SPIRITUAL ADULTERY

(HOSEA)Lesson 1

KEY TEXT

‘I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called “Not my loved one.” I will say to those called “Not my people,” “You are my people”; and they will say, “You are my God” ’ ” Hosea 2:23

When Solomon died, the kingdom of Israel was divided in two:

1. The kingdom of Judah (south), the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. It was always ruled by a king from David’s house.

2. The kingdom of Israel (north), all the other ten tribes. Its first king was Jeroboam. There never was a regular royal house.

During the reign of Jeroboam II (793-753 BC), Israel enjoyed a time of prosperity like in the times of King Solomon (2K 14:25)

That material prosperity increased the spiritual decay. Because of Jeroboam II sins, Israel was destroyed by Assyria 30 years after his death in 722 BC.

Hosea’s prophetic ministry began during the reign of Jeroboam II. Its goal was to make Israel realize its spiritual condition so they would abandon their idols and come back to the true God. If they listened to that prophetic message they would be saved from the devastation of the king of Assyria.

H I S T O R I C A L C O N T E X T

LIVING TO SET AN EXAMPLEThe prophets didn’t only receive messages from God and communicate them. Sometimes God asked them to be a “living example”, to communicate the prophetic message by using actions in their own life.

ISAIAHWalking around

naked during 3 years (Isaiah 20)

Assyria’s invasion of

Egypt.

JEREMIAH

Buying a belt, putting it on, burying it far away and coming

back to take it (Jeremiah 13:1-11)

Against Judah’s haughtiness.

EZEKIEL

Making models and laying on one side and then on the

other one (Ezekiel 4:1-6)

The capture of Jerusalem.

HOSEA Marrying an adulterous woman.

Israel’s spiritual adultery.

LIVING TO SET AN EXAMPLEThe names of Hosea (God saves) and his children were a message for the people:

1. Jezreel (God will sew or scatter), son of Hosea and Gomer. “So he went and took Gomer the

daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. 4 Then the Lord said to him: “Call his name Jezreel, for in a little while I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.”” (Hosea 1:3-4)

2. Lo-Ruhamah (Not having obtained mercy). Daughter of Gomer’s adultery. “And she conceived again and bore a

daughter. Then God said to him: “Call her name Lo-Ruhamah, for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them away.”” (Hosea 1:6)

3. Lo-Ammi (Not my people). Son of Gomer's adultery. “Now when she had weaned Lo-

Ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. Then God said: “Call his name Lo-Ammi, for you are not My people, and I will not be your God.”” (Hosea 1:8-9)

S P I R I T U A L A D U LT E R Y“For their mother has played the harlot; ahe who conceived them has behaved shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink” (Hosea 2:5)

Just like Gomer abandoned Hosea for her lovers, Israel had also abandoned the true God and prostituted by worshiping Baal and Astarte.

Besides that “spiritual adultery”, Israel also sinned by considering God’s blessings to be given by its lovers the false gods.

“For she did not know that I gave her grain, new wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold—which they prepared for Baal” (Hosea 2:8)

Are we also running the risk of considering God’s blessings as result of our own effort, luck or intelligence?

Do we use God’s gifts for our own benefit or do we invest them on God’s work?

“Therefore I will return and take away my grain in its time and My new wine in its season, and will take back My wool and My linen, given to cover her nakedness… I will punish her for the days of the Baals to which she burned incense. She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry, and went after her lovers; but Me she forgot,” says the Lord” (Hosea 2:9, 13)

Although Gomer didn’t know nor want to admit it, Hosea still sustained her and gave her everything she needed until God ordered him to stop sustaining her.

When Israel stopped coming to God, He didn’t provide them their harvest anymore. God wanted Israel to think things over and to come back to Him.

S P I R I T U A L A D U LT E R Y

Gomer was abandoned by her lovers and was auctioned as a slave.Hosea paid a high sum of money to rescue her and to make her doubly his (wife and slave). But he never used his right as master, but drew her “with bands of love” (Hosea 11:4)

“And I said to her, “You shall stay with me many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man—so, too, will I be toward you.” For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim.Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days” (Hosea 3:3-5)

THE GOSPEL IN HOSEA(THE RANSOM)

Didn’t God do the same thing for us? He was our Creator, our true husband. He paid a high price (the life of His own Son) to save us from the slavery of sin, to give us freedom and to make us doubly His.

“For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s”

(1 Corinthians 6:20)

THE GOSPEL IN HOSEA(THE RANSOM)

A CALL TO REPENTANCE“Therefore, behold, I will allure her, will bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfort to

her” (Hosea 2:14)God “officially” married Israel at mount Sinai. The trip through the desert was their honeymoon. There God became known to His people.

“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent”(John 17:3)

God proposes a new honeymoon for His people, both in Hosea’s time and today. A special moment to meet God again.

“Many who bear the name of Christians are serving other gods besides the Lord. Our Creator demands our supreme devotion, our first allegiance. Anything which tends to abate our love for God, or to interfere with the service due Him, becomes thereby an idol. With some their lands, their houses, their merchandise, are the idols. Business enterprises are prosecuted with zeal and energy, while the service of God is made a secondary consideration. Family worship is neglected, secret prayer is forgotten. Many claim to deal justly with their fellow men, and seem to feel that in so doing they discharge their whole duty. But it is not enough to keep the last six commandments of the decalogue. We are to love the Lord our God with all the heart. Nothing short of obedience to every precept—nothing less than supreme love to God as well as equal love to our fellow man—can satisfy the claims of the divine law”

E.G.W. (SDA Bible Commentary, notes on 1 Samuel 7:3, “Modern forms of idolatry”)

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