Hosea 7

Week 5, Sunday: Enemies of God
Israel had actually become the Lord’s enemies, rather than His people. They fled from Him, lied to and about Him, sought His benefits rather than Him, and devised all manner of evil against Him.

And now He will show them the folly of such a course.

Read Hosea 7

Meditate on Hosea 7.13-16
1.  God had “redeemed” Israel. What did He have a right to expect from them? What did He get instead?

2.  It’s clear that, whatever “knowledge” of God Israel possessed, they were more interested in His blessings than in Him (cf. vv. 13, 14). What’s the difference? Are believers today guilty of this?

3.  God said He had “disciplined” Israel and “strengthened” the nation? How did He do that prior to the days of Hosea? How did they respond? Meditate on Hebrews 12.3-11. How does God discipline His people today? What is He seeking to accomplish when He does?  

4.  In what way is living a compromised faith telling lies against God (v. 13)?

5.  How can we be sure, when we set our hearts to return to the Lord (vv. 14, 16), that we’re really seeking to return to Him, and not to just what He can do for us?  

Summary
How disturbing to think that “religious” people, who sincerely believed that they knew the Lord (Hos. 8.2), could actually be His enemies, and come under His judgment. How do we keep this from becoming our plight?

Closing Prayer
My soul clings to the dust;
Revive me according to Your word.
I have declared my ways, and You answered me;
Teach me Your statutes.
Make me understand the way of Your precepts;
So shall I meditate on Your wonderful works.
My soul melts from heaviness;
Strengthen me according to Your word.
Remove from me the way of lying,
And grant me Your law graciously.
I have chosen the way of truth;
Your judgments I have laid before me.
I cling to Your testimonies;
O LORD, do not put me to shame!
I will run the course of Your commandments,
For You shall enlarge my heart.

Psalm 119.25-32

T. M. Moore

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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.