Hosea 13

Week 8, Wednesday: Israel’s complete undoing
God had warned His people against turning away from Him. He destroyed pagan nations before them, precisely because they were an abomination to Him. Now that Israel had adopted their ways, God was holiness-bound to bring the same judgment to bear against them. God would destroy His people, just as He had promised.

Read Hosea 13

Meditate on Hosea 13.7-13
1.  Verses 7 and 8 are graphic and frightening. Is this really necessary? Who stood to benefit from such a terrifying threat?

2.  The same God Who would destroy them would nonetheless be their help (v. 9). Summarize the role of judgment in God’s dealings with His people. How does judgment “help” believers?

3.  What does it mean for God to be our King (v. 10)? Over how much of our lives is He King? What are the implications of this for our daily lives?

4.  Unconfessed sin builds up like a child in a mother’s womb (vv. 12, 13). Why is this an excellent way of thinking about unconfessed sin?

5.  Failing to confess and repent of our sins makes us “unwise” children (v. 13). Why?

Summary
God must judge His people because He promised to do so. But He will not abandon them. They may have become unwise children, but they were His children. He would help them again – not in this generation, but in an age to come.

Closing Prayer
Vindicate me, O LORD,
For I have walked in my integrity.
I have also trusted in the LORD;
I shall not slip.
Examine me, O LORD, and prove me;
Try my mind and my heart.
For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes,
And I have walked in Your truth.
I have not sat with idolatrous mortals,
Nor will I go in with hypocrites.
I have hated the assembly of evildoers,
And will not sit with the wicked.
I will wash my hands in innocence;
So I will go about Your altar, O LORD,
That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving,
And tell of all Your wondrous works.
LORD, I have loved the habitation of Your house,
And the place where Your glory dwells.
Do not gather my soul with sinners,
Nor my life with bloodthirsty men,
In whose hands is a sinister scheme,
And whose right hand is full of bribes.
But as for me, I will walk in my integrity;
Redeem me and be merciful to me.
My foot stands in an even place;
In the congregations I will bless the LORD.

Psalm 26

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.