Wednesday, September 18, 2013

EMMDEV 2013-09-18 [Hosea Highlights] Infection.

1 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.
2 There is only cursing, lying and murder,
stealing and adultery;
they break all bounds,
and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
3 Because of this the land mourns,
and all who live in it waste away;
the beasts of the field and the birds of the air
and the fish of the sea are dying. Hosea4:1-3

If chapters 1-3 are about the unfaithful wife and the faithful husband, then chapters 4-14 are about the unfaithful nation and the faithful God. I won't deal with these chapters in the same detail as the first three chapters, but there are some key thoughts to pick up...

In chapters 1-3 we saw Gomer getting into all sorts of trouble because of her unfaithfulness. The next couple of chapters reveal the same truth concerning Israel.

What is striking about the opening verses of chapter 4 is how Hosea illustrates the destructive power of sin.
The chain reaction is clear:
1. No faithfulness or love or acknowledgement of God
2. Cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery
3. Bloodshed follows bloodshed.
4. The land mourns and beasts, birds, and fish waste away and die.

It's almost as though Hosea is saying that when we break the first commandments (the ones that have to do with God) it is inevitable that we will break the later commandments - the ones that have to do with others (four of the six commandments are alluded to) - and then the "fallout" of this unfaithfulness is that even creation suffers.

Selfish prideful sinfulness places us on the throne instead of God and it leads to the destruction of our relationship with others and also impacts creation.

It is an infection with dire consequences.

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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/