the fish in the sea are listless, lifeless.

There is consequence of the sin, not only to humans but also to the Lord's creation (animals, birds, fish).
Israel has priests that shoudl praise the Lord but:

4-10
...
You, priest, are the one in the dock.
    You stumble around in broad daylight,
And then the prophets take over and stumble all night.
    Your mother is as bad as you.
My people are ruined
    because they don’t know what’s right or true.
Because you’ve turned your back on knowledge,
    I’ve turned my back on you priests.
Because you refuse to recognize the revelation of God,
    I’m no longer recognizing your children.
The more priests, the more sin.
    They traded in their glory for shame.
They pig out on my people’s sins.
    They can’t wait for the latest in evil.
The result: You can’t tell the people from the priests,
    the priests from the people.
I’m on my way to make them both pay
    and take the consequences of the bad lives they’ve lived.
They’ll eat and be as hungry as ever,
    have sex and get no satisfaction.
They walked out on me, their God,
    for a life of rutting with whores.

There is no difference between the priests and the people. They have sex and get no satisfaction. It reminds Romans 1: they are left to their sins, but they can´t be satisfied sinning. Not so much different from today. However the Lord is gracious: He is calling the Israelites to leave prostitution and idolatry.

No comments:

Post a Comment