Hosea 4

WEEK  24                                             Hosea 4

TUESDAY  Reflections

One of the saddest scriptures in Hosea is chapter 4:6 “my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge.”

 

I have often noticed that what gets people in trouble is what they don’t want to know. They don’t want to know if they have cancer, so they die with it. Students don’t want to know a subject and find that they fail in that subject.

 

There seems to be a direct correlation between what we don’t want to know and how it can hurt us or lead us astray. Many who have some knowledge of God refuse to learn more because it would mean they would have to change. Even when that knowledge could save them.

 

Israel had the knowledge of God but didn’t want it. Therefore, this refusal set them up to be rejected by the God who had promised to protect them. It put them in a place outside of God’s protective hand and they didn’t even know it. The reason why? They didn’t want to know.

 

This reminds me of the old saying which says, “No one is so blind as he that refuses to see.”

Hos 4:1-19
(1)  Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
(2)  By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
(3)  Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.
(4)  Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for thy people are as they that strive with the priest.
(5)  Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother.
(6)  My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
(7)  As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame.
(8)  They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity.
(9)  And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings.
(10)  For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase: because they have left off to take heed to the LORD.
(11)  Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.
(12)  My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.
(13)  They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery.
(14)  I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for themselves are separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall.
(15)  Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven, nor swear, The LORD liveth.
(16)  For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place.
(17)  Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.
(18)  Their drink is sour: they have committed whoredom continually: her rulers with shame do love, Give ye.
(19)  The wind hath bound her up in her wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

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2 Kings 9

WEEK  24                                           2 Kings 9

MONDAY  Reflections

In this chapter, the prophecy of Elijah finally comes to pass. The family of Ahab may have forgotten God's promise or maybe they never believed, because they never did change. God did not forget. When the time was right, God gave the right man the word to move. Considering the quickness of Jehu’s move against the king, it causes me to believe that something had been in the works for a while. The northern tribe had seen rebellion after rebellion and there was a great threat not just from without but from within the nation. If Elisha hadn't sent word to Jehu a rebellion might have happened. God moved to make the death of Ahab's family, not just a result of rebellion, but a clear fulfillment of God's prophecy.

In today's world, we might be tempted to consider many things just happenstance but God is more involved in our world than we realize. 

2Ki 9:1-37
(1)  And Elisha the prophet called one of the children of the prophets, and said unto him, Gird up thy loins, and take this box of oil in thine hand, and go to Ramothgilead:
(2)  And when thou comest thither, look out there Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in, and make him arise up from among his brethren, and carry him to an inner chamber;
(3)  Then take the box of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus saith the LORD, I have anointed thee king over Israel. Then open the door, and flee, and tarry not.
(4)  So the young man, even the young man the prophet, went to Ramothgilead.
(5)  And when he came, behold, the captains of the host were sitting; and he said, I have an errand to thee, O captain. And Jehu said, Unto which of all us? And he said, To thee, O captain.
(6)  And he arose, and went into the house; and he poured the oil on his head, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I have anointed thee king over the people of the LORD, even over Israel.
(7)  And thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD, at the hand of Jezebel.
(8)  For the whole house of Ahab shall perish: and I will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel:
(9)  And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah:
(10)  And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her. And he opened the door, and fled.
(11)  Then Jehu came forth to the servants of his lord: and one said unto him, Is all well? wherefore came this mad fellow to thee? And he said unto them, Ye know the man, and his communication.
(12)  And they said, It is false; tell us now. And he said, Thus and thus spake he to me, saying, Thus saith the LORD, I have anointed thee king over Israel.
(13)  Then they hasted, and took every man his garment, and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew with trumpets, saying, Jehu is king.
(14)  So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. (Now Joram had kept Ramothgilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Syria.
(15)  But king Joram was returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.) And Jehu said, If it be your minds, then let none go forth nor escape out of the city to go to tell it in Jezreel.
(16)  So Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel; for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah king of Judah was come down to see Joram.
(17)  And there stood a watchman on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, I see a company. And Joram said, Take an horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, Is it peace?
(18)  So there went one on horseback to meet him, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu said, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me. And the watchman told, saying, The messenger came to them, but he cometh not again.
(19)  Then he sent out a second on horseback, which came to them, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu answered, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me.
(20)  And the watchman told, saying, He came even unto them, and cometh not again: and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously.
(21)  And Joram said, Make ready. And his chariot was made ready. And Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out against Jehu, and met him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite.
(22)  And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?
(23)  And Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, O Ahaziah.
(24)  And Jehu drew a bow with his full strength, and smote Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot.
(25)  Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain, Take up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for remember how that, when I and thou rode together after Ahab his father, the LORD laid this burden upon him;
(26)  Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, saith the LORD; and I will requite thee in this plat, saith the LORD. Now therefore take and cast him into the plat of ground, according to the word of the LORD.
(27)  But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. And Jehu followed after him, and said, Smite him also in the chariot. And they did so at the going up to Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo, and died there.
(28)  And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his sepulchre with his fathers in the city of David.
(29)  And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah.
(30)  And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window.
(31)  And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?
(32)  And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my side? who? And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs.
(33)  And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down: and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he trode her under foot.
(34)  And when he was come in, he did eat and drink, and said, Go, see now this cursed woman, and bury her: for she is a king's daughter.
(35)  And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands.
(36)  Wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This is the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel:
(37)  And the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel.

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Ezekiel 4 Legos in the Bible (kinda?)

WEEK  23                                              Ezekiel 4

SATURDAY  Reflections

If Legos would have been around in Ezekiel's day, I imagine God would have told Ezekiel to make a town out of Legos and set Lego siege engines against it. This may sound foolish but this is exactly what God told Ezekiel to do (absent the Legos). After his modeling project, Ezekiel was supposed to lie down on his left side then his right side to represent the iniquity of Israel and Judah.

 

There had to be a lot of people wondering what the prophet was up to doing this day after day. Each time someone would ask it would be another opportunity for Ezekiel to share God's message. It may be strange but God knows what each person and each group needs to experience before they will face their sins. Before you think this is really strange, think about some of the strange props speakers and preachers have used to get their point across. Consider art which is made to describe the artist's concerns or emotions. Maybe this isn't as strange as we may think.

Eze 4:1-17
(1)  Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:
(2)  And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.
(3)  Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.
(4)  Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.
(5)  For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
(6)  And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.
(7)  Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.
(8)  And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.
(9)  Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.
(10)  And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.
(11)  Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.
(12)  And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.
(13)  And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.
(14)  Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.
(15)  Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.
(16)  Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:
(17)  That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume away for their iniquity.

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Hosea 3

WEEK 23                                              Hosea 3

FRIDAY  Reflections

Gomer's lifestyle led her into insurmountable debt. By running away from her husband, she didn't find a better life, but one that took everything she had and then even took her freedom. This is the same thing that was happening to Israel. They were on a path to slavery, yet God's plan as he told Hosea to do was to buy back his wayward wife. Hosea's love not only cost him something again. 

On top of the cost which wasn't a lot, indicating she wasn't worth much, the prophet we can assume had the shame of community which knew what was going on. This, however, was probably not discussed much as Hosea's response would have been, Yes, Gomer has treated me poorly but you've done the same to God. 

We may want to thank God we aren't called to this life but aren't we? Love your enemies, do good to those that despise you, turn the other cheek, love as I have loved you. Perhaps we have been called to live more like Hosea than we might originally think. After all, aren't we supposed to be Christ-like?

Hos 3:1-5
(1)  Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine.
(2)  So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley:
(3)  And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee.
(4)  For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim:
(5)  Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.

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Matthew 23

 Matthew 23

 

THURSDAY  Reflections

Jesus is giving a warning to his disciples and the people about not being like so many of the religious people of that day. There are three things I would like to highlight. 

Jesus' command not to be called Father or teacher isn't a command not to use these titles, as we see apostle, teacher, pastor, and prophet all used in the book of Acts. It is, however, a command not to seek personal recognition or authority. 

Jesus doesn't say we don't need to clean up the appearance of our lives (the outward), but to focus on the inside. I have seen this used as an excuse for people to continue looking like (and acting like) the world they came out of. Jesus isn't saying we shouldn't clean up the outward appearance, but we shouldn't focus on just looking good to others. This isn't saying someone has to put on a suit or talk a certain way (Victorian English), but considering the culture they live in, it might. Again it's our focus, who we truly are first, and when that changes, we won't have to worry about the outside because it will change too.

Lastly, after the criticisms of the things going on in religious Jerusalem, Jesus weeps over them. Jesus cares even about those who are rejecting him and those that live in hypocrisy. I hear a lot of criticism about hypocrisy, but not a lot of tears, at least in my area of the planet. I can't see how we can be justified in one if we aren't moved by the other.  

MATTHEW 23 KJV

23 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,

2 Saying The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:

3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.

4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,

6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,

7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.

8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.

9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.

10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.

11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.

12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!

17 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?

18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.

19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?

20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.

21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.

22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.

23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,

30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.

32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.

33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:

35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.

36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

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