Hosea: Unfaithfulness (V)

The Response Of A Scorned Husband (5:1-15)

Neal Pollard

God declares His “judgment” (1) against “the revolters” (2) who “played the harlot” and “defiled itself” (3). Their deeds prevented them from returning to God, and they did not know the Lord (4). No wonder He portrays Himself as a forsaken husband! His chosen people, Israel, had rejected Him. She enticed her sister, Judah, to stumble with her (5). Pride and iniquity characterize them both (5). God, in His holiness, will not let this infidelity go without response!

He has withdrawn from them (6-9). He had provided for her every need, but she was dissatisfied with Him. She strayed, looking for her fulfillment elsewhere. After they stumble in their transgression, they will go with their possessions to seek Him and He will not be there (6). They committed spiritual adultery, bearing “illegitimate children” (7). There was a day of rebuke coming for the nation, which God declares with certainty (9). They had made their bed, and now in desperation as they face judgment they want to sacrifice to Him. He would not hear their prayers, accept their sacrifices, or bless their lives. We can get to the point where, after rejecting Him repeatedly, God will withdraw from us (2 Chron. 15:2). 

He will pour out His wrath on them (10-14). His response will not only be unavailability or silence, which are horrible enough. He vows to pour out His wrath like water on His people. Why? Treachery (10), determination to follow man’s commands (11), and turning to man rather than Him (13). God described the outpouring of His wrath as oppression and crushing (11), a moth that eats and rottenness (12), and a lion that tears to pieces and carries away so that no one can deliver (14). Reading this, we are reminded that the loving God is also just and wrathful when His grace, love, and mercy are continually spurned. The writer of Hebrews exclaims, “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (10:31). In the perfect nature of God, there is a need to persuade men of the terror of the Lord if they are living in rebellion against Him (2 Cor. 5:11). This expression, “pour out wrath,” is commonly used to describe God’s just judgment (Isa. 42:25; Ezek. 14:19; Nah. 1:6). Especially note how He expresses it in Ezekiel 7: “I will shortly pour out My wrath on you and spend My anger against you; judge you according to your ways and bring on you all your abominations. My eye will show no pity nor will I spare. I will repay you according to your ways, while your abominations are in your midst; then you will know that I, the Lord, do the smiting” (8-9). Keep in mind that He does not want this. He wants an intimate relationship, but He will not force His love on anyone.

He will go away and return to His place (15). Regardless of how deplorable she has acted and how resolute God is in His expressed determination to punish, He still is waiting and longing for His beloved to come to her senses and come home. Notice that God says “I will go away and return to my place until…” Until what? “Until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face.” His hope is that in her affliction, suffering the consequences of sin (Gal. 6:7-8), “they will earnestly seek Me.” Oh what love, matchless love! As long as there is time, there is hope. What God is ever after is for us to realize the emptiness of sin and the unmatched satisfaction found only in faithful devotion to God!