SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/20/2015
10:41 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Nation’s True Condition PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Hosea 6:4-11
Message of the
verses: 4 What shall I do with you,
O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning cloud And like
the dew which goes away early. 5 Therefore I have hewn them in pieces by the prophets; I have
slain them by the words of My mouth; And the judgments on you are like the
light that goes forth. 6 For
I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt
offerings. 7 But like Adam they have transgressed the covenant; There
they have dealt treacherously against Me. 8 Gilead is a city of wrongdoers,
Tracked with bloody footprints. 9 And as raiders wait for a man, So a band of
priests murder on the way to Shechem; Surely they have committed crime. 10 In
the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing; Ephraim’s harlotry is there,
Israel has defiled itself. 11 Also, O Judah, there is a harvest appointed for
you, When I restore the fortunes of My people.”
As we begin this very long section from the outline of
Warren Wiersbe which actually goes from 6:4-7:16 we see that he writes that “In
a series of vivid similes and metaphors, Hosea revealed the true character of
the people of Israel.” You must notice
that there a number of “like” and “is” in this section of Scripture showing
that Hosea is using similes to help describe what the nation of Israel is like,
what their character is and he also includes Judah.
The first simile is seen from verse four where we read “for
your loyalty is like a morning cloud, and like the dew which goes away early.” When we have a chance to look at the dew in
the morning it shines like jewels, but after the sun gets higher in the sky and
hotter on the dew it disappears. Similar
the devotion to the Lord by Israel is very temporary, it is lovely but not
lasting. When we look at five we see
that the Lord had sent them prophets to led them in the right direction, but
they cared more about what they wanted to do than listen to the Word of the
Lord through His prophets. In the book
of Ephesians where Paul is describing the spiritual armor for believers we see
that the last piece of armor is the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of
God, and that is what the prophets were giving to the children of Israel, but
they were rejecting it.
We see in verse six that the Lord wants relationships that
are of substance as we read “For
I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt
offerings.” Let us look at some
similar verses from Scripture that say this “22 Samuel said, "Has the LORD as much delight in
burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than
sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. 23 "For rebellion is as the sin of
divination, And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have
rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king’ (1
Samuel 15:22-23).” Now we will look at
Amos 5:21-24 “21 "I hate, I reject your festivals, Nor do I delight in
your solemn assemblies. 22 "Even
though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them;
And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. 23 “Take away
from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your
harps. 24 “But let justice
roll down like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Now Micah 6:6-8 “6 With what shall I come to
the LORD And bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt
offerings, With yearling calves? 7 Does the LORD take delight in thousands of
rams, In ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my
rebellious acts, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He has told you, O man, what
is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love
kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?” Next Matthew 9:13 and also 12:7 “13 "But go and learn what this means: ’I
DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE,’ for I did not come to call the
righteous, but sinners."” “7 “But
if you had known what this means, ’I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT A SACRIFICE,’
you would not have condemned the innocent.”
Next we look at verse seven where Hosea mentions Adam “7
But like Adam they have transgressed the covenant; There they have dealt
treacherously against Me.” Dr. Wiersbe
writes the following endnote for this verse “Since the Hebrew word translated ‘Adam’
means ‘red earth’ it’s been suggested that verse 7 be translated, ‘They have
treated the covenant like dirt.’ Adam
also stands for mankind in general, so we might translate it ‘Like mere humans,
they have transgressed the covenant.’”
Adam was given a covenant with the Lord but he disobeyed it and plunged
the entire world into sin. There have
been other conditional covenants that the Lord made with Israel that they have
disobeyed however He has made unconditional covenants with Abraham and also
David that will never be broken as we can see from the last verse in chapter
six “Also, O Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you, When I restore the
fortunes of My people.” God ends this
chapter with a promise that will come true.
6/20/2015 11:12 PM
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