SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR6/23/2015
10:55 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Nation’s True Condition PT-4
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Hosea
7:11-12
Message of the
verses: “11 Harlotry, wine and new
wine take away the understanding.12 My people consult their wooden idol, and their diviner’s wand informs
them; For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray, And they have played
the harlot, departing from
their God.”
We are in the midst of looking at different simile’s that
began in chapter six and verse four of Hosea.
We will be looking at the fifth simile in this SD entitled “In their
policies, the Israelites were like a silly dove.”
God had sent many prophets to the children of Israel and
if they would have listened to them they would not be in the fix that they find
themselves in at the time Hosea was writing these words. Israel was trusting in different nations like
Egypt and Assyria for help, but the prophets had clearly told them that it
would be Assyria who would conquer them. Hosea 10:5-6 states “5 The inhabitants
of Samaria will fear For the calf of Beth-aven. Indeed, its people will mourn
for it, And its idolatrous priests will cry out over it, Over its glory, since
it has departed from it. 6 The
thing itself will be carried to Assyria As tribute to King Jareb;
Ephraim will be seized with shame And Israel will be ashamed of its own
counsel. Isaiah 7:18-8:10 is another
portion of Scripture that tells us the same thing: “18 In that day the LORD will whistle for the
fly that is in the remotest part of the rivers of Egypt and for the bee that is
in the land of Assyria.
19 They will all come and settle on the steep ravines, on the ledges of the
cliffs, on all the thorn bushes and on all the watering places. 20 In that day
the Lord will shave with a razor, hired from regions beyond the Euphrates (that is, with the king of Assyria),
the head and the hair of the legs; and it will also remove the beard. 21 Now in
that day a man may keep alive a heifer and a pair of sheep; 22 and because of
the abundance of the milk produced he will eat curds, for everyone that is left
within the land will eat curds and honey. 23 And it will come about in that
day, that every place where there used to be a thousand vines, valued at a
thousand shekels of silver, will become briars and thorns. 24 People will come
there with bows and arrows because all the land will be briars and thorns. 25
As for all the hills which used to be cultivated with the hoe, you will not go
there for fear of briars and thorns; but they will become a place for pasturing
oxen and for sheep to trample.
“1 Then the LORD said to me, "Take for
yourself a large tablet and write on it in ordinary letters: Swift is the
booty, speedy is the prey. 2 “And I will take to Myself faithful witnesses for
testimony, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah." 3 So I
approached the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. Then the
LORD said to me, "Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz; 4 for before the boy
knows how to cry out ’My father’ or ’My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be
carried away before the king of Assyria." 5 Again the LORD spoke to
me further, saying, 6 “Inasmuch as these people have rejected the gently
flowing waters of Shiloah And rejoice in Rezin and the son of Remaliah; 7 “Now
therefore, behold, the Lord is about to bring on them the strong and abundant
waters of the Euphrates,
Even the king of Assyria and all his glory; And it will rise up over all
its channels and go over all its banks. 8 “Then it will sweep on into Judah, it
will overflow and pass through, It will reach even to the neck; And the spread
of its wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel. 9 "Be broken, O peoples, and be
shattered; And give ear, all remote places of the earth. Gird yourselves, yet
be shattered; Gird yourselves, yet be shattered. 10 “Devise a plan, but it will
be thwarted; State a proposal, but it will not stand, For God is with us."”
The warnings that God gave to Israel through the prophets
have come to fruition and the Assyrian’s would not come to capture them because
they worshiped idols and because they did not keep their covenant with the
Lord.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “According to the covenant God had
with His people, the Jews could trade with other nations, but they were not to
enter into political alliances that would compromise their obedience to the
Lord. ‘I see a people who live apart and
do not consider themselves one of the nations’ (Num. 23:9, NIV). ‘You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord
am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own (Lev. 20:26,
NIV).’ Solomon used many wives to form
alliances with other nations, and this was the beginning of the nations
downfall (1 Kings 11:1ff).”
6/23/2015 11:17 PM
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