Hosea 4 − Commentary
The Lord Accuses Israel
The
People in this country do not really know God.
They are not true to him.
They are not loyal to him.
They rob and are
There is no limit to what they do.
There is one murder after another.
Everything that lives is slowly dying.
All the animals and birds, and even the fish, are dying.
The people are like people who bring the law against a
And the
And I will destroy your mother, Israel.
You have refused to learn.
So I will refuse to let you be a
You have forgotten the law of your God, so I will forget your children.
The Lord Accuses the Priests
You have exchanged your honour for me for things of shame.
The
I will punish both of them for their ways.
They will suffer for the wrong things that they did. I will make sure that they suffer.
You will live like
This is because you have turned away from me to follow other gods'.
A second part of the book of Hosea begins here (4:1-9:9). There are three important
- There is no truth.
- People are not loyal to God.
- There is no knowledge of God.
The main idea from Hosea tells the people this. Everything that he says comes from God. The message is for everyone who lives 'in this country'. God is taking his people to a 'court'. The people will have to give an answer for their
In verse 2, to 'swear' can also mean a
The
They think that those sticks will tell them what they want to know!
Why?
Because they have run after those false gods like
The people left their gods and are now not true to their God.
They burn
They do this under many different kinds of trees.
The shade under those trees is so nice!
So your daughters become like
This is because the men, too, go to be with
They go and offer
So, these stupid people will destroy themselves'.
God cannot show his people the right way. This is because of all the wine that the people drink. It makes them stupid (verse 11). The 'wood' might mean an
The 'tops of the mountains' (verse 13) and 'hills' were places where the
The Sins that Bring Down Israel
Hosea's message is sometimes the same as the message of Amos (Amos 5:5). They both do not want Israel to
The