Loss of Freedom

Moving on today in our text in Hosea 9, we see in verses 3-6 another loss. This time we learn about the Loss of Freedom. They will lose their joy and then they will lost their place in the Lord’s Land. “They shall not dwell in the Lord’s land, but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and shall eat unclean things in Assyria. They shall not offer wine offerings to the Lord, nor shall their sacrifices be pleasing to Him. It shall be like bread of mourners to them; all who eat it shall be defiled. For their bread shall be for their own life; it shall not come into the house of the Lord. What will you do in the appointed day, and in the day of the feast of the Lord? For indeed they are gone because of destruction. Egypt shall gather them up; Memphis shall bury them. Nettles shall possess their valuables of silver; thorns shall be in their tents.”

In this description Hosea explains that the people are going to lose their freedom and their land. They will be taken out of the land into captivity. They are headed for displacement and bondage. They are going to be removed from the Land the Lord their God has given them. Some will be taken to Egypt, others to Assyria. They are losing not only their freedom but their inheritance.

In this captivity they will be forced to eat unclean things and will be cut off from the places of worship. They have abused and defiled the worship of God and so God will make it so that they will not be able to worship Him. He is going to cut of worship and fellowship with His people!

This is similar to what happened with Daniel and his friends when they were taken to Babylon to serve in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar. At first they were given the food from the King’s Table to eat, but Daniel and his friends knew this was unclean and would defile them and so they appealed and God honored them by making them more fit and nourished than their counterparts as they purposed in their hearts that they would not defile themselves (Daniel 1:8). You see, all the food for the Kings table had first been dedicated and offered to idols and so to maintain his separateness, to be consecrated to the Lord, Daniel and his friends refused.

Those taken from Israel into Assyria though we not given an opportunity to appeal. They suffered brutally and did whatever they could to survive, including eating whatever they could find to sustain their lives. In reality, the people were already eating and drinking things offered to idols at the threshing floor and the winepress, so God turns them over to this and all that they have available to eat is that which defiles. They can’t complain can they? They were already eating defiling food all in the name of worship.

In Jeremiah 2:7 God says through the prophet to the people, “I brought you into a bountiful country, to eat its fruit and its goodness. But when you entered, you defiled My land and made My heritage an abomination.” God points to all the good things, to all the goodness He has provided them and given them in the Land they inherited. And they ruined it and lost it because of their sin. Ezekiel 4:13 says, “Then the Lord said, “So shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, where I will drive them.” Hosea was not the only prophet giving the people these warnings, yet the people would not listen. And then they were about to lose every sense of their identity and now would be put in a situation where they would be forced to do things that would in fact be objectionable to them. Suddenly in the judgment for sin they would remember God and want to please Him but there would be no opportunity. They would indeed reap the whirlwind.

Notice here also that they will not be able to offer offerings. They shall not offer wine offerings to the Lord, nor shall their sacrifices be pleasing to Him. It shall be like bread of mourners to them; all who eat it shall be defiled. For their bread shall be for their own life; it shall not come into the house of the Lord. The reference to the bread of mourners signifies that while eating can be a source of joy for them it will be like they are eating at a funeral, in fact, they will wish it was their funeral – they will hope that their life was over because things will be so terrible.

The truth is that it didn’t even take them being taken into captivity to make this happen, where their worship was objectionable to God, did it? Amos 5:22 tells us, “Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings.” God was already rejecting their offerings because they were mixed with pagan worship and being offered for the wrong reasons in the wrong places in the wrong ways. Their worship was not offered in holiness and sincerity, but for reasons of self-indulgence and self-service. So we see that God is not adding something to their troubles, He is just changing the location. He is telling them that because they will not worship Him as He commands where they are then He will send them somewhere where right worship will be impossible.

If that is what they really want – and prove that they want it by their continued disobedience – then God is going to give them exactly what they want.

No difference from Israel and our nation at this point is there? Everything that God condemns our nation embraces and celebrates. God is giving our nation what it wants. And to be sure, getting what we want will not bring joy or freedom. It brings grief, and sorrow, and bondage. What it seems we really want as a nation is life without God. What we will get then is life without grace and with unmediated wrath.

God asks the people here, “What will you do in the appointed day, and in the day of the feast of the Lord? For indeed they are gone because of destruction. Egypt shall gather them up; Memphis shall bury them. Nettles shall possess their valuables of silver; thorns shall be in their tents.” Israel will be ruined, overgrown, and the people dispersed. What will they do then? The day of judgment is coming because for so long now they have been doing everything without Him. I truly believe that we have no idea just how involved God is in our daily lives. And Israel now is going to be doing everything without Him. He is going to abandon them to their enemies.

Isaiah 10:1-4 tells us in regards to this, “Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, who write misfortune, which they have prescribed 2 To rob the needy of justice, and to take what is right from the poor of My people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless. 3 What will you do in the day of punishment, and in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your glory? 4 Without Me they shall bow down among the prisoners, and they shall fall among the slain.” For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.”

As they keep telling God by their words and actions that they want to do things their own way without Him that He is about to give them what they want and they have no idea how horrible and terrible a thing that will be.