Let Not Judah Offend

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Hosea – Let Not Judah Offend
Recap

In the first chapter of Hosea we learned some very valuable insights about the mind of the Lord in regards to His relationship to His body, His church. Although this book is written about a historical and physical people, as with the rest of scripture, there is much more to be cultured from this chapter spiritually.

As we saw from the very beginning of chapter one, God mentions a split in His people from those that claim to be His people but who are not. As a representation of this truth, the Lord tells Hosea to take on a wife that is much like His adulterous wife Israel.

We see that with the marriage of Hosea and Gomer, there are definite plans from God to be worked out in Hosea’s life as an admonition to us, His true body. Hosea has children which are named specifically to show us, among other things, that God has sown a plan for those who call Him Jehovah but only pay Him lip service in their servitude.

Though there are only 11 verses in chapter one, they are very succinct and powerful in showing us what this plan that the Lord has sown will result in and we can see the consummation in the last verse of chapter one:

Hos 1:11  Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

 

However, it is amazing that as the bible stories progress throughout the scripture, we continually see a progression in the details and the awesomeness of how the Lord reveals Himself to us. That is exactly where we picked up in Hosea chapter two.

Taking an excerpt from the end of the note son Hos 2 explains how e concluded chapter two of Hosea. Here is what we concluded last study.

It is truly amazing just how much our Husband loves us. After all things we have done, we will be given the love for Him back that He has for us. It reminds me of where Christ tells His disciples that they are not merely His servants but His friends. We, as the wife of our Husband, will call Him “our man, our husband – Ishi” instead of master or “Baali”.

           Joh 15:14  Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

Joh 15:15   Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

 

It is at this point in our walk, where we have been made privy to what God sows, His plan, that we are truly able to be faithful to our Husband. Ironically, it is nothing that we have done to make it happen either. It comes about simply due to the love that God has for us.

Hos 2:18  And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.
Hos 2:19  And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.
Hos 2:20  I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD.

It is all the Lord and His works that sets us free from the dominion of the things that are within us. It is the Lord who will make a covenant FOR US with the beasts, fowls and creeping things of the ground WITHIN us that will allow us to lie down safely and not longer be dominated servants of those beasts, fowls and creeping things.

The Lord will espouse us to Himself and Himself only and it is He who will give us the ability to be faithful to Him. It is just as Christ said earlier to His disciples in Joh 15:

Joh 15:16  Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

          class=”bibleverse”>  Joh 15:17  These things I command you, that ye love one another.

 

“Ye are my friends if YOU DO WHATSOEVER I COMMAND YOU” and because of this LOVE we are called friends. Doesn’t being ordained sound a lot like being made sanctified, set aside, ESPOUSED to Christ our Husband? It is by this LOVE we have been shown for NO reason of our own, that we are also to show this love, this mercy to others – our brothers, sisters and mothers.

Listen to this miraculous plan:

Hos 2:21  And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth;

Hos 2:22  And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.

 

Hos 2:23  And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.

 

Where is Christ sitting? In Heaven. Who are we to Christ? His body. We represent Christ and we are the light to the world. We shall be linked to heaven through Christ and His Mind. We will be given bread, and wine and oil…Christ, his doctrine and with POWER…the Holy spirit of God and we SHALL HEAR JEZREEL…. What God sows…in other words, God’s plan. Isn’t that what we have been hearing during this entire study?

What is this miraculous plan again Steven? Here it is in Hosea:

Hos 2:23  And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.

And here it is in the NT:

1Pe 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

1Pe 2:10  Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

 

Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye areclass=”bibleverse”>saved;)

 

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief.

Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

 

Lord willing, we will be given eyes to see that chapter 1 and 2 are simply a more in- depth working of this plan of the Lord in your and my life as we walk this walk with the Lord.

In chapters 3-4, we will begin to break down this plan and see if it really is contained within the story of Hosea.

 

 

 

According to the Love of the Lord

 

 

Hos 3:1  Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an

adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine.

 

Now, if we are being completely spiritually honest we will see that this is obviously talking about Israel being an adulterous wife, and we can clearly see that starting out the Lord says “Go yet”.  This implies two things if you think on it.

 

The first thing is that we can see that one thing happens and then no we are told to go again or go yet. The first thing that happens is that Hosea was told of the Lord to take his wife Gomer. Gomer bares him children and then she is adulterous. So, we now have the Lord saying, go yet or go again.

 

The second and more important thing to keep in mind is that this is telling us about our relationship with Christ and His body.  This relationship shows us how Christ loves us but as importantly, it shows us the example we are given to love the body of Christ.

 

Where does this body come from? Babylon? I think we all know that answer and it is no different than the walk we all must go through. Think back to the start of Hosea in chapter 1. In verses 2 and 3 we see this:

 

Hos 1:2  The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.

Hos 1:3  So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son.

 

Now, we see this again “Go yet”.  In essence, we are being told this is a continuous message that we are being told. This continuous message is none other than the same message contained within all stories in one way or another. The story is the old and the new man.

 

Were we adulterous? Yes, we were to Christ? Did we look to, regard, and respect other gods at this time? What about worshipping yourself while you are sitting in the throne while in babylon?

 

Obviously, we look at ourselves and believe we have matured somewhat since those days. Yet, we are about to see in these verses that it is all orchestrated by the Lord from A to Z. From the start of Hos 1:1 to where we currently are, we can see that the Lord has done it all.

 

I mean, what do you expect of your wife when she commits adultery and that is who you are told BY GOD to take as a wife. It is sort of like being told that “it is not you that wills or runs, but God.”

 

Does anyone know how that verse I am alluded to finishes?

 

Rom 9:15  For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

 

Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

 

See, it is God who told Hosea to take Gomer as a wife. It was God’s plan to have this story play out the way it did and there is one really strong story playing out exactly how it plays out in the body of Christ. It is both Gomer and Hosea who are being shown salvation during this time. One is shown mercy, Hosea, so that he can show Gomer this same mercy. Of course, this is in type and shadow.

 

We can see this thought continuing in verses 2 and 3:

 

Hos 3:2  So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley:

Hos 3:3  And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee.

 

Fifteen pieces of silver. I don’t know about anyone else, but a few things immediately jump out at me when I see fifteen and silver. Fifteen is a combination of 5 being grace and 10 being completeness of the flesh and of course silver represents God’s atonement and redemption towards us but silver also represents something else here.

 

Here, silver can also be seen in its negative form as reflecting on the self righteousness of the adulterous woman, the one that is about to be bought and caught in her own game. Hosea not only pays silver but he also pays in BARLEY.  What is barley to God and why is it mentioned here? Better yet, WHO is barley?

 

In order to understand who the barley is and what the heck it has to do with Hosea taking an adulterous wife and redeeming her, we need look no further than the feast days which contain the holy days.

 

          class=”bibleverse”>  Exo 23:14  Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.

Exo 23:15  Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: [ FIRST FEAST] (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:)

Exo 23:16  And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours [ SECOND], which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year [ THIRD], when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

Exo 23:17  Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD.

 

Okay, so how is this linked to barley? Here it is in scriptural terms:

 

Lev 23:10  Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:

Lev 23:11  And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted FOR YOU: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.           

Lev 23:12  And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD.

 

Rev 13:8  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

 

Okay, so we have established that the barley is Christ, the first fruit, the wave offering but why even mention barley here? Well, it plays a key role into setting up the spiritual truths we are being told in this story.

 

That spiritual truth is the plan we referenced earlier, and that plan involves Christ and those that are His at his coming, those kinds of firstfruits who come during the wheat harvest. They are those who come in at the feast of harvest, the second harvest of the year who were WAVED in by Christ. We are told just as much in Jas 1.

 

Jas 1:18  Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

 

This is all stemming from WHY were are told it is BARLEY and SILVER being used to buy Gomer. Look at how barley is measured.

 

Lev 27:16  And if a man shall sanctify unto the LORD some part of a field of his possession, then thy estimation shall be according to the seed thereof: an homer of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver.

 

Anyone remember another 50 somewhere else recently? Jubilee? The third harvest when everyone is reconciled to God. Of course, I am connecting a lot of dots together scripturally to come to that conclusion, but what I am trying to say in modern day English and according to the Holy Spirit is ANYTHING related to barley is spiritually and therefore directly related to Jesus Christ. Do you think this could possibly be true in the physical world as well?

 

We’ll get to that in a minute J

How is barley connected to jubilee? The wave sheaf offering is during the 1st harvest, the kind of firstfruits/ called, chosen, faithful/ enduring overcomers to the end are the second harvest, and the third harvest is everyone is or other wise the 49th plus 1 year = 50 YEARS .

 

Isn’t it all saying the same thing? Here is a real life example of barley:

 

“In terms of today’s money, what would be the value of the biblical half shekel?

Maimonides writes (Laws of Shekalim 1:5) that the half shekel mentioned in the Torah – the annual tithe every Jew was required to give to the Temple coffers – is equal to 160 grains of barley, which, in modern measurements, would be approximately eight grams of silver.

It is impossible to know silver’s value in biblical times. At today’s rate of approximately 17 US dollars per ounce, 8 grams of silver is around five dollars.1

Rabbi Eliezer Posner”

The very value of the currency of the day was compared or weighed against barley. Why? Consistency? Well, I could go on and on all night but here is it in a few verses, and then I will expound.

 

          class=”bibleverse”>  Exo 25:8  And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.                

Exo 25:9  According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.

  

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

 

We, like everything else are weighed against He that is, was and will be.  Bringing this back to Hosea, how does this relate to Hosea and Gomer and The Lord directing the show?

 

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

 

What? Huh? Steven, you lost me. Well, here it is in a type and shadow. In Hosea we just read

 

Hos 3:2  So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley:

Hos 3:3  And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee.

 

Homer just bought an adulterous wife from the market if you will. First off, it is his wife so I am sure this may not have been necessary but that is just me speculating. Regardless, we have it written down so we know it has significance. A homer of barley Isa 50 skekels of silver and a half Isa 25. We just saw that 15 pieces of silver were offered as well, so we have 90.

 

Is there anywhere else that we see 90? There aren’t many, but 9 and 99 are very popular. After all, 90 Isa 9 x 10 or spiritually it is judgment on the completed flesh. Here are some examples. 

 

 

Contempt

 

 

Gen 17:17  Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?

 

That should start to reveal to us just who we are at our appointed time. We are those who laugh at God, and we are also those who later are able to, via Jesus Christ, show others how they too have done the same thing as an adulterous wife named Gomer or Steven or whoever you are.

 

This is not you, eh? My mind has gone south? 🙂

 

Mat 18:13  And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.

 

Luk 15:7  I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth,            more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

 

Now please keep in mind what we are being told. We have just went through a lot of scripture and points that are only going to be understood spiritually by comparing the spirits with spirit I. E. the Word of God = > CHRIST < =.

 

Remember, how we are compared against barley? Silver versus Gold, etc.? Well, we are applying the same principle here in Hos 3:3 and 4 and when we do so we’ll realize we are being told what happens to us spiritually when we are purchased and redeemed.

 

This is AFTER we have already been adulterous and we have no one else who wants us. We are worthless even to ourselves but then our Lord comes along who happens to be the husband that loves us and pays MUCH more than we are worth for us though He doesn’t have to do that either.

 

Hos 3:3  And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee.

Hos 3:4  For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim:

Hos 3:5  Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.

 

Isn’t is clear that this is what Christ promises us, as His chosen elect. This whole story plays out this way.

 

In type and shadow, we are being told this in these 5 very SHORT but DIRECT verses in Hosea. Here it is:

 

God = the Lord

Christ = Hosea

Gomer = the faithful chosen elect

 

The Lord = Christ

Hosea = the faithful chosen elect

Gomer = those whom we are called to be glorious light to in this aion, this age just as Christ came to us through his angels, etc. etc.

 

This is just another way of declaring as Corinthians did:

 

1Co 11:3  But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

 

Another way to say the same thing is God the Father > Christ > Us > Flesh. This is accomplished and brought home when our temple is being populated by Christ instead of our adulterous selves.

 

 

Conclusion

 

 

Hosea chapter 3 is all about a very succinct version of what the whole book of Hosea is about. A husband is has an incredible amount of love and is willing to go through and suffer a tremendous amount of things for the wife that has be given to him from the Lord.

 

Next study, we will be seeing just how much detail goes into the shortened version we just show in Hosea chapter 3. We will see the land, and how it compares to the ocean the heavens and all the inhabitants therein all making their abode within YOU… the temple of God.

 

 

 

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