Read Hosea 6:4–7:16
Questions from the Scripture text: Whom does v4a address? Whom does Hosea 6:4b address? What does the Lord ask each of them? Why (verse 4b–c)? How has the Lord responded to this fickleness (Hosea 6:5)? What does He desire, as compared to what (Hosea 6:6)? But what have Israel and Judah done (Hosea 6:7)? Like whom? Who are involved in what sin in Hosea 6:8-9? Whom does the Lord condemn in Hosea 6:10-11? What happened at what time in Hosea 7:1a–c? What wickedness, specifically, was uncovered (verse 1d–f)? What did they fail to consider (Hosea 7:2)? But whom did they please (Hosea 7:3)? To what do Hosea 7:4-7 describe the preparation and intensity of their sinning? What, especially, led to this level of sin (Hosea 7:8-9)? With what results? And yet, what did they still not do (Hosea 7:10)? To whom did they turn instead (Hosea 7:11)? But why will this fail (Hosea 7:12)? What have they done to Whom (Hosea 7:13)? Despite His doing what? What was lacking in their crying, wailing “repentance” (Hosea 7:14a–b)? When thy gathered for worship, what were they really gathering for (verse 14c)? So that they were really doing what (verse 14d)? How did they repay God’s doing what (Hosea 7:15)? What was lacking in their repentance in Hosea 7:16a–b? With what result (verse 16c–e)?
What remedy is there for those who are like Adam? Hosea 6:4–7:16 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these twenty-four verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that our own repenting is so riddled with sin like Adam, that our only hope is another Adam, the last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ.
There was much good to be said for the form of repentance in Hosea 6:1–3. Sadly, the Lord evaluates it as short-lived (Hosea 6:4). Their fickleness has been the reason that He has sent prophet after prophet with words that had to cut (Hosea 6:5). The externals of religion are no substitute for a truly transformed heart (Hosea 6:6).
That is just the issue: our need for a transformed heart. Like He did for Adam, the Lord had given Israel every possible advantage. But like Adam did to Him, they betrayed Him and violated His covenant with them (Hosea 6:7; n.b. it is “like Adam” not “like men”).
Indeed, some of His good gifts were themselves twisted or perverted into spiritual harm, rather than spiritual help. Why wasn’t the priesthood a help against the violence of Gilead (Hosea 6:8)? Because the priests themselves were committing murder and lewdness (Hosea 6:9)! Why wasn’t civil government a deterrent to their sin? Because the capital city itself was one of wickedness, fraud, theft, and robbery (Hosea 7:1), so that people did not please the king or princes by doing what is good, but rather with wickedness and lies (v3). Indeed, they were so bent on pleasing men with their wickedness, that they completely neglected that they should have been doing what pleases the Lord before His own face (Hosea 7:2).
They had so perfected their craft, that they were like expert bakers, keeping the oven of the heart continuously ready to turn out loaves of sin (Hosea 7:4-7). And the crowning factor was their mixing with the peoples and foreigners (v8–9), so that they had spent their lives in sinning without even realizing that their strength was gone, and their hair was gray (Hosea 7:8-9).
Yet, not only did they fail to turn to YHWH (Hosea 7:10), but they actually turned to Egypt and Assyria instead (Hosea 7:11). Since they’re acting like bird-brains (verse 11), the Lord will trap them like birds, just as His Word has said (Hosea 7:12). Their wickedness has not merely been against a moral standard but personally against the Lord Himself (Hosea 7:13). Even their weeping repentance didn’t include the actual turning of the heart toward God (Hosea 7:14a–b), and even their religious services were no about submitting to the Lord as much as they were about enjoying grain and new wine (verse 14c–d). Their turning was not to the Lord Who had helped them (Hosea 7:15-16b), so their punishment would be sure and severe (Hosea 7:16c–e).
What a dreadful thing our sinful natures are, so that even our repenting and worshiping are so corrupted as to be offensive to God! We are, indeed, just like our first father, Adam, in whom we sinned, and like unto whom we now sin. This is why we have so desperately needed a righteous priest, a righteous king, and the new and last Adam: our Lord Jesus Christ. All that is in Him, and from Him in us, is pleasing unto the Lord. Only in Him can we escape dreadful and permanent disaster!
How can your repenting be acceptable to God? How does this inform the way that you come to God? How does it inform the way that you worship? What are you seeking from Jesus that He would do in you? How do you remember that you are before God’s face? How do you maintain your heart unto Him?
Sample prayer: Lord, forgive us for how fickle and short-lived our repentance often is. Grant that we would bring You not only the externals of religion, but mercy and sacrifice. Grant to us to be in Your Son, our Lord Jesus, as the last Adam. And just as He has kept Your covenant for us, make us also to be covenant-keepers like He is. Give us leadership in the church and the state that help us to remember that we are before Your face. And forgive us for when we have been forgetful of You. Forgive us also for when, rather than being careful to keep our hearts turned toward You, we have actually been like bakers who keep the ovens of our hearts hot for making loaves of sin. Indeed, O Lord, all our sin is a wicked treachery against You, and deserves great and permanent punishment. So, forgive us for the sake of Christ, and conform us to His image, we ask in His Name, AMEN!
Suggested Songs: ARP51AB “God, Be Merciful to Me” or TPH433 “Amazing Grace”
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