Minor Prophets X: An Infatuation With Gold Cows

"Samaria, throw out your calf-idol! My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of purity? Hosea 8:5 

Hmmm? Is this "calf-idol" one of the calf idols established by Jeroboam I at Bethel and Dan in 1 Kings?

Biblical Flashback....

Jeroboam thought to himself, “The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.” After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. And this thing became a sin; the people came to worship the one at Bethel and went as far as Dan to worship the other. Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites. He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also installed priests at the high places he had made. On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, he offered sacrifices on the altar he had built at Bethel. So he instituted the festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to make offerings. 1 Kings 12:26-33

...and why is Hosea so upset?

It is clear this passage is referring to a cult of some sort and God denounces their idolatry among other things. In verse 11 special attention is given to their calf-idol. According to Robert Chisholm’s “Interpreting the Minor Prophets” the Old Testament makes no reference anywhere else to this idol. So, according to Chisholm the two gold calf idols set up by Jeroboam in Bethel and Dan in the 1 Kings 12 may be in view but this might not be Jeroboam’s two gold calves since its location referred to as “Samaria” (possibly all of Israel en masse). This is in the North but the text doesn’t clear this up. Regardless, if this is not one of the two set up by him then the idolatry initiated by Jeroboam has spread. So when verse 6 states, “This calf—a metalworker has made it; it is not God.” It is a total rejection of Jeroboam’s decree in 1 Kings that, “Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” (Chisholm 37) .

This type of idol worship was rampant and people (God’s people) were expending a lot of energy making chasing after “bovine” idols (Baal). I’m guessing this is exceptionally repulsive to Hosea as it basically returns Israel right back to the sins of the people from the Exodus at the foot of Sinai. The people and priests had build altars but not to God, they had built altars for sinning. Their religious acts would then constitute religious hypocrisy. Sacrifices to God without the “heart” behind them are an offense to God. Egypt in this passage is metaphor or symbolic of a future exile and bondage (Assyria). In their deliverance from Egyptian bondage they had experienced God’s grace. Having rejected grace and basically spit in God’s face they would be returned to bondage as judgment. The unclean condition/status of the altar means that the people won’t even be able to properly offer to God even if they wanted to. In not being able to offer properly they will not be able to participate in the worship of Yahweh.

Chisholm, Robert B. "Hosea." Interpreting the Minor Prophets. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Pub. House, 1990. 37. Print.

Chisholm, Robert B.. "Israel's Guilt And Punishment ." The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition Of The Scriptures. Ed John Walvoord & Roy Zuck. Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books, 1985. 1397. Print.

Minor Prophets IX: How Many Times Do I Need To Tell You?

Even after all the patience and mercy from God, Hosea 6:11b-7:16 allludes to the fact that His people cannot and will not receive restoration. We see the reasons why He cannot restore His people in verse 7:1-16?

God’s grace is pretty much there for the taking if it wasn’t for their rebellion (Israel and Judah [v.6:11b]). Judah will also reap the harvest of her iniquity. God wants to show them mercy but they’re idiots. We see the actions committed by Israel (and Judah): (v1) He wants to restore their fortunes and to “heal” them but Ephraim’s sins are exposed as are the crimes of Samaria (v2) They practice deceit and commit evil deeds. (v2) Their sins engulf them; they are always before me. (v3) Their leadership is wicked (v4) They’re adulterers burning like an oven (v5) leadership are drunkards (v6) The sin of the people is voracious and ambitious as it is referred to as burning like and oven (v8) Ephraim mixes with the nations and a flat loaf not turned over (burnt) & (v9) Foreigners sap their strength unwittingly and “Israel’s arrogance testifies against him”. Israel’s sin had so thoroughly taken them over they had become blind and stupid to the fact they were being tapped by foreigners and weakened (v11) forcing them to turn to previous enemies or currently strained relationships for help. Because of their own foolish actions...they would pretty much become toast.

We then see the real reason the sins are being committed. We see the spiritual malady behind the atrocious actions of Israel and Judah (v13) “Woe to them, because they have strayed from me! The farther from God people stray the more they sin and less holy they become. Not only have they strayed they are in outright rebellion against God. They also defame His character. They defame it more by their behavior than anything else. They are God’s chosen and many know this yet they act as unrepentant hedonists like the culture around them. Whoring after the other gods (v14) slashing themselves to reinforce ritualistic prayer to Baal even though the Bible forbid this. They apostatized, so judgment is coming instead of mercy and grace that God would’ve given them had they just turned their hearts to Him.

Minor Prophets VIII: Tough Love To Change Hearts

Hosea 6:1-11a

Like a good parent God never gives or passes judgment without some type of statement of restoration after punishment. God takes no pleasure in punishing His children just like human parents who are made in His image take no pleasure in punishing their children. As a parent I take no sadistic pleasure in punishing my children but if I do not show that there is a reaction for bad behavior I am by default showing that is essentially okay to behave poorly by not stopping it and showing them what they did wrong. BUT...I always follow up with encouragement and show them love by a hug and a kiss to let them know I chastise and punish in love. Parents that do not chastise their children or punish them when their actions warrant...don't really love their children.

We see Israel's hope in vv 1-3 and how does God respond to it in vv 4-11a?

In (v. 1 & 2) we see antithetical and contrasting statements, regardless of how God punishes of ravages Israel for their sins and unfaithfulness He immediately promises restoration, “He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us”, “he has injured us” but “he will bind up our wounds”. In verse two we see something really interesting in the statement, “After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.”

There is then a subtle shift to meager corrective action (mindset) by His people that appears to be either partial obedience or partial repentance, “Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him” the expected reaction from God would be that is a hopeful return by the LORD, “As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.”. They have realized they are wrong and respond the way the LORD wants them to. The problem is that this repentance seems “forced” since the exact quote in Hosea 5:15 is, “until they have borne their guilt”. They have not fest-up to their sin(s)

God laments the fact that Israel’s faithfulness is fickle or fleeting. It is temporarily there and then it is gone like the morning mist/dew. “Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears.” Therefore, God cut them in pieces with His prophets and killed them with the words of His mouth. These descriptions appear in past tense so the prophets had “cut them down to size with God’s words”. We then see why God reacts this way to v.1-3…For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings. God wants a heart change NOT lip service or half-hearted response. You either commit totally to God or go home. He doesn’t want people being namby-pamby. Again we see this reinforce in the next few verses (v.7) they were unfaithful to me, (v.8) Gilead is a city of evildoers, stained with footprints of blood (v.9) they murder on the road to Shechem, carrying out their wicked schemes, (v.10) I have seen a horrible thing in Israel: Ephraim is given to prostitution, Israel is defiled. It reads like a grocery list of half-heart response or outright evil.

Myers, Jacob Martin. "On Defection In High Places." The Book of Hosea ; The Book of Joel ; The Book of Amos ; The Book of Obadiah ; The Book of Jonah . Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press, 1978. 33-36. Print.

Minor Prophets VII: Northern and Southern Unfaithfulness

Hosea 5...and just when you thought Judah (the Southern Kingdom) might have been innocent or would get away without indictment we see subtle reference to Israel's (Northern Kingdom) promiscuous and faithless sister Judah. At first the evidence can almost be overlooked but it is there in verses 4-15 for Hosea's words were addressed to both the southern and northern Hebrew kingdoms if one looks closely.

(v.5) straight away Hosea mentions Israel synonymously with Ephraim who shall stumble in his guilt and Judah also shall stumble with them. Interestingly, Hosea refers to the Northern Kingdom in the affectionate manner of Ephraim throughout the book. Hosea also does this with other people’s names that also represent geopolitical realities. In my mind He is drawing out an anthropomorphism to draw the connection between the whoredom of Gomer and the whoredom of Israel (and Judah).

(v.7) Because of their unfaithfulness we see the Lord withdrawn from them. Additionally,we Hosea seems as if he is trying to put a human face on a geographical reality by calling Israel: Ephraim. Even more interesting Hosea shifts gender here to male. It is also interesting to note that in the Old Testament Hebrew genders in these situations (such as anthropomorphism) were often interchangeable or gender neutral or neuter. Could it be that Hosea is alluding to the fact all are guilty regardless of gender, regardless of north or south? All have fallen short of the glory of God and His statutes?

(v8) We see the mention Gibeah later alluded to in the same verse within the land allotted to Benjamin…in the Southern Kingdom (Brisco 74).

(v10) Hosea explicitly mentions the “The princes of Judah” have become like those who move the landmark; upon them I will pour out my wrath like water.

(v.12 & 13) Judah (South) is again mentioned in conjunction with Ephraim (North)

(v.14) God’s judgment is illustrated as a lion to Ephraim and Judah.

Brisco, Thomas. "Sennacherib's Campaign Against Judah." Holman bible atlas: a complete guide to the expansive geography of biblical history. Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman & Holman, 1999. 74. Print.

John 3 - Matthew Brown

Dusk's

rooftop;

night and house

cast in questioning blue.

Cricket's abrasive song

rebirth rebirth rebirth.

I ascended the gravelly stair.

Strange truth

shone in His eyes

when I first saw Him---

authority

different from a different order.

Without greeting

He set before me

the strangest thing...

He spoke of spiritual

labor pains---

the meaning plagues me.

Marvel not

He said,

the body of wind can be had

but must be born.

Bludgeoning A Brother & Blogrolls

I have two ways to try and reach the people that I do not agree with in terms of a different worldview (non-christian) or that differ with me theologically.

I can attack or hammer them on the things I do not agree with them on...or I can try to teach them. I can try and show them that their logic is flawed or use presuppositional apologetics that goes to the heart of their misunderstandings and corrects them or I can try to reason with them from the Bible. The latter of the two is the tact I have chosen to take in these latter days. I know many of my brethren have chosen the former. After years of aggressively going after what I deemed inappropriate in people's theology or thought processes I now take a less legalistic, more passive approach through a "passive bludgeoning" or drumming through repeated education. What I do not understand are those (including my brethren) that slam doors in peoples faces.

I guess you could say I got tired of winning the arguments and loosing the people. The way I approach them now allows me to maintain my Scriptural integrity and doctrine but still approach from a solid foundation and so far it is working. I have gotten beat-up a few times about "commercializing my site" or "whoring it out" to secular advertisers (an accusation I still haven't figured out because I only have ads for Westminster, Monergism and a request for donation) but my doctrine is not watered-down and my theology stays Reformed. I just refuse to become purposely and unnecessarily polemic for followers or for high ratings. I refuse to fall into unwarranted traps of legalism. As a matter of fact, this post itself is about as polemic and abrasive as I am willing to be with others in Christ. This post though is done out of frustration due to the antisocial nature of communiques and interactions with others in Christ that are clearly not showing the "mind" or "fruits" of Christ and the Holy Spirit in them. The "This is my toy, don't touch, mine!" is getting old. I have news for people...its God's not yours. You have no authority that is not granted to you by God. If He granted you none...you would have none and would be powerless.

Apparently this is not popular with my fellow bloggers because I have requested adds to other people's blog rolls to help cross-pollinate and I continually confront rejection and legalistic mindsets that do not consider me "as Christian" as they are because I do not subscribe to their methodologies or denominational dogmatism. Because I do not come forward with a specific denominational statement I am in this nebulous no-man's land. I have on the other hand made very clear "statements of faith" through blog posts.

It is frustrating. I thought we were to discern based in core salvational issues not based on denominational differences? Why do I continue to get the theological beat down everytime I deal with discussions on the Assemblies of God and Southern Baptists? Calvinists and Arminians? I thought we were playing on the same team? Do the differences in these different groups warrant intellectual and theological snobbery, arrogance or worse... blatant ignorance? Was Jesus a Southern Baptist? Calvinist? Or was He Jesus?

When we speak and act as Christians we are to speak and act with the mind of Christ. I do not believe Jesus was a hairsplitting legalist. What I do think it that He was perfectly obedient to the will of the Father and perfectly fulfilled the Law. I believe the Father was so pleased by Jesus' actions and words that He was pleased to have His fullness dwell in Him and because of this all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form in Jesus.

When we/I fail to live up to what is expected of us as Christian (which includes not bashing people over the head with legalistic non-salvational issues) we fail to grasp our spiritual fullness in Christ.

Sometimes I feel it is harder to get along with my brethren than it is to get along unbelieving strangers out in the world. The more I come across the legalistic dogma the more aggravating it is becoming. Perhaps this is my burden to carry because I did it to others for so long. My thorn in the flesh?

To the few fellow bloggers that were willing to share "air time" with me to help further each other's ministries I am grateful. To those that would read this and would like to share reciprocal blog space for the purpose of reaching others I am still open.

Minor Prophets VI: Punished Exacted In A Prophetic Perfect Tense

In my previous post on Hosea we see a grocery list of covenant infractions against the Lord by Israel. Any one of these sins should meant instant judgment from God but what we see (and we always see it) is mercy, grace and patience first and then judgement that unfolds in Hosea 4. The list of judgments in this chapter shows God warning that He will bring upon Israel (e.g., v 3 a severe drought predominately is portrayed). These are not threats...they are promises of God's justice. It is what should be expected by any sinner including us. God must meter out His judgment as fits the sin.

(v.3) We see the description of a severe drought that would end up killing people.

(v.5-6) Mother’s would be destroyed. Mothers: Those who give birth…the priestly line here would be eliminated. The priests themselves would be removed from office by God. Because the priests ignored God’s Law, God would ignore their children, the children that were born that wouldn’t have been terminated by the destruction of their mothers…they would not inherit the office of their fathers. The interesting thing about these punishments is they seem to be tailored to the crime: Destroyed-Rejected-Ignored-Doomed.

What is particularly interesting in Hosea 4:6 is the word "destroyed". what appears to be a past tense in a present judgement passage...and we see more of these littered all over the Major & Minor Prophets (such as Isaiah 5:13, Isaiah 10:28-32, Jeremiah 23:2, Hosea 6:5, Amos 5:2). These are what is called the "prophetic perfect tense(s)" in the Hebrew which is a verb tense that used by the prophets in the Hebrew Bible. This literary technique refers to future events in the past tense, known as deictic center shift. It shows that God (through His prophets) sees all of time as a present moment. So what appears to be a prediction to humanity (us), is in actually a statement of fact coming from God since He sees all points in time simultaneously. I found this to be really cool. In a subtle shift of terms we see God's omniscience in all its glory.

(v.9-10) Priests fed on the sins of the people in greed receiving a portion of the offerings to themselves. In so doing they would receive in-kind covenant curses. Regardless of plans to accumulate food, food would become scarce because of drought.

(v.16) Rhetorical question: Can Lord now feed Israel? (stubborn heifer) They were being cut off from God.

(v.17) Because of the strong attachment to idolatry Israel (Ephraim) was left to her own which appears to mean she was allowed to go to her doom/demise.

(v.19) A wind has wrapped them in its wings. I am probably reaching on this but it seems as if Ephraim will be swept away like the wind.
________________________

In Hosea 5 these punishments were targeted on a particularly wicked group that were in twice as guilty as they were entrusted the stewardship of God's people.

Just as in the portion of Chapter 4:4-10, 18 (priests) this prophecy/sermon is primarily directed at the culpable leadership in v.1 & 2 and those that had the welfare of the nation entrusted to them.


(v.1) Priests/priesthood. They are again put in the cross hairs of God’s prophecy. They had encouraged the people to participate in false worship in places like Mizpah and Tabor. If this is a reference to Mizpah of Benjamin then this has further implications as it would draw in people of the Southern Kingdom also. Regardless, the false worship had permeated the land.

(v.1) The house of the king

(v.3) Here we see a subtle shift back to Israel proper who are “not hidden” from Yahweh. Their sunken/sinful state though was allowed to fester because of the leadership.

McComiskey, Thomas Edward. "An Oracle Addressed to Various Levels of Israelite Society." The Minor Prophets: An Exegetical And Expository Commentary. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2009. 75-76. Print.
Walvoord, John F., and Roy B. Zuck. "Hosea's Message: God's Judgment and Restoration of Israel." The Bible knowledge commentary: an exposition of the scriptures. Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books, 1985. 1388-1390. Print.

Minor Prophets V: Guilty On Call Counts

In Hosea 4 we see a list of "charges" or "indictments" that God brings against Israel in this chapter (e.g., v 1 no faithfulness or love or acknowledge of God). We can look closely at these a Americans, Brits, Aussies, etc and see dark but recognizable reflects in the sinful cesspool of history. Are we really so differnet from these Israeli people of the 8th Century B.C.?


These all appear to be a lack of what one should consider “covenant” virtues or behaviors that would be attached to people adhering to God’s covenant. What is here in abundance is what one would consider are not behaviors you would expect-vices.

What is lacking (Hubbard 97):
(1.) (v.1) There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land.

(1a) The end results of this are instability, infidelity and unreliability.
(1b) There is no kindness or concern for those that need help
(1c) There is no knowledge of God which is the whole point of a covenant “relationship”, what He has done for His covenant people. The appropriate response to God for what He has done for His people should’ve been at least worship, instead He is ignored.

What is present in abundance (Hubbard 97):

(2) (v.2) There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.

(2a) Swearing or inappropriate use of the divine name by damning other using Yahweh’s name attached to a curse.
(2b) Lying which pretty much is either destruction of self-character or someone else’s or murder which is taking of a life without regards for the Law.
(2c) Stealing: taking/appropriating items of someone else.
(2d) Adultery: Sexual immorality which appears to represent the spiritual and physical promiscuity of Israel
(2e) Break all bounds seems to be attached to the final “bloodshed” so appears to be excessive or wanton bloodshed or savage violation of divine law.
(3) Referring directly to the priest/priesthood of the cults and their failure to be leaders and keepers of God’s covenant (v.4-19) (Hubbard 99)

(3a) (v.6) Failure to teach the Law
(3b) (v.7-10) Selfish use of the position of the priesthood
Indictments widened to include priest and people

(3c) (v.12) Practicing divination
(3d) (v.13a) Offering sacrifices on the High Places
(3e) (v.13b-14) Ritual orgies
(3f) (v. 17-19) Drunken stupidity in connection with idol worship

**List of indictments continues into Chap 5 (But I didn’t)
Hubbard, David Allan. "Hosea's Messages:Part One." Hosea: an introduction and commentary. Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1989. 95-99. Print.

Minor Prophets IV: Punishing Prostitutes

In Hosea 4 we see a list of the "charges" or indictments that God brings against Israel in this chapter and many are not pretty, some are downright nasty and I for one would not want to be accused of them.

These all appear to be a lack of what one should consider “covenant” virtues or behaviors that would be attached to people adhering to God’s covenant. What is here in abundance is what one would consider are not behaviors you would expect-vices.

What is lacking (Hubbard 97):

(1) There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land.
(1a) The end results of this are instability, infidelity and unreliability.
(1b) There is no kindness or concern for those that need help
(1c) There is no knowledge of God which is the whole point of a covenant “relationship”, what He has done for His covenant people. The appropriate response to God for what He has done for His people should’ve been at least worship, instead He is ignored.

What is present in abundance (Hubbard 97):

(2) There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
(2a) Swearing or inappropriate use of the divine name by damning other using Yahweh’s name attached to a curse.
(2b) Lying which pretty much is either destruction of self-character or someone else’s or murder which is taking of a life without regards for the Law.
(2c) Stealing: taking/appropriating items of someone else.
(2d) Adultery: Sexual immorality which appears to represent the spiritual and physical promiscuity of Israel
(2e) Break all bounds seems to be attached to the final “bloodshed” so appears to be excessive or wanton bloodshed or savage violation of divine law.

Referring directly to the priest/priesthood of the cults and their failure to be leaders and keepers of God’s covenant (v.4-19) (Hubbard 99)

(v.6) Failure to teach the Law
(v.7-10) Selfish use of the position of the priesthood
(v.12) Practicing divination
(v.13a) Offering sacrifices on the High Places
(v.13b-14) Ritual orgies
(v. 17-19) Drunken stupidity in connection with idol worship

**List of indictments continues into Chap 5 (But I won’t for the sake of )

Hubbard, David Allan. "Hosea's Messages:Part One." Hosea: an introduction and commentary. Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1989. 95-99. Print.

Minor Prophets III: One Seriously Expensive Whore

Let us examine the apparent circumstances and value of Gomer's purchase price in verse 2.

“So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver” (if a shekel is 1/3 of an ounce then we are talking about 5 oz. of silver) “and about a homer and a lethek of barley” (10 bushels of barley). The barley would’ve been worth an additional 15 shekels. Fifteen shekels is the approximate value of a slave at the time (McComiskey 51).

Hosea paid twice what Gomer was worth as a slave. What is interesting though is in (v.1) Hosea is commanded by God to “go love your wife again” as if it is something that needs to be commanded of Hosea because he will not do it of his own accord. This combined with the need to “buy” back his wife gives the impression the love “costs” something or a “price needs to be paid” (for sin & for love) even in this situation for a second time. In Hebrew the word for bought [karah] appears to also mean that Hosea had to bargain for Gomer-to me this reads like Hosea was haggling a price like someone would do for a used car. He had to be told to go love her or keep on loving, pay to get her back and then had to haggled for the cost to redeem her out of her bondage/slavery to prostitution (or perhaps her clients/lovers?) which ended up being a rather exorbitant price to pay for "love" (McComiskey 51).

It truly shows how degraded Gomer’s condition had become because of sin. This is analogous to Israel. In return she was “not to play the harlot”. Strangely, during this entire “transaction”, other than a command to love from God, there appears to be little emotion and compassion. It seems as if this is purely a business or legal transaction to make Gomer become Hosea’s wife legally (Myers 20).

McComiskey, Thomas Edward. "III Hosea Reclaims His Wayward Wife." The Minor Prophets: An Exegetical And Expository Commentary. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2009. 49-51. Print.
Myers, Jacob Martin. "The Lesson of Hosea" The Book of Hosea ; The Book of Joel ; The Book of Amos ; The Book of Obadiah ; The Book of Jonah . Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press, 1978. 19-20. Print.