Bristol Conference 1962 - Part 3 — William MacDonald

The Minor Prophets and the Book of Hosea

If we think of something as being minor, we think of less important, and that certainly isn't true. Of these books, all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable. The only reason they were ever called minor prophets is because, generally, the books are shorter than the other prophets.

Even that isn't a rule without an exception. Hosea has more chapters than Daniel. Now, the name Hosea means salvation. I think that, as we read the book, enough would be judgment to drive the prominence far.

At the time that Hosea lived, Israel was divided into two kingdoms, North and South. These are rebels. North wins in the South. The capital of the Northern Kingdom, Israel, was Samaria, and in this book that Northern Kingdom is spoken of quite often under the name of Ephraim, because Ephraim was one of the tribes that lived in the matter of rebellion and idolatry.

And so, you might find the Northern Kingdom called Israel, you might even find it called Samaria after its capital, and you might find it called Ephraim. The Southern Kingdom is also mentioned here, although Hosea prophesied primarily the Northern Kingdom.

God’s Love and Israel’s Idolatry

In the book of Hosea, as in few other books of the Old Testament, God loves his people and they wouldn't even care to enter into it. She had a little boy in that room, her own boy, and this boy had been born defective, and as he grew up, he never increased in mentality.

And S. W. Boram was walking by in the corridor in the hallway one day, and the door just happened to be ajar, and his aunt was sitting there with a little fellow on her lap, and she was weeping, and she was saying, Oh Johnny, Johnny, she said, I've loved you all these years and you haven't even known me.

And that's what you hear God saying in the book of Hosea, Oh Israel, Israel, I've loved you all these years and you haven't even known me. The predominant sin, of course, that God is dealing with in the book of Hosea is the sin of idolatry.

The people had forsaken him, the true and living God, and were running after graven images. They were worshiping at stops and saying, These are our gods. And this is the worst form of sin, the sin of refusing God and following after other love.

Now we commonly think that we ourselves are exempt from this sin. We don't bow down to idols, we don't have any graven images, but there is such a thing as an idolatry of the spirit, an idolatry of the heart, loving something or someone more than the Lord.

And it's an easy thing to take a temperature test and find out whether we really are idolaters or not. The temperature test is, what subject do we get most warm about? What subject can we speak about with the greatest freedom and liberty?

Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks it. If I can get more enthusiastic about a football game than I can about the gospel, then football is my idol. And it could apply to my business today, if I could speak with greater facility about that which occupies my working hours than I could with the things of the Lord, then business has become the idol in my life.

And so as we go through this book and these other books and hear God speaking to his people about idolatry, we will make the application to ourselves. Now, the first section of this book extends from chapter 1, verse 1 to verse 9.

Hosea’s Marriage as an Object Lesson of Israel’s Rejection

Chapter 1, verse 1 to verse 9, and in this section you have the rejection of Israel by God, pictured by an object lesson. And this is the most remarkable thing. God said to this prophet Hosea, that Hosea, I want you to go and marry a woman of portents.

This is a shock to people, to find God in heaven telling one of his messengers to ever do such a thing. The problem is, of course, people find difficulty with the idea of God telling a righteous man to marry an unrighteous woman like that.

But I really don't have too much difficulty with it. God didn't tell Hosea to do anything he didn't do himself. And when he took Israel unto himself as his chosen nation, he knew all about her, long before he ever called her.

And so in obedience to the word of God, Hosea went and married a woman. Her name was Gomer. She was the daughter of Guy Blaine. And it says in verse 3, she conceived and bared him a son. God said, now I want you to call the name of this son Jezreel.

Jezreel, that means I will scatter. And this was an object lesson. God wanted the people of Israel to see themselves in this object lesson. The child she brought forth was a warning to the nation of Israel that God would scatter that nation, that the Assyrians would come in and take them into captivity and scatter them over the earth.

And then she conceived again and bore a daughter. And God said unto him, call her name Loruhema. And that means unpity. And the thought there is that God would no longer pity Israel. The nation had gone down into sin and degradation.

He would still have mercy upon Judah. Judah's fall had not been so complete yet that he would not pity Israel. And then she conceived again and bore a son. And God said, call his name Lo-am-i, which means not my people.

He is scattering ties, as it were, with the nation of Israel because that nation has turned back upon God. Now in verse 10 you have one of these abrupt and sudden changes in thought which are so characteristic of the prophets, including the minor prophets.

Beginning with verse 10, through the first verse of chapter 2, you have the restoration of Israel's promise. And as you read along in the Bible, it seems such a sudden change. In the verse previously, God, the thunders of God's judgment are rolling, and all of a sudden you see the sun shining through the clouds, and God looks on through the years nation restored to himself.

The restoration of Israel's promise, verses 10 of chapter 1 through the first verse of chapter 2. I think there is a lesson in this for us, too. You read about judgment and all of a sudden a new slide comes on the screen, and the scene is bright with blessing.

It seems to me that this presents to us the inexhaustible and tireless love of God triumphing over the sin of man. God will not let the sin of Israel wear out his mercy, love, and grace. Who is a pardoning God like this?

We sing, Great God of wonders, all thy ways display thine attributes divine, but the bright mysteries of thy grace above thine other glory shine. Who is a pardoning God like this? Who has grace so rich and free?

And I think this is one of the great keys to the understanding of the prophetic books, to find these sudden changes in the pulse of the books, and to realize that God is smiling down and blessing upon his people.

Notice it says, Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered, and it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there 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 Gethsemane. Say ye unto your brethren, Am I my people?

And to your sisters, Ruhema.". That means pity. In other words, God is coming back to his people, to a remnant of his people at least, who repents before him and is showing mercy to them. Then in beginning with verse 2 of chapter 2, through verse 13, we're back to judgment again.

Israel’s Unfaithfulness and the Judgment of Idolatry

You have the unfaithfulness of Israel, and God-threatened judgment. The unfaithfulness of Israel. What has happened? Well, this woman that Hosea married, of course, she went out back into the life of sin.

God says, This is exactly what has happened with the people of Israel. Plead with your mother, plead, for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband. Let her, therefore, put away her affordance out of her sight, and her adultery from between her breasts.

Down through this portion of the word of God, you have a picture of a people turning to idolatry. God's voice against idolatry is very, very strong. One reason is that idolatry is never a sin in itself.

It's always accompanied with the most direful forms of immorality. That's what people forget. They read about these Eastern religions in Light magazine. In Light magazine, in the National Geographic, they picture all the beauties of the building and all the things that appeal to the aesthetic senses about these religions, and they forget that those religions are vile and corrupt and filled with the most rotten forms of immorality, and those are the things that never get into the magazine.

And that's why all this is drivel, this talk about all religions leading to God. They lead to the pit of hell, everything but faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Then, beginning with verse 14 of chapter 2, through verse 23, you have a future of blessings foretold for Israel again.

The Promised Restoration and Covenant Mercy

And this is very, very beautiful. It says in verse 14,. Therefore, behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably unto her. For people would be brought into a land flowing with milk and honey, as it were, and they would no longer call God Zio, but they would call him, that is, Nasser, but they would call him Ishi, meaning my husband.

I think the last verse is especially beautiful here. In verse 23 it says, And I 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 thou shalt say, Thou art my God.

Remember, the names of the three children were Jezreel, Lo-Ruhema, and Lo-Ammai. I will scatter, unpitied, not my people. Now, you have those three names again in this verse, although it's not obvious.

That word Jezreel, I will scatter, was taken from the process of sowing seeds. The sower went along with his apron before him, and the seed in his apron, and he would dip his hand into the seed and he would scatter it.

But the same process of scattering was also a process of sowing, and so the word Jezreel, in addition to meaning scatter, means sow. Now, that's beautiful, because in chapter 1 it means I will scatter them, and in chapter 2 it means I will sow them.

That means sow them in the land. This is restoration. So notice the three names again in this verse. I will sow her unto me in the earth. Israel will be restored to the land in a coming day, and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy.

So you have the opposite of lo ruhema, and then it says, I will say to them which were not my people, thou art my people. There is the opposite of lo am I. Here is the grace of God coming in, and grace much more abounding where sin abounded.

Thou art my God will be the confession of his people in that day. Well, Gomer had gone away from Hosea. He was down living in sin. I think there is some suggestion in the book that he sent Parisians down for her, and she said, My lovers have provided these things for me.

A picture of Israel being so graciously taken care of by God and giving all the credit to her idols. Then God says in chapter 3, verses 1 -5, you have the redemption of Hosea's wife, a type of Israel's ultimate restoration to the Lord.

Hosea’s Redemption of Gomer and Israel’s Future

Notice what happened. He said, Then said the Lord unto me, Go ye, love a woman beloved of her friend. That means her paramour, the man she was living with. Yet an adulteress, according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel, who looked to other gods and loved flagons of wine.

So he went down into the marketplace and he bought Gomer back to himself. So I bought her to me for 15 pieces of silver and for a homer of barley and a half homer of barley. And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days.

Thou shalt not slay the harlot. Thou shalt not be for another man. So will I also be for thee. And then in verse 4, you have a very wonderful prediction of the state of the Jewish people, a prediction which is coming through, which is true, has been true for many years now, and is true at the present time.

It says, For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, without a prince, without a sacrifice, without an image, without an ephod, and without character. We can talk about how do we know the Bible is the word of God, but you don't have to look very far.

If a person has eyes to see, all he has to do is read the Bible and then read the newspapers and you'll find out the Bible is the word of God. What does this verse of scripture tell us? Well, first of all, it tells us that the children of Israel would abide many days without a king.

Isn't it remarkable that the nation of Israel has been formed again after many, many centuries, and they don't have a king, strangely enough. They do have a prime minister. They don't have a king. How did that happen?

That was the way they started off, but not today. Then it says without a prince. That's a strange thing. There are no royal families. There are no pretenders to the throne over there in Israel at the present time.

The line of the king came down to the Lord Jesus Christ and it stopped there. He's the one who holds the right to the throne of David. In Spain they don't have a king today, but they have pretenders to the throne of Spain.

But in Israel they not only do not have a king, they don't have a prince. They don't have anyone who's looking towards the throne as that which is his by right. And then it says without a sacrifice. And this is an interesting thing today, too, that the sacrificial system instituted by God for the children of Israel is not being carried out today.

They might kill a chicken at the Passover, but they don't kill a lamb. They themselves are one of the most wonderful proofs of the inspiration and accuracy of the word of God. And then it says without an image.

And this is another strange thing. This means without an idol. And it is a wonderful thing that after the children of Israel and the Judah returned to the land following the Babylonian captivity, that they were purged, they were cleansed of the unclean spirit of idolatry.

And whatever else might be said about this people from that day to this, they have not been guilty of being idolaters in the sense of bowing down to images. So the word of God predicts that this would be exactly the case.

They would be without an image. And then it says without an ephod. And of course, the ephod was the apron worn by the priest. And this simply means that the children of Israel would abide many days without a priesthood.

That's exactly their condition today. Where is the priesthood? Well, it doesn't exist. They have their rabbis in the synagogue, but they don't have their priests in the temple today. And then it says without teraphim.

And teraphim, of course, were household gods. And once again, it takes us back to that same idea that the children of Israel are today a people without idols. Many of them even are very leery of having pictures in their homes as being representations of things in the heavens or in the earth.

But notice that word afterward in verse 5. 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. Now, you know, it's popular today in some circles to belittle the whole idea of dispensationalism and say there's no future for the nation of Israel and all the promises of Israel to Israel and the word of God apply to the church today.

But I think I'd be an infidel if I had to believe that. Reading my Bible, seeing a verse of scripture like that, and then seeing that word afterward, what does it mean? Is that the church? By no stretch of the imagination can it be applied to the church.

It's that afterward shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. And you know who David their king in that verse is, don't you? It's our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, the son of David, who will come back and reign in righteousness.

God’s Controversy with His People

Then, beginning with chapter four, verse one, through chapter ten, verse fifteen, you have God's controversy with his people. God's controversy with his people. It's quite a long section, and we'll just go over it briefly, touching the high spots.

First of all, in verses one through five, you have the sins of the people. He doesn't hesitate to catalog them. Verse two, by swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing adultery. I hope in studying these minor prophets that we'll try to picture them in our minds.

These were no mere ordinary men. They were men of fearlessness and men of boldness. They were embodied consciences. God spoke to them and something happened in their hearts, and what happened in their hearts is called in the scripture the burden of the Lord.

I think that's the most expressive term, the burden of the Lord. It's easier to feel than it is to describe, but it's this burden of a message that the Lord gave to these men, and they must give it up.

You remember that Jeremiah said that. He said, Thou hast persuaded me, and I was persuaded. I said in my heart, I will not speak of his name any longer, but the fire burned within me and I could not stay.

Of course, you have that here in Hosea and in all the other prophets, the fire burning within these men of God, and they could not hold back. Then you have the sins of the priest in verses 6 through 11.

The sins of the priest, and I think there's something very expressive here. I may be wrong in this, but I'd like to suggest it to you and you think it over. It says, verse 6, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, because thou hast rejected knowledge.

I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest unto me. See, thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget my children. Now notice, As they were increased, so they sinned against me, therefore will I change their glory to saints.

They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their hearts on their iniquity. Isn't that a strange expression? They eat up the sin of my people. The people sinned. The people came with their sin offerings to the priest.

A portion of the sin offering belonged to the priest. The more the people sinned, the more the priests got out of it. Does that make you think of anything that goes on today? Does that make you think of a whole wretched system of indulgences and all of that?

Well, I believe it took place back here in the nation of Israel. They were both corrupt, both the people and the priests, and that's what the next verse says, And there shall be like people like priests, and I will punish them for their ways and reward them for their doings.

Then you have the idolatry of the people in verses 12 through 14, and the men set the example for this idolatry, and the women follow the men. Then you have a special appeal to Judah in verses 15 through 19 of this chapter, God calling out for the nation to the kingdom of Judah while Israel is on the skids, rapidly going off into captivity.

God pleads with Judah yet to stay. He says in verse 17, As much as Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone. Isn't that one of the saddest verses in all the Bible? Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone.

But I'm thankful to say it isn't final, because in the latter chapter of the prophecy, you find Ephraim saying, What have I to do anymore with idols? Then in verses 1 through 7 of chapter 5, you have the evil behavior of the priests, the people and the royal house.

A lot of these verses have the keys right in them. It says, Hear ye this, O priest, and hearken ye, house of Israel, did ye hear, O house of the king, the royal house, the judgment is toward you, that ye have been a snail in mist, and a net spread on paper.

I think verse 3 is especially touching. I know, Ephraim, that Israel is not hid from thee, for now, O Ephraim, thou committest toward him, and Israel is defiled. I know, Ephraim, that Israel is not hid from thee.

Then in verses 8 through 14, you have promised judgment on Judah. God could see into the future and realize that the nation of Judah would follow the nation of Israel into captivity. Then in verse 15, a little solitary verse by itself, you find God retiring into his place to see what would happen.

I will go and return to my place till they shall acknowledge their ascension. Seek my faith. In their affliction they will seek me early. Here you have a return, you have blessing coming back again. Actually, it will help the understanding of this passage to add the word, staying, at the end of verse 15.

God waits in his place till his people come to the place of repentance, are willing to acknowledge their sins, staying, and then in the next three verses you have the words that they will say as they come back to God.

They say, 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, and the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.

Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord. He is going forth as prepared of the morning, and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. Here is a lovely verse for young believers especially.

Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord. It is a wonderful principle in the word of God, but the more we get to know him, the more we come to know him. It is true in the study of the word of God.

You say, Well, the Bible is so hard for me to study. Well, go at it and read it and study it, and the more you do, the more the parts of the jigsaw puzzle begin to fit together. You know, it's pretty hard sometimes in that jigsaw puzzle.

You look for a piece of blue sky, and you figure that will be up at the top, and you think, Well, we'll begin there. But then as you get toward the end of the puzzle, well, things move more rapidly, don't they?

This is a promise from the word of God that if we persevere to go on to the Lord, we shall indeed know. Now, in verses four through eleven of chapter six, you find that Israel and Judah are alike sinful.

External Religion Versus a Genuine Heart Toward God

God looks down upon them and sees that their repentance was just half-hearted. Their goodness was as the morning clouds, and as the early dew, it goeth away. What was the matter? Well, the trouble was that these people were concerned with external.

They thought that by going through religious ceremonies, they could see God. Notice verse six, For I desired mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. Now, God had instituted sacrifice and burnt offerings, but he wanted them to be offered by people whose hearts were right towards him.

One of the great facts of Christendom today is that people think that by going through religious rituals, they can see God. The word of God reminds us that in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love.

Once again, we are reminded that God desires truth in the inward heart. Now, in verses one through sixteen of chapter seven, you have the wickedness of Israel unveiled. Too bad we have to go quickly over these books, because there are so many plaintive, beautiful notes in it.

I like there in verse nine, it says, Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth that not gray hairs are here and there upon him. He knoweth not. Isn't that solemn to think that God sends little messengers, little preachers like that in life, to remind men as to where they are spiritually, and men can be completely insensitive, we can be completely insensitive to God's pleading voice being seen in such things as gray hairs here and there upon him.

Then it says in verse eleven, Ephraim also is like a silly dove. A silly dove. I think some translations give it a fluttering dove. That's a very vivid picture. You know how a pigeon or a dove comes and flutters and doesn't seem to be going in any particular direction sometimes?

Well, this is what Israel was doing. They were fluttering between Egypt and Assyria. They were thinking, Well, this is our strength. This will make alliances with these heathen nations, corrupting themselves with the ungodly instead of looking to the Lord for their strength and deliverance.

Idolatry, Foreign Alliances, and Israel’s Captivity

Then in chapter eight, verses one through fourteen, you find that invasion is near because of idolatry and because of these foreign alliances. God is going to send the Assyrian into the land. I think it's spoken of as the east wind in some of these verses, and in others it's just mentioned as he.

Notice verse one. Set the trumpet to thy mount, he shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord, because I have transgressed my covenant and set fast against my law. Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee.

They find the Assyrian beating at the door. They find the Assyrian walking into the sacred confines of the temple, and they say, Oh God, we know you, but it's just the assertion of their lips. There's no true heart meaning or repentance in it.

And then you have the captivity of Israel predicted, beginning with chapter nine, verse one through chapter ten, verse fifteen. God is going to take the people of Israel into captivity because of their sin.

Notice verse one of chapter ten. Israel is an empty vine. It really should be a productive vine or a luxuriant vine. God has been good to the nation of Israel. Israel is a luxuriant vine. He brings forth fruit unto himself.

According to the multitude of his fruit, he has increased the altars. In other words, no matter how good God was to Israel, no matter how he blessed them with the material things of life, the more he blessed them, the more they corrupted themselves on the altars of idolatry.

God’s Remembered Mercy and His Longsuffering Love

Then in chapter eleven, verse one, you come to the next main section of the prophecy, beginning with verse one of chapter eleven through chapter thirteen. You have enwrapped God's remembered mercy. A wonderful, wonderful picture of God's loving kindness to his people.

When Israel was a child, I called him out of Egypt, verse one of chapter eleven. No matter how much God called him or drew him with cords of a man and bands of love, that Israel turned her back on him.

Notice verse eight. How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, Israel? How shall I make thee of Edmah? How shall I set thee as Zeboim? These were two cities of the plain which were destroyed with Sodom and Gomorrah.

Isn't it a wonderful thing in the prophecy to hear the voice of God speaking with himself, speaking with the nation of Israel, yearning over the nation of Israel, wanting to turn from God, saying, How can I ever give you up, Ephraim?

I've loved you, but you didn't love me. And then I think that there's a very beautiful expression here in chapter thirteen, verse one, that I just want to mention in passing. Chapter thirteen, verse one, it says, When Israel spake, trembling.

Or, when Israel spake, there was trembling when Ephraim spake. And this turns back to the time when Ephraim was walking with God. When Ephraim had the power of a man who was living in fellowship with God.

It says, When Ephraim spake, there was trembling. Or, men trembled. He exalted himself in Israel. When he ascended in Baal, he died. What an epitaph to write over the life of a man of a nation. When this man went on for God, there was power.

When men came in contact with him, they were conscious of the power of the Holy Spirit. But he ascended in Baal, he exalted himself, and he died. That is, his influence was gone as far as exerting power for God.

Hosea’s Call to Repentance and Restoration

And then finally, chapter fourteen, verses one through nine, you have Israel urged to repent and to enjoy God's blessings. And I would like to go over this in the two remaining minutes that we have. You have God's pleading voice saying, Oh Israel, return unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.

How shall we do it, Lord? He said, Take with your word. And this chapter is a beautiful chapter describing the return of a backslider to the Lord. Someone who has grown cold in heart toward the blessed Savior.

This is a way of restoration. There is a way back to God. Chapter fourteen gives it. Take with your words and turn to the Lord. Say unto him, Take away all iniquity. Receive us graciously. So will we render the calves of our lips.

The calves, of course, were what were offered in sacrifices. And so it means, So will we render the sacrifices of our lips to God. Asher shall not save us. Oh, Israel has learned the lesson that Assyria isn't the one to turn to.

The Assyrian nation will never save her from the judgment of God. We will not ride upon horses. That is, we won't depend upon armaments or military might to win our victories for us. We will triumph in the name of the Lord.

Neither will we say any more to the work of our hands. Ye are our God. That is, we won't look to idols that we've carved out of wood ourselves and say, Ye are our God. For indeed, a fatherless find of mercy.

Good lesson to learn. Listen to God say, I will hear their backsliding. I will love them freely. For mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as a dew unto Israel. What is dew? Refreshment. I will come as refreshing dew upon the nation of Israel.

He shall grow as a lily and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. Luxurious again as in the former days. His branches shall spread and his beauty shall be as the olive tree and his smell as Lebanon. Blessing to others.

They that dwell under his shadow shall return. They shall revive as a corn and grow as a vine. The scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon. Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols?

I think God says the next word. I have heard him and observed him. That as Ephraim cries out, I'm through with idols. I'm returning to the Lord. God said, I heard you. I've observed you. And then Ephraim says, I am like a green fir tree.

God says, Yes, but remember from me is your fruit found. You have a little dialogue in that verse, seems to me, between God and the nation of Israel. And then you have the final concluding verse. Who is wise?

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. The pathway of blessing is the pathway of fellowship with God, of responding to the love of God in all our ways and going on in simplicity with him.

Not living for the passing things of this world. Somebody has defined worldliness as the love of passing things. And if Hosea were living today, he would raise a cry against that type of behavior and urge us all to keep in touch with the Lord Jesus and have all our affections rested in him.