In this episode of ADDBIBLE, we delve into Hosea Chapter 5, exploring the divine judgments pronounced upon Israel and Judah. Through the passionate reading by Terry, we hear how their turning away from God led to harsh but necessary warnings. Allen J. Huth then shares insightful reflections from his personal Bible reading journals, emphasizing the importance of acknowledging our guilt and sincerely seeking God’s face in repentance, leading to a renewed relationship with Him.
Welcome to ADDBIBLE, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Allen J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.
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Today brings us to Hosea chapter 5. We’ll listen to Hosea chapter 5 from our guest reader, my wife Terry, as she reads the 15 verses of Hosea 5.
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Hosea chapter 5. Hear this, O priests. Pay attention, O house of Israel. Give ear, O house of the king. For the judgment is for you. For you have been a snare at Mizpah and a net spread upon Tabor. And the revolters have gone deep into slaughter. But I will discipline all of them. I know Ephraim. and Israel is not hidden from me. For now, O Ephraim, you have played the whore. Israel is defiled. Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. For the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not the Lord. The pride of Israel testifies to his face. Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in his guile. Judah also shall stumble with them. With their flocks and herds they shall go to seek the Lord. But they will not find him, and he has withdrawn from them. They have dealt faithlessly with the Lord, for they have born alien children. Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields. Blow the horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah. Sound the alarm at Beth-Avon. We follow you, O Benjamin. Ephraim shall become a desolation in the day of punishment among the tribes of Israel. I make known what is sure. The princes of Judah have become like those who have moved the landmark upon them. I will pour out my wrath like water. Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because he was determined to go after filth. But I am like a moth to Ephraim. And like dry rot to the house of Judah. When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to the great king. But he is not able to cure you or heal your wound. For I will be like a lion to Ephraim and like a lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear and go away. I will carry off and no one shall rescue. I will return again to my place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face and in their distress earnestly seek me.
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Back to the reference of my journal in 1999. I was reading Hosea in chunks. I read all of Hosea in four days. First I read Hosea 1 through 4, then I read Hosea 5 through 8, then Hosea 9 through 11, and finished with Hosea 12 through 14. So Hosea 5 through 8 started this day, and I did read those chapters, but I did not have a journal entry regarding Hosea 5. In 2007, I was reading Hosea one chapter at a time, so I do have a journal entry concerning this chapter. Mostly, I quoted a lot of verses, so I started with quoting verse 4. Their deeds will not allow them to return to their God, for a spirit of harlotry is within them, and they do not know the Lord. Then I quoted verse 6. They go with their flocks and herds to seek the Lord, but they will not find him. He has withdrawn from them. And then verse 15. I will go away and return to my place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face. And then I just wrote, when we live in a lifestyle of sin, our deeds keep us from the Lord. Something happens and we seek him and he doesn’t respond or answer and we blame God. When it’s our fault because we are harlots, we worship at the altar of self, pleasure, money, false gods. Then when in trouble or in need, we cry out to the one true God. We need to acknowledge our guilt and truly seek His face in repentance to find Him again. But He can be found. He is always the God of the second chance. In 2012, I had some similar themes when I wrote, God disciplines those who walk away from Him. Nothing is hidden from God. And then I quoted verse 4, Sometimes our deeds do not permit them to return to their God. I continued writing, pride causes us to stumble. Our deeds cause God to withdraw from us. God pours out his wrath on those who walk away from him, those who go after filth. The point of pouring out his wrath? Until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me. There’s no question that the book of Hosea is tough stuff. We must remember that Hosea is simply a mouthpiece for God. God is the one saying these things to Israel and to us today. How many of us live our lives just kind of cruising along, saying we’re Christians, but not really giving God much of our attention until something goes wrong in our lives? At that point, we cry out to the Lord. But sometimes he doesn’t hear us. Sometimes he doesn’t answer. And maybe Hosea will help us understand why. God desires a life of consistency, not yo-yo Christianity, up and down, up and down, based on our circumstances. Verse 4 reminds us of this. He says, But then, like us, they shall go to seek the Lord, but they will not find Him. He has withdrawn from them. Have you felt that way? When you come to a place in your life when you really need the Lord, you really reach out to Him, but you feel like He doesn’t answer your prayers? He can’t be found? He’s telling us why. He withdraws from us. And sometimes when we feel like we don’t hear from the Lord, we do what Israel did in verse 16. They seek an answer from somewhere else. Let me read. Verse 13 says, When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to the great king. But he is not able to cure you or heal your wound. So when we pray and sometimes when we don’t hear from the Lord, we take matters into our own hands. We try to figure it out ourselves. We’re not patient enough to wait on the Lord. And just like in these verses, the answer is not there. What does God want? What did He want from Israel? What does He want from us? It’s right there in the last verse. I will return again to my place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me. Yes, these chapters in Hosea are filled with some pretty challenging accusations from the Lord, not only to Israel, but to us. The warnings are here for one reason, and that is so that we return to the Lord. May we acknowledge our guilt, seek His face, and earnestly seek Him. In the name of the Lord we pray. Amen. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. Maybe you wonder if Old Testament prophecy is true, came true already, or is coming true in the future. First, most prophets had a recurring theme. God loves us. Because he loves us so much, he gave us commandments, rules, statutes to live by. If we live by them, we can be blessed beyond what we can think or imagine. But when we choose to disregard, ignore, and set aside his rules, we are subject to his curses. We live under curses until things get so bad we cry out to God. He’s always there, waiting for our cry. Most often, but not always, He responds with grace, love, mercy, and forgiveness. We get back in line, then the cycle repeats. The Old Testament prophets cover this cycle over and over. Sometimes we wonder how the Israelites could have been so foolish. Yet, in our day, we have the same choice. We know God loves us. We generally know the rules, and we’d know them a lot better if we were more consistent in our time in God’s Word. Yet we decide, like those in the Old Testament, to ignore them and live out our lives. Things don’t often go well, so we finally cry out to God. As we see in the Old Testament, prophecy comes true as God restores rebellious, disobedient people like us back into right relationship with Him. But it is not always the case. Sometimes he has enough and does not deliver them. So yes, Old Testament prophecies are true, they came true, and they will come true in the future as we cycle through the same life choices the Israelites made. Thus, the value of reading all the Old Testament prophets. Maybe we will learn what they tried to teach. God loves us. Keep his rules, love him back, and enjoy his blessings. Across our listening audience, more and more of you are supporting AdBible by visiting our website at EzraProject.net and purchasing resources like Club 365 subscriptions, Bible reading journals, and one or more of our day-by-day through the Bible devotional books. We thank you so much and encourage more of you to do the same. will find helpful and inspirational tools to enhance your personal time in god’s word today i want to review the three tools we see most listeners getting first club 365 this is a monthly subscription opening our vault of all add bible audio recordings and all printed pages of the entire day by day through the bible devotional series By joining Club 365 for only $7 a month, you have access to both audio and written information on all 66 books of the Bible. Club 365 is a goldmine, and it is completely flexible to your personal Bible reading plan. So if you’re reading Matthew or Isaiah or Psalms or Revelation, you have access to audio or written comments, applications, and prayers on any of them at your fingertips. Get Club 365 at EzraProject.net today, like so many others have. Secondly, another hot seller are our Bible reading journals. We offer two. One is a chronological Bible reading journal that contains a daily Bible reading plan chronologically. You don’t have to buy a chronological Bible. Just get our chronological Bible reading journal. It has over 200 pages, so you can journal your way through the entire Bible. This book is our number one bestseller over the last two decades. The other journal is called the Trio Bible Reading Journal because it has three annual Bible reading plans in it. a New Testament schedule and Old Testament schedule. But if you do them both on the same day, a complete Bible reading plan, you’ll finish the Bible in 365 days. We have a limited supply of the TRIO Bible reading journal. The cool thing about our journals is they start when you start. Day one of the schedule is the day you start, not January 1. Again, completely flexible to your Bible reading habits. Order your journal for just $9 at EzraProject.net and we ship it free. And the third product people are ordering is one of our day-by-day through the Bible devotional books. There are only 11, but they cover all 66 books of the Bible, filled with comments about passages, applications from the passages, and prayers related to the passages. Listeners are understanding Bible passages in a whole new way, thanks to digging deeper with a day-by-day supplement to their daily devotions. You can find all 11 books on our website at EzraProject.net. They are available in print and digitally. Get one today and start understanding your Bible in a whole new way. So that’s all for today. Join me tomorrow for another chapter of AdBible. I know you’re going to enjoy it.
