Hosea 10

Week 6, Friday: Days of shame coming
The more God blessed Israel, the more she credited pagan no-gods for her bounty, and the more she lost her heart to idols. Now God would show His power against false gods, leaving His people to languish in shame – the fruit of her own sinful choices.

Read Hosea 10

Meditate on Hosea 10.1-6
1.  Meditate on verse 1. Do you think we’re as careful as we should be to ascribe to God the praise and thanks due Him for all our daily blessings and bounty? Explain.

2.  A “divided” heart is a “guilty” heart, and a guilty heart can expect the corrective discipline of God (Heb. 12.3-11). How can we guard ourselves against a divided heart?

3.  Verse 3 has a comic/tragic sense to it. How do you understand this verse? How would you state this verse in terms relevant to our situation today?

4.  Meditate on verse 4: Good intentions and solemn promises to “do better” are like weeds in the garden. We won’t bear any lasting fruit to the Lord unless we are rooted and grounded in His covenant, and the soil of our hearts is richly sown with His Law and Word. Jesus may have had this verse in mind as He spoke the parable of the soils (Mk. 4.1-20). Explain.

5.  What is the opposite of shame (v. 5, last phrase)? What does it mean to “receive shame” and to “be ashamed” (v. 6)? Why was this appropriate for Israel?

Summary
Israel’s choices, rather than leading to freedom, glory, and fruitfulness in the Lord, would result in captivity and shame. A divided heart led to a destroyed nation. Israel’s “own counsel” (v. 6) was her undoing. It has always been thus (Prov. 14.12).

Closing Prayer
Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD, O my soul!
While I live I will praise the LORD;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
Do not put your trust in princes,
Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help.
His spirit departs, he returns to his earth;
In that very day his plans perish.
Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help,
Whose hope is in the LORD his God,
Who made heaven and earth,
The sea, and all that is in them;
Who keeps truth forever,
Who executes justice for the oppressed,
Who gives food to the hungry.
The LORD gives freedom to the prisoners.
The LORD opens the eyes of the blind;
The LORD raises those who are bowed down;
The LORD loves the righteous.
The LORD watches over the strangers;
He relieves the fatherless and widow;
But the way of the wicked He turns upside down.
The LORD shall reign forever—
Your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the LORD!

Psalm 146

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.