The Book of Hosea
The Book of Hosea
By Richard St.James
Bible 1611.Com / Old Paths Baptist Mission © 2023
Hosea, chapter twelve:
Verse one:
“Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the
east wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation;
and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and
oil is carried into Egypt.”
Feeding on the wind?
Daily increasing lies? Yet reaping desolation
and poverty?
The question rises
here. Where is Ephraim [or Israel] placing all
their trust? What are they trusting
in? The answer is really clear here.
They are trusting in man rather than trusting
in God. That is a big mistake! Now see
what the LORD says about all of this in the book of
Isaiah, chapter thirty, verse one through three:
“Woe to the rebellious
children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not
of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my
spirit, that they may add sin to sin:
That walk to go down
into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to
strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh,
and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!
Therefore shall the
strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in
the shadow of Egypt your confusion.”
You will get confusion
going this route every time.
Placing your trust in
man rather than in God will place you in the
cross hairs of a mighty and holy God. You will
reap for what you have sowed.
The solution to your
problems is this found in Proverbs, chapter three,
verses five and six:
“Trust in the LORD
with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own
understanding.
In all thy ways
acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
Amen!
Verse two:
“The LORD hath also a controversy with Judah, and
will punish Jacob according to his ways; according
to his doings will he recompense him.”
A just recompense,
also, for Judah.
Notice the word “also”
in this verse. The LORD turns from dealing
with Ephraim to dealing with Judah.
There is fault to be found with Judah also.
This punishment [or judgment] is found in the
book of Isaiah, chapter sixty-five, verses six and
seven:
“Behold, it is
written before me: I will not keep silence, but will
recompense, even recompense into their bosom,
Your iniquities, and
the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the
LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains,
and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I
measure their former work into their bosom.”
[Isaiah 65:6-7]
Now for verse three.
Verse three:
“He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and
by his strength he had power with God:”
Now, this harkens back to
the story of Jacob and Esau found in the First book
of Moses, called Genesis, [chapter twenty-five].
It is seen even from the womb we can see the
struggle of one against another. Why?
Because there were two manners of people
within Rebecca. Let us pick up there in that
chapter, starting with verse twenty-one:
“And Isaac intreated
the LORD for his wife, because she was
barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and
Rebekah his wife conceived.
And the children
struggled together within her; and she said, If
it be so, why am I thus? And she went to
inquire of the LORD.
And the LORD said unto
her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two
manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels;
and the one people shall be stronger than
the other people; and the elder shall serve the
younger.
And when her days to
be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were
twins in her womb.
And the first came out
red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called
his name Esau.
And after that came
his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's
heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac
was threescore years old when she bare them.”
[Genesis 25:21-26]
This story of the two
manner of people shows by similitude of
the warfare going on with the believer in
Jesus Christ.
The flesh and the
Spirit fight against each other. This is
a basic truth concerning the Christian.
The Spirit of God reveals this truth in
the book of Galatians, chapter five, verse
seventeen:
“For the flesh lusteth
against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the
flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other:
so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”
[Galatians 5:17]
Verse four:
“Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed:
he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found
him in Bethel, and there he spake with us;”
When one is desperate
enough, he will do anything to
win the blessing of God.
Consider the Gentile
woman:
In the Gospel according
to Mark, in chapter seven, in verses twenty-five
through thirty, we this strange and
beautiful story of a woman who had power with
God. This power was the power of
faith. We read:
“For a certain
woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit,
heard of him, and came and fell at his feet:
The woman was a Greek,
a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that
he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.
But Jesus said unto
her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not
meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it
unto the dogs.
And she answered and
said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the
table eat of the children's crumbs.
And he said unto her,
For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of
thy daughter. And when she was come to her house,
she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid
upon the bed.” [Mark 7:25-30]
This Gentile dog
prevailed by FAITH even as Jacob prevailed.
If you want something
from God, then pursue God.
Don’t let go!
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.”
Verse five:
“Even the LORD God of hosts; the LORD is
his memorial.”
A memorial is a
lasting remembrance. A person, or a
people, that keeps God’s words in their FRONT
[or permanent] memory have made the
LORD their overriding love in their life.
It is shown to be this way in the book of
Deuteronomy, chapter eleven, in verse eighteen:
“Therefore shall ye
lay up these my words in your heart and in your
soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that
they may be as frontlets between your eyes.”
What you love is who
you are.
Verse six:
“Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and
judgment, and wait on thy God continually.”
Seek ye the LORD.
The answer for any
people in trouble with sin has always
been this solution: Turn back to God!
That is what the people of Israel needed to do. They
needed to return to the LORD their God.
[This was also true for Gomer. Gomer needed
to return to Hosea.] This is what the word of
God will show you as being the remedy for
sin. This is as seen in the book of
Isaiah, chapter fifty-five verse, six:
“Seek ye the LORD
while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is
near: Let the wicked forsake his
way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let
him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy
upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon.” [Isaiah 55:6-7]
Now, the next order of
business for Israel [after returning to
God] was to keep mercy and judgment.
The emphasis here is on the doing of
things, [on keeping the things of God] in
order to maintain their relationship with God.
Now,
notice something here: There is here shown an
unmistakable element of works that is being
mixed into their salvation. And no
wonder: It is passages in the Bible [like this
one found in the book of James chapter two] that
explain why so many of the modern-day denominations,
i.e., the Methodists, the Nazarenes, the Church of
God, the Assemblies of God, the Mennonites, and the
Catholics [and others] have a faith plus works
salvation. They believe they are saved
by grace through faith, and then, that by
works they must maintain this salvation.
[They believe if they
have no works that they will lose their
salvation.] They cite the book of
James, and other passages in the Bible as being
their proof texts, [Hebrews chapter six, and
ten, and the book of James, chapter two, etc.].
Now, read the book
of James, chapter two, verses seventeen and
eighteen:
“Even so faith, if it
hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may
say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy
faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my
faith by my works.” [James 2:17-18]
The clue to
understanding the book of James is to carefully
note to whom the book of James is addressed:
“James, a servant of
God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve
tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.”
[James 1:1]
It is addressed to
the nation of Israel, and is not addressed to
the believers in the body of Christ, which
is the church.
Now, it would behoove
a person to recall the Scripture which
concerns the church age salvation as it is
found in the book of Ephesians, chapter two: verse
eight and nine:
“For by grace are ye
saved through faith; and that not of yourselves:
it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any
man should boast.” [Ephesians
2:8-9]
Salvation
is by GRACE through FAITH only.
Not of works,
lest any man should boast:
And what is more: It
is a gift! Now,
consider for this: A person does not work to
receive a gift, nor does a person work to keep the
gift that he so freely has received.
Amen!
Verse seven:
“He is a merchant, the balances of deceit
are in his hand: he loveth to oppress.”
We will consider verse
seven with verse eight.
Verse eight:
“And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have
found me out substance: in all my labours
they shall find none iniquity in me that were
sin.”
Ephraim,
or Israel, is being described, by the prophet,
as being a dishonest and a conniving
merchant of this world rather than being a nation
that loves and follows the LORD their God.
They have left off from the first
commandment! Jesus Christ Himself
summarized this first commandment to one
of the scribes [when He was here on this earth
the first time] in the Gospel according to Mark,
chapter twelve, in verses twenty-nine and thirty:
“And Jesus answered
him, The first of all the commandments is,
Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And
thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and
with all thy strength: this is the first
commandment.” [Mark 12:29-30]
Now, when men possess a
cocky spirit of self-righteousness,
they by scheme, move in to oppress
their neighbors, so as, to achieve all the gain
for themselves. And when these same
self-righteous people finally achieve this power
over all others, they are observed to end up with
all the riches of this world.
Now, these people seem to
think that they have arrived!
But
such ones should consider these following words
that the LORD Jesus Christ preached in the
Gospel of Mark, chapter eight, in verse thirty-six:
“For what shall it
profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and
lose his own soul?” [Mark 8:36]
Now, these are words
for the wise!
Verse nine:
“And I that am the LORD thy God from the
land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in
tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast.”
The LORD turns things
on a dime! The Spirit of God, here in
verse nine, turns’ things around with blinding
supernatural speed. He goes from the
judgment of His people to the restoration of
His people. It is like us, who are
living in the 21st century, who go
from the shame of sin to the receiving of
the gift of eternal life, all within a single
verse of God’s holy word. Amazing!
He is saying, I am thy
God even from the land of Egypt, and I am thy
God even all the way back to the Promised Land.
Next, in verse ten we
have an answer to the following question.
How does God speak to the people of Israel?
Verse ten:
“I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have
multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the
ministry of the prophets.”
- God uses
visions
- God uses
similitudes [or resemblances in
likeness].
God [WHO is
Spirit] ministered to them His words
through the prophets, and through
Jesus Christ during His first advent.
The book called Hebrews starts off this way:
“God, who at sundry
times and in divers manners spake in time past unto
the fathers by the prophets,
Hath in these last
days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath
appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made
the worlds;” [Hebrews 1:1-2]
And for all us living
today in the 21st century, we have God’s
words already preserved in a
perfect and holy book, called the BIBLE.
If you have an
Authorized Version of 1611 [called the King James
Bible], in any of its editions, in your hands
today, then you have God’s words to you to
read, believe [and study]. This Book will
certainly minister to you in your time of
need.
Verse eleven:
“Is there iniquity in Gilead?
surely they are vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in
Gilgal; yea, their altars are as heaps in the
furrows of the fields.”
We have already seen [in
Hosea chapter six verse eight] that the city of
Gilead [along with Gilgal] were already polluted
with the blood of those sacrifices to Baal
on all those altars of idolatry.
Iniquity calls for God’s judgment.
Recall our comments on
the judgment that “springeth up as hemlock
in the furrows of the field” as
found in Hosea chapter ten, verse four.
Verse twelve:
“And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and
Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept
sheep.”
This all harkens
back to the story of Jacob, and his flight to
Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel [which is the old
homeland of his grandfather, Abraham]. This
narrative is recorded in the First book of
Moses called Genesis chapter twenty-nine.
Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and for
then another seven years for Leah by shepherding
Laban’s sheep.
Verse thirteen:
“And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of
Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved.”
This prophet
is Moses.
Deuteronomy 34:10-11:
“And there arose not a
prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the
LORD knew face to face, In all the signs and the
wonders, which the LORD sent him to do in the land
of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to
all his land,”
By a prophet was
Israel preserved.
A prophet led them
out of Egypt [which is a type of the world], and by
a prophet God preserved Israel.
God has used His prophets from the beginning
to the end to minister to His people.
Verse fourteen:
“Ephraim provoked him to anger most
bitterly: therefore shall he leave his blood upon
him, and his reproach shall his Lord return unto
him.”
In the millennial
Kingdom of Heaven, Ephraim fails to be listed
among the tribes of Israel. See for this
the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, in
chapter seven:
Revelation 7:4-8: “And
I heard the number of them which were sealed: and
there were sealed an hundred and forty
and four thousand of all the tribes of the
children of Israel.
Of the tribe of Juda
were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of
Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the
tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Aser
were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of
Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve
thousand.
Of the tribe of Simeon
were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of
Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the
tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve
thousand.
Of the tribe of
Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the
tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve
thousand.”
But there is no
Ephraim here. Joseph has
replaced Ephraim.
Psalm 78:67-68
“Moreover he refused
the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of
Ephraim: But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount
Zion which he loved.”
Friend
If you
know the Bible Is True,
And you
never received
Jesus
Christ as your personal Lord and Savior...
And you
want to come to Him for Salvation now ... Then:
1. Admit
... To God that you are a Sinner...
Deserving Hell Fire...
2. Believe ... that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God...
Who died on the Cross for
You! ...
3. Repent! ... Ask
Him to Forgive You of Your Sin...
4. Receive Him... By
Asking Him to come into Your Heart...
And You
Will Receive the Gift of Eternal Life!
Born of God! You
Are in The Narrow Way ... To HEAVEN!