1. LOVE AND JUDGMENT: GOD’S DILEMMA (HOSEA)
Lesson 2 for April 13, 2013

2. HOSEA’S MESSAGE FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD
The spiritual status of the people of God.
A gullible dove.
A trained heifer.
God’s attitude to His people.
Father-son relationship.
Love and discipline.
God cares for His people.

3. A GULLIBLE DOVE
“Ephraim is like a dove, easily deceived and senseless—now calling to Egypt, now turning to Assyria” (Hosea 7:11 NIV)
God compares His people to a gullible bird that cannot detect the traps of the hunter.
Both Egypt and Assyria desired Palestine because of its location.
When Israel was attacked by Egypt, they went to Assyria for assistance.
When Israel was attacked by Assyria, they went to Egypt for assistance.
If they went to God, they wouldn’t have to fear Egypt nor Assyria.
ASSYRIA
ISRAEL
EGYPT
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord” (Jeremiah 17:5)

4. A TRAINED HEIFER it loves to thresh
“Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh grain; but I harnessed her fair neck, I will make Ephraim pull a plow. Judah shall plow; Jacob shall break his clods” (Hosea 10:11)
it loves to thresh
A heifer is an “adolescent” 2 or 3-year-old ox or cow.
It is working on threshing but it should be already working hard on tilling.
I will make it pull a plow
“Israel had been placed in the Promised Land in easy, comfortable circumstances, like a heifer threshing, that was allowed to eat at pleasure (Deut. 25:4). Tragically, these material comforts that should have drawn her close to her Creator, made her sinfully self-sufficient and rebellious (see on Deut. 32:15)”
(SDA Bible Commentary, on Hosea 10:11)
it shall break his clods
The fruit of that heifer’s work had been “wickedness… iniquity… lies” (Hosea 10:13)
It should produce “righteousness… mercy… seeking the Lord” (Hosea 10:12) thanks to the divine discipline (Assyria’s plow)

5. “Let every church member consider the breaking up of the fallow ground, the careful cleansing of the soil, and the depositing and harrowing of the seed, which is the laborious work of the husbandman. It is a rough and searching process. The harrowing of the seed is not always pleasant to the receiver, and sometimes disabling to him because he does not sense the virtue of the Word and become submissive under the tilling process in spiritual life. The sins committed require the sincere repentance that needeth not to be repented of, but when the hard soil is broken up and the stubborn clods are broken to pieces then the precious seed can be sown and harrowed into the soil. This represents the severe discipline of God. Often rebellion is manifested, and the discipline of God must continue until the determined will is broken and the end is gained”
E.G.W. (That I may know Him, October 2)

6. FATHER-SON RELATIONSHIP
“It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them” (Hosea 11:3 NIV)
God cares and disciplines His people just like a father cares and disciplines His children.
“He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly” (Proverbs 13:24)
“You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you” (Deuteronomy 8:5)

7. Which is God’s purpose for disciplining His children?
LOVE AND DISCIPLINE
Punishment is an “unusual act” for God (Isaiah 28:21). It is only necessary when it is essential for man’s salvation.
God’s immense love forces Him to harshly discipline us sometimes. That way we come back to Him and get the salvation that has been bought for us with a high cost.
“Trials and obstacles are the Lord’s chosen methods of discipline and His appointed conditions of success. He who reads the hearts of men knows their characters better than they themselves know them. He sees that some have powers and susceptibilities which, rightly directed, might be used in the advancement of His work. In His providence He brings these persons into different positions and varied circumstances that they may discover in their character the defects which have been concealed from their own knowledge. He gives them opportunity to correct these defects and to fit themselves for His service. Often He permits the fires of affliction to assail them that they may be purified”
E.G.W. (The ministry of healing, pg. 471)

8. GOD CARES FOR HIS PEOPLE
The last chapter in the book of Hosea is a calling for Israel to repentance, to abandon their idols and to trust God’s tender care.
“O Israel, return to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity” (Hosea 14:1)
God promises these blessings to His people in Hosea 14:5-8.
“I will heal their backsliding”
“I will love them freely”
“I will be like the dew to Israel”
“They shall be revived like grain”
“They shall grow like a vine”
“Their scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon”
“I am like a green cypress tree”
“Your fruit is found in Me”
“Who is wise? Let him understand these things. Who is prudent? Let him know them. For the ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them” (Hosea 14:9)