September 27, 2011
DON'T SHOOT THE MESSENGER
Hosea 9
Ann Holford
Central Truth
Be careful to whom you listen.
Key Verse | Hosea 9:7
The days of punishment have come,
The days of retribution have come;
Let Israel know this!
The prophet is a fool,
The inspired man is demented,
Because of the grossness of your iniquity,
and because your hostility is so great.
(Hosea 9:7)
Hosea 9
The LORD Will Punish Israel
1
Rejoice not, O Israel!
Exult not like the peoples;
for you have played the whore, forsaking your God.
You have loved a prostitute's wages
on all threshing floors.
2
Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them,
and the new wine shall fail them.
3
They shall not remain in the land of the LORD,
but Ephraim shall return to Egypt,
and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria.
4
They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the LORD,
and their sacrifices shall not please him.
It shall be like mourners' bread to them;
all who eat of it shall be defiled;
for their bread shall be for their hunger only;
it shall not come to the house of the LORD.
5
What will you do on the day of the appointed festival,
and on the day of the feast of the LORD?
6
For behold, they are going away from destruction;
but Egypt shall gather them;
Memphis shall bury them.
Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver;
thorns shall be in their tents.
7
The days of punishment have come;
the days of recompense have come;
Israel shall know it.
The prophet is a fool;
the man of the spirit is mad,
because of your great iniquity
and great hatred.
8
The prophet is the watchman of Ephraim with my God;
yet a fowler's snare is on all his ways,
and hatred in the house of his God.
9
They have deeply corrupted themselves
as in the days of Gibeah:
he will remember their iniquity;
he will punish their sins.
10
Like grapes in the wilderness,
I found Israel.
Like the first fruit on the fig tree
in its first season,
I saw your fathers.
But they came to Baal-peor
and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame,
and became detestable like the thing they loved.
11
Ephraim's glory shall fly away like a bird—
no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!
12
Even if they bring up children,
I will bereave them till none is left.
Woe to them
when I depart from them!
13
Ephraim, as I have seen, was like a young palm
1
9:13
Or like Tyre
planted in a meadow;
but Ephraim must lead his children out to slaughter.
2
9:13
Hebrew to him who slaughters
14
Give them, O LORD—
what will you give?
Give them a miscarrying womb
and dry breasts.
15
Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal;
there I began to hate them.
Because of the wickedness of their deeds
I will drive them out of my house.
I will love them no more;
all their princes are rebels.
16
Ephraim is stricken;
their root is dried up;
they shall bear no fruit.
Even though they give birth,
I will put their beloved children to death.
17
My God will reject them
because they have not listened to him;
they shall be wanderers among the nations.
Dive Deeper | Hosea 9
This chapter continues God's message through Hosea to unfaithful Israel, warning that its rebellion would ultimately result in destruction. He says in verse 7 that because the people's sins have become so many and their hostility so great, they consider the prophets' messages foolishness.
Do I do that, too? When I was a child, I desperately wanted an airplane kit I'd seen advertised. My parents warned that it wouldn't fly the way the commercial claimed, but I was sure they didn't know what they were talking about. I had visions of the plane soaring and doing tricks that I would skillfully learn, and so I spent my own money to buy it. The plane crashed and broke on the first flight.
When my self-absorbed desires blind me to truth, I ignore and dismiss people who speak truth to me. God, in His grace, sends me reminder after reminder of His truth through His Word and through other people who are pursuing Him. We think freedom is found in ignoring those who say things we don't want to hear -- in going our own way. For Israel it was about to be too late. Israel would learn that ignoring God's truth leads to captivity. When we won't acknowledge our guilt, we react to the messenger.
The message that salvation is found through Christ alone is considered foolishness to many. "For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:18)
For the people of Israel, treating God's warnings as foolish would lead to being taken away from the places and things they loved. Jesus said in Matthew 23:37-38, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!"
For us, too, there are consequences of treating God's Word as foolishness and failing to listen to His warnings. To whom are you listening?
Discussion Questions
1. What cheap airplanes have you insisted on buying instead of listening to your Father? In the past, what have been the results of following your own way instead of God's way? Who really knows what's best for you?
2. The longer we walk with God, His ways should seem wiser and wiser and our ways more and more foolish. Where are you on that journey?
3. Do you struggle to believe that God's plans for you are better than your own plans? In what area is He asking you to step out and trust His plan?
4. With whom can you share your story to serve their need to hear that following God leads to freedom instead of captivity?
WEEKLY FAMILY ACTIVITY
HOSEA 8-12 (SEPTEMBER 26-30)
Read Hosea 10:11-13.
God's Way or My Way?
Ask your children which they think is better: God's way or their way?
Reread Hosea 10:12-13.
Fold a piece of paper in half. On the top of the left half, write, "God's way." On the other half, write: "Our way." On the left side, write the four things that verse 12 says are following after God. On the right side record from verse 13 what happens when we do it our way.
Look at the differences, and talk about which one is better and why.
ACTIVITY: Hand your children a potato and tell them to make it grow. Give them a little time to try to figure out how to grow it. Then go to http://www.ehow.com/how_6239373_grow-potato-water-science-project.html to find out how to root the potato to grow it in the "right way," the way that will actually work.
God is our "expert" on life. We must seek Him and trust Him to do it "His way," which is the right way.