Judgment of Israel’s Sin
“Do not rejoice, O Israel, with joy like other peoples, for you have played the harlot against your God. You have made love for hire on every threshing floor. The threshing floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her.
They shall not dwell in the Lord’s land, but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and shall eat unclean things in Assyria. They shall not offer wine offerings to the Lord, nor shall their sacrifices be pleasing to Him. It shall be like bread of mourners to them; all who eat it shall be defiled. For their bread shall be for their own life; it shall not come into the house of the Lord.
What will you do in the appointed day, and in the day of the feast of the Lord? For indeed they are gone because of destruction. Egypt shall gather them up; Memphis shall bury them. Nettles shall possess their valuables of silver; thorns shall be in their tents.
The days of punishment have come; the days of recompense have come. Israel knows! The prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is insane, because of the greatness of your iniquity and great enmity. The watchman of Ephraim is with my God; but the prophet is a fowler’s snare in all his ways—
enmity in the house of his God. They are deeply corrupted, as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity; he will punish their sins.
“I found Israel Like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstfruits on the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal Peor, and separated themselves to that shame; they became an abomination like the thing they loved. As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird—No birth, no pregnancy, and no conception! Though they bring up their children, yet I will bereave them to the last man. Yes, woe to them when I depart from them! Just as I saw Ephraim like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place, so Ephraim will bring out his children to the murderer.” Give them, O Lord—What will You give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts!
“All their wickedness is in Gilgal, for there I hated them. Because of the evil of their deeds I will drive them from My house; I will love them no more. All their princes are rebellious. Ephraim is stricken,
their root is dried up; they shall bear no fruit. Yes, were they to bear children, I would kill the darlings of their womb.” My God will cast them away, because they did not obey Him; and they shall be wanderers among the nations.”
When the Israelites were in Egypt, they longed to live as free people in the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God delivered the Israelites and gave them His Law, so that they might live righteously in the land He was giving them. God delivered the Israelites from tribes far stronger than they were and eventually led them into the Promised Land. But God repeatedly warned the Israelites that if they refused to honor Him as their Lord and insisted on worshiping the idols of surrounding nations, He would eventually turn them out of the Promised Land to be exiles and fugitives in distant lands. Now Hosea is issuing one more warning from the God of Israel.
“Do not rejoice, O Israel, with joy like other peoples, for you have played the harlot against your God. You have made love for hire on every threshing floor. The threshing floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her.” Harvest times are times of feasting and rejoicing. But here God is comparing faithless Israel to a common prostitute who will take advantage of drunken revelers to have sex for hire on threshing floors. The nation of Israel will prostitute itself, going after any idol promising wealth, prosperity, and success. Israel is not even behaving like a high – class prostitute but rather like a common slut, desperate for anything she can get. (For a graphic description of high – class prostitutes, see Proverbs 7.)
“They shall not dwell in the Lord’s land, but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and shall eat unclean things in Assyria. They shall not offer wine offerings to the Lord, nor shall their sacrifices be pleasing to Him. It shall be like bread of mourners to them; all who eat it shall be defiled. For their bread shall be for their own life; it shall not come into the house of the Lord.” The Mosaic Law set standards for foods that were clean and unclean. Evidently, even though the Israelites are consumed with idolatry, they are still observing dietary laws. But slaves and exiles can’t be choosy.
“For indeed they are gone because of destruction. Egypt shall gather them up; Memphis shall bury them. Nettles shall possess their valuables of silver; thorns shall be in their tents.” Repeatedly, God has warned the Israelites never to return to Egypt; however, God knows that as exiles, they will return and will die there. Lacking buildings, these exiles will be living in tents in thorny wastes.
“Because of the evil of their deeds I will drive them from My house; I will love them no more. All their princes are rebellious. Ephraim is stricken, their root is dried up; they shall bear no fruit. Yes, were they to bear children, I would kill the darlings of their womb.” My God will cast them away, because they did not obey Him; and they shall be wanderers among the nations.” The very fate the Israelites fear and hate the most will come upon them; they will cease being a nation and will remain scattered throughout the nations until the time God brings them back.
APPLICATION: Reading these dire predictions, we wonder if anyone repented. Certainly, most of the citizens of Israel and Judah did not repent and suffered for it. Not until King Cyrus ordered the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem did Jews return, and most of the Jews wandered throughout the world for centuries, driven from one country to another. Only in modern times has the State of Israel become firmly established in fulfillment of Biblical prophecy.
“I would never be so stupid!” you might think. Oh? I read cartoons on line. Recently political cartoonists have been mocking the governor of Texas for “forcing” the Ten Commandments down the throats of school children, as if these tenets were something awful. One cartoon even showed school children hiding behind the Ten Commandments engraved in stone to avoid school shooters. But if we flout God’s command, “Thou shalt not kill!”, what can we expect? Go through many states and you will find that our forebears engraved those commandments on public buildings because they believed those commands to be the basis for our laws. If we are now forsaking God’s teaching, perhaps this might explain why mass shootings have become rampant. If we truly believe in the Ten Commandments, then we would not allow violent video games such as Grand Theft Auto to be developed and sold.
WASHINGTON – Playing violent video games like Doom, Wolfenstein 3D or Mortal Kombat can increase a person’s aggressive thoughts, feelings and behavior both in laboratory settings and in actual life, according to two studies appearing in the April issue of the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Furthermore, violent video games may be more harmful than violent television and movies because they are interactive, very engrossing and require the player to identify with the aggressor, say the researchers.” (https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2000/04/video-games#)
Notice the date. This article appeared well before many of the most horrifying mass shootings occurred. Since then, many more violent video games have been developed and marketed. Video games are addictive and some gamers will remain on-line for hours and even days at a time. These days, many industries such as the airlines use simulators to train pilots to handle real situations. So what are violent video games teaching?
Google a list of the most violent video games and you get the following: 10 Most Violent Video Game Series Of All Time (List compiled in February 2023)
- 8 Splatterhouse (1988)
- 7 God Of War (2005)
- 6 Grand Theft Auto (1997)
- 5 Gears Of War (2006)
- 4 Doom (1993)
- 3 Postal (1997)
- 2 Manhunt (2003)
- 1 Mortal Kombat (1992)
Notice that Mortal Kombat, the leader on the list, came out in 1992, 31 years ago. The rest of the games came out by 2006, 17 years ago. Most of the worst mass shootings have taken place since then.
Where are spiritual leaders when these games are introduced? Why is nobody speaking out against them? The problem is that these games are worth billions of dollars. In this case, money is trumping ethics and morals with deadly results. May God forgive us for tolerating such abominations!
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, help us not to tolerate evil, even when it becomes socially acceptable. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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