Hosea 4:11-19
11 "Harlotry, wine, and new wine enslave the heart.
12 My people ask counsel from their wooden idols,
And their staff informs them.
For the spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray,
And they have played the harlot against their God.
13 They offer sacrifices on the mountaintops,
And burn incense on the hills,
Under oaks, poplars, and terebinths,
Because their shade is good.
Therefore your daughters commit harlotry,
And your brides commit adultery.
14 "I will not punish your daughters when they commit harlotry,
Nor your brides when they commit adultery;
For the men themselves go apart with harlots,
And offer sacrifices with a ritual harlot.
Therefore people who do not understand will be trampled.
15 "Though you, Israel, play the harlot,
Let not Judah offend.
Do not come up to Gilgal,
Nor go up to Beth Aven,
Nor swear an oath, saying, 'As the LORD lives'—
16 "For Israel is stubborn
Like a stubborn calf;
Now the LORD will let them forage
Like a lamb in open country.
17 "Ephraim is joined to idols,
Let him alone.
18 Their drink is rebellion,
They commit harlotry continually.
Her rulers dearly love dishonor.
19 The wind has wrapped her up in its wings,
And they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.
Israel had gone from rejecting God’s word of truth and cast mercy aside to pursue violence and self-destruction. Adultery of the spirit and body made them slaves to sin (Romans 6:20-21) with drunkenness thrown in to blur their understanding and blind all remorse to keep repentance towards holiness at bay. We see this today with haters of God (Romans 1:30) whose desire for unrighteousness fills their lives and blinds them to the truth of God’s word and the gospel of reconciliation by faith through repentance. They make their bodies temples of selfish desires and not of worship to God as they reject Christ and mock Him in drunkenness. Even some who know God fall into the trap of bringing such idols into their temples, committing physical adultery (1 Corinthians 6:15-17) as well as spiritual as they accept the teachings and worship of the world’s philosophy. We are warned in 1 John 2:15-17 not to indulge in desires of the flesh, eyes, and pride, but to do according to the word of God instead. Our desires become our worship which we bring into the temples where God lives and so are the idols littering our bodies and corrupting our pure worship (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). In Hosea’s time we see God’s people asking for counsel from dead idols similar to modern horoscopes, tarot cards, and false philosophies of self instead of digging into the scriptures for true answers to benefit the soul for the kingdom here now and to come forever. Even followers of Jesus Christ find themselves pulled into these spiritual harlotries if we are not careful to test all things and only hold to what is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22) according to God’s definition. Israel had been offering sacrifices to non-existent gods by burning incense to them like the deceived Buddhists or New Age adherents in our present time of darkness (Galatians 1:3-4). This led to both the spiritual adultery of having other gods in defiance of the first commandment, as well as physical adultery with ritual sex, even with the newly married. God told these women they would not be punished without first punishing the men who visit prostitutes in and out of religious venues. He told those who refused to understand that they would be trampled down in the approaching hoofbeats of His judgment. Because of their obstinate stubbornness in outright rebellion, God would leave such to their own devices and certain end. Their drunkenness and immortality of idolatry against Him will end in eternal shame and regret which cannot be undone apart from confession and repentance in their life before death (Hebrews 9:27-28). Only then we can escape such adulterous idolatry of the heart enslaved by sin. May all who consider this example and now hear the gospel of reconciling grace find eternal forgiveness, and then pursue righteousness and holiness (2 Timothy 2:19) in worship of God alone by grace alone in Christ alone. Amen.
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