Hosea 4:1-19: a reflection

1Hear the LORD’s word, you children of Israel, for the LORD has a charge against the inhabitants of the land: “Indeed there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in the land. 2There is cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break boundaries, and bloodshed causes bloodshed. 3Therefore the land will mourn, and everyone who dwells in it will waste away, with all living things in her, even the animals of the field and the birds of the sky; yes, the fish of the sea also die. 4“Yet let no man bring a charge, neither let any man accuse; for your people are like those who bring charges against a priest. 5You will stumble in the day, and the prophet will also stumble with you in the night; and I will destroy your mother. 6My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you may be no priest to me. Because you have forgotten your God’s law, I will also forget your children. 7As they were multiplied, so they sinned against me. I will change their glory into shame. 8They feed on the sin of my people, and set their heart on their iniquity. 9It will be like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and will repay them for their deeds. 10They will eat, and not have enough. They will play the prostitute, and will not increase; because they have abandoned listening to the LORD. 11Prostitution, wine, and new wine take away understanding. 12My people consult with their wooden idol, and answer to a stick of wood. Indeed the spirit of prostitution has led them astray, and they have been unfaithful to their God. 13They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and burn incense on the hills, under oaks, poplars, and terebinths, because its shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the prostitute, and your brides commit adultery. 14I will not punish your daughters when they play the prostitute, nor your brides when they commit adultery; because the men consort with prostitutes, and they sacrifice with the shrine prostitutes; so the people without understanding will come to ruin. 15“Though you, Israel, play the prostitute, yet don’t let Judah offend; and don’t come to Gilgal, neither go up to Beth Aven, nor swear, ‘As the LORD lives.’ 16For Israel has behaved extremely stubbornly, like a stubborn heifer. Then how will the LORD feed them like a lamb in a meadow? 17Ephraim is joined to idols. Leave him alone! 18Their drink has become sour. They play the prostitute continually. Her rulers dearly love their shameful way. 19The wind has wrapped her up in its wings; and they shall be disappointed because of their sacrifices.

God brings a charge against his people through Hosea, and the indictment is sweeping: there is no faithfulness, no steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land. From that root, everything else follows, swearing, lying, murder, stealing, all breaking out because the knowledge of God has been lost. And God states the consequence in a line that has echoed ever since: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, he says, I reject you.

Notice what kind of knowledge is meant, and what its loss produces. This is not mere information but the knowledge of God, knowing who he is, knowing his ways, knowing his character and his law. When that knowledge is lost or rejected, a people comes apart; without knowing God, faithfulness and love erode, and every kind of wrong breaks out. The ruin of the nation is traced to this root: they no longer knew God, and had rejected the knowledge of him.

That is a sobering diagnosis, and it points to the value of truly knowing God. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Where the knowledge of God fades, individually or in a whole culture, moral and spiritual ruin follows; we cannot live rightly without knowing the God we are made for. This is a call to pursue the knowledge of God, not as dry information, but as a real knowing of who he is and how he calls us to live, through his word and in relationship with him. Do not neglect the knowledge of God. Pursue it, treasure it, for his people are destroyed without it, and sustained by it.

Lord, you charged your people with having no knowledge of you, and said, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Show me the value of truly knowing you, not as dry information but as a real knowing of who you are and how you call me to live. Keep me from neglecting or rejecting the knowledge of you. Help me pursue it, treasure it, through your word and in relationship with you, for I cannot live rightly without knowing the God I am made for. Draw me to know you.