Hosea 4:1-10 presents an interesting conundrum–it contains an extremely well known and often-quoted verse, but it is not well understood as a passage because few people understand the priestly responsibility both of ancient Israel and the contemporary church. Since the nature of the covenantal lawsuit against Israel is not well known, as well as the obligation and duty God had given to Israel (the same obligation given to the Church of God), we therefore are at grave risk of failing to live up to the standard that God requires us even as we (selectively) quote from this passage. Let us therefore examine Hosea 4:1-10, and then comment on what it says given the obligations that God gave to ancient Israel and gives to the Church today.

Hosea 4:1-10 reads: “Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel, for the Lord brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land: There is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land. By swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break all restraint, with bloodshed upon bloodshed. Therefore the land will mourn; and everyone who dwells there will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea will be taken away. Now let no man content, or rebuke another; for your people are like those who content with the priest. Therefore you shall stumble in the day; the prophet also shall stumble with you in the night; and I will destroy your mother. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. The more they increased, the more they sinned against Me; I will change their glory into shame. They eat up the sin of My people; they set their heart on their iniquity. And it shall be: like people, like priest. So I will punish them for their ways, and reward them for their deeds. For they shall eat, but not have enough; they shall commit harlotry, but not increase; because they have ceased obeying the Lord.”

This is a rather blunt and harsh passage, no doubt. It is a spoken oracle in the form of a Hebrew poem, the most solemn type of speech in the Bible. The poetic nature of prophetic pronouncements has perhaps not often been sufficiently understood. By giving the warning against Israel as poetry and not as prose, it is not only the gist of the message, but also the specific language of the words and their structure (Hebrew poetry being full of poetic devises like parallelism, which are used here and elsewhere to make the point of the message clearer) that is important. Here, the gist of the complaint lies in equating the failure of Israel’s priests to set an example of godliness to Israel and a failure of Israel as a royal priesthood and a holy nation to set an example of godliness to the world at large. And for their shared failure to meet their God-given duties and obligation, God pronounces upon them a harsh judgment.

Let us first examine what it means for God to level a covenantal lawsuit against a nation or people. For one, let us note that it is not necessary for a nation to be in a covenantal relationship with God in order to be judged by Him (see, for example, Obadiah, Nahum, and Jonah, as well as sections of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel dealing with Gentile nations). That said, as being in a covenantal relationship with God allows for special blessings, it also requires a higher standard of obedience than is the case for mankind in general. Ancient Israel was in a covenantal relationship with God, not only receiving unmerited blessings thanks to the obedience of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, but also having a collective relationship with God through their acceptance of the covenant at Mount Sinai which made Israel a royal priesthood and a holy nation (Exodus 19:5-6). This covenantal relationship included the obligation to model righteous obedience to God’s ways for the whole world to evangelize to the whole world so that all nations would be blessed.

Israel completely failed in this responsibility. For one, they thought that their call by God made them special rather than making them even more responsible and accountable. For another, they completely failed to obey God’s law, and so failed to model obedience to God’s way to the world at large, which greatly hindered the conversion of the world to God’s ways. Hosea details several aspects of this abject failure. There was no truth or mercy or knowledge of God. There was lying and swearing (false oaths or unclean language) and murder and theft and adultery, and a general lack of moral restraint and self-control. There was a general disrespect for authority, even as both the people and their authorities were corrupt. There was a neglect of God’s law, as well as an increase of sin connected with the increase of population, power, and prosperity of Israel, as Israel incorrectly considered God’s blessings on them as being an endorsement of their corrupt behavior.

In examining these charges, we need to look at this in at least two ways. For one, we need to examine whether our own societies have the same problem. When I look at my country, I see these same faults and moral failings. I see the same lack of respect, the same moral and social evils, the same arrogance and the same lack of self-restraint and knowledge of God’s ways. Our society is certainly (not only the United States but many other supposedly Christian countries as well) guilty of the same sins as ancient Israel in this regard. We lust and kill and cannot restrain ourselves, relying on external coercion from corrupt authorities whom we revile and disrespect. In many ways our corrupt leaders and government is a punishment on our corruption, and a preparation for judgment as we pursue self-destructive social and economic behavior as a culture and civilization. And for these failings we must blame ourselves, as moral and social evils are rampant among our leaders and among our population at large. For that, we are guilty of the same charges that God raises here against Israel on the eve of their Assyrian captivity.

We must also examine these failings in light of their connection to the Church of God, which has a covenant relationship as a royal priesthood and a holy nation to God (1 Peter 2:9-10). Christianity as a whole lacks truth, mercy, moral probity, restraint, faithfulness to God or spouses, respect for authority, and knowledge of God’s ways. It could be denied that our physical nations have a covenantal relationship with God, and many would not think or wish to compare our physical nations with physical Israel (though this comparison was more common earlier in American history). That said, there can be no denial that Christians have a personal and covenental relationship with God and an obligation to model God’s ways to help evangelize the world at large (Matthew 28:20, Mark 16:20). We have an obligation to be priests and rulers, and that obligation includes providing examples of godly behavior as well as providing moral leadership through our examples (and not only our preaching) in a corrupt and wicked and rebellious world. And yet all too often we fail to distinguish ourselves from the world around us through our conversation and conduct, and we often bring Christianity into disrepute because of our corrupt behavior. And because of that failing, we as Christians bring upon ourselves the same curses and judgment that God promised on ancient Israel for their failure to set a good example for the world.

And what curses does God pronounce on ancient Israel (and, by implication, we ourselves in our present evil age)? God promises that the land will mourn, the people will waste away and be taken away (by death and into captivity), and that even the animals will be taken away in a removal of blessings and protection. All of this happened to ancient Israel. God promised that He would forget their children and reject Israel as a priest, which happened. Israel forgot their identity and ceased to be distinguishable from the Gentiles of the world at large. Even Judah eventually lost its special covenantal relationship with God because of their rebellion and their lack of knowledge and obedience of God’s ways. And Israel was promised the curse of demographic and economic stagnation, curses that we see against us in the United States and other Western nations (as well as our spiritual institutions).

What are going to do about it? Are we going to close our ears and harden our hearts against God’s warning of judgment as ancient Israel did and receive that judgment, or are we going to turn from our wicked ways and repent to God and seek His mercy while there is yet time to do so? Will we persist in our corrupt conversation and conduct or will we repent, be purified in our hearts and minds, and become an example for the world outside? Will we take pride in our ignorance of and rejection of God’s ways or will we seek to learn and obey God’s laws in spirit and in truth so that we may be blessed in our relationships with God and with others in these evil times? The doom of choice lies with all of us today, especially those who call themselves Christians, for our age is threatened with the same doom of judgment that ancient Israel faced. Will we prove ourselves to be less rebellious than they, and escape the judgment that came upon them like a thief in the night?