Hosea 4: God's Justice That Seeks to Restore

Introduction

In the legal world, people speak of "restorative justice": a justice that seeks to repair the harm done and to restore the relationship. This is the idea that opens this message, preached at Holy Trinity Doncaster, an Anglican church in Melbourne, as part of a series on the book of Hosea.

The previous weeks recalled Israel's unfaithfulness toward God, God's judgment on his people, and his faithfulness in spite of everything. This time, the text is Hosea 4:1 to 5:15, read together with 1 Corinthians 11:27-32.

In these two chapters, we step into a courtroom. God presents his accusations against his people and pronounces the sentence. He is both prosecutor and judge. But his punishment has two purposes: to do justice for sin, and to restore the relationship, "because he loves them."

Outline of the Message

1. A Justice That Seeks to Restore

A legal scholar argues that punishment itself can serve to restore the relationship. This is what parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts do when they discipline a child: because the child did wrong, but also to help the child grow.
This is what we call "tough love." The preacher humorously tells of a grandmother's letter to an advice columnist: the parents forbid her to spank her grandson, so she takes him "for a drive," photo included, signed "Tough Love Granny." That is not the kind of tough love God shows to Israel.
The vocabulary of Hosea 4 and 5 is that of the courtroom: "Yahweh has a charge against the inhabitants of the land" (Hosea 4:1), "the judgment is against you" (Hosea 5:1).

2. A Serious Accusation: They No Longer Know God (Hosea 4:1-3)

The accusation: "there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in the land." In their place: swearing falsely, lying, murder, stealing, adultery, and bloodshed following bloodshed.
The accusation begins with the relationship with God. Faithfulness, love, knowledge: these are relational terms. The word "knowledge" sums up the others; it means knowing God personally.
Israel has left its exclusive relationship with God for other gods. Like a spouse who leaves a partner, Israel no longer loves God and is no longer faithful to him.
"The vertical often leads to the horizontal." When we move away from God, we stop following his ways, and it shows in the way we treat others. The preacher thinks this is what we see in Australia today.
Even the land suffers: "the land will mourn" (Hosea 4:3). War shows this plainly, along with deforestation and the pollution of water, soil and air. "Think of the Middle East. Beautiful, but ruined."

3. The Priests and the Royal House Too (Hosea 4:4-8; 5:1-7)

No one has the right to accuse others, because all are guilty. Only God has that right, and his accusation targets the priest, probably the high priest.
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6). The role of the priests and prophets was to teach the people to know God. They themselves abandoned that knowledge, and the people do not repent.
For today: pastors, Bible study leaders, children's and youth leaders, and parents who teach at home must all pass on the Word faithfully, because it is the Word that helps us know God and live according to his ways.
"They feed on the sin of my people" (Hosea 4:8). The priests received a share of the sacrifices, "a nice piece of steak and some bread." The more the people sinned, the more they ate. In effect they said: "Don't worry, just offer a few more sacrifices."
The royal house is accused too (Hosea 5:1). Ephraim, the largest tribe, stands for all of Israel. God knows everything (verse 3), but the people, in their arrogance, think it does not matter. They even drag Judah down with them.
They come with their flocks to seek the Lord, but he has already withdrawn (verse 6). It is a delusional arrogance, "like a husband who cheats on his wife with another woman and expects her not to bat an eye."
The first commandment, to love God with all your heart, leads to the second, to love your neighbor. But we often put family, money, friends, sport, comfort or health above God, or on a par with him.
As in the film Highlander: "There can be only one." God, by definition, is at the top. There is only one driver's seat in your car, and God must occupy it to steer your life for your good.

4. A Certain Punishment (Hosea 5:8-15)

Trumpet, horn, battle cry: this is the alarm before the attack, like the collision alarm in a submarine. "Brace for impact."
"Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke" (verse 9). Judah too: God will pour out his wrath on them like water (verse 10).
Part of the punishment has already begun, to wake them up: God has withdrawn (verse 6), he is like a moth to Ephraim and like rottenness to Judah (verse 12).
Do they turn to God? No. They turn to Assyria (verse 13), the very nation that will end up destroying them. But Assyria cannot heal them.
"For I will be to Ephraim like a lion, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear and go away" (verse 14). The language is harsh. We need to remember three things.

5. A Punishment That Is Just, Necessary and Purposeful

Just, for a serious sin. The punishment fits the offense. The priests abused the sacrifices to eat more: "They will eat, and not have enough" (Hosea 4:10). They abused the gift of sexuality with the temple prostitutes: they will not multiply, they will have no children.
In verse 14, God does not punish the girls drawn into prostitution, but the men who set them this bad example. Spiritual prostitution led to physical prostitution.
The worst crime? For the preacher, it is when one sister wears the other's clothes without asking, "it can start a world war." More seriously, what led to everything else is having cheated on God with other gods, when he had created them and saved them.
Necessary, for stubborn sin. For more than 150 years, God sent prophet after prophet, with no repentance. "Israel has behaved like a stubborn heifer" (Hosea 4:16).
With a purpose: restoration. God speaks of correcting and disciplining (Hosea 5:2). To discipline is to punish, but also to teach and train. The passage ends on this hope: "until they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face. In their affliction they will seek me earnestly" (Hosea 5:15).

6. The Justice That Restores, Fulfilled in Jesus Christ

The bad news: God's accusation against us is similar. We have loved other things more than God. "There is no one righteous; no, not one. There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks after God" (Romans 3:10-11).
The good news: God took this punishment on himself, in his Son Jesus. God sent him to be "an atoning sacrifice, through faith in his blood" (Romans 3:25), so that he would be just while justifying the one who has faith in Jesus (Romans 3:26).
"This is God's restorative justice for us." There is no other name that saves, no other way for there to be both justice for sin and restoration for us. The question is put to you: do you have faith in Jesus?

7. Two Things for Following God Faithfully

Gathering with God's people, reading his Word, relying on his Spirit in prayer: all of this helps. The passage adds two things.
When you suffer, ask yourself whether it is discipline. In Corinth, at the Lord's Supper, some ate without waiting for those who finished work late. One was hungry, another was drunk (1 Corinthians 11:21). They despised the body of Christ, that is, the Church.
"For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep" (1 Corinthians 11:30). But God was disciplining them "that we may not be condemned with the world" (verse 32).
The preacher insists: most of our suffering comes from the fact that we live in a fallen world. But sometimes, just sometimes, it may be God's discipline. Ask yourself: is there unrepentant sin in my life that God wants to wake me up from?
Remember the two sides of this justice. The seriousness of sin: "If it were not serious, do you really think God would have sent his Son Jesus to die for us?" And the love of God: "What other god has done this?"
John Newton said: "My memory is fading, but I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great Savior."

Key Takeaways

In Hosea 4 and 5, God is prosecutor and judge. His punishment does justice for sin and seeks to restore the relationship.
Israel's sin begins at the vertical level: it no longer knows God as its only God. The rest follows at the horizontal level.
God's punishment is just, necessary in the face of stubbornness, and purposeful: that his people seek his face again.
In Jesus Christ, God is just and justifies the one who has faith. This is his restorative justice for us.
Suffering is not always discipline, but it can be. It deserves to be examined before God.

Personal Application

Who occupies the driver's seat of your life today: God, or your family, your money, your friends, your comfort, your health?
Do you know God personally, or only the religious gestures that surround his presence?
If you teach the Bible, to children, to young people or at home, are you faithfully passing on the Word of God?
In a trial you are going through, is there unrepentant sin that God would like to wake you up from?
How can the thought "I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great Savior" push you to follow him more faithfully this week?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is God's Restorative Justice in Hosea?

In Hosea 4 and 5, God is both prosecutor and judge. He punishes Israel for its unfaithfulness, but this punishment has a double purpose: to do justice for sin and to restore the relationship with his people. The text ends on the hope that Israel will seek his face again (Hosea 5:15).

Why Does God Compare Himself to a Lion in Hosea 5:14?

The image is strong, but the punishment is just, because it fits the sin committed. It is necessary, because Israel held out stubbornly for more than 150 years despite the prophets. It also has a purpose: God withdraws until his people acknowledge their guilt and seek him.

Is All Suffering God's Discipline?

No. The preacher makes clear that most of our suffering comes from the fact that we live in a fallen world. But sometimes God may discipline us to wake us up from a sin we have not repented of, like the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 11:30-32). It is worth asking the question.