1. A Harlot, a Fish, and the Mercy and Judgment of God
Memorial Presbyterian Church Sunday School – Winter 2017

2. Three Overarching Questions
How does God view his relationship with us and the world?
What are some metaphors that Scripture uses to describe God’s relationship with us?
How does God act in that relationship?
What is our role in that relationship and what actions are required of us?
“Broadly described, a covenant is a relationship between persons, begun by the sovereign determination of the greater party, in which the greater commits himself to the lesser in the context of mutual loyalty, and in which mutual obligations serve as illustrations of that loyalty” (Williams, Far as the Curse is Found, 45-46).

3. The Big Question
What will God do when His people are unfaithful?

4. Context: Deuteronomy 4:25-30
What are there the physical consequences of Israel’s faithlessness?
What are the relational consequences of Israel’s faithlessness?
How does God’s mercy coexist with his judgment?

5. Scene 1: Jezreel (vv. 1-5)
1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. 2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” 3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. 4 And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

6. Scene 1: Jezreel (vv. 1-5)
Means “God Scatters” (1:4) or “God sows” (2:23)
A Place of Blessing
Deborah (Judges 4) and Gideon (Judges 6:33)
Fertile
A place of blood
Nabaoth (1 Kings 21)
Jehu (2 Kings 9-10)
A place of coming judgment
Tiglath-pileser III would have major victory in Jezreel Valley prior to siege of Samaria (733 BC)
Connection of land and people

7. Scene 1: Jezreel (vv. 1-5)
Main Point 1: What will God do when His people are unfaithful?
He will fulfill the physical judgments of the threatened curse. (Deuteronomy 4:25-26)
Cross-Examine: If Israel has received the curse, then what has happened to its relationship with God?

8. Scene 2: Lo-Ruhamah and Lo-Ammi (vv. 6-9)
6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. 7 But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.” 8 When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 9 And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”

9. Scene 2: Lo-Ruhamah and Lo-Ammi (vv. 6-9)
Whose children are they?
Lo-Ruhamah
”No Mercy”
Compare to Ex. 34:6-7
God will no longer do what He said He would do
Why Judah (v. 7)?
Lo-Ammi
Compare to Ex. 3:13-15
God will no longer be who he said he would be
Ex. 3:13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
Ex. 34:6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

10. Scene 2: Lo-Ruhamah and Lo-Ammi (vv. 6-9)
Main Point 2: What will God do when His people are unfaithful?
He will fulfill the relational judgments of the threatened curse. (Deuteronomy 4:27-28)
Cross-Examine: If God will no longer be whom He promised to be towards Israel then what will become of them?

11. Scene 3: The Unmerited Grace of Love (1:10-2:1)
10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” 11 And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

12. Scene 3: The Unmerited Grace of Love (1:10-2:1)
Reversal of Lo-Ammi (v. 10b)
“Sand of the sea” recalls Gen. 22:17; 32:12
Physical or spiritual?
(Lev. 26:9; Deut. 30:5; 1 Kings 4:20; Isaiah 10:20-22, 24-25, 27)
Children of the living God
Gen. 32:9 And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac… 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. 11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. 12 But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’”
Gen. 22:15 And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
Lev. 26:9 I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you.
Deut. 30:5 And the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers.
Isaiah 10:20 In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21 A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. 22 For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness… 24 Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “O my people, who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did. 25 For in a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction… 27 And in that day his burden will depart from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because of the fat.”
1 Kings 4:20 Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy. 21 Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates[b] to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

13. Scene 3: The Unmerited Grace of Love (1:10-2:1)
Reversal of Lo-Ammi (v. 10b)
“Sand of the sea” recalls Gen. 22:17; 32:12
Physical or spiritual?
(Lev. 26:9; Deut. 30:5; 1 Kings 4:20; Isaiah 10:20-22, 24-25, 27)
Children of the living God
Reversal of Lo-Ruhamah (v. 11a)
Unity of the people
Reversal of Jezreel (v. 11b)
Great is day of Jezreel
Isaiah 11:10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
11 In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.
12 He will raise a signal for the nations
    and will assemble the banished of Israel,
and gather the dispersed of Judah
    from the four corners of the earth.
13 The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart,
    and those who harass Judah shall be cut off;
Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah,
    and Judah shall not harass Ephraim.
Isaiah 11:1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
    and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
    the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and might,
    the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

14. Scene 3: The Unmerited Grace of Love (1:10-2:1)
Main Point 3: What will God do when His people are unfaithful?
After the judgment He will bring about complete restoration. (Deuteronomy 4:29-30)
Cross-Examine: How are we to respond to such a God?

15. Scene 3: The Unmerited Grace of Love (1:10-2:1)
Romans 11:28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now* receive mercy. 32For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all. 33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34“For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” 35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.