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The Scriptorium

The Dark Side of Glory

God's glory can take ominous forms.

Hosea 5

Week 4, Sunday: Glory in wrath and judgment

The glory of God is not all beauty and loveliness, wonder, joy, and awe. Because God is holy, His glory, when revealed against unholiness, can be terrifying. Israel has come under indictment for a wide range of charges, amounting to rebellion and revolt against God. His holiness will not allow Him simply to “wink” at such wickedness. Israel is about to discover this in spades, and Judah is fairly and somberly warned.

Pray the lesson is not lost on us.

Read Hosea 5

Meditate on Hosea 5.10-15

1.  What does it mean to “remove a landmark”? Are churches today ever guilty of this? Explain. How does God respond when this happens (v. 10)?

2.  Israel’s rebellion comes down to their having chosen the ways of men rather than the ways of God (v. 11). This is because she rejected God’s Word and pursued a course of convenience and expediency to justify breaking away from the Davidic king and to endear herself with pagan nations. Is it possible that churches today might be guilty of something like this? Explain.

3.  As Israel began to lose political strength, she turned to political allies (vv. 12, 13). Her chosen ways failed to produce the “good life,” but she continued to seek it along the same paths. What should Israel have done? What would that have required of the priests, prophets, rulers, and household heads of the nation?  

4.  Verse 14 is terrifying. What does this suggest about the discipline God can bring to bear against His people (cf. Heb. 12.3-11)? Should we fear Him for this? What else?

5.  There is in verse 15 a note of hope. How can you see it? How does the “seeking” of verse 15 differ from that of verse 6? What does it mean for you to seek the Lord in this way?  

Summary
God’s judgment is terrible. We should avoid it at all times. But if we persist in choosing the ways of men rather than those of the Law and Word of God, we will always find ourselves heading down the wrong path. Should we find that we have come to that place in our lives, what would be a proper course for returning to the Lord?

Closing Prayer
Do not forsake me, O LORD;
O my God, be not far from me!
Make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation!

Psalm 38.21, 22

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.
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