trusted online casino malaysia
Realizing the presence, promise, and power of the Kingdom of God.
The Scriptorium

Like Leaders, Like People

Israel's rebellion was a failure of leadership.

Hosea 5

Week 4, Friday: Chips off the old block

The leaders of Israel, who should have been working to keep the people within the “blessings side” of God’s covenant, had instead led them into rebellion and, hence, judgment. The people were guilty of sin; yet even more guilty were the priests and rulers who had encouraged and promoted the religion of convenience which was now destroying the Northern Kingdom.

Read Hosea 5

Meditate on Hosea 5.1-5

1.  Mizpah and Tabor were high mountains in Israel, thus suggesting prominence and visibility. Priests, household heads, and rulers were guilty of what took place there. They were a “snare” and a “net” to the nation. According to verse 2, does it seem the leaders of Israel were listening to Hosea? Why or why not? Meditate on James 3.1. How should you pray for the leaders of your church?

2.  “Ephraim” (v. 3) was the most prominent tribe of the Northern Kingdom and, thus, representative of the nation as a whole. What did God “know” about Ephraim? How did He know it? Does He still know His people like this?

3.  What would someone be doing who was directing his or her deeds “Toward turning to their God” (v. 4; cf. Ps. 119.59, 60)?

4.  Why is “the spirit of harlotry” logically combined with not knowing the Lord (v. 4)?

5.  God calls a “witness” to testify against Israel in support of His charges (v. 5). What is this “witness” and why would it have been effective? Note the warning, in passing, to Judah. What effect did God intend for this comment?

Summary
The “pride” of Israel was mainly in her name and the heritage that name represented. Bearing that in mind, we can see why the leaders’ boasting that they were the people of God, descended from the patriarchs, would have testified against them. There is no magic in merely claiming to be a Christian. God is looking for more than mere words. What?

Closing Prayer
“Now consider this, you who forget God,
Lest I tear you in pieces,
And there be none to deliver: 
Whoever offers praise glorifies Me;
And to him who orders his conduct aright
I will show the salvation of God.”

Psalm 50.22, 23

T. M. Moore

The Week, T. M.’s daily print and audio offering of worldview insights, musings, and reflections, is now available for a free subscription. You can subscribe to The Week by going to the website and, when the pop-up appears, put in your email, click on The Week, then click to update your subscriptions. You’ll be sent an email allowing you to add The Week to your list of subscriptions.

Each week’s studies in our
Scriptorium column are available in a free PDF form, suitable for personal or group use. For all available studies in Hosea, click here.

A primary theme of the book of Hosea is Israel’s failure to keep covenant with the Lord. God’s covenant is a central theme and provides the organizing motif for all of Scripture. Learn more about God’s covenant by ordering a copy of T. M.’s book,
I Will Be Your God, from our online store (click here).

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
Books by T. M. Moore

Subscribe to Ailbe Newsletters

Sign up to receive our email newsletters and read columns about revival, renewal, and awakening built upon prayer, sharing, and mutual edification.