Understanding Hosea: Part 1

[Music] welcome to the Bible and theology  matters podcast where we discuss all things   Bible and theology because it matters what you  really believe determines how you really behave n   here is your host associate professor of Bible  Exposition at Dallas Theological Seminary and   professor of Bible and theology for the national  theological college and graduate school Dr Paul   Weaver good morning good afternoon good evening  whatever time it is when you are watching or   listening to this podcast I'm your host Paul  Weaver and it is my great privilege to lead   discussions about all things Bible and theology  with some of my favorite professors Bible scholars   and Bible expositors and I'm pleased this week to  have on the program Pastor Jesse Randolph Pastor   Randol is the pastor teacher of Indian Hills  Community Church in Lincoln Nebraska he holds a   master of divinity from the master's Seminary and  is pursuing his master of theology from Shepherd's   Theological Seminary Pastor Randolph has published  Journal articles in the Journal of ministry and   theology the interdisciplinary journal on biblical  Authority and the Master's Seminary Journal prior   to being called into the ministry Pastor Randolph  was a successful lawyer he practiced law for 20   years Pastor r hand off welcome to the Bible and  theology matters podcast thanks for having me Dr   Weaver grateful for you the ministry of the Bible  and theology matters podcast your work at Dallas   Theological Seminary happy to be on the program  Pastor Randol first if you would share with our   listeners a little bit about your unconventional  path to the pastorate yeah unconventional is the   right word I um I came to Faith a little bit later  in life the Lord saved me when I was actually just   about 30 uh years old um I was an attorney by  trade in a in a former life I uh definitely had   had the law and the practice of law as my idol  as a non-believer and it was the year actually   I was up for partner that I first heard the gospel  message I'd been going through a number of various   life related trials didn't really have answers  to those trials and despite all the the legal   training and the uh you know education I had they  they didn't give me uh answers I had no answers   and had no hope ultimately so um I got saved the  year I was for partner and uh that just was that   that flash point of am I going to go the direction  of where I had always gone you know pursuing   my idol the law they always called it the Golden  Ring of partnership in a law firm or am I going to   follow Christ and am I going to devot devote every  aspect of my life and living to him and that's not   to say that you can't be a Christian lawyer uh or  serve the Lord Faithfully in the law many men have   done so and women um but for me it was such it  was so grafted into my identity as a non-believer   that uh when the Lord saved me he uh pulled  me away from the law and as time went on with   training and affirmation by elders and such I I  was called to the ministry well that's a wonderful   testimony I'm curious are there any skills that  you learned in law school and in law profession   that translate over to the pastor it sure um  I would say critical analysis and engagement   um I've always been a reader and you know you  have to read a lot as a lawyer you're reading   cases and statutes and and law journals and that  does carry over to the reading of scripture and   commentaries and journals and and and the like  so just processing and sifting through biblical   exegetical theological data is a there is kind of  a neat segue between what I used to do as a lawyer   in in sifting through all that data um I would say  the ability to process and communicate information   logically and clearly I mean that is the mark of  a lawyer you are to take that information and then   convey it to audience whether that be a judge  or an arbitrator or a mediator or a client um   now it's to a congregation or to a church member  um or to a a circle of Academia that you might be   writing to I will say though there are benefits  and and carryover there can be drawbacks too um   so I'm I'm a the pastor teacher here at Indian  Hills so I preach every Sunday morning and evening   and there the very same the very aspect of having  been a lawyer that can be a strength Clarity logic   that sort of thing can also I think if I'm not  careful be a hindrance and I mean what I mean by   that is Martin Lloyd Jones once said that that the  preacher is not only to be an advocate he's to be   a witness and if you're too legally minded and to  you know trying to dance on the head of a pin too   much uh you can sound up there like you're just  uh just a matter of fact Advocate versus pleading   your case to your people uh from the truth of  God's word so I'm always trying to make sure   I'm not being too formal and too formulaic like  a a barrister or legal mind in court but rather   uh a witness for God and His word as we Orient  ourselves to the prophetic books in general and   the Book of Hosea in particular please remind  our listeners of key hermeneutical principles   that are important to consistently Implement  in our interpretation of the text sure uh there   are number I could give the the few I'll provide  now are just very simple reminders and hopefully   these will be of benefit to your audience but just  remembering that hosah the book of Hosea like any   Old Testament Prophet like any of the 66 books  of the Bible is God's word the book of Hosea is   God's word so 2 Timothy 3:16 it's profitable for  teaching for Repro for correction for training   and righteousness and what that means practically  is you go through the book of Hosea and we won't   have time to do this all today but and there's  references to Israel being a silly Dove or a   half-baked cake or a stick on the water a twig on  the water even those words which seem like they're   so distant from us and have such a unique context  in Israel second Timothy 2 Timothy 3:16 would say   they're profitable profitable for the believer  today so that'd be one principle another one would   be to remember that Hosea is Jewish scripture um  hosea's prophecy was originally delivered through   and two uh through Hosea to the northern tribes of  Israel it wasn't written to the church directly it   wasn't written to English-speaking Christians like  you and me it was rather addressed to Israel 2,800   years ago in the language of the day Hebrew and  that means it has all kinds of uniquely Hebrew   expressions and idioms baked within the book  so it's that's another idea here um third is   that Hosea is though it's Jewish scripture it's  also Christian scripture the uh assumption I have   knowing this is the Bible and theology matters  podcast is that uh your audience most of them are   believers in the Messiah the Lord Jesus Christ who  though Jewish and although his ministry initially   was directed to the Jews of the day claimed  himself to be the savior of the world and hosea's   words that the Messiah would have known and and  quoted at times U they have been recognized over   the centuries as belonging to the Christian  Cannon of scripture uh another presupposition   or a guiding principle for us today as we come  to the book of Hosea is to consider that theology   any aspect of theology is to be built Brick by  Brick from scripture built up from scripture   um as bible-minded Bible believing Christians we  build our theological positions our theological   convictions uh not on what Augustine or anel or  [ __ ] said in some very um carefully written   Tome some theological tome we recognize where we  sit today that we stand on the shoulders shoulders   of certain theologians from church history past  but only to the extent those theologians were   standing on scripture not on some extra biblical  methodology I always quote Bernard RAM on this   point where he says a theological system is to  be built up exegetically Brick by Brick hence   the theology is no better than the exegesis that  underlies it and that's true of all matters of the   ology and matters of eschatology and to our topic  today prophecy like you see in the book of Hosea   um so that's another one building your theology  Brick by Brick uh the next one I'll mention would   be that as um those who want to rightly handle  the word and proclaim the word the we ought to   be reading the Bible forward not backward and by  that I mean we read each book of the Bible whether   in the Old Testament or in the New Testament in  its original context so for reading Old Testament   law we're putting ourselves in the sandals of  those who were at s uh for reading a northern   Prophet like Hosea from the 8th Century BC we're  learning and understanding and giving pracy to   what his context was as he was writing we're  we're we're reading the Old Testament uh not   through the lens of the New Testament that'd be  reading backwards we're not looking for Jesus on   every page of the Old Testament that'd be reading  the Bible backwards rather we we handled the 39   books of the Old Testament for what they are  God's revelation of himself his character his   purposes uh to Old Testament Israel at the very  time he revealed what he revealed so I would say   we we resist the appeal or we we resist the  urge though it might have some appeal to us   to um read the Bible through this christocentric  lens or to find again Jesus on every page rather   we read the Bible progressively from the back to  the front from Genesis to re ation not the other   way around and that means putting our again  ourselves in the sandals of a prophet like   Hosea um one more on that topic would be biblical  prophecy we we ought to come to it and and Hosea   is a prophetic book it's an Old Testament Prophet  is to be literally fulfilled we come to prophetic   works with the presupposition that prophecy will  be um literally fulfilled now we we understand and   we acknowledge that in certain prophetic books  there's a higher degree at times of symbolic   language or figurative language um but that is  not even really the norm still in Prophecy so   when we come to prophetic material like Hosea we  use normal principles of hermeneutics consistent   literal grammatical principles of hermeneutics  um we're not going to a book like Hosea assuming   that everything is going to be allegorical that  we should spiritualize or um make everything   figurative for instance a statement that like that  people will lived in me more than 100 years in the   Millennium we take that to be 100 years not some  spiritual meaning um nor are there any reasons   to spiritualize or allegorize the terms of the  Covenant promises that God made to Moses and to   Abraham in in the time in which we lived so major  point there is not all prophetic texts have some   sort of deeper mystical meaning that need to be  spiritualized or allegorized we only divert from   the uh this assumption that that prophetic  text are to be taken literally if there's   clearly some sort of symbolism that's being used  um as opposed to just reading it plainly off the   pages of scripture before we get into some of the  prophetic passages of Hosea please share with our   listeners the historical context getting ourselves  into the sandals as you said of the recipients of   the prophetic book of Hosea sure that's a great  idea to start there because this is a book Hosea   uh that not only gets over looked in in much  modern-day Bible reading among among Christians   serious Bible reading but it gets little attention  in pulpits today and um maybe even less attention   in the field of prophetic studies uh so we should  start with that time frame what's going on in   this book and I have it open here too in front  of me but the the very first book of uh first   verse of this book says the word of the Lord  which came to Hosea the son of be during the   days of Uzziah jotham ahaz and Hezekiah Kings of  Judah and during the days of jeroboam the son of   joash king of Israel so we see five Kings listed  there four of those are from the south that'd be   Uzziah jotham ahaz and Hezekiah and one of them is  from the north jeroboam the son of joash and based   on the dates of the Reigns of those kings those  five kings that we see listed in Hosea 1:1 and how   those Reigns overlapped and and intersected we can  confidently assert I believe that Hosea prophesied   side to the 10 tribes of the north from somewhere  between 755 BC and 710 BC uh meaning right in the   middle of those final days before Israel Was  Defeated and taken captive by Assyria which was   in 721 BC so that's the basic time frame the the  historical setting historical uh time frame now   putting a little bit more meat on those bones uh  we know at this point the kingdom uh was divided   some 225 years had passed from that Infamous  split between rabo and and Jobo following the   reign of Solomon and though this was this period  of political and and economic prosperity in Israel   uh some have called it even the second golden  age of Israel this was a time in hosea's day that   was marked by spiritual idolatry so Israel was  comfortable it was prosperous at the same time it   was spiritually Wayward and spiritually adulterous  sound like any nations in our day potentially   I won't go there um but all the while looming in  the North to the north of the northern tribes was   this burgeoning Empire of Assyria and Assyria is  growing in power they're threatening to invade   and and take the 10 Northern tribes captive um so  there's all this tension happening in in the in   the land spiritually or economically prosperous  spiritually Wayward very much under threat and   potential duress But ultimately the biggest  problem that Israel faced at this time was not   even the growing political power of Assyria the  biggest problem they faced was this looming threat   of judgment from God whom they had turned their  back on God had been very clear to Israel going   all the way back to the days of his giving of the  law at SI what would happen to them if he if they   disobeyed him and specifically if they went after  other gods um God had promised to judge you just   have to go to Deuteronomy 28 God had promised to  judge and bring curses upon his people people for   violating his laww uh Deuteronomy 28:15 would be  a reference for that but not only that in some   of those curses there were specific references  made years before about Israel one day being   taken into captivity if they were to violate  what he had laid out for them in the law and   that's exactly where Israel now found itself  in the days of Hosea they'd been disobedient uh   they'd been faithless and now they're about to  pay the price and be hauled off into captivity   thank you for that you did a great job of laying  out that historical context understanding the   United Monarch is a distant memory isn't it and uh  so we're getting ready for some judgment to unfold   aren't we that's right well for the remainder of  our time together we want to investigate several   prophetic passages in Hosea these passages present  great hope for the ethnic National Israel despite   Israel's Covenant unfaithfulness so I invite  you to take your copy of the scriptures you   that are listening and watching and turn with  us to the first passage that we want to discuss   and that's Hosea 1: 10 to1 and now I'm reading  yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the   seashore which cannot be measured or counted in  the place where it was said to them you are not   my people they will be called sons of the Living  God the people of Judah and the people of Israel   will be reunited and they will appoint one leader  and will come up out of the land for great will   be the day of jezrael Pastor Randol please explain  the prophetic significance of this passage and how   unexpected it is in light of the previous verses  of judgment I'd be happy to and I and I appreciate   the way you phrase that because this truly is  where we get to verses 10 and 11 of chapter 1   unexpected in fact uh we could say it's shocking  because you can't look at those two verses and   understand their meaning with what with without  understanding what comes before them and what   comes before them is that whole scene your your  audience might remember in fact we can turn up   there to Hosea at the beginning of the book again  where God commands Hosea to marry a prostitute and   to have children with that prostitute a literal  event by the way which was going to serve as this   object lesson related to Israel's own own Covenant  infidelity to to Yahweh Hosea 1:2 says when the   Lord first spoke through Hosea the Lord said  to Hosea go take to yourself a wife of harlotry   and have children of harlotry for the land commits  flagrant harlotry forsaking the Lord and then then   Hosea is told to to name those children and then  then the names he was to give those children and   the names he was to give those children were were  nothing but ominous and forboding and shocking   the first child was to be named Jezreel meaning  Bloodshed that was the significance of the word   at this time and in the context of of giving the  child that name at that time God says um I will   where is this uh this is verse four I will punish  the house of juu name him Jezreel for yet a little   while and I will punish the house of juu for the  Bloodshed of isra Jezreel and I will put an end   to the kingdom of the House of Israel so first  child is to be named jezel name namely blood   the second child be named l ruama meaning no  mercy no compassion from the Hebrew verb raham   and the and the logic for that child being named  that name is given in Hosea 1:6 name her L ruama   for I will no longer have compassion on the house  of Israel that I would ever forgive them and then   when it comes to Child Number Three we see the  name um that the reason for that child being   named what what they were named in verses 8 and  N of chapter 1 when she that's hosea's wife Gomer   had weaned L ruama she conceived and gave birth  to his son and this the Lord said name him Lo Ami   for you are not my people and I am not your God  I mean ouch talk talk about a a bleak Outlook we   have here this Prophet with this prostitute of a  wife and then there's these three children lined   up little Bloodshed little no compassion little  not my people and it's all divinely designed by   Yahweh to teach Israel a lesson related to their  apostasy and their Rebellion so that's all the   setup and that's why to use your word unexpected  verses 10 and 11 are are so unexpected they really   do mark this this pivot point in the text and you  already read the words so I won't read them again   but what we see here is this this sudden turn  of events starting with that very important word   at the head of verse 10 there yet yet yet the  number of the sons of Israel will be like the   sand of the sea which cannot be measured or  numbered that's hearkening back to the promises   that were made to Abram Abraham in Genesis 13  I will make your descendants like as the dust   of the Earth or the promise in Genesis uh 155 he  says he takes Abraham outside and he says now look   towards the heavens count the Stars if you're  able to count them so shall your descendants be   uh later after um Abraham's near sacrifice of  Isaac in Genesis 22 there's a similar promise   made I will greatly bless you and I will greatly  multiply your seed God to Abraham and to Israel   as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which  is on the seashore and your seed shall possess the   Gate of their enemies now perhaps by in hosea's  day in the context of 8th Century Northern tribes   it may have seemed like God's promises now to  Israel through Abraham were in Jeopardy on account   of Israel's sin and and Israel's rebellion and  that this looming Judgment of of God through his   chosen instrument Assyria was going to mean the  end of the promise and the end of the Covenant   that God had made but in reality those promises  were never in Jeopardy of going unfulfilled God   had made Everlasting promises to Abraham and  those promises never were and never will be   in Jeopardy of being broken so this is yes a a  major shift in the narrative to boil it down we   both have a strong conviction about the  abrahamic Covenant the davidic Covenant   these are unconditional promises right that even  when Israel is Unfaithful and we see this in all   the prophets don't we even in the judgments  that are declared there's always a statement   of Hope expectation of restoration and so there  certainly are those outside of you know we're both   dispensational in our perspective those outside of  that and I think most of our listeners understand   what I mean by the term dispensation we believe  in a future plan for ethnic Israel that God isn't   done with Israel that the church isn't replaced  Israel in any way but would you help us with this   Hosea 1:1 has it been fulfilled literally uh has  it been fulfilled spiritually and if so how do we   know yeah a great question no it hasn't um what we  have in verse 11 is unfulfilled prophecy uh let's   start with those words and the sons of Judah and  the sons of Israel will be gathered together now   again we know from the days of rabam the son of  Solomon that the nation had been divided into the   northern tribes of Israel the southern Kingdom of  Judah but now here in verse 11 God's promising to   gather them together again to reform his people  as one people and when is that reunification to   take place now now some have attempted to argue  that this reunification in some sense has already   taken place some will say it's taken place it took  place historically even during the days of uh Ezra   and Nehemiah following the decree of Cyrus to uh  rebuild Jerusalem after the Jews returned from   Exile but that really doesn't fit um because while  there are certain traces of at least some cohesion   between Judah and Israel in the post exilic period  there was never total Co cohesion between the the   two groups in that in that period the way Hosea  11 is p portraying it as being uh one people so   that that idea of reunification of of each of the  12 tribes didn't come to fruition in I believe in   the days of certainly not in the days of Hosea uh  not in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah the the post   exilic period not in the days of Jesus and not  even in our day what this leaves us then is with   the reality that this is speaking to a future  day of reunification that's being described in   verse 11 and that future day of what it says here  the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel being   gathered together has to be interpreted in light  of what comes next here in verse 11 where it says   and they will appoint for themselves one leader  so putting those puzzle pieces together here   in verse 11 this is speaking of a future day of  reunification of God's original People Israel now   rejoined with Judah under one head one ruler one  king and we know from other past of scripture that   that one king would come from the line of David uh  in fact if your readers want to I'm going to read   a section here they can turn to Ezekiel 37 and  I'll read a section of Ezekiel 37 here which ties   into what you're asking about here about Hosea  111 but Ezekiel 37: 21-23 says thus says the Lord   behold I will take the sons of Israel from among  the Nations where they have gone and I will gather   them from every side and bring them into their own  land and I will make them one one nation in the   land on the mountains of Israel and one King will  be king for all of them and they will no longer   be two Nations and no longer be divided into two  kingdoms they will no longer defile themselves   with their Idols or with their detestable things  or with any of their transgressions but I will   deliver them from all their Dwelling Places in  which they have sinned and will cleanse them and   they will be my people and I will be their God so  as in Hosea Ezekiel here is picturing regathered   Israel that's the picture he's painting and  it sounds very Hosea likee the one they will   be my people I will be their God but then if you  keep on reading in in Ezekiel 37 he says this my   servant David will be king over them and they will  all have one Shepherd and they will walk in my   ordinances and keep my statutes and observe them  they will live on the land that I give to Jacob   my servant in which your fathers lived and they  will live on it they and their sons and their son   Sons forever and David my servant will be their  prince forever I'll just leave it there for now   but this time of of spiritual of of restoration  this unification of regathered Israel it's saying   here will take place under this single Shepherd  and king from the line of David that's how I take   the the my servant David language there in Ezekiel  37 and of course that's going to take place when   this davidic King the Messiah of Israel the  Christ of God the Lord Jesus Christ returns   to this earth to usher in his Millennial Kingdom  his his literal 10,000 year reign here on Earth   so this period of restoration unification will  happen on that day when the Lord Jesus sets his   feet on the very place from which he ascended you  know when Zechariah 14:4 speaks of him putting his   feet to stand on the Mount of Olives in front of  in front of Jerusalem on the East and the Mount of   Olives will be split in its middle from the east  to west by a very large Valley uh that that future   day is going to bring about the reunification  of Judah and Israel there'll be the singular   rulership and kingship of Christ which is  exactly what Zechariah 14:9 says and the Lord   will be king over all the Earth in that day the  Lord will be the only one and his name the only   one that's great so important I appreciate that  especially as you emphasize Zachariah 14 Mount of   Olives is a very important location isn't it his  disciples asked what are the events that precede   your return and the end of the age and they're  there on Mount of Olives and he describes the   tribulation period prior to Christ's return and  then acts one right when we they're gathered   again on the Mount of Olives and what did the  disciples ask is it at this time that you're   going to restore the kingdom Y and they're at  the right place I think they are connecting the   dots there but Jesus of course says it's not now  but uh what you need to do now until then is be   my messengers to the ends of the Earth so Mount  of Olives so important isn't it prophetically um   Hosea is alluding to that Zechariah 14 our time  is up for this week's Bible and theology matters   podcast but we are far from finished discussing  this very important prophetic book the book of   Hosea in our next episode Pastor Jesse Randol  will return to discuss what the rest of the   book of Hosea has to say about the literal and  future restoration of ethnic Israel to the land   of Israel you won't want to miss it if you're  a regular listener to the Bible and theology   matters podcast and you have benefited from our  programming would you consider giving just $5 or   $10 a month the price of just one or two coffees  a month presently we are very small operation it's   just my wife and I we do all the video capturing  audio capturing editing and social media and we've   not made any significant financial appeals but we  do have costs that we incur and we would love to   be able to ire someone part-time to do some of the  video and audio editing work so I can focus more   on theological education writing and missions if  you'd like to help with even just $5 a month and   receive a tax deductible receipt please go to  Bible and theology matters.com that's Bible and   Theology matters.com and click on the give link  thanks for your prayerful consideration until   next time never forget Bible and theology matters  because what you really believe determines how you   really [Music] behave Bible and theology matters  podcast is a listener supported podcast devoted   to helping Christians grow in their knowledge  of the word of God and in their relationship   to the god of the word to learn how you can  partner with the Bible and theology matters   podcast visit us at Bible and theology matters.com  that's Bible a n ND theology matters.com [Music]

Channel: Bible and Theology Matters

Views: 245

Keywords: DTS, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Preaching, Hermeneutics, Homiletics, Bible and Theology Matters, Jesse Randolph, Hosea

Id: FHYHi_jc_KM

Length: 30min 5sec (1805 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 18 2024