THE VICIOUS CIRCLE OF THE WORLD
The vicious circle of the sinful world will continue until the lesson is learnt...
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 acknowledgment of God in the land. There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Because of this the land dries up and all who live in it waste away; the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea are swept away.
‘But let no one bring a charge, let no one accuse another, for your people are like those who bring charges against a priest. You stumble day and night, and the prophets stumble with you. So I will destroy your mother – my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.
‘Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children. The more priests there were, the more they sinned against me; they exchanged their glorious God for something disgraceful. They feed on the sins of my people and relish their wickedness. And it will be: like people, like priests. I will punish both of them for their ways and repay them for their deeds.
‘They will eat but not have enough; they will engage in prostitution but not flourish, because they have deserted the LORD to give themselves to prostitution; old wine and new wine take away their understanding. My people consult a wooden idol, and a diviner’s rod speaks to them. A spirit of prostitution leads them astray; they are unfaithful to their God. They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar and terebinth, where the shade is pleasant. Therefore your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery.
‘I will not punish your daughters when they turn to prostitution, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery, because the men themselves consort with harlots and sacrifice with shrine-prostitutes – a people without understanding will come to ruin!
‘Though you, Israel, commit adultery, do not let Judah become guilty. ‘Do not go to Gilgal; do not go up to Beth Aven. And do not swear, “As surely as the LORD lives!” The Israelites are stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. How then can the LORD pasture them like lambs in a meadow? Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone! Even when their drinks are gone, they continue their prostitution; their rulers dearly love shameful ways. A whirlwind will sweep them away, and their sacrifices will bring them shame. HOSEA 4.
God chose Israel out of all the nations of the world as a display of His love. God formed Israel with His grace, sheer grace, but Israel affronted His sovereign, electing love and responded to Him with disgrace and ended up in idolatry. Then came God’s discipline. He brought certain circumstances into her lives to induce her to return to Him. In the end, God embraced Israel with His amazing grace. Here we can see God’s pattern.
This story of God’s nation, Israel, is a summary of the Book of Hosea, which reminds me of the following passages from the Bible. Apostle Paul sent a letter to all God’s holy people in Christ at Philippi:
(Be) confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Phi.1:6).
Also, Prophet Jeremiah encouraged those who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (Je.29:11).
These verses bring relief and hope to followers of Christ in the midst of fear of the unknown.
The Northern Kingdom, whose dominant tribal constituent is Ephraim, experienced both the best of times and the worst of times, i.e., unparalleled prosperity and unparalleled immorality. Ephraim broke the Ten Commandments and in the devastated land remained
only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery…bloodshed follows bloodshed.
The environment was polluted as well;
the land dries up and all who live in it waste away; the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea are swept away.
So, God used her enemies as a means of His judgment and the only remedy of restoration was repentance. These verses remind me of exactly what is happening globally today. God disciplined Israel in several ways in her history, by bringing His prophets to rebuke her, or sending illness, plagues and death, or calamities only because he wished to bring her back to Him.
In Hosea Chapter 4, there are several key verses which we should take note of, two of which are
my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge’ and ‘a people without understanding will come to ruin!
Most people in the world today have no knowledge of the Word of God and their darkness is a result of their own ignorance. In other words, according to Christ’s teaching,
This is the verdict: light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed (Jn. 3:19- 20).
If a sinner won’t come to faith in Christ, he will be treated as his sins deserve and will end up under God’s wrath for all eternity.
Concerning leadership, God said:
like people, like priests. I will punish both of them for their ways and repay them for their deeds (v.9),
which also reminds me of another verse from Ga.6:7
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
Someone spoke of the vicious circle of the sinful world:
Our pagan government has developed the following stratagem: 1. Crises favour increased budgets, controls, 2. Social crises work as well as military ones, 3. Immorality creates social crises; thus, 4. Government promotes immorality.
God’s people were repeatedly tested because they chose comfort over faith. As a result, they ended up back where they started again and again. This vicious cycle wouldn’t be broken until the lesson was learnt that forsaking God and worshipping an idle god, Baal would result in insatiable hunger and fruitless wombs as written in v10. However, it is also important to remember the fact that God may allow difficulties to persist for some time, but He won’t let us end there.