{"id":4712,"date":"2024-11-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-03T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/reading-plan\/november-3\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T10:14:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T15:14:00","slug":"november-3","status":"publish","type":"reading-plan","link":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/reading-plan\/november-3\/","title":{"rendered":"November 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

Insight from Hosea 4:<\/span><\/p>\n

Hosea 4 is a scene from a court room. Yahweh is bringing a lawsuit against the people of Israel. He is more than the victim. He is the prosecuting attorney. He is also the judge. While this was a lawsuit brought by Yahweh against the people of Israel in Hosea\u2019s day, all people should pay careful attention to God\u2019s words here, for God does not change. If Israel was punished because there was \u201cno faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land,\u201d the same will be true with people today. We, like the people of Israel in Hosea\u2019s day, need to \u201chear the word of the Lord.\u201d The careful preacher or teacher will make sure people understand what happened in Hosea\u2019s day and apply that to how people today must relate to Yahweh.<\/span> \u12e8\u1206\u1234\u12d5 \u1218\u133d\u1210\u134d \u12a8\u1325\u1293\u1275 \u121b\u1235\u1273\u12c8\u123b\u12ce\u127d \u130b\u122d\u1361- \u1208\u1206\u1234\u12d5 \u1218\u133d\u1210\u134d \u12e8\u1230\u1320\u12cd \u1230\u1263\u12aa \u1218\u1218\u122a\u12eb<\/span><\/i> (\u12cc\u1265\u1235\u1270\u122d\u1363 \u12f0\u1265\u120a\u12cd\u12a0\u12ed\u1361 \u1203\u1295\u12f5\u1235 \u1271 \u12d8 \u1355\u120e\u12cd\u1363 2019)\u1363 68\u1362<\/span><\/p>\n

Compare [4:3] to the creation account in Genesis 1. It is as if creation is being described in reverse order. Instead of everything prospering, everything is \u201clanguishing\u201d. The animals, like the people, are being \u201ctaken away\u201d. If creation is God preparing a place where he is to be worshiped, this is de-creation. Everything is being removed! In Deuteronomy, Moses described many curses that would come upon the people of Israel if they disobeyed God and worshipped other gods (see Deuteronomy 32:15\u201333). All of the things described in Deuteronomy were now coming to pass. As strange as it sounds, the fact that the land in Israel was languishing was grace from God. It was a warning that the people needed to repent. Unfortunately, they did not heed this gracious warning from God.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Theologically, it is important to know that the spiritual state of the people and the physical state of the rest of creation are connected. Because of the cursed nature of the people, the rest of creation is languishing. The actions of the first Adam led to decay and destruction coming upon all creation. The last Adam (Jesus) is making all things right and will make all things right\u2014including the rest of creation. Compare this verse in Hosea to Psalm 8:6\u20138. In this verse in Hosea, all creation is disordered. In Psalm 8, however, everything is ordered. It is well ordered because the Psalm is a prophecy of Christ and the wholeness that comes through him to all things. He is the \u201clast Adam\u201d who rightly reflects God\u2019s image. Thus, through Christ (and those who are \u201cin him\u201d), all creation will be released from its bondage to decay (see the apostle Paul\u2019s careful consideration of this in Romans 8). Other passages beyond this passage in Hosea reflect the connection between the evil of people and the languishing of the rest of creation. See, for instance, Genesis 6:11\u201317, Deuteronomy 28\u201332, Isaiah 24:4\u20136, and Jeremiah 14.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_crdt_document":""},"class_list":["post-4712","reading-plan","type-reading-plan","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reading-plan\/4712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reading-plan"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/reading-plan"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}