Hosea

Hosea 4: Destroyed for lack of knowledge

Begin in prayer

Before we hear the LORD's charge against the land, let us ask Him to teach us to know Him. Ask Him to show us that without knowing God a people are destroyed.

Yes, if you call out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding; If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures: then you will understand the fear of Yahweh, and find the knowledge of God.

Proverbs 2:3-5

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word. Teach us to know You, and show us why a people who forget You are destroyed. Show us Jesus, who brings sinners to You. Make us more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

Hosea 4 begins a long speech in which the LORD brings a charge against the people of Israel, like a case in court. He says there is no truth, no goodness and no knowledge of God in the land, only cursing, lying, murder, stealing and adultery. Because of this the land mourns, and everything that lives in it wastes away. The priests have rejected knowledge and forgotten God's law, so the LORD says He will reject them and forget their children. The people ask a wooden idol for answers, and they offer sacrifices on the hills and under the trees. The LORD warns Judah not to follow Israel, and He says Ephraim is joined to idols.

As you read Hosea 4, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

The LORD charges His people because they stopped knowing Him, and without Him they are destroyed.

In chapter 4 the LORD speaks as if He were in a courtroom, and the whole land stands charged. He names sins that break His commandments, such as lying, murder, stealing and adultery (verse 2). To know God is to know Him as He has shown Himself in His word, and to honour Him as God. In Israel the priests were meant to teach the people God's law, so when they stopped, the whole land lost its guide. King Jeroboam set up the shrines of the north, and he chose priests from outside the tribe of Levi (1 Kings 12 verse 31). Verse 9 says like people, like priest, so a teacher who forgets God leads the people to forget Him. Verse 6 warns that the LORD will forget the children of those who forgot His law. Jesus is the High Priest who can save completely those who come to God through Him (Hebrews 7 verse 25). He said that eternal life is to know the only true God and the One He sent (John 17 verse 3).

How does Hosea 4 show us that the LORD charges His people because they stopped knowing Him, and that without Him they are destroyed?

The LORD brings a charge because no one in the land knows Him.

He says there is no truth, no goodness and no knowledge of God (verse 1). Cursing, lying, murder, stealing and adultery fill the land. When people stop knowing God, sin spreads and the land itself mourns (verse 3).

The priests stopped teaching, so the people were destroyed.

The LORD says His people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, because the priests rejected it (verse 6). Like people, like priest, He says (verse 9). Jesus is the High Priest who always lives to pray for those who come to God through Him (Hebrews 7 verse 25).

Idols cannot answer, and they lead God's people away.

The people ask a wooden idol for answers, and a stick of wood tells them what to do (verse 12). Ephraim is joined to idols (verse 17). Jesus said that eternal life is knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent (John 17 verse 3).

Memorise

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Hosea 4:6

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, do I know the LORD, or do I only know about Him?

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”, the LORD said of a land that had stopped knowing Him. The people had God's law, yet the priests forgot it, and the people asked a stick of wood for answers. They did not know the God who made them.

Jesus knew His Father perfectly, and He kept every word of the law that Israel broke. On the cross He bore the punishment His people deserved for forgetting God. He rose again on the third day, and He lives to bring them to the Father. Nothing more is needed for them to know God.

So come to Him. Turn from your sin and put your trust in Jesus, and ask Him to show you the Father. Whoever comes to Him in faith receives forgiveness, and he will know God.

Parent's note

Tell your children that the LORD charges His people because they forgot Him, and that Jesus brings sinners to know God. Parents, please explain verses 6 and 10 to 14 yourself, since they speak of forgotten children and sexual sin at idol shrines. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God that He can be known through Jesus, and bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so let each one say a short prayer if they want to.

We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

1 John 5:20

Heavenly Father, thank You that we can know You through Your Son. Forgive us for the times we have forgotten You. Please teach us Your Word, and lead each one of us to trust Jesus and know You. Amen.