Hosea 11
McGeeCHAPTERS 11 AND 12THEME: Israel must be judged, but God will not give her upChapter 11 opens on a new note. Up to this point the emphasis has been on the disobedience of God’s people, but now there is a new note sounded. That new note is the love of Godhow wonderful it is!
Hosea 11:1
This verse speaks primarily of the nation Israelthere is no question about that. It reveals the close relationship between God and the nation. In effect God is saying, “Israel as a nation was my son, and I took him out of Egypt. I did not take them out of Egypt because they were wonderful people who were serving Me. They were not serving Me but were in idolatry even then. It was not because of their ability, their superiority; they had nothing like that.
I took them out of Egypt because I loved them.” My friend, that is the reason He saved you and me. Love is not the basis of salvation, but it is the motive of salvation. Back of the redemption we have in Christ, the fact that He would die, is “… God so loved the world …” (Joh_3:16, italics mine). “When Israel was a child, then I loved him,” God says. “I took him out of Egypt not because he was worthy, not because he performed good works, but because I loved him.” Matthew in his Gospel applied this verse to the Lord Jesus (see Mat_2:15). This is an example of how statements in the Old Testament can also have application to the future. That baby boy who was born yonder in Bethlehem is identified with these peopleHe is an Israelite. The woman of Samaria knew this when He came there to the well. She said to him, “…How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans” (Joh_4:9). God sent Him down to this world to die, and the Lord Jesus came and identified Himself with people.
As a baby He was taken down to the safety of Egypt, but the time came when God called Him out of the place of safety back to the place of danger within the land. He moved into the arena of life where He was to demonstrate the love of God by dying upon the crossto furnish a redemption that man might have a righteous basis on which his sins could be forgiven. He identified with His people; He identified with humanity; He identified with you and me. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (Joh_3:16).
Hosea 11:2
God had put the Canaanites and the other pagans out of the land because they worshiped Baalim. However, when the Hebrews got into the land they also turned to the worship of Baalim and to carved images.
Hosea 11:3
God blessed Israel in many different ways, and His blessing was the gentle way in which He led them.
Hosea 11:4
God says, “I did not force them to serve Me.” God will not force Himself upon you either, my friend. Many people say, “Why doesn’t God break through today? Why doesn’t He do this or that?” I don’t know why God doesn’t do a lot of thingsHe just hasn’t told me. He is God, and I happen to be a little creature down here and I lack a great deal of information. Although I’m not able to answer that, I do know this: God will not force you. The only band He will put on you is the band of love.
He says, “I won’t bridle you, I won’t push you, the only appeal I make to you is that I love you.” My friend, that is the appeal that God makes to you and to me today. He moved heaven and hell to get to the door of your heart, but He stopped there and politely knocks on the door and says, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock …” (Rev_3:20). That is where He isHe has never crashed the door; He is not going to push Himself in. You will have to respond to His love. It is interesting that love has always been the strongest appeal. It is said that Napoleon made the statement, “Charlemagne, Alexander the Great, and other generals have built up empires, and they built them on force, but Jesus Christ today has millions of people who would die for Him, and He built an empire on love.” That is His only appeal to youdon’t think He will use any other method. He will judge you, but He will not draw you to Himself except by love. That is the strongest appeal that can possible be made. The band is a band of love.
Hosea 11:5
Israel ran down to Egypt to get help but then found out that Egypt was his enemy. Then he ran up to Assyria to get help there. God said, “I’m going to make Assyria his king"Assyria is where He sent Israel into captivity.
Hosea 11:6
This is the second time in Hosea that the word backsliding occurs. Again, it is the figure of the backsliding heifer, that little calf who, when you try to push her up the runway into the old wagon, simply puts down her front feet and begins to slide backwardsand you just have to start all over again. That is a picture of what backsliding isit is to refuse to listen to God, to refuse to come to Him.
Hosea 11:8
This is a plaintive note. It seems as if God is on the horns of a dilemma here, as if He is frustrated. Listen to Him: “How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?” He doesn’t want to give them up. God loves them, but because of their sin God must judge them. “How shall I deliver thee, Israel?” My friend, God has no other way to save you except by the death of Christ. You may think you have two or three different ways yourself, but God has but one way. Since He says, “There is no saviour beside me” (Hos_13:4), you had better listen to Him. You and I are not in the saving business, but He is. “How shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim?” Admah and Zeboim were cities down on the plain which God judged along with Sodom and Gomorrah. God is saying to Israel, “I hate to judge you like that.” However, God had to judge them, and today it is just as desolate in Samaria as it is there along the Dead Sea where these cities were once located. “Mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger.” In other words, Israel did not receive half of what they deserved. Why? Because God says, “I will not return to destroy Ephraim"He intends to redeem them and to put these people back in that land some day. Their present return to the land is not a fulfillment of this at all; do not blame God for what is happening in that land today. However, God will put them back in the land. Why will He do it? For one reason: “For I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city.” This is something else we need to learn today. We feel like we live in a democracy and that our government exists for us and exists to carry out the decisions we make, but God says, “I am the sovereign God. I’m not accountable to anyone. I do not have a board of directors, and nobody elected Me to office.
I do what I please.” My friend, if you do not like what God is doing today, it’s too bad for you, because God is going to do itHe is not accountable to you. There are a lot of things which God does that I don’t understand, but He is God, and He is surely not accountable to Vernon McGee. He does not come down and hand in a report to me. The folk who work for me at “Thru the Bible” headquarters hand in reports to me, but God doesn’t give me a report. Why? Because He is God, and He doesn’t have to report to me.
Hosea 11:10
God intends to judge, my frienda judgment upon the nations in the west. And the United States happens to be west from the land of Israel.
Hosea 11:11
Judah still had a few good kings in the southern kingdom, but there were none in the northern kingdom. Some of the kings made a profession, but they were using lies and deceit. My friend, I believe we live in a day when you can fool everyone. Abraham Lincoln made the statement (everybody believes it because good old Abe said it), “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.” Lincoln did not live in this day of television and brainwashing. You can fool all the people all the time. There has never been such a day of brainwashing as today. But nobody is fooling God. He knows, and someday He will judge according to truth. Chapter 12 continues God’s statement of judgment against Israel.