The Prophet Hosea is unusual for many reasons. Truthfully each Old Testament Prophet of God is unique in some way. God chooses individuals to serve Him, not cookie-cutter laborers!

Hosea 1:1 introduces us to the man, in a way. It gives us a sense of the time-line of his ministry.

"The word of the LORD that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel."

The Text says that Hosea preached during the reigns of all these Kings, some of Israel and some of Judah.

Here's today's fact about this sterling Man of God, about Hosea. When the years are totaled that these Kings sat on their respective thrones, one arrives at something like one hundred twenty years!

We know that Hosea likely did not live that long, so his work for the Lord covered most of the years of these Kings ... many Bible teachers suggesting a very long, faithful ministry for Hosea!  At least seventy years of preaching most argue!

Seventy years!

Today's Lesson is about faithfulness, dependability, reliability for the Lord Jesus Who saved us!

And our Prophet Hosea certainly set the standard!

One of the longest durative preaching biographies in the entire Bible!

Hosea!

Thank God for him.

What an example he sets for us Christians today.

He did not, but could have written these First Corinthians 15:58 words. "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."

I just preached this Verse last Thursday night.

Oh to be consistently serving our Lord!

                  --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 2:

The Book of Hosea, including all its fourteen chapters, contains only 197 verses. That's all!

Yet it portrays one of the greatest examples of God's Grace and Forgiveness in all of the Bible.

The "kernel" of the Book is the story of Hosea's love relationship with his wife, a lady named "Gomer." We begin studying this tomorrow, Lord willing.

And the remainder of the Book consists of this Prophet's Sermons to the people to whom God had called him. To the northern kingdom of Jews, known as Israel or Samaria.

I really want, as a Preacher and student of God's Word, to learn more about Hosea in the next few days ... maybe even weeks. It's sort of a challenge to me to do so.

What an admirable goal for any Christian, trying to master any portion of Scripture.

I'd like to encourage someone reading here today to pick yourself a block of Scripture, a small Book or a longer chapter or a group of Psalms or Proverbs ... and study your selection diligently.

Learn it until it fills your heart and mind with Truth.

In so doing, and this is a promise, God will abundantly bless your efforts!

"Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." Psalm 1:1-3

Oh, the Power of God's precious Word!

                   --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 3:

The Prophets of God are spectacular! And the more we know about them, every one of them, the greater they appear.

We must note one aspect of their lives today, of a select group anyway. And this thought is a lead-in to the first chapter of Hosea. What a perplexing passage of Scripture! "The word of the LORD that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms ...." Hosea 1:1-2

Hosea has just received a strange command from the Lord, one apparently concerning a wife.

Yes, God controlled every area of the lives of His Prophets! In fact, does He not still control every area of the lives of His people?

God commanded Jeremiah the Prophet to never marry! He could not have a Wife! "The word of the LORD came also unto me, saying, Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place." Jeremiah 16:1

God however did allow Isaiah to marry! And He blessed Isaiah and his wife with children, two boys! Isaiah loved his wife so much that he called her, nick-named her, the "prophetess." Here's Isaiah 8:3 for proof. "And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said the LORD to me, Call his name Mahershalalhashbaz."

Then with Ezekiel, another premier Prophet of God, a yet different wife situation developed. This Man of God loved his companion so much he called her "the desire of his eyes!" That word "desire" means "loveliness, pleasantry, delight, and beauty!" But God took the life of Ezekiel's Wife! Here's the Bible account: "Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke." That quickly, Ezekiel 24:16, his wife is dead! With a sudden stroke! And to top it all, the Prophet was not allowed to mourn or weep at her death! All of which would become a sermon, a life-situation sermon, to the children of Israel!

Wow!

Truthfully, God still today uses the husband-wife relationship to reflect spiritual Truth! Paul in Ephesians 5 outlines this fact. Every husband is to love his wife like Jesus loves the Church. The Church is Jesus' Bride, you know! And each Christian wife is to respond to and respect her husband as the Church does to Christ! "Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord." Then, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it." Ephesians 5:21-22 and 25

But back to Hosea.

He was commanded to marry a lady of questionable character! And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms ...." This is an awesome requirement for any man.

Yet Hosea obeyed His Lord. And his marriage to Gomer, her name, will become one of the greatest Bible sources of all ... to teach the unfathomable Love of God!

More tomorrow, Lord willing.

      --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 4:

Hosea 1:1 introduces us to the main character of that little Book. He's the man who does the preaching through its fourteen chapters. "The word of the LORD that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri ...."

Today let's just meet this unique man. His name is "Hosea." That's a transliteration of the Hebrew noun "hoshea." Simply stated, it means "salvation." So do the Old Testament Bible names "Joshua" and "Oshea!"

However "hoshea" can be traced further backwards. It is derived from a verbal root, "yasha," meaning "to deliver, to preserve, to rescue," even at times "to preserve, to revenge!"

And this little Jewish man, this "Minor Prophet" as he is so often known, lived up to the meaning of his name!

He "saves" his wife again and again.

He preaches a message of "salvation" to his people Israel.

And he is a namesake, a forerunner of "Jesus," the Saviour of the world!

For example, in his very first chapter, Hosea amid scenes of sinfulness and unfaithfulness and idolatry and apostasy, writes to God's people: "Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel." Hosea 1:10-11

Wow!

Salvation, victory, Divine intervention ... in the midst of unprecedented darkness!

Yes, Hosea is indeed a kind and merciful and godly preacher of "salvation."

May his number increase.

          --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 5:

The Book of Hosea, as far as the Prophet's Sermons are concerned, really begins in earnest at chapter four. The opening verse there sets the tone for the rest of the Prophecy.

"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." Hosea 4:1

The Lord is "upset!"

He has a "controversy" with His people. They have displeased Him. They no longer believe the Truth. They no longer behave in kindness. And they have ignored their God!

So in the Minor Prophet's writings we call "Hosea" the Lord argues with Israel for most of eleven chapters!

This Bible Book is a written record of God's "controversy" with the Jews. With His chosen people. With those whom He elsewhere calls "the apple of His Eye!"

Let's study this key word.

"Controversy" is a translation of a Hebrew noun spelled "riyb." It's pronounced "reeb" by most teachers. The word means "strife, dispute, quarrel," or even "case at law."

It is derived from a root word meaning "to debate, to chide, to contend, to make a complaint."

God is taking Israel to task for her wrongdoing!

And Hosea records the proceedings.

Question today is this: Is God pleased with us His people? Us who believe in Him in the twenty-first century?

And in truth, only you can answer that question for yourself.

And only me for myself.

Oh, to live lives that please our great God!

Remember Hebrews 11:6. "But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."

Amen!

                  --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 6:

The Book of Hosea contains 197 verses, all inspired of God. And it is, like all Bible Books I'm sure, built in an amazing way.

It has one verse of introduction.

Then it has one verse of conclusion.

And sandwiched between those two verses are the remaining 195 verses, the heart of the Book. The meat of the book.

Here's the introduction: "The word of the LORD that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel." Hosea 1:1

Here's the end: "Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein." Hosea 14:9

And even the "middle" is organized!

The first three chapters tell us about Hosea the man. His marriage and his family.

The last eleven chapters tell us about Hosea and his message. His sermons to Israel and Judah.

Look at it now, its sections ...

Introduction.

Hosea as a man.

Hosea as a messenger.

Conclusion.

All this makes me hungry to learn more about this interesting portion of God's Word.

It's one of the most amazing love stories in all the Bible.

And since today is Saturday, maybe these thoughts can make us all eager to get to Church tomorrow! And learn more of God's precious Book, the Bible. Sunday School followed by the Preaching Hour!

Amen!

                   --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 7:

The Book of Hosea is, surprisingly, much harder to study that I ever realized! The vocabulary is complex, the interpretation often hazy, and its subject matter far more negative than is usually taught!

But the more I study the Text, the more I believe Hosea knew such to be the case. That he was writing some "hard" to understand Scripture.

That such portions of the Bible do exist is provable by quoting Simon Peter one day. He wrote: "Even as our beloved Brother Paul wrote unto you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them some things hard to be understood ...."

"Things hard to be understood!"

Wow!

Yes, Hosea too has such pericopes!

Such paragraphs!

That's why we need the Holy Spirit to guide and teach us God's Word. To help us "see" what Hosea is saying!

To comprehend his message to us every yet today.

And that's why the last verse in Hosea says what it does. "Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them?"

Again, Hosea 14:9. "Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them?"

What  a way to end a Book of the Bible!

"Lord, give us wisdom and prudence to learn the truths of the great Book of Hosea. We pray in Jesus' Name. Amen!

This is precisely what the Psalmist asked too, as he studied the Scriptures. "Lord, open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy Law."

That's how to learn God's Word.

           --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 8:

The first chapter of the Bible Book of Hosea is phenomenal! There are few others, if any, like it in all the Word of God, which incidentally has 1,189 chapters.

Here's a review of that entire portion of Scripture, Hosea 1:1-11. God introduces us to Hosea the Preacher. Then God commands this man to marry an immoral woman! And by her to have children, the total number of which are three. Their names, the sons and daughter? The firstborn is Jezreel, named by God Himself! It means "scattered!" God will scatter His people Israel because of their rebellion and sin. The second child is a little girl, named Lo-ruhamah. That means "no mercy!" Or as one teacher says "without pity." Her name is a sermon! If Israel continues to flagrantly sin against Her God, He will no longer shower her with mercy! Then the youngest child, another son, is born. God names him Lo-ammi. Translated the word means "not my people!" Keep sinning, Israel! And if you do the chief consequence will be God's no longer acknowledging you as His Own!

Oh, the wages of sin!

Even to those who know God as Lord and Saviour!

The first nine verses are terrible, bleak, pessimistic, full of judgment.

But that precious little chapter ends gloriously! God intervenes in His inherent Grace and Love! "Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel."

The Lord has sent Revival to Israel!

To all His people, north and south!

And, as is the case when we get "saved," God apparently renames this crowd!

Watch Hosea 2:1, today's Text. "Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah."

A miracle has occurred!

Backslidden Israel has now been reunited! So they can accurately be called "Brothers" and "Sisters!"

And their little names have been, of all things, REVERSED!

"Ammi" means "My people," and God is doing the talking! This congregation is no longer "Lo-ammi," meaning "not God's people!"

And "Ruhamah" means "Mercied, Pitied" of God! A far cry from her previous name, "Lo-ruhamah," meaning as we earlier learned "no mercy!"

That's our great God!

It's His Nature!

Turning "strangers" into "family!"

Turning "hatred" into Love!"

Praise His Good Name today!

                --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 9:

The third chapter of Hosea is critically important to the understanding of the Book, the whole Book. It's concise yet enlightening. Also it is the end of the personal side of Hosea's story. His last eleven chapters concern his preaching, his sermons.

Here's Hosea 3:1-5, the entire corpus. "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. So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley. 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. 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. 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."

Really today's text, the third chapter I just printed for you to read, is a summary of all that has preceded it in this little Prophecy.

Hosea is commanded of God to marry an adulteress! A lady who has been immoral and will not remain faithful to her husband. But Hosea's wife Gomer is not just a failure in their home. She is also a picture of backsliding Israel and her unfaithfulness to Almighty God.

But something happens. This wife gets into trouble. Her lovers do not pay all her bills! She finds herself one day in prison! A poor slave girl, indebted to no telling how many creditors.

So what does Hosea do?

He, instead of divorcing Gomer, instead of having her stoned to death ... mercifully journeys to the prison where she's being held and pays her bail! Buys her out! Fulfills her obligations! Satisfies her every bill!

The Prophet used what little silver he had, plus some of his year's crops. Loving an unlovely woman!

On the way back home Hosea told Gomer that He was expecting her to live more righteously! She must live with her husband, not running away any more. She must renounce harlotry. She must, at least for a while it seems, live a celibate lifestyle. She is being corrected and disciplined for her sins.

All this is a picture of what God has done and is doing and is yet to do for Israel, for Judah, for the Jewish people.

They have been unfaithful to the Lord.

However they have been pursued by him, by God, and "bought" and placed in the very household of the Creator, the Redeemer!

And Israel remains today, in a sort of probationary period! Without a King! Not of David's lineage anyway. Without a legitimate priesthood. And yet too, thankfully, without idols! At least with the knowledge of the Truth, as possessors of the Torah, the Word of God.

Presumably the story of Hosea and Gomer ended well! "Happily every after" perhaps! And the saga of Israel will too! "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." Hosea 3:5, the chapter's last and brightest verse!

Jesus is coming again.

And these symbols will all become reality, literally so!

Gloriously bright days ahead ... for old sinners delivered by the Grace of God!

                           --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 10:

The Book of Hosea is of course a prophetic piece of Literature, divinely inspired. And the Prophet of that same name is quite a denunciator of sin. He consistently preaches against iniquity! Yet through all fourteen chapters of his Writing one grand Theme keeps popping up again and again. This happens so frequently that I have begun to wonder if that recurring Theme might even be the sub-plot of the whole Book!

And what is that ever reoccurring Hosean topic?

It's Grace!

The marvelous Grace of God, also attached to His Mercy and Forgiveness none the less!

Here's an example of that Grace, right in the middle of a mud-hole of sin and degradation. Taken from Hosea chapter 4, verse 14. And God is talking even! Hosea merely reports His Words, the Almighty's. "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."

At first the sentence does not make a lot of sense.

It lacks clarity. That's one of the most difficult problems to solve in this little Minor Prophecy too. What's Hosea saying, really?

Yet the Hebrew language here becomes a commentary to us English readers. And clarity instantly explodes all over the verse! Plus a beautiful view of God's Grace.

Here we go. I will merely (in parentheses) give you the gender of one little pronoun! "I, the Lord God, will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery. For themselves (masculine, meaning the men of Israel too) are separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall."

God is not here taking a "soft" approach to sin.

It's still wrong.

But the Jews had evidently been judging the women who committed adultery. And letting the men off absolutely free! It does take two to commit that sin, you know!

So God says, dramatically, "I will no longer punish (just) the ladies! Not while the men are doing the same thing and not being judged!"

That's what I mean about Hosea!

Grace, Grace and then more Grace!

Adultery is still wrong.

Just treat everyone the same who commits that evil.

Not a double standard.

Not stone to death the women ... and slyly ignore the men who were their partners!

"I, the Lord God, will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery. For themselves (masculine, meaning the men of Israel too) are separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall." Hosea 4:14, with that one note of explanation.

"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." Hosea 4:14, in our precious King James Version.

Jesus, Who was a diligent Bible Student and several times quoted from Hosea, likely had this verse in mind that day He told a woman "taken" in adultery ... with no man being charged with anything ... "Woman, where are those thine accusers?"

Then our Lord, fair as He is, said: "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." Wow, what Grace! John 8:11

I close with this fact. Jesus loves us all. He died for all humankind. Women as well as men, gross sinners as well as boys and girls!

Grace!

             --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 11:

I found this Verse in the Book of Hosea yesterday. It's sad, even when written hundreds of years ago ... yet quite an accurate description of things today in contemporary society.

God says of Israel: "I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing." Hosea 8:12

The verb "have written," God's Self-described method of communicating His Word, is a translation of a Hebrew verb spelled "kathab." It means "recorded, described," therefore "written" in that sense. But it also carries the idea of something that's been permanently archived! "Engraved" is a common definition for the word in fact! Something eternally etched, never to be erased or deleted!

Yes, God gave His people Israel a Book!

The Bible!

And God Himself calls His Book "great!" Again our Lord says:  "I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing."

The adjective used here is "rob," a word that means "abundance, multitude, plentitude, excellence!" God values His Own Speech highly, and rightly so! It's perfect, infallible!

The noun "law" merely means "teaching." Truthfully "torah" is derived from a Hebrew verb, "yarah," which basically means "to throw" truth around! "Or just "to rain" truth down upon the earth!

God is thrilled! He has spoken to mankind! And those Who love the Lord will, automatically, love His Word, His Book, His Bible!

Yet Israel, backslidden and rebellion, did not respond as God would have liked. They did not cherish and obey God's Instruction Manual!

"I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing."

"Counted" here means "esteemed, calculated, evaluated, reckoned." They did not think much of God's Law!

"Strange thing," in Hebrew "zur," means "foreign!" Something "alien!" The word can even imply an "enemy!"

This reckless, loveless response on Israel's part "hurt" the Lord God Almighty!

You can almost hear the pathos in His Voice! "I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing."

Let us today have the opposite response to our Heavenly Father. To the One Who saved us.

Let us cherish His Word!

Let us become familiar with It, not considering it strange!

We must adopt the attitude of the Psalmist who again and again talks about loving God's Law!

Tell our Lord today, folks, how much you appreciate His Word!

His Great Word!

Amen.

                 --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 12:

The Bible Text for today is located in Hosea 9:7. God's Man, the Prophet Hosea makes a statement about the religious condition of his time.

Here are his words: "The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred."

The people of God, those to whom Hosea has been called to minister, are facing God's judgment. Because of unconfessed, long-standing sin.

"Visitation," in Hebrew "pequddah," means "oversight, care, concern," special interest in a person. That's when people are living lives that please God.

But this same "visitation" in times of sin and apostasy means "extra care and concern" to discipline, to chastise those same wayfaring folks.

God is visiting Israel ... specifically in order to "whip" her!

"Recompence" means "reward," her just reward for all of her evil deeds! "Payback" time has come.

And God does not have to scourge us very long ... until we "know" It. "The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Israel shall know it." That verb is "yada," extreme "consciousness" in most cases.

But why are things so bad?

How did this special Nation backslide so far?

Back to our Verse for the answer.  "The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred."

The "prophets" are responsible!

The "spiritual men" of the Land have ceased living for God!

The Prophet Amos had to battle liberalism in his day, in the form of false prophets. Jeremiah did so too. In fact, Jesus our Lord as well!

And apparently like so with Hosea.

Prophets opposed his Bible preaching Ministry.

So the real man of God just "attacks" the lies those pseudo preachers have proclaimed. Tell us again please, Hosea: "The prophet is a fool, and the spiritual man is mad ...."

The word "fool" is "eviyl" in Hebrew. It means "twisted!" People who are preverse in their living! And here in their sermons!

And the spiritual men? They are, Hosea charges, "mad!" And "shaga" literally means something like "crazy!" They have lost their ability to reason clearly, to think sensibly.

That's pretty "straight" preaching, from a so-called Minor Prophet!

Why so upset, Hosea?

Because foolish prophets and mad spiritual men produce, in any country the following: "A multitude of iniquity and great hatred!"

Our Verse once more: "The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred."

Let's today pray for every true Man of God we know.

That they will never become "fools" or "mad" or depart from the Word of God! Oh, to stay faithful for Jesus.

                  --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 13:

The Book of Hosea is certainly not the best-known portion of the Bible. Why study such little-emphasized Scripture?

For one reason, all the Bible is the Word of God! Each Verse is divinely inspired, without error.

For another reason, and this one constitutes our Lesson this morning, because the New Testament makes use of that little Minor Prophet's writings, of Hosea's ancient material.

Where, you might ask?

In Matthew 2:15 Hosea 11:1 is mentioned. And Matthew herein links Hosea to our Saviour, to Jesus! When Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt, protecting Baby Jesus from Herod, Matthew wrote, quoting Hosea: "And they were there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son." This is Hosea in the New Testament!

Also Matthew 9:13 quotes Hosea 6:6. Jesus is here refuting the Pharisees too! "And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." I have underlined the Hosea words!

Jesus was a Student of Hosea!

Furthermore Jesus quotes this same verse again, later in Matthew 12:7. "But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless."

Another one, if not a quote at least it's a reference, an "allusion" it's sometimes called. From Luke 23:30 we hear these echoes of Hosea 10:8. "The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us." Again I've underlined the pertinent clause.

Now, to a list of other Hosea possibilities in the New Testament.

Hosea 6:2 says: "After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight." This may be the basis for a Resurrection Truth mentioned in Luke 24:46 and elsewhere. "And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day. And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."

Wow!

Then to the Book of Romans, to Paul. In Romans 9:25 Paul even mentions Hosea by name! And clearly quotes him. "As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God." The great Apostle is using Hosea 2:23 which says: "And I the Lord will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God."

Now to the best known of all Hosea quotes in the New Testament. Hosea wrote it this way: "I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes." Paul takes Hosea 13:14 here and directly applies it to Jesus, His Victory at Calvary and the subsequent Empty tomb! "Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" First Corinthians 15:54-55, amazing!

Additionally, First Peter 2:10 and Revelation 6:16 are probably traces of Hosean vocabulary as well!

That's enough evidence to at least say this: Hosea has a formidable presence in the New Testament Scriptures!

Hosea, a little fourteen-chapter Book at the end of the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament .... that is well worth studying!

As is all the Word of God.

       --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 14:

The last chapter of Hosea ends on a positive note! Even after all that preaching against sin. Of course Israel as a nation did reap the terrible consequences of her iniquity. She was enslaved in Assyrian captivity, nearly being assimilated into that gentile sea of humanity.

Yet God "resurrected" her! God revived His people. And here's how the Prophet Hosea instructed Israel to come back to God. If you will carefully read the following paragraph you will notice that Israel is even being given the words to say! "How to repent," the idea of today's Lesson!

"O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips. Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy." Hosea 14:1-3

In other words, "Return to the Lord," where Hosea is using the staple Hebrew word for "repent," spelled "shub." Notice that Israel has belonged to God since her inception as a Nation, "Return to thy God."

But now watch this. She is instructed to such a degree that the very words to flow from her mouth are given! "Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously ...." This is amazing! Israel must mean what she's praying, obviously. But employing these words will guarantee God's gracious response! At least the words plus the right accompanying actions, turning from her sins.

I have on occasion given a repenting sinner some words to say. When he or she was ready to come to Jesus. To be saved by God's Grace. But apparently Hosea had the idea first! No, really the Holy Spirit did.

The expression "calves of their lips" indicate "words of praise!" Things like "thanking" God for rescuing them, the Israelites, from the trash bin of the world!

Now watch the heart-broken Nation as she lives what she has promised God. Her resolve not only to confess her sin, but to forsake it as well! "Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy."

No more trusting Assyria!

No more trusting horses, basically the largest weapons of war available in those days!

No more making idols and worshipping them either! "Neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy."

Wow!

Again I remind you we have just been taught a pattern for repentance!

But wait a minute. Did God really respond positively to these folks? Did the Lord actually forgive them?

The next Verse answers our question. "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him." Hosea 14:4

Yes!

Yes!

Yes!

But wonderfully, as is often the case with the Lord, He did a lot more than just "forgive" His people! There are "extras" included: "I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon." Hosea 14:5-6

Revival has now really come ... to this repentant Nation!

And do I have good news today!

This same God is still on the Throne! He is still willing to forgive those who repent and forsake their wrongdoings. And He will be true to his Word! Usually adding blessing upon blessing to His returning children.

This great fact even more clearly appears in the New Testament. John writes: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." First John 1:9

Amen!

                    --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

Someone reading here this Monday morning may need just this very Lesson. Come to Jesus now! Or maybe it's ... Come back to Jesus right now! Repentance instructions appear above. What a wonderful God we have. What a Saviour we serve.

LESSON 15:

The Book of Hosea, ever interesting, today holds for us these surprising words, straight from the Mouth of God. But remember this first, Israel had been sinning non-stop for decades. Really by now centuries!

"For I the Lord will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him. I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early." Hosea 5:14-15

This is the Creator of Israel talking!

He is their Redeemer too!

But they have backslid on God, rebelled against Him. Repeatedly, habitually, hard-heartedly!

So God will be to his people like a "lion!" Not an old, decrepit lion either! A young one, strong and agile and dangerous! One who attacks and tears its prey!

Yes, God is going to chasten and discipline and punish his sinning children! "For I the Lord will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him."

Note that no so-called "friends" of Israel will be able to rescue him either. Not Egypt! Not Assyria! Nobody!

But today's Lesson is actually contained in the next few words of our Text. Watch carefully. "I will go and return to my place," God still talking!

God is leaving His people, again only due to their constantly persistence non-repentance!

God is no longer drawing night to Israel.

He is literally hiding from them, until they do right!

For how long?

Forever?

No!

But until they turn from their sins! "Till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early."

God's ways with His people are fascinating!

Always wise!

Yet ultimately loving!

What a sermon this should be to Christians yet today. The same God is still on the Throne.

And He still hates sin.

And He still punishes iniquity.

Yet this God is seldom if ever preached anymore!

"For I the Lord will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him. I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early."

Be careful, child of God.

                --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 16:

The Apostle Paul, in his classic definition of the Gospel. says: "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand ... How that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures." First Corinthians 15:1-4

Note carefully the final words of this fundamental statement. Jesus "rose again the third day according to the Scriptures."

Twelve times in the Gospels this exact "third day" descriptor is used about Jesus' conquering the Grave! Jesus uses it of himself four times in Matthew, twice in Mark, and five times in Luke. The Emmaus Road travelers employ it too in Luke 24:21. And Peter preaching in Acts 10:40 quotes it too, "Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly."

Wow!

This "third day" thing is quite abundant in the Word of God. And again I remind you that Paul says the expression is "according to the Scriptures." That's the Apostle's wording for something he has found in the Old Testament. The Old Testament which is also the inspired Word of God!

Question today, our Lesson this morning, centers around this issue. Where in the Old Testament is it prophesied that someone, anyone, will be "raised again," specifically on "the third day?"

Most clearly anyway, here's the answer. In the little Book of Hosea, that oft-forgotten Minor Prophet!

Read with me Hosea 6:1-2, words the Nation of Israel will some day believe and say. A Nation that was under judgment, the very threat of death, in the eighth century before Christ. "Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight."

Nationally speaking Israel, often called Ephraim by Hosea, was "torn" by the Hand of God. "Ripped to pieces," a literal definition of "taraph," the Hebrew verb used here. Yes, God did "smite" His people. In 721 BC they were taken into captivity, Assyrian domination. The Death of a Nation, for real! The verb "smitten" is "nakah," meaning "to kill" twenty times in the King James Bible.

And Israel remained defunct for a long, long time. But then, in fairly recent history, God "rebirthed" that little Country. She experienced in 1948 National Resurrection! God "healed" and "bound up," spelled "chabash" and meaning "bandaged" His once wayward people!

Yes Hosea, The Lord God "revived" Israel! "After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight." And "chayah" means "brought back to life!" He raised them up!

But how can God do this for a People?

Answer, Jehovah God can only save Israel by allowing His Son Jesus to come to earth and die in the stead of lost sinners! And as you know Jesus was subsequently buried. And then "raised again" the third day!

"According to the Scriptures!"

I think that Paul and Matthew and Mark and Luke and foremostly Jesus ... may have all been alluding to these two Verses in Hosea chapter six!

Hosea has it: "In the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight."

Jesus has it in Matthew: "From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day." Matthew 16:21, our Lord's first mention of such a thing!

Paul has it, maybe even writing before Matthew did: "Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures."

Wow again!

What was finally true of Israel, though a great Day of Salvation still awaits her when Jesus comes again, was first true of Jesus ... Israel's Perfect Son! And the Saviour of the world!

If this reasoning is correct, and many believe it is, Hosea the Preacher had a major impact on new Testament terminology, on Bible Soteriology ... on the vocabulary of Salvation!

Jesus was raised again "the third day!"

Does anyone believe He is alive?

Hallelujah!

                     --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 17:

The Book of Hosea is loaded with word pictures. Maybe one should say that Hosea the Prophet was a poet. He saw things graphically, aesthetically, metaphorically.

For example, in Hosea 5:10 God is so upset, so angry with His backslidden people that the Almighty says ... "I will pour out My Wrath upon them like water."

Again I mention, those words constitute a word picture, a figure of speech. Can't you just see God's Anger boiling forth upon a sinful Nation?

And our sample verse is typical of the writings of the Old Testament Prophets, messengers of judgment.

But I also want to show you another set of word pictures Hosea uses. These are taken from Hosea 14:4-5. The only difference from the earlier sample is the tone of the Speaker.

No longer judgment!

But now love and mercy and grace!

Though word pictures still prevail.

"I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon."

Wow!

God as a Healer!

As the Divine Physician!

That's a metaphor.

God "as the dew!"

Israel growing abundantly and beautifully "as the lily!"

These are similes, word comparisons using "like" or "as" to introduce the phrase.

Again I say, Hosea the poet!

Hosea, the word painter, the artist!

But most of all ... God the Gracious Ruler of the universe!

God can judge ... but He had much rather love and forgive.

Hosea ends on a note of compassion and victory, all because of the Nature of our great Lord God!

First John 1:9 tells the same story, just in New Testament terminology. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Amen!

               --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 18:

The Verse for today is found in Hosea chapter eleven. There God absolutely refuses to "give up" on His backsliding people!

"How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? Mine heart is turned within me." Hosea 11:8

The Hebrew verbs used for "giving up" and "delivering" both mean that God will not quit on His people!

The proper nouns "Admah" and "Zeboim" speak of the vicinity, the suburbs around Sodom and Gomorrah! Cities destroyed by fire, by the Holy Wrath of God!

That's right. God does not want to give Israel over to total destruction! He refuses to let them suffer the fate of the reprobate wicked.

Talk about the Lord's Longsuffering!

And God's Patience!

Even with us when we are wrong!

Then in our Verse God says something even more astounding, truly amazing. "Mine heart is turned within me."

I know of no other place in the whole Bible where God is pictured so distraught! So upset! Maybe so loving over His sinning children!

"Mine heart is turned within me."

The noun "heart" is "leb" in Hebrew, indicating the "innermost" part of a person. Here the very Character and Essence of Almighty God.

"Is turned," the verb, is spelled "haphak" in Hebrew. It means "tumbling, churning, spinning!"

God needs to judge the sin in Israel, in the Ten Tribes.

Yet He loves them so dearly!

"Mine heart is turned within me."

The Lord did allow them to be enslaved by an enemy nation. He did chasten them for their idolatry.

Yet it "hurt" Him to do so!

But afterwards, after their suffering for iniquity, God forgave them. As they repented God's Heart "turned" in love to their poor souls.

Oh, what a God we serve!

He cares for us that much, that our welfare and behavior literally "churns His Heart."

Think how John 3:16 shows God's "turned Heart!" He allowed His Son to die for our sins! "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Wow!

First Peter 5:7 tells us that God "careth" for us. "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you."

Hosea just put it this way, with God as the Speaker: "Mine heart is turned within me."

Let's love our Heavenly Father today more than ever.

What Compassion!

                 --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 19:

The Book of Hosea is certainly laced with words of judgment. Many sermons against sin, or sermon fragments at least. But, and this has been a great surprise to me, Hosea is also loaded with words of love and forgiveness and grace. We serve a merciful God!

Let me give you an example. An easily noticed one at that. God's last word with his Own people is one of peace! Of victory! Of eternal joy!

In Hosea 4:6 the Prophet, in typical style, preaches against Israel, against her rebellion toward God. Hosea uses a word picture, a metaphor. "For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer." The verb "slideth back" is "sarar" in Hebrew, meaning "to be stubborn, to revolt, to withdraw."

And a "heifer" is merely a cow, the animal. "Eglah" can also mean a young bull. A steer or bullock as well. "For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer." Therefore we can conclude that early in the book of Hosea ... Israel is wayward and sinful.

But wait a minute!

God is not through yet.

Before too long we read Hosea 10:11 where "Ephraim," just another name for "Israel," does very well! Read it with me: "Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn."

Wow! This time God's little heifer is pictured as a "taught" little creature! No longer rebellious, she has succumbed to the will of her Master, of the Lord! Her now "treading the corn" means she's a profitable and meek and obedient little work animal. Useful, that's the word to use!

See God's goodness here?

His absolute saving Grace?

Israel is at first reprobate, wicked, disobedient.

Israel later, after God's Touch, is taught and serviceable!

What progress!

More so, what a great God!

Amen.

May this upward progression be exhibited in each of our lives as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.

                  --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 20:

Let me show you a Verse this Sunday morning that does not "sound" like anything normally found in the Old Testament. Most Bible students would likely guess it's from Paul or Peter or one of the Gospels, at least in its graciousness.

"Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me." Hosea 13:4

Obviously God is the Speaker, His words merely being relayed through His Prophet.

Again quite evidently the addressees are the people of Israel, the Jewish Nation. By Hosea's time they had "split" into two smaller entities. The "northern" people were called Israel or Ephraim or just Samaria. And the "southern," Judah or Jerusalem.

Yet these folks had been tempted to commit the sin of idolatry. They had yielded to that urge too! They had "known" other gods.

So God again reminds them: "I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me."

Here the Lord makes a classic statement to His treasured people. "There is no Saviour beside Me."

Wow!

Read it again. "There is no Saviour beside Me."

This is astounding!

Yet on the other hand it is ancient truth as well. Back to Moses, "There is none like unto the Lord our God." Exodus 8:10

Yet it is also as up-to-date as the Life of Christ. Jesus clearly and repeatedly said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6

As Hosea told God's Words that day long ago, "There is no Saviour beside Me," he used vocabulary words that leave no doubt about the message being conveyed.

The word "Saviour" in Hebrew is "yasha." It means "One Who delivers, preserves, defends, rescues, gives victory," and even at times "avenges!" What glorious definitions!

Let's thank God this Lord's Day that we know Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And that He is our Saviour!

We Christians are better than no one else. But we certainly ought to be praising God that we, by His Grace, learned about this only Saviour!

Peter was right way back in Acts 4:12. He is there taking about our Lord Jesus. "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."

Amen!

Hosea, tell us one more time please. Over seven hundred years before Jesus was born! God promised: "There is no Saviour beside Me,"

Yes!

            --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 21:

Can God's Patience ever be exhausted?

Normally the answer is a resounding "No!"

But in Hosea 9:15 a startling fact is revealed. And God Himself is the Speaker. He's addressing the wayward, backslidden Israelites. "All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters."

Looks like God is grieved at the incessant sins of His people. Their "wickedness" has made the Almighty sick! The noun used by Hosea is "ra," meaning overt and active and malicious and spreading ungodliness!

God is going, apart from their repenting, to "drive them out" of His House. "Garash" means "to expel, divorce, thrust away." God's House may literally mean the very "land" of Israel! Because Jereboam's Nation, the northern Kingdom, no longer had access to the Temple anyway.

But then come the words that constitute today's Lesson. God actually says, "I will love them no more!"

Despite the fact that Jeremiah, one of Hosea's closest imitators, nearly his successor to the south, has God talking about His everlasting Love! "The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." Jeremiah 31:3

God is this exasperated with Israel!

"I will love them no more."

This is "love" like Husband-Wife love too!

Could God some day feel that way about the Country where we live?

If so, for sure we will face His Judgment.

Oh, friends of God, let's love Him today with all our hearts.

How far can a people go into sin?

What are the dire consequences of such backsliding?

Wow!

                --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 22:

God makes a statement in Hosea 9:4 that should be interesting to every Believer. The sin being discussed is perhaps the "start" of every downward spiral in the Christian life.

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." And this is exactly what was happening to the little Nation of Israel, God's people indeed. Initially let me tell you that the kind of "knowledge" being mentioned here is knowledge of God, a specific and personal relationship with the Almighty!

Here's the whole verse. Let's hear God make His complete statement. He is talking to the "preachers" of the Land, to the "priests" as Hosea calls them. "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."

The Law of God, meaning the Word of God, the Scriptures ... have been "forgotten!" That verb, "shakach," means "to ignore!" Another definition, "to allow to wither!" One more, "to cease to care" about something!

One of the main jobs, a primary function of those Old Testament priests was "to teach" God's Holy Word to the people.  In Deuteronomy 24:8 the Lord says to Israel, "Do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you." They were indeed the Bible teachers of that day. And these men had failed miserably in that task.

So what does God do, what did He do? He "rejected" those lazy priests! "I will also reject thee." And "maas" means "to despise, abhor, to allow to melt away!"

Let's look again. I want to emphasize this. What the priests did to God's Word ... God did in return to them! The law of sowing and reaping in action! "Because thou hast rejected knowledge, My Word, I will also reject thee."

What preaching Hosea is doing! Speaking for God Himself! "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."

Wow!

Then God must really love His Word! Here's a Proverbs 28:9 example of this truth. And God is still talking. "He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination." Turn away your ear from the Bible, God will turn away His Ear when you pray!

Then this too from today's verse. If a preacher forgets God's Word, no longer honors it properly, God will "forget" that man's children!  "Seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children."

Wow again! The terrible consequences, some of them anyway, of neglecting the Truth.

So today we can more easily see the danger of a people, of a congregation, of a family developing a "lack of knowledge" of the Bible and of the God Who wrote the Bible.

Back to where we started this morning. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge."

Folks, let love the Scriptures, never forgetting them.

Let's stay around Preachers who will teach us the Truth.

Let's diligently learn all we can about the things of God ... most importantly "meeting" and "knowing" that God personally, through a relationship with Jesus Christ His Son!

Oh that the Churches of today would take note! Keep on preaching and teaching and uplifting the Word of God, the very Basis of all our knowledge of Him.

Amen!

                --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 23:

This week, as is the case most weeks, we are in a Revival Meeting. Somewhere preaching the wonderful Word of God. Last night, really for the past two nights, the Church has been filled with Preachers. Men of God largely hungry for the Truth of Scripture!

And I'm telling you, a group of Preachers who are eagerly ingesting Scripture can be a great encouragement to an evangelist! Preaching is exciting anyway, but an enthusiastic congregation makes it even more so.

This morning I've been thinking some about those Men of God. About the Pastors and Missionaries and other Evangelists and younger student Preacher Boys to whom I've spoken over the past few weeks.

What an impact such men can have on our Nation!

And truly in the days of the Prophet Hosea, our study for nearly a month now, the Priests of God, the Preachers of that time long ago, also made a huge impact on their society.

One could almost say, "As go the Preachers of a Country ... so goes the whole Nation."

And that was one of the most significant problems, if not the main problem, Hosea faced. His fellow Preachers did not stand for the Truth!

These men had forgotten God. They had become greedy. And they, in order to please the crowds, in order to be more popular, had "added" other gods to the religious activities of Israel! Still worshipping Jehovah God, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Moses ... but also allowing calf worship and idol worship and Baal worship to the mix! "Syncretism" it is now called, a blend of religious persuasions all rolled into one unit.

What an abomination to God, the True God!

Hosea described these false Preachers this way: "And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent." Wanting more and more, like insatiable consumers, Hosea 6:9. Notice the phrase "company of priests." A confederacy of wickedness. And the noun used here for "company" is "cheber," also meaning "to charm or enchant!" Magicians! Conjurers of spirits!

No longer is God alone worshipped! These Preachers had become "killers," spiritually so. They had ceased teaching the Truth of God's Word!

These men no longer held the convictions God had taught them. Instead of living on a standard "higher" than the backsliding people around them ... they had "lowered" themselves to the level of everyday iniquity in Israel!

In fact, Jeroboam, a wicked King of Israel, allowed the morally lowest men he could find to serve as his Priests! "And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people." First Kings 12:26

Things got so bad that in Hosea's estimation the spiritual climate could be summarized in four words: "And there shall be, like people, like priest." The Priests now "copy" the people, laying aside God and His Ways forever!

The people are always right!

Let's follow the multitudes!

That's what the clergy were saying during Hosea's many years. Let's be like the general population, like the people! Let's follow the multiple gods of our neighbors! But Hosea is not through yet! "And there shall be, like people, like priest. And I the Lord will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings." Hosea 4:9

God is not pleased with such compromise! His Anger will be poured upon such lethargy, such spiritual ineptitude.

How sad. Today's Hosea Verse again: "And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent." Hosea 6:9, word for word.

Now let me apply all this.

If you have a godly Pastor, and most of you reading here certainly do, thank God that he has not "sold out" to the Devil!

Appreciate your Man of God for the fact that he has not become just like the "world" in forgetting God. In neglecting the Lord Jesus, Who has saved our souls from Hell.

In fact, a few Preachers are still left who really try to serve the Lord faithfully and learn His Word diligently.

Preachers who still try to obey Paul's instructions to Timothy. "Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." First Timothy 4:12

To every true Preacher of the Word ... we salute you this morning. We thank you for not being like the Priests of Hosea's time.

And we prayerfully say to each of you ... Keep on preaching the Word!

                --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 24:

Hosea skillfully writes of God's people, Israel: "Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned. Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not." Hosea 7:8-9

How sad these words!

"Ephraim" is just another name for Israel, for the northern ten tribes of what was once a united Nation. Sin had ripped these Tribes of Israel apart.

Oh, the consequences of sin! Let's notice them here one by one, in today's Text from Hosea. "Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned. Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not."

Overall, there is first an increasing lack of spiritual knowledge, a paucity of discernment. The backslider on God no longer possesses his or her keen sense of right and wrong. Israel is here falling apart spiritually, and he knows it not!

When a teenager I heard a Preacher say that to him the saddest verse in the Bible was Judges 16:20. Samson is in view there, after he had sinned and sinned repeatedly, without repentance. "And Delilah said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him."

See it? Samson "wist not," did not even "know," that the Lord had departed from him! God had gone, had forsaken his man ... because of apostasy! Yet Samson was ignorant of God's absence!

This kind of situation is exactly what Hosea is portraying for us today. "Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned. Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not."

Non-repentant Israel has forsaken God's laws of "separation," of staying away from sin and reprobate sinners. He has "mixed himself" with the wrong kinds of folks, with idolaters.

Ephraim also had lost his sense of propriety. His sense of "balance" in the Christian life. He is compared by Hosea, the Old Testament's master of analogy, to a "cake not turned." God's little Nation is raw on one side, and burnt on the other ... like a pancake on the griddle, half-done, and long forgotten by the cook! In other words, spiritually "unbalanced!" One great Bible Teacher used to often say, "Blessed are the balanced!" Hosea would have agreed.

The Prophet continues: Strangers have devoured his strength." Yes, wicked friends and blatant ungodliness will "devour" one's moral strength. "Akal" literally means "to eat up, to feed on." God gives strength. The devil, a robber, takes it away. That is, if we let him. Spiritual weakness and sin are very close friends.

And the "gray hairs" Israel now has ... a token of respect in the Book of Proverbs, now symbolize spiritual declension. Senility, loss of spiritual acuity, an unawareness that God has departed the premises!

"Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned. Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not."

In a terrible condition with God ... yet completely unaware of his deplorable situation! "He knoweth it not."

Sin desensitizes!

It did with Samson.

It did with Israel.

And it still does so today.

Yet a close walk with God, loving Him day by day, forsaking all known wickedness ... is a sure path to every-increasing strength! To a vibrant, growing awareness of everything holy and righteous.

Psalm 87:4 has a clause that's so helpful here. Talking of the godly, the Psalmist says: "They go from strength to strength!" So very unlike Ephraim of old!

Everyone, stay close to God!

                 --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 25, CONCLUSION:

I am thankful the Book of Hosea ends as it does, on a note of victory! Chapter fourteen is absolutely precious.

Backslidden Israel repents!

She comes back to God, in obedience to the Lord's commands. Listen to the Prophet as he pleads with her: "O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips." Hosea 14:1-2

But how do we know Israel, called Ephraim by Hosea, repents? By hearing her own words: "Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in Thee Lord the fatherless findeth mercy." Hosea 14:3

She will no longer trust in foreign nations!

Or in military power, in horses and such!

Or in man-made idols!

But in the Lord her God, the God of her forefathers like Abraham and Isaac and Jacob!

And does God forgive her? Hosea 14 gives us His Words too, in response to Israel's humble prayer. "I the Lord will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon. Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree." Hosea 14:4-8

Wow!

Sweet communion restored, between Ephraim and the Lord God Almighty!

What a great way to end a Book of Scripture.

The Message of Grace!

Jeremiah, Hosea's closest student in the Bible, quotes God saying this: "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not." Jeremiah 33:3

Well, in today's Lesson Israel called ... and God answered! And what "great and mighty" things God did!

And that Same God is still answering prayer yet today, forgiving sinners who come to Him in faith believing.

              --- Dr. Mike Bagwell