![]() ![]() It is not scientific, secular, or technical knowledge that is meant, but religious knowledge, the knowledge of God through his revealed will, the Bible and even more than this is meant it means conformity to the will of God. " Educators and public leaders like to quote this verse, but all too frequently they are unaware of what is meant by knowledge in this passage. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. " is necessarily a reference to the nation, and absolutely not to the pagan priesthood which had never had any knowledge of the law of God, except in the corrupted elements of it which they had mingled with their paganism. "Seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God. It is the nation of Israel as a nation of priests unto God. thou shalt be no priest to me." The spirit and intention of Exodus 19:6 dominate this verse. It is the nation which is addressed here: "My people. " It is a mistake to understand this as reference merely to the priesthood which was pagan. They shall be exterminated, along with the apostate nation which they have led into ruin. They had been tolerated, even in their state of illegitimacy, for a long while but now their rejection will be terminal, final, and complete. The rejection of knowledge on the part of the priests (a past event when Hosea spoke) had already resulted in God's rejection of them, but the rejection here will be total and final. Harper was of the opinion that "I will reject thee" in this passage indicates that "Hosea had at one time recognized the Northern priesthood as legitimate," but this is by no means a necessary deduction. ![]() "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I also will forget thy children." Within a short time God will send another judgment upon them in the form of further devastation of their crops (4-7). They are not his children, but the children of prostitution. They still offer their animal sacrifices, but God does not accept them. The people are firmly held by the power of idolatry and unable to return to God. The prophet names some of the more popular Baal centres (5:1-3). They are condemned as spiritual prostitutes and slaves to the false religion that is practised throughout the nation. Priests, common people and the royal family are all corrupt. The idolatry, greed and immorality of Israel will be the cause of its destruction (17-19). God cannot bless those who stubbornly go their own way (15-16). Judah is warned not to follow Israel in trying to mix the worship of the living God with the false religion that operates at places such as Gilgal. Their young women become religious prostitutes, though the chief blame lies with the men, who, by their immoral desires, made the women into prostitutes (11-14). They offer sacrifices under sacred trees at the Baal high places. They look for guidance by superstitious ceremonies using sacred sticks. ![]() They become drunk at their religious feasts. Throughout the land people follow religious practices of the worst kind. ![]() God will make sure that their hopes are disappointed (9-10). They look for increase in their families, flocks and herds through the Baal practice of carrying out sexual rites with religious prostitutes. The priests are as bad as people in general and are guilty of the same sins. The more the people sin, the more sin offerings the priests receive (7-8). Since they receive the meat of the sin offering, the priests welcome the people’s sins. Instead they have encouraged the people to offer more sacrifices so that they (the priests) can profit. They have not taught God’s law to the people (4-6). Chiefly to blame for this nationwide corruption are the priests. Their wickedness is the reason for the present drought they are suffering (4:1-3). The people have no knowledge of God or his law, and therefore they are unfaithful to him and deceitful in their dealings with one another. It consists of collections of numerous short messages that Hosea apparently delivered on various occasions over a number of years.Ĭorrupt religion corrupt people (4:1-5:7) There appears to be little chronological order or logical development in this section. Hosea now turns from his personal experiences to the conditions in Israel that they illustrated. ![]()
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