Hi everyone:

I printed out Steve's emails and i was reading the one from 11-3-03 Reaping the whirlwind. In the third paragraph Steve quotes Hosea 5:4. After reading that quote I got my Bible out and read Hosea 5:1-5:15. I was wondering if someone could explain it a little more to me. I have a Life Application Study Bible and NIV Bible and i dont feel as if i'm understand the meaning behind it very well.

Thanks in advance,

Robin

Hosea 5:4 They do not direct their deeds toward turning to their God. For the spirit of harlotry is in their midst, and they do not know the Lord...........
Harlotry is the word for prostitution. God many times in the scriptures uses that word to compare his people to prostitutes or ( harlots, or adulterers) when they are unfaithful to Him and go after and worship other gods, like gods of the pagans. The people he is talking were once His but have left Him and worshiped other gods or idols. They don't direct their deeds toward knowing the only one true God but go their own way and no longer seek Him. I hope that helps some. Others may have a better answer than me.

[This message was edited by Grace&faith on November 26, 2003 at 01:25 PM.]

Grace:

Thanks for replying. I've had so much trouble reading this chapter 5 of Hosea. The whole chapter is confussing. I think tonight i'm going to sit down with my mom and us talk about it.

Thanks again,
Robin

RO_13007,

The prophecies are particularly difficult to understand. The overall thought of the book of Hosea is Israel's unfaithfulness, God's judgment and punishment, and His faithful love that would eventually restore after repentance.

Chapter 5 is God's judgment upon His people who refused to acknowledge Him. Hosea Ch. 5 fits in with the context of the whole book of Hosea. God told Hosea to take a wife who was a prostitute and an adulterer so he could experience how God Himself felt when Ephraim and Judah went their own way to worship other gods. Their worship and dependence upon other gods was tantamount to spiritual adultery.

Some of the places and events mentioned in this chapter had to do with pagan worship. These places and events would have been known to everyone and fresh on their minds, but we have lost some of the meaning today since we do not know the details of them. Ephraim refers to the 10 Northern tribes and Judah to the Southern Kingdom, consisting of the two tribes Judah and Benjamin. Eprhaim, especially had drifted so far away from God, that God would no longer allow them to live in the land.

Hosea 4:1 "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.'"

God hoped they would repent and avoid His punishment. Ephraim believed that even if they only superficially repented, God would restore them. But in God's eyes only true repentance would be sufficient to bring them back. In their pride they refused to repent, so they were eventually taken captive by Assyria and dispersed throughout the known world.

I hope this has helped.

God bless you,

Chelki

Exodus 34:6

Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth;"

"Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" -- Jesus, the Messiah!, our salvation.