April 30, 2023
Hosea 2:2-13
“Discipline or Dump”
Service Overview: Israel had not only committed spiritual adultery, they gave credit to Baal for what God had done. Yet instead of dumping her, God chooses the road of discipline instead, in hopes of her redemption.
Memory Verse for the Week:
“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:11 (NIV)
Background Insights:
- Israel was guilty of worshipping the gods of the pagan nations around them, especially the Canaanite rain god, Baal. Whenever there was a drought or a famine in the land, the Jews repeatedly turned to Baal for help instead of turning to the Lord. (See 1 Kings 18—19.) Pagan worship involved sensual fertility rites; and for these rites, both male and female prostitutes were provided. In a literal as well as a symbolic sense, idolatry meant prostitution. (Warren Wiersbe, Be Amazed: Minor Prophets, 18)
- v2 The verb rib, translated as Contend here, typically refers to contentions and struggles that surface in the public arena, where the issue of right and wrong is to be adjudicated in one way or another, rather than to private disagreements and rebukes. When employed as a noun it can mean “quarrel” or “struggle” (Gen. 13:7) and refer also to a legal dispute or something akin to a lawsuit (Exod. 23:2-3, 6; Deut. 17:8; 21:5). (J. Andrew Dearman, Hosea, 108)
- Where the first chapter focused on the call to marry a wife of harlotry and the message-names given the children, Hosea 2:2-13 concentrates on the failure of the marriage. The emphasis is primarily on the defection of Israel as the bride/wife of Yahweh. (Lloyd J. Ogilvie, The Communicator’s Commentary: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, 29)
- Israel has played the harlot (5; the NIV’s been unfaithful is weak). The implication is that she has had many lovers. This refers to Gomer’s prostitution with other men, and also to Israel’s attempts to gain the favour of other gods. (D. A. Carson, New Bible Commentary, 768)
- Vs 11-13 focus on Israel’s religious feasts and festivals which God will cause to cease. This could be done either by disruption due to war, or shortage of food and drink for sacrifice and celebration. Both are envisaged here (12). (D. A. Carson, New Bible Commentary, 769)
- Public exposure, accompanied by corporal punishment, was one Assyrian way of dealing with harlots who broke the law. Here the nakedness seems part of a rite of embarrassment (cf. Jb. 17:6, for the use of Heb. ysg, the second verb in v. 3, in a context of ridicule), akin to what Yahweh promised Jerusalem in Ezekiel 16:37: (David Allan Hubbard, Hosea, 73)
What’s vital to note here in this first half of Hosea 2?
- God’s righteous anger toward Gomer/Israel’s evil.
(vv. 2-4, 13 | Ex. 20:1-6; Prov. 6:16-19; Is. 5:20; Jer. 7:18; 11:12; Ez. 25:17; Rom. 1:18; 2:5)
Both harlotry and adultery describe her activities, which are symbolized with her countenance and between her breasts. The language of putting things away has suggested to some that jewelry, clothing, perfume, or something tangible is in mind (cf. 2:13). In the harlotry motif elsewhere, there are references to the “forehead of a harlot” (Jer. 3:3) and to details of physical appearance intended to attract lovers (Jer. 4:30). (J. Andrew Dearman, The Book of Hosea, 110)
- God’s gracious intervention to prevent further evil.
(vv. 5b-8 | Gen. 11:6; Ps. 19:13; Ez. 18:23; Acts 14:16-17; Rom. 1:18–19; 2 Pet. 3:9)
The restriction of the wife’s movement has one goal in mind: to bring her to her senses so that she returns to her husband (Hos. 2:7b). This expresses a hope, not an accomplished fact or even a certain outcome. (Ogilvie, 34)
God’s response to this is not to destroy Israel immediately, but to initiate a programme of education (6—7a). (D. A. Carson, New Bible Commentary, 768)
The withdrawal of God’s gifts would not only demonstrate Israel’s separation from her true husband; it would make impossible all means of liaison with her pseudohusbands. (H. D. Beeby, Grace abounding, 26)
- God’s loving means to get Gomer/Israel to rock bottom.
(vv. 9-13 | Deut. 8:5-6; 2 Kings 19:28; Ps. 94:12-14; Is. 1:19; Eze. 18:23; Rom. 2:4)
Even when God deems it necessary to discipline us for persistent disobedience, He always does so out of love to restore us to the way of obedience (see Hebrews 12:4-11). (Jerry Bridges, The Gospel for Real Life, 96)
Since the people were acting like prostitutes, God would treat them like prostitutes and shame them publicly. He would no longer claim the nation as His wife because she had broken the solemn marriage covenant and consorted with idols. According to Hebrew law, adultery was a capital crime, punishable by death, but God announced that He would discipline Israel and not destroy her. (Warren Wiersbe, Be Amazed: Minor Prophets, 18)
- All this because of his relentless love for her.
(v.14 | Ps. 86:15; Zeph. 3:17; Rom. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9–10; 1 John 4:8; 4:16; Rev. 3:19)
If the passage seems harsh, we need only remember the depths of defection and degradation to which Israel had fallen. God’s patience had been tried; His exasperation was acute. But He will not go back on His marriage vows to be Israel’s God and to keep them as His bride/ people. (Ogilvie, 31)
Conclusion… What does all this teach us about God?
A. That God does not tolerate evil or syncretism forever.
(Gen. 6:5; Ps. 16:4; Prov. 8:13; Is. 5:20; Mat. 24:42; Rom. 12:9; 1 Cor. 10:14; Gal. 5:19-21)
No man with any moral fiber wants to share his wife with another man, and neither does God. He expects exclusive devotion from her. When she goes after other lovers, that is, when she worships other gods and thus commits spiritual adultery, He is said to be jealous. (Richard Strauss, A Jealous God, www.bible.org)
Each of us has beguiling false gods, and the church in our time has more than a few. A false god today that would correspond to Israel’s syncretistic worship of Baal is whatever or whomever we give our allegiance and depend on for our meaning as persons —in addition to God. We can believe in God and at the same time worship at the shrine of power, prosperity, possessions, and position. … inordinate concern for our status, success, and the trophies of our accomplishments can also expose our competing gods. (Ogilvie, 30)
B. That God can and will use discomfort and discipline to drive people/nations to their senses.
(Job 5:17; Ps. 94:12-14; Prov. 3:11-12; 10:17; 12:1; 13:18; Heb. 12:11; Rev. 3:19)
To ask that God’s love should be content with us as we are is to ask that God should cease to be God. (C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, 36)
Today, we have a wise saying: ‘Only when you’re flat on your back do you look up to God.’ Its message is clear. Trouble Valley will be a door of hope. (Kevin Logan, What is Love? Hosea, 27)
God is not jealous like an insecure employer who fears that his employees might get lured away by a better salary elsewhere. God’s jealousy is not the reflex of weakness or fear. Instead God is jealous like a powerful and merciful king who takes a peasant girl from a life of shame, forgives her, marries her, and gives her not the chores of a slave, but the privileges of a wife – a queen. His jealousy does not rise from fear or weakness but from a holy indignation at having His honor and power and mercy scorned by the faithlessness of a fickle spouse. (John Piper, The Lord Whose Name is Jealous sermon, October 28, 1984)
C. That all God does, comes from what he is; love.
(Ps. 86:15; Ez. 18:23; Rom. 2:4; 5:8; 2 Cor. 7:10; 2 Peter 3:9; 1 John 4:8; 4:16; 4:19)
We are never nearer Christ than when we find ourselves lost in a holy amazement at His unspeakable love. (John Owen, A Puritan Golden Treasury, 175)
Discipline may be either corrective or remedial. It may be sent for the purpose of correcting some sinful attitude or action, or to remedy some lack in our character. In either case, it is administered by our heavenly Father in love, not in wrath. Jesus has already borne the wrath of God in our place, so all adversities that come to us, come because He loves us and designs to conform us to the likeness of His Son. (Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace, 183)
Gospel Connection…
Through the good news of Jesus, God not only pays for our waywardness, but woos us to a life devoted to him.
(Deut. 7:9; Acts 3:19; Rom. 2:4; 10:9; 2 Cor. 7:10; 2 Peter 3:9–10; 1 John 4:9-10)
[God was] jealous for your salvation as He brought the gospel to you in one way and another, through one person and another, through one means and another, until finally He broke through in the power of the Holy Spirit and brought you to living faith. What is more, He is jealous for you now, jealous for your spiritual welfare, jealous for you in every temptation and trial, jealous lest you should be robbed by covetousness, compromise, worldliness, prayerlessness or disobedience in any shape or form. He is jealous that you should have that fullness of blessing, those riches of grace that He longs to bestow upon every one of you His people. (John Blanchard, Truth for Life: A Devotional Commentary on the Epistle of James, 261)
Spiritual Challenge Questions…
Reflect on these questions in your time with the Lord this week, or discuss with a Christian family member or Life Group.
- On a scale of 1-10, how much do you enjoy discipline? J How does knowing that God’s discipline is designed to sanctify and grow you offer any hope or comfort?
- How might Israel’s unfaithfulness reflect ways in which our own nation is unfaithful today?
- How might we need to prepare ourselves for if/when God might remove blessings from our nation in order to wake us up?
- What hope and encouragement does God’s love offer when we are experiencing trial, trouble, hardship, or pain?
Quotes to note…
Unfaithfulness to the Lord is a serious sin, just as unfaithfulness to one’s mate is a serious sin. The man who says he’s 90 percent faithful to his wife isn’t faithful at all. As Israel was tempted to forsake God for idols, the church is tempted to turn to the world system that hates God and wants nothing to do with God. (Warren Wiersbe, Be Amazed: Minor Prophets, 19)
For until men recognize that they owe everything to God, that they are nourished by His fatherly care, that He is the Author of their every good, that they should seek nothing beyond Him — they will never yield Him willing service. Nay, unless they establish their complete happiness in Him, they will never give themselves truly and sincerely to Him. (John Calvin, Institutes)
Throughout Scripture, God is seen as a faithful, devoted Husband who is intensely jealous for an exclusive relationship with His wife… The next time you sin, picture your husband (spouse) locked in a passionate embrace with a woman he met over the Internet… Try to feel the intensity of the shock, the rejection, the pain, the anger that would well up from the innermost part of your being upon discovering the truth. Then realize that what you would experience would be just a minuscule glimpse of the way God feels about our sin. (Nancy Leigh DeMoss, Holiness, The Heart God Purifies, 73)
Saving faith is the heartfelt conviction not only that Christ is reliable, but also that He is desirable. It is the confidence that He will come through with His promises and that what He promises is more to be desired than all the world. (John Piper, Desiring God, 96)
We’re told that “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16), but we’re also reminded that “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1:5). God’s love is a holy love, not a sentimental feeling that condones sin and pampers sinners. (Warren Wiersbe, Be Amazed: Minor Prophets, 18)
Love precedes discipline. (John Owen, Quoted in: “The Father’s Discipline”, Tabletalk, Oct. 2004, 45)
We are called to serve God in the church, our places of employment, or as responsible citizens, to be sure. And yet, no secondary channel is to be given our supreme loyalty as Lord of our lives. (Lloyd J. Ogilvie, The Communicator’s Commentary: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, 36)
While our strongest faith is unable to save us, the weakest faith in Christ grasps a mighty Savior in whom we may rest our souls. (Richard Phillips, Assured by God, 84)
Faith must be free in order to be genuine. Authentic belief requires authentic choice. Human dignity necessitates personal discovery – the opportunity to search for truth apart from threats, to settle on faith apart from force, and to come to conclusions apart from coercion. (David Platt, Counter Culture, 217)