In our last lesson, we met a prophet named Amos. Amos has his own book at the end of the Old Testament, and because it’s on the thin side, he’s considered one of the minor prophets. But as we learned in our last lesson, Yahweh used Amos to speak harsh judgments against many different nations. Small books can pack a big punch.
Now Amos didn’t deliver all of his messages at once. He said them over time, and he tells us that he preached during the time when Jeroboam II ruled in the north and Uzziah ruled in the south. Both of these kings reign for a very long time: Jeroboam II will be with us 42 years and Uzziah will reign for 52 years. There’s plenty of time for multiple prophets to preach during this period, and they do.
Yahweh has spoken through countless prophets throughout both Israel and Judah by now, yet we only hear about a few of them in the biblical records. Most prophets never had their words recorded and preserved, and very few ended up with whole books named after them.
God communicates through His prophets using a variety of methods. Sometimes He speaks plainly, sometimes He tells parables, and other times He calls on His prophets to act out His messages in strange ways. In this lesson, we’ll learn about a prophet who had to do some strange actions. But first, let’s see how King Uzziah is doing in the south.
UZZIAH, King of Judah
For the first part of his reign, Uzziah excels. He subdues all of his enemies, expands his territory, and amasses a mighty army. His people also invent new war machines: apparatuses which can fling large rocks and shoot arrows great distances from the top of city walls. Uzziah’s fame spreads as far south as Egypt.
But when Uzziah became strong, his heart was so proud that he acted corruptly. He was unfaithful to Yahweh his God, for he entered the Temple of Yahweh to burn incense on the altar of incense. (2 Chron. 26:16)
As we learned in Lessons 6, the altar of incense was located inside the Holy Place: an inner room of Yahweh’s Temple which only priests could enter. Inside the Holy Place was a large floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall curtain and behind that curtain was the Most Holy Place (aka the Holy of Holies) where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. No one could just go waltzing into these rooms whenever they felt like it. Yahweh taught His people to view the Holy of Holies as a place where His Divine Presence physically dwelt. This meant that standing in the Holy Place put you just one curtain away from God’s awesome Presence. Yahweh was adamantly against regular people bringing bad attitudes into His sacred rooms and treating His Presence like some trivial thing.
Only authorized Levite priests who were following Yahweh’s strict instructions could enter these rooms after going through specific preparation rituals. Yet pompous King Uzziah thinks he can live above God’s Laws so he just goes marching into an area that was for authorized personnel only and performs his own incense offering instead of respecting Yahweh’s rules.
It’s the responsibility of the priests to spring into action whenever they see that Yahweh’s House isn’t being treated properly. Far too often the priests just look the other way or else they help with the corruption. All throughout the Bible, we find the Levites falling down in their jobs and even signing up to serve as the priests of idol gods. But here in 2 Chronicles 26, we get a pleasant surprise. The high priest at this time is a man named Azariah and he’s no lay down. When he sees the king invading Yahweh’s holy space, Azariah marches into the Temple with an army of eighty other priests and tells the king off.
Azariah the high priest went in after King Uzziah with eighty other priests of Yahweh, all brave men. They confronted King Uzziah and said, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to Yahweh. That is the work of the priests alone, the descendants of Aaron who are set apart for this work. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have sinned. The Lord God will not honor you for this!” (2 Chron. 26:17-18)
When we really care about God, we don’t try to deny our guilt when He points our sins out to us. We agree that we are in the wrong, we feel grieved for dishonoring God, and we repent. So when we see a prophet like Jonah refusing to acknowledge his bad attitude, or when we see King Uzziah’s face turn purple with rage over the fact that someone dared to challenge what he was doing, it’s clear that souls are refusing to repent out of their rebellion. We don’t really love God unless we care about His feelings, and if we care about His feelings, then we will be sorry when we upset Him. We won’t be perfect; we will act selfishly and have moments of rebellion. But when God convicts us, we will care. In this moment, Uzziah doesn’t care about God. He only cares about Uzziah.
Uzziah, who was holding an incense burner, became furious. But as he was standing there raging at the priests before the incense altar in Yahweh’s Temple, leprosy suddenly broke out on his forehead. When Azariah the high priest and all the other priests saw the leprosy, they rushed him out. And the king himself was eager to get out because Yahweh had struck him. (2 Chron. 26:19-20)
King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in a separate house—leprous, and banned from the Temple of Yahweh. Jotham his son had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land. (2 Chron. 26:21)
One of the lessons we’re supposed to be learning from the Bible is that God’s wrath is as real as His grace. Testing His patience by refusing to repent when He convicts us is a dangerous game to play. We can never win in a fight against Someone who controls our very quality of existence. Leprosy is a life changing disease, and by using this form of punishment, Yahweh instantly destroyed Uzziah’s sweet situation as a famous king and filled his life with humiliation.
HOSEA, Prophet of Israel
While Uzziah is still gaining strength in the south and Jeroboam II is expanding his kingdom in the north, a certain citizen in Israel is starting to attract a lot of attention to himself. He talks like he is zealous for Yahweh to be honored, but then he goes and breaks Yahweh’s Laws by marrying a prostitute named Gomer. According to Yahweh’s Old Covenant Laws, men and women who engage in illicit sex are supposed to be executed on sight. And yet this fellow named Hosea goes out and marries a known prostitute.
Well, Hosea can make the woman marry him, but everyone can see that she’s just not into him. So it’s pretty stupid for him to hurry up and have three kids with her because it’s just a matter of time until…yep, she left him. Now she’s gone back to romping in bed with other lovers. Could have told you that was coming, pal. But hold on a minute—why is Hosea going around saying that his wife’s treatment of him is just like Israel’s treatment of Yahweh? That sounds rather insulting. And then there is the issue of Hosea giving his kids such strange names. The first boy is named Jezreel. Jezreel is the city where Jehu butchered so many people back in Lesson 18. At the time, it sounded like Yahweh was all for that massacre. After all, He had prophesied that King Ahab’s line would be stomped out. But according to this Hosea guy, Yahweh seems to be rather irked by what Jehu did.
Hosea went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim for his wife, and she conceived and bore him a son. Then Yahweh said to Hosea, “Name the boy Jezreel; for in a little while, I will punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.” (Hos. 1:4)
Jehu’s Motivations
Back in Lesson 18, Yahweh was telling Jehu he’d done a good job in slaughtering everyone in Jezreel. But now after Jehu’s dead, Yahweh’s saying He’s upset about it and angry at Jehu’s descendants. What are we to make of this doubletalk? Well, what does God care about? Soul attitudes. When He gets mad, what is He reacting to? Rotten soul attitudes. So while Jehu’s actions served Yahweh’s purposes, apparently he acted for the wrong reasons. We see this theme come up a lot in the Bible. God might be mad at an evil king and want him to die, but if you come along and kill the king just because you’re greedy for power, are you really honoring God with your behavior? No, you’re just using God as an excuse to kill him. This is what Jehu did. He pretended to be devoted to Yahweh, when he said to King Joram:
“How can there be peace as long as all the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?” (2 Ki. 9:21)
Then he went around quoting Yahweh’s prophecies whenever he did something that fulfilled one of them–like killing Queen Jezebel and slaughtering King Ahab’s descendants. At the time, this all sounded quite righteous and Yahweh was glorified by having the people reminded of the prophetic words He had spoken. But if Jehu was as dedicated as he pretended to be, why did we find him worshiping the golden calf gods the moment the dust settled? Oh sure, he slaughtered all of the prophets of Baal—but then he worshiped a pair of manmade idols instead. Obviously he wasn’t as devoted to Yahweh as he claimed to be.
Events like this teach us important lessons about how poor human judgment is. How often do we put our trust in leaders who put on some holy act only to discover years down the line that all they’ve ever cared about is their own glory? Only God can see into a man’s heart, which is why He is the only One who can judge accurately. Today many people who behave righteously on the outside are really rebelling against God in their souls. Meanwhile, others who behave like jerks on the outside really love God on the inside. Humans are too limited to make accurate judgments, which is why we need to be careful not to put our trust in the claims of other people. Our Gods are the only Teachers we can trust, and we should be continuously looking to Them whenever we are exposed to any teaching about God (and that includes everything you read on this site). Always be asking God, “Help me to accept only Your truth and reject the rest.”
Jehu looked great at the time we were reading through his story. But now, years after his death, we hear Yahweh’s angry words and realize that we were missing some important information.
Hosea’s Children
By now the people in Israel are convinced that Hosea is a legitimate prophet of Yahweh. He sounds a lot like Amos, who is traveling about the country preaching at the same time. And every time Hosea’s wife Gomer has another child, Hosea comes up with a very strange name to give the kid.
Hm. This is really getting disturbing. Yahweh can’t really be serious about rejecting Israel, can He?
Soon Gomer became pregnant again and gave birth to a daughter. And Yahweh said to Hosea, “Name your daughter Lo-ruhamah—‘Not loved’—for I will no longer show love to the people of Israel or forgive them. But I will show love to the people of Judah. I will free them from their enemies—not with weapons and armies or horses and charioteers, but by My power as Yahweh their God.” (Hos. 1:6-7)
So wait a second—Yahweh is going to cut Israel off but not Judah? That’s not a very nice thing to say. The people are starting to dislike this mouthy new prophet with a hussy for a wife.
“But now bring charges against Israel—your mother— for she is no longer My wife, and I am no longer her Husband. Tell her to remove the prostitute’s makeup from her face and the clothing that exposes her breasts. Otherwise, I will strip her as naked as she was on the day she was born. I will leave her to die of thirst, as in a dry and barren wilderness. And I will not love her children, for they were conceived in prostitution. (Hos. 2:2-4)
To be publicly stripped or to have your tunic pulled up over your head so that everyone could see your private parts was a way of shaming prostitutes in these times. Here Yahweh threatens to figuratively strip the nation of Israel, for she has spiritually prostituted herself with idol gods.
Throughout the Old Testament, Yahweh likens spiritual worship to physical sex and idolatry to infidelity. The nations of Israel and Judah were supposed to be His faithful “wives,” only having spiritual “sex” with Him. But instead, they are jumping into bed with every god they come across. Nothing sparks a human husband’s jealous rage faster than learning that his wife is cheating on him, so Yahweh uses this powerful metaphor to let these Jews know how angry He is with them.
“I will punish Israel for the days she burned incense to the Baals; decked herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, but forgot about Me.” (Hos. 2:13)
In the book of Hosea, we find a pattern of wrath-destruction-mercy-restoration themes which gets repeated over and over throughout the prophetic books. Yahweh warns His people that their unceasing rebellion is going to bring terrifying anguish down on their heads. He gives graphic descriptions of just how bad their suffering will be and urges them to repent. Then He suddenly switches gears and briefly talks about some day in the future when He will gather His faithful followers together and restore their fortunes.
“On that day I will make a covenant with all the wild animals and the birds of the sky and the animals that scurry along the ground so they will not harm you. I will remove all weapons of war from the land, all swords and bows, so you can live unafraid in peace and safety. I will make you My wife forever, showing you righteousness and justice, unfailing love and compassion. I will be faithful to you and make you Mine, and you will finally know Me as Yahweh.” (Hos. 2:18-20)
Restoration language in the prophetic books is commonly misunderstood. In the Church today, it is widely taught that one glorious day the political nation of Israel will suddenly regain God’s favor, He’ll turn her into a global superpower, and all other nations will be bowing down in the dust before her. It’s taught that Israel has always been and will always be God’s favorite nation on this planet. In fact, she’s so much His favorite that He expects the whole world to constantly align with any agenda she comes up with, no matter how carnal it is. If we do, then God will reward us with material blessings. But if we ever side against His precious nation, we’ll get blasted with His wrath. Meanwhile, it doesn’t matter what Israel does. She has a free pass from God to beat people up, torture POWs, drop bombs on her neighbors, rip land away from others, and persecute anyone who isn’t an ethnic Jew. This is what gets taught, but it’s a bunch of rubbish. Yahweh never teaches that Israel gets to define morality for herself, nor does He give her license to treat other people as inferior. The Covenant that Yahweh established with His people in Period 2 was not just with the Jews but with everyone who wanted to sincerely follow Him. Yahweh’s definition of My people has never excluded any ethnicity.
“And if any foreigners visit you or live among you and want to present a special gift as a pleasing aroma to Yahweh, they must follow these same procedures. Native-born Israelites and foreigners are equal before Yahweh and are subject to the same decrees. This is a permanent law for you, to be observed from generation to generation. The same instructions and regulations will apply both to you and to the foreigners living among you.” (Num. 15:14-16)
Very soon now the prophet Isaiah is going to start preaching in this period, and he will also emphasize how welcome all ethnicities are to Yahweh.
“I will also bless the foreigners who commit themselves to Yahweh, who serve Him and love His Name, who worship Him and do not desecrate the Sabbath day of rest, and who hold fast to My Covenant. I will bring them to My holy mountain of Jerusalem and will fill them with joy in My house of prayer. I will accept their burnt offerings and sacrifices, because My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” (Isa. 56:6-7)
By the time we get to Jesus in Period 7, nasty old Herod will have redesigned Yahweh’s Temple in Jerusalem to contain a series of courtyards which exclude people based on ethnicity and gender. Jewish women won’t be allowed to come as close to Yahweh’s holy dwelling place as Jewish men. Gentiles (non-Jews) will be kept even further away. This is absolute garbage and does not at all reflect Yahweh’s view of humans. So if you’ve been taught that Yahweh has always loved ethnic Jews more, or that He only invites Jews to come extra close to Him, then you need to unlearn some major lies. Anyone who sincerely seeks Yahweh in their souls has always been invited to come close to Him. God wants us all, He loves us all, and He has always revealed Himself to the entire world; He just uses different methods with different nations.
In the Bible we only hear about the methods Yahweh used with one nation: Israel. Be careful not to leap to the assumption that God didn’t also reach out to the Egyptians, the Arabs, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Philistines, the Greeks, the Romans, and everyone else under the sun, because of course He did. Our Creators have been actively involved in all human affairs since the beginning of this project, and They have always been directly communicating with people all over the world. Remember that all of the books in our modern day Bible were written by ethnic Jews who naturally focused on the history of their own ethnic group. When we don’t recognize the cultural bias of the Bible, we end up making a lot of wrong assumptions.
The Restoration of Israel & Metaphorical Heaven Imagery
It’s only when we understand how Yahweh defines the term My people that we can properly interpret His promises to eventually restore the nation of Israel. It is commonly taught that one fine day Yahweh is going to rain down abundant blessings on the Jews just for being Jews. Yet this is not what God says in the Old Testament. A thorough reading of the prophetic books reveals that the only people Yahweh is ever planning to shower abundant blessings on are the souls who are sincerely seeking Him in their hearts. Ethnicity is irrelevant, for people of many different nations are pursuing God in the Old Testament. These are the people He is talking to when He promises to one day restore Israel to a state of rich bliss and joy. All who sincerely seek God in their hearts are the true Israelites as far as Yahweh is concerned. But when will this grand restoration take place? It won’t be on this earth.
When God talks about gathering together His people from all the corners of the earth and bringing them to a new Jerusalem that is filled with health, wealth, and happiness, He isn’t talking about a physical city on a physical planet. Instead, He’s using the imagery of a perfect, problem free life in a glittering Jerusalem as a metaphor for Heaven. Life is never going to be perfect on this round rock that we call Earth. God created this world to function as a testing round in which He gives humans many chances to decide if they are going to submit to Him or reject Him. Eventually all who have chosen to submit to Him will end up richly rewarded: this is the encouraging message that both Yahweh and Jesus teach in the Bible.
So what will Heaven actually be like? Here’s where we come to a fascinating area of suspense because our Gods are intentionally withholding any actual facts from humans about what the next life will be like. Review every “vision” and message that any soul from any religious background has ever received regarding the next life and you’ll find that the imagery drastically changes from person to person. You’ll also find that the images each person sees have been tailored to match the personal hopes and expectations of the receiver. In other words, our Gods are being intentionally deceptive about this Heaven and Hell business. Rather than give us accurate descriptions, They use metaphorical imagery which is totally inaccurate, yet very useful in conveying concepts. How Yahweh and Jesus describe Heaven to Their Jewish audiences in the biblical records is a fabulous example of this because the Heavens being described contain clothing fashions, economic values, and architectural styles that perfectly aligned with Jewish experiences in the real world and with Jewish expectations.
Most of the countries we meet in Bible times were very small. A bunch of tiny plots of land nestled against each other was a perfect situation for raiders to wreak havoc on their neighbors. If you were living in some small town or city that was sitting out in the open, you were very vulnerable to being suddenly attacked by a gang of sword swinging thugs. To defend themselves from these hassles, larger cities enclosed themselves in a high stone wall. Such “fortified” cities felt much safer to live in. At night, the few gates in these castle like walls would be locked tight, and lookouts posted on top of the walls were able to spot trouble when it was still a long way off, thus giving the city’s militia a chance to rally their defenses. Because fortified cities were so strongly associated with a sense of safety, Yahweh and Jesus depict Heaven as a giant fortified city when they are speaking to ancient Jews.
We don’t find anyone wearing pants in the Bible. Instead, everyone ran around in simple dresses that were called tunics. If you wanted to indicate that you were better than the common rabble, you accessorized your tunic with a fancy belt. In biblical images of Heaven, we find angels and humans and even Gods wearing fancy tunics and using the same symbols of social status that the Jews were used to.
In Bible times, if you were really into your god, then you wanted to see your god honored by having a fancy temple built for him. Then you’d feel really good about visiting that temple and worshiping your chosen deity. Because Yahweh made such a fuss about His Temple in Jerusalem, faithful Yahweh followers were extremely bonded to that physical place. To an ancient Yahweh follower, Heaven just wouldn’t feel heavenly without a glorious Temple for Yahweh in it, so when Yahweh describes Heaven to Jews, He puts a Temple in it.
Ancient Jews had very strong psychological ties to their homeland. The city of Jerusalem was such a powerful symbol to these people, that they became genuinely traumatized if Jerusalem was sacked or crippled by invaders. In the period of time that the Bible covers, Jerusalem is sacked several times, with each time feeling like a terrible blow to the fiercely patriotic Jews. When Yahweh is describing Heaven to His Jewish followers, He wants to assure them that they will feel happy and peaceful there. But a patriotic Jew couldn’t fathom feeling happy and peaceful unless they were near their beloved Jerusalem. So in the Bible, Yahweh and Jesus describe Heaven as a spruced up Jerusalem.
It’s vital to realize that all of the prophetic books, including Revelation, Yahweh and Jesus are primarily addressing a Jewish audiences. Today Christian leaders do a terrible job of respecting context. When’s the last time your pastor said that God isn’t talking to you anywhere in the Bible? Isn’t it true that you’re constantly being taught to read the words of Yahweh and Jesus as God speaking to you personally? When you are not a Jew and you approach the Bible like this, you naturally end up feeling left out of the Jewish party that is Heaven. Jews are so ridiculously exalted in biblical descriptions of Heaven, that’s it’s impossible not to feel inferior if you take those images literally. And yet no one should be taking those images literally, because they are all extremely metaphorical. In fact, you’ll find some significant changes to how Heaven is being described to different audiences, as Yahweh and Jesus adjust things to fit the beliefs and experiences of Their various audiences. In Old Testament visions of Heaven, we don’t find a bunch of imagery that is linked to the Roman Empire because in the Old Testament, no one had heard of Rome. But Revelation is packed with Roman imagery and references to Roman traditions. What’s also quite fun about Revelation is how the Temple in Heaven disappears before the end of the book. It exists when the book starts, but then it’s scrubbed out as Yahweh and Jesus emphasize certain theological principles. Seeing such major differences and changes to heavenly imagery clearly demonstrates how non-literal these images are. The bottom line is that we don’t have any clue what Heaven will actually be like.
God’s Use of Deception
To get a feel for how poetic, exaggeratory, and metaphorical many of God’s prophecies are, let’s check out a passage in which Yahweh describes a reign of peace that will be ushered in when a future Messiah comes:
“The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Yahweh as the waters cover the sea.” (Isa. 11:6-9)
Is this what actually happened when Jesus arrived on earth? Did leopards start nuzzling goats? Did little children herd wild lions? Did cows graze alongside bears? Did children stick their hands into the nests of snakes and get a snaky lick instead of a poisonous bite? No. Far from ushering Israel into a new area of peace, Jesus stirred up intense conflict among Jews as the rabble loved His miracle cures and the politicians decided He was a threat to their power. As for that business about no one being harmed on Yahweh’s holy mountain, what a joke that turned out to be. In real life, after Jesus’ final ascension, tensions became so ugly between the Jews and Romans that a brutal battle broke out. The battle was centered in the city of Jerusalem, and it ended with the Romans thoroughly sacking the place.
Now when Yahweh and Jesus start lying in the Bible (which They both do quite a bit), you have choices. Even though humans find it perfectly acceptable to lie to each other at times, and despite the fact that we have all experienced times when lying to someone was clearly the right thing to do, many of us have decided that it’s outrageous for our Gods to ever use deception when talking to us. If you go down this road of deciding that you get to invent a moral code that God must abide by, you’ll just end up stalled in your relationship with Him and you’ll miss out on many fabulous lessons that He wants to teach you. If instead, you realize that a true God can do whatever He wants whenever He wants, then you’ll have the chance to stop fixating on the fact that God is lying His face off about something and instead look for indications of why God is choosing to deceive people.
The absurd prophecy that I quoted above was said by Yahweh through the mouth of Isaiah. The first step in seeing God’s deceptive behavior in a positive light is to respect context. Isaiah lived around 700 years before the coming of Christ. The Israel and Judah he knows are spiritual hellholes, with most Jews harboring extremely foul soul attitudes towards Yahweh, who Isaiah believes is the one true God. Isaiah personally gets endless flack for preaching for Yahweh in a society where no one wants to hear what God has to say. The kings of Israel are a bunch of crumbs, and the kings of Judah (where Isaiah lives) are vacillating between being alright and being rotten. This is a very discouraging time to be a zealous Yahweh follower. Isaiah and the other Yahweh followers who are living in Judah and Israel could really use a pep talk from the God who they are trying to honor. Introducing the concept of a future Messiah now to folks who would never live to see that Messiah come is one of the ways Yahweh gives His faithful remnant much needed hope. Because He is talking to Jews, and because Jewish culture emphasized the importance of patriotism to unhealthy extremes, Yahweh knew His Messiah messages would be far more encouraging if He connected that Messiah to the idea of a restored Israel. So that is what He does.
Those of us today who don’t feel our personal well-being is dependent on the state of our native land really have to work at trying to see the world through the eyes of ancient Jews. Guys like Isaiah simply couldn’t connect with messages of glorious hope unless those messages also contained promises of a restored Israel. This is simply the way these people thought. Every nation teaches its people to embrace certain values, and those values greatly impact the way people think and what they find encouraging. Because our Creators know us inside and out, They always adjust Their language to be effective in communicating what They want to tell us. Images of a Heaven in which the Jewish ethnicity is being constantly exalted isn’t going to be very encouraging to modern day non-Jews. A modern Chinese man can’t be expected to get jazzed about the idea of spending eternity in a remodeled Jerusalem because modern Chinese culture doesn’t obsess over Jerusalem the way that ancient Jewish culture did. If Yahweh wants to paint an encouraging picture of Heaven to a modern Chinese man, He will use imagery that is very different than the imagery He used with Jewish Isaiah. So you see, amid all of the boldface lying, there is a very beautiful thing happening. Our Gods are demonstrating not only how well They know us, but also how personally They relate to each of us.
“In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety. I will betroth you to Me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge Yahweh.” (Hos. 2:18-20)
Earth and heaven were the metaphorical witnesses to the first Covenant that Yahweh made with His people back in Period 2. Now He says through His prophet Hosea that nature will once again witness the New Covenant that’s coming—one which will usher in an age of supernatural peace. Notice the forever language. Be cautious about taking extreme language literally in the Bible, because ancient Jews used a very exaggeratory and dramatic style of speaking and it was understood that such language was not to be taken literally. Just as Americans aren’t being literal when they say things like “I had to wait forever on hold” or “I was laughing my head off at that joke”, we find a lot of forever and never talk in the Bible that is only being used as a form of emphasis and is not meant to be taken literally.
God’s Incredible Grace
Yahweh said to Hosea, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as Yahweh loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods…” (Hos. 3:1)
Although Gomer has run out on Hosea and is currently having an affair with another man, Yahweh sends His prophet to bring her home again as a picture of how Yahweh will give those who have turned away from Him a second chance to be reconciled with Him. This is the Character of the God we serve: grace beyond reason, love beyond comprehension. And yet just when we’re feeling stunned by how generous Yahweh is being, He reminds us that His love and grace have boundaries. Yes, glorious days are coming. Yes, He plans to wonderfully reward those who sincerely seek Him. But not everyone will experience those great times. Not everyone will get to enter into that metaphorical New Jerusalem in which life is perfect and there is no more violence or fear. Those who despise Yahweh will end up despised by Yahweh and tortured for eternity in a terrifying place. God will avenge Himself on all those who insist on being His enemies, both Jews and Gentiles alike. Bloodlines won’t protect anyone from the terrifying wrath of God. Neither will social rank. Today you can find many Christian leaders acting like they are protected from Divine discipline because of the fancy titles they’ve given themselves. But notice how in this next passage, Yahweh specifically addresses rebellious Jewish priests, making it quite clear that they are going to receive a hearty serving of discipline as well.
“Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as My priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children. The more priests there were, the more they sinned against Me, so I will change their glory into shame. They feed on the sins of My people and relish their wickedness. And it will be: like people, like priests. I will punish both of them for their ways and repay them for their deeds.” (Hos. 4:6-9)
Just as the southern kingdom is named after its most prominent tribe (Judah), the northern kingdom is often referred to by one of its most important tribes: Ephraim. Ephraim is another name for Israel, and Yahweh often rotates between these two terms when He prophesies to the people in the north.
“I know what you are like, O Ephraim. You cannot hide yourself from Me, O Israel. You have left Me just as a prostitute leaves her husband; you are utterly defiled. Your deeds won’t let you return to your God. You are a prostitute through and through, and you do not know Yahweh. The arrogance of Israel testifies against her; Israel and Ephraim will stumble under their load of guilt. Judah, too, will fall with them. When they come with their flocks and herds to offer sacrifices to Yahweh, they will not find Him, because He has withdrawn from them.” (Hos. 5:3-6)
Today we like to focus on all the positive passages in the Bible while pretending the negative ones aren’t really there. Yet there are far more threats than promises in the Bible, because spiritual rebels are the main audience being addressed by our Gods in both the Old and New Testaments.
“I am like a moth to Ephraim, like rot to the people of Judah.” (Hos. 5:12)
Why on earth does Yahweh refer to Himself as a moth and as rot? These are images that inspire fear in His target audience. Today it would be like Him saying “I’ll be like a cancer to you, devouring your organs.” Moths were associated with decay. Rot ruined things. Yahweh says He’ll be like an unstoppable force that rots away all of Israel’s strength. Of course when the hard times come, she’ll try to run to foreign nations and make alliances with them for protection. But those other nations won’t be able to help her—Yahweh will make sure of that.
“When Israel and Judah saw how sick they were, Israel turned to Assyria—to the great king there—but he could neither help nor cure them. I will be like a lion to Israel, like a strong young lion to Judah. I will tear them to pieces! I will carry them off, and no one will be left to rescue them. Then I will return to My place until they admit their guilt and turn to Me. For as soon as trouble comes, they will earnestly search for Me.” (Hos. 5:13-15)
And as for those dumb calf gods that Israel is constantly worshiping:
“Now Israel pleads with Me, ‘Help us, for You are our God!’ But it is too late. The people of Israel have rejected what is good, and now their enemies will chase after them. The people have appointed kings without My consent, and princes without My approval. By making idols for themselves from their silver and gold, they have brought about their own destruction. O Samaria, I reject this calf— this idol you have made. My fury burns against you. How long will you be incapable of innocence? This calf you worship, O Israel, was crafted by your own hands! It is not God! Therefore, it will be smashed to bits.” (Hos. 8:2-6)
Samaria is the capital of the north, just as Jerusalem is the capital of the south. Capital cities were big deals, because if invading armies conquered a capital city, it was understood that they had conquered the entire nation. This kind of significance made it feel natural to use the names of capital cities as an alternate name for a nation. So Israel (the nation), Ephraim (the largest state in the nation), and Samaria (the capital city) were all names that could be used to refer to the folks living in the north. In the same way, Judah (the nation), and Jerusalem (the capital city) were both names that could be used to refer to all of the folks in the south.
“Israel has built many altars to take away sin, but these very altars became places for sinning! Even though I gave them all My laws, they act as if those laws don’t apply to them. The people love to offer sacrifices to Me, feasting on the meat, but I do not accept their sacrifices. I will hold My people accountable for their sins, and I will punish them. They will return to Egypt. Israel has forgotten its Maker and built great palaces, and Judah has fortified its cities. Therefore, I will send down fire on their cities and will burn up their fortresses.” (Hos. 8:11-14)
Through the mouth of Hosea, Yahweh says over and over again that the people living in the northern kingdom of Israel will be dragged off to foreign nations, where they will be oppressed and miserable.
The time of Israel’s punishment has come; the day of payment is here. Soon Israel will know this all too well. Because of your great sin and hostility, you say, “The prophets are crazy and the inspired men are fools!” The prophet is a watchman over Israel for my God, yet traps are laid for him wherever he goes. He faces hostility even in the house of God. The things my people do are as depraved as what they did in Gibeah long ago. God will not forget. He will surely punish them for their sins. (Hos. 9:7-9)
Rebellious people hate the feeling of God driving knives of conviction into their souls, so they react aggressively. Though Yahweh is raising up prophets like Amos and Hosea to warn these people of their sins before it is too late, the prophets are getting attacked and persecuted.
Bitter References to the Past
In the Old Testament prophetic books, we will often find Yahweh referring back to shocking acts of rebellion that Israel committed in the past. In the previous excerpt, the prophet Hosea refers to Gibeah, which is a reference to the shocking events of Judges 19-20 in which Israelite men gang raped a woman to death just because she was new to the city. They actually wanted to gang rape a Levite man instead, but the woman was all they were able to get their hands on. It was a particularly dark event in Israel’s history—sick, twisted, and utterly revolting. Yet God is saying that to Him, Israel is just as bad here in Hosea’s time as she was back then.
“All their wickedness began at Gilgal; there I began to hate them. I will drive them from My land because of their evil actions. I will love them no more because all their leaders are rebels.” (Hos. 9:15)
Gilgal is a major center of worship in Israel—and by now we know the kinds of things the people are worshiping there: golden cows, various Baal gods, and the goddess Asherah. Notice how Yahweh keeps bringing up the sin of idolatry over and over again. He will talk about other crimes as well, such as murder, corrupt judges, robbery, the abuse of the poor. But idolatry will continuously surface as the number one offense. Why is this? Because idolatry is an act of the soul. Murder is an action which can stem from right or wrong motivations. Simply describing a man’s external actions doesn’t tell us what’s going on in his soul. But idolatry is not something we do with our bodies, it is something we do with our souls. Idolatry is when the soul turns away from God and gives its devotion to someone or something else instead. The idol can be living or dead, animate or inanimate.
Today the Bride of Christ is worshiping more idols than she can count and constantly creating more. Why do we call certain people saints? Why do we pray to Mary? Why do we fawn over certain preachers, prophets, and healers? Because we love making new idols for ourselves, just like Jeroboam made his golden calf gods. Why are we so addicted to worship concerts? Is God really the One we’re worshiping at these affairs? No, He is not. Honest soul searching will reveal that far too often we are only using God as an excuse to worship human performers. At the same time, those performers are using God as an excuse to be worshiped by us. Human beings are the main idols in the Christian Church today. Some are dead, some are alive. Some have titles like pope, bishop, doctor, martyr, saint, reverend, apostle, or prophet. Some have no title at all, yet we hang on their every word and exalt them on pedestals within our minds.
Anything that we admire to an equal or greater degree than we do God is an idol. Loving other people is certainly a good thing. But when we care more about pleasing people than we do about pleasing God, that’s idolatry. Our Gods hate idolatry. They are fiercely jealous and demand to be the only Ones we worship; the Masters we serve above all others. If we are serious about pleasing Them, then we have to be willing to ask Them if there is anything or anyone in our lives who are making Them jealous. Our friends, our pets, our family members, our jobs, our stuff, our money, our status at church that wins us the admiration of others, our pastors and worship leaders–-idols come in many forms. As humans, we were designed with a need to worship and this makes it easy for us to fall into idolatry. Once we do, it often feels impossible to get back out of it, and yet our Gods are quite willing to help us fix our spiritual priorities if we are serious about wanting to please Them. But we need to act swiftly, because as we’re learning here in Hosea, even God’s patience has limits.
“But since My people refuse to return to Me, they will become captives again, as they were in Egypt, and they will be forced to serve Assyria. War will swirl through their cities; their enemies will crash through their gates. They will destroy them, trapping them in their own evil plans. For My people are determined to desert Me. They call Me the Most High, but they don’t truly honor Me.” (Hos. 11:5-7)
Back when the united kingdom first fractured into two nations and Jeroboam incited Yahweh’s wrath for making his stupid idols, Yahweh said that one day He would utterly destroy the northern kingdom of Israel. Here in Hosea, He repeats this threat over and over again—and this time He adds more detail. It will be the Assyrians—those fierce warriors from the north—who will crush Israel, burn her cities, take away her golden idols, and drag her people off into exile.
“I have been Yahweh your God ever since I brought you out of Egypt. You must acknowledge no god but Me, for there is no other savior. I took care of you in the wilderness, in that dry and thirsty land. But when you had eaten and were satisfied, you became proud and forgot Me. So now I will attack you like a lion, like a leopard that lurks along the road. Like a bear whose cubs have been taken away, I will tear out your heart. I will devour you like a hungry lioness and mangle you like a wild animal.
You are about to be destroyed, O Israel— yes, by Me, your only Helper. Now where is your king? Let him save you! Where are all the leaders of the land, the king and the officials you demanded of Me? In My anger I gave you kings, and in My fury I took them away. (Hos. 13:4-11)
It’s only when we read the whole Bible in order that we can appreciate these bitter references back to the days of Israel’s journey through the wilderness (Period 2). Yahweh often looks back on those days and comments on how quick His people were to turn away from Him.
“But the people of Israel have bitterly provoked Yahweh, so their Lord will now sentence them to death in payment for their sins.” (Hos. 12:14)
Moths, rot, wild beasts ripping people apart—it’s metaphors like these that make people accuse Yahweh of being a hot-tempered Bully who just can’t wait to punish people. But we’ve been going through the book in order, and we have seen Israel spit on God time after time after time. Is Yahweh really being so unreasonable? Well, yes, He’s being unreasonably gracious to have waited so long to get this angry and He’s unreasonable to still be waiting.
Israel’s destruction won’t come during the reign of Jeroboam II, nor in the reign of the next king or even the next. Yahweh is going to stall for several more decades, but Hosea will probably still be alive to see Yahweh make good on all of His threats. Israel has been burning up her grace for centuries and Yahweh is at His end with her.
“Why should I ransom them from the power of Sheol (the underworld)? Why should I redeem them from death? O Death, bring on your thorns! O Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion will be hidden from My sight!” (Hos. 13:14)
Does this passage sound familiar to you? In 1 Corinthians 15 the rebellious apostle Paul grossly distorts this passage by ripping it out of context and utterly lying about what it means. Here’s Paul:
So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” [Hos. 13:14]
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Cor. 15:54-57)
In the original Hosea passage, Yahweh calls out to “Death” and “the Underworld” to get ready to mow down some rebellious Israelites (the underworld was known as Sheol in the Old Testament and Hades in Paul’s time). This is like a soldier today saying, “Machine gun, get your bullets! Tank, get your wheels turning! It’s time for us to go do some killing!” In the original passage, these statements are spoken in vengeful wrath. But notice how Paul quotes these same questions as a mocking taunt for Christ followers to make–something like: “Ha, ha, Death! Ha, ha Grave! Y’all can’t hurt me now! I’m no longer afraid of you because I’ve got Jesus!” This is a ridiculous and highly offensive distortion of what Yahweh originally said. Being a Pharisee, Paul had received extensive schooling on Scriptures, so it’s not like he didn’t know what the original passage meant. The way that the apostle Paul so brazenly lies to his less educated followers about what Old Testament passages meant is just one more reason why the man is a horrible model of spiritual leadership.
“Samaria will be held guilty, for she has rebelled against her God. The people will fall by the sword, their little ones will be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women will be ripped open.” (Hos. 13:16)
Return, O Israel, to Yahweh your God, for your sins have brought you down. Confess and return to Yahweh. Say to Him, “Forgive our sins and receive us graciously, that we may present to You the fruit of our lips. Assyria cannot save us, nor can our warhorses. Never again will we say to the idols we have made, ‘You are our gods.’ No, for it is in You alone that the orphans find mercy.” (Hos. 14:1-3)
Even this late in the game, Yahweh is still offering forgiveness to anyone who will sincerely repent. Is this the action of a harsh and unloving God? Not hardly. God’s grace is mind blowing. Here He models for the people how to pray: humbly ask for forgiveness, and start depending on Yahweh instead of human brawn. And stop with the idols! Then God will be merciful. Notice that He doesn’t demand perfect behavior, nor does He demand a thousand animal sacrifices. He doesn’t tell people to grovel like worms or cower like unworthy scum. He just tells them to change their soul attitudes. This is all Yahweh has ever required from them: sincere soul reverence, submission, and dependency. This is all He requires of us today.
So, is it hard to please God? No, it is incredibly simple. God has never put His pleasure out of reach. He’s never set a bar impossibly high and then nailed us for failing to reach it. God is gracious, kind, compassionate, gentle, warm and welcoming. But if we scorn Him, and if we intentionally scorn Him on a soul level, then He will turn His violent side against us and we will find Him to be terror, wrath, pain, and darkness.
One of the shocking themes we should be picking up on in Hosea is how even in the midst of intense anger, Yahweh is still extending grace to these spiritual brats. This won’t always be the case. Very soon we’ll be meeting a new prophet who will be called to speak for a God who is no longer willing to extend grace, no longer willing to forgive, and no longer willing to take back a people who have done nothing but scorn Him. That new prophet’s name will be Isaiah. But before we get to him, there are a few more kings that we need to meet, and we’ll learn about them in our next lesson.
Know Your Bible 
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