Dr Paul Allen

Hear the word of the LORD, you Israelites, because the LORD has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: “There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgement of God in the land ” (Hosea 4:1). The prophets were called by God to bring His covenant lawsuit against the nation Israel. At the beginning of his series of oracles (Hosea 4–14), Hosea summoned the nation to hear God’s charge against them. In Hosea 4:2, God charged them with breaking the Ten Commandments, mentioning cursing, murder, adultery, stealing, and lying. Not only were the people doing these evil deeds, but they were doing them repeatedly, so that “bloodshed followed bloodshed.” God was judging the land already by letting them experience the consequences of their behavior. The land was not yielding its produce, the people were wasting away, and even the animals were dying off (Hosea 4:3). The people were litigious, constantly bringing lawsuits against one another (Hosea 4:4). Why had this come to pass? Be

What is Hosea about? The Northern Kingdom of Israel had turned her back on God. When God chose Jeroboam to rule the  northern ten tribes of Israel , He was prepared to establish Jeroboam’s bloodline the same way He’d done for David ( 1 Ki 11:38 ). Instead, King Jeroboam set up two golden calves and instituted a pagan priesthood—forever cementing his legacy as the one “who made Israel sin” ( 1 Ki 13:26 ). Israel had left the one who had saved her, loved her, and made her His own. The Southern Kingdom of Judah wasn’t far behind. So God tells a man named Hosea to marry a harlot.  Hosea marries her, and has children. But she leaves him and commits adultery. Then God tells him to go after her and bring her back.  Hosea’s marriage is symbolic of God’s  covenant  relationship with Israel. Through Hosea, the Lord tells the story of Israel’s disobedience, His discipline, and His steadfast, faithful love: Rejection and betrayal.  Hosea’s wife, Gomer, leaves him for another—just lik

Hosea the prophet, Russian icon from first quarter of 18th cen. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Hear the word of the LORD, you Israelites , because the LORD has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: “There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgement of God in the land”  ( Hosea 4:1). The prophets were called by God to bring His covenant lawsuit against the nation Israel . At the beginning of his series of oracles (Hosea 4–14), Hosea summoned the nation to hear God’s charge against them.  In Hosea 4:2, God charged them with breaking the Ten Commandments , mentioning cursing, murder, adultery, stealing, and lying. Not only were the people doing these evil deeds, but they were doing them repeatedly, so that “bloodshed followed bloodshed.” God was judging the land already by letting them experience the consequences of their behavior. The land was not yielding its produce, the people were wasting away, and even the animals were dying off (Hosea 4:3). The people w

The Prophet Hosea, by Duccio di Buoninsegna, in the Siena Cathedral (c. 1309-1311) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, “Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the LORD” (Hosea 1:2). God instructed Hosea to marry a woman named Gomer . There is no reason to think that Gomer was a woman of ill repute at the time of her marriage to Hosea, but God told Hosea from the start that she would be unfaithful to him.  She would prove to be an adulterous wife, and her children would be of questionable parentage. God was calling Hosea to experience a little taste of what He Himself had experienced with Israel . God had married Israel in her youth, knowing in advance that she would prove unfaithful to Him. How painful this must have been for Hosea. Yet, because of his love for her, and God’s command, he married her anyway, and put u

English: English translation of hebrew version. Map of the twelve tribes of Israel, before the move of Dan to the North (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) " Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.” ( Hosea 4:17 ) Our God is longsuffering and full of mercy, but there is a line which must not be crossed. It is dangerous to presume that God will always continue to forgive; He can become a “consuming fire” ( Hebrews 12:29 ). The leaders of Ephraim (a collective term for the ten northern tribes of Israel ) had passed this point of no return. They had become completely infatuated with the pantheistic polytheism of the nations, being “joined” to their symbolic models of natural forces and all the immoral practices which accompanied such nature worship. The word for “joined” means “fascinated by.” They had been brought so deeply under the occult powers behind these nature-god idols as to be irrevocably committed to them, so that it would be a waste of time and tears to try to reclaim th

Paul the Apostle, Russian icon from first quarter of 18th cen. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “… in your moral excellence, knowledge .” 2 PETER 1:5 It’s a frightening thing to realize the extent to which our culture downplays knowledge in favor of emotions. These days people are more likely to ask, “How will it make me feel?” instead of, “Is it true?” Sadly, the church has bought into the spirit of the age. Many people go to church, not to learn the truths of God ’s Word, but to get an emotional high. The focus of theological discussion also reflects the contemporary hostility to knowledge.  To a shocking extent, truth is no longer the issue; the questions being asked today are, “Will it divide?” or “Will it offend?” To ask if a theological position is biblically correct is considered unloving, and those who take a stand for historic Christian truth are labeled as divisive. But knowledge is inseparable from moral excellence and Christian growth. It should be obvious that people c

The Prophet Hosea, by Duccio di Buoninsegna, in the Siena Cathedral (c. 1309-1311) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Hosea 11:8 says “How can I give you up, Ephraim?  How can I hand you over, Israel ?  How can I treat you like Admah ?  How can I make you like Zeboyim ?  My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused. Many would say that since God knows all things, he does not change his mind. Yet the Bible frequently speaks of God’s mercy in terms of God relenting from threatened judgment.  God’s intentions —both for blessings and punishment—are often tied to our response.  God in his sovereignty can make promises that are conditional, dependent upon the obedient response of his people.  God’s judgments can also be conditional, dependent on the continued refusal of his people to repent. Jeremiah 18:8-10 "and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 9 And if at another t

Is everything we do at church called Ministry? 1.  Let’s see where “ministry’ appears in the Old Testament .  We’ll start by looking up the occurrences of the word in the major English translations on  www.Biblegateway.com : ESV  – 3x – Numbers   4:47 ; 2 Chron . 7:6, 2 Chron.  8:14 NIV  – 2x – 1 Chron. 25:1, 6 NASB  – 2x – 1 Chron. 24:3, 19 NKJV  – 5x – Ex. 31:10, 35:19, 39:1, 39:41; 2 Chron. 7:6 KJV  – 4x – Num.  4:12 ,  4:47 ; 2 Chron. 7:6, Hosea  12:10 . I know there’s other translations, but this will more than suffice our needs since “ministry” doesn’t appear hundreds of times in the OT. 2.  Let’s check our references at  www.blueletterbible.org  and discover the Hebrew term in each verse: Ex. 31:10 –  Kahan Ex. 35:19 –  Kahan Ex. 39:1 –  Serad  &  Sharath Ex. 39:41 - Kahan Num.  4:12  -a derivitive of  Sharath Num.  4:47  –  Abodah 1 Chron. 24:3 –  Abodah 1 Chron 24:19 –  Abodah 1 Chron. 25:1 –  Abodah 1 Chron. 25:6 –  Abodah 2 Chron. 7:6 –  Yad