We want to briefly summarize all the sermons of Hosea, so that if you cannot grasp the whole book, you may still remember what is the main point.
Hosea is mainly concerned with this and deals in almost all chapters with the punishment of the idolatry of his people and with the punishment of the
desolation by the Aesyrians. But this idolatry consisted in the fact that, since by God's commandment all services were bound to the temple at Jerusalem, ten tribes did not respect the temple and erected altars and sacrificed wherever they pleased.
An idolatry, which is equal to this, have
We also nowadays, although we were commanded to call upon the eternal Father in the name of Jesus, we have set aside Christ and called upon the saints, thinking that Christ is like a tyrant or a harsh judge who will not listen unless we have intercessors, while He Himself wants to be our mediator with God.
Just as the Jews erected the idols of Baal, the calves and other images, we also began to worship images, and believed that God was more inclined to grace this or that image than if we prayed either at home or in another church. Therefore, the example of the Israelite people should be before our eyes, so that we may flee idolatry, since the Lord avenged it on His people with terrible punishments. This is the first thing that Hosea has to do with, and the most important sayings that he has everywhere are to be referred to this.
He calls idolatry an adultery and says that God is offended by idolatrous worship as a husband is offended by the adultery of his wife.
In the fourth chapter he says [v. 11.], "Fornication, wine and must make mad." For just as those who are in lewd love and those who are drunk have no sense and are almost mad, so also idolatry makes nonsensical people, that they cannot be instructed, cannot be set right by the Word, but blindly rush wherever the spirit of fornication drives them, as we see in the Papists.
In the ninth chapter he says that idolatry is also punished in this way, that God sends false teachers. "The prophets," he says [v. 7.), "are fools, and the ruddy spirits are mad, because of your great iniquity and because of the great hostile idolatry." So Paul says [2 Thess. 2, 10 11.) that GOD sends powerful errorists because they have not believed the truth.
In the thirteenth chapter, 6r says that idolatry generally comes from well-being, from good rest and abundance of all things [v. 6.): "Because they have been fed, that they have been satisfied and have enough, their hearts are lifted up," that is, they have rejected the Word,
and arranged services for themselves according to their liking.
Here are also to be drawn the sayings in which the prophet threatens the idolaters and despisers of the word with desolation and other punishments, as it is in the fourth chapter.
In the fourth chapter it is said [v. 4. according to the Latin]: "My people have perished because they are without the Word", and soon after [v. 14. according to the Latin): "The people will fall away because they do not pay attention to the word."
And in the ninth chapter [v. 17]: "My God will reject them, because they will not hear him; and they must go astray among the heathen." These are remarkable sayings, which show that when the word is neglected, idolatries arise, for the sake of which finally misfortunes of all kinds break in.
Here belongs what he says in the fourth chapter [v. 6.]: "You reject God's word, therefore I will also reject you, that you shall not be my priest. Thou forgettest the law of thy God, therefore will I also forget thy children."
This saying is also useful and especially suitable to strengthen hearts today. The popes and bishops boast of the office they have in the church and therefore want people to keep what they command. But the judgment stands firm that those who reject the word are rejected by God, and they are not to be heard. The highest respect is for the word. The church obeys it and does not look at the person of the one who teaches it. But those who do not bring the word, or who do what is contrary to the word, the church knows that they are rejected by God and does not hear them.
The second teaching is the exhortation to right worship and holy living or repentance. This is repeated three times. First, in the sixth chapter, v. 6: "I delight in love, and not in sacrifice; and in the knowledge of God, and not in burnt offerings." Then in the tenth chapter, v. 12: "Sow to yourselves righteousness and reap love, and plow differently because it is time." And in the twelfth 1) chapter, v. 7: "Turn therefore unto thy
1) In the Latin editions: nnäömwv.
GOD, keep mercy and justice, and always hope in your GOD."
For our whole life must be directed to receiving forgiveness of sins by faith, to eradicating evil and killing sin, and to holding fast the hope of salvation in the cross. These are the right services in which God is pleased. But few perform them. The word is neglected, the neighbor is neglected, and people hang on to sins. Hence, when the wrath and displeasure of God seize them, they are without hope. This is the power of sin that leads us away from this rule.
Therefore the prophet adds to the exhortation in the fourteenth 1) chapter a teaching [v. 3.]: "Take these words with you, and turn to the Lord, and say unto him, Forgive us all our sins, and do us good; and we will offer up the farrows of our lips." For it is prayer alone that provides us with what we lack, as can be seen from the parable of the servant who owed ten thousand pounds, Matt. 18:26 ff.
Those who do this, that is, those who keep righteousness and justice 2) and hope in God, then add the request that God forgive their sins and govern them, are children of God through Christ, redeemed from hell and freed from death. Therefore, even though they die, they rise again, raised by the Son of God to eternal life. In the meantime, we should comfort ourselves in the hope of the eternal goods that will then be given to us, but which are held out to us in words, with the fact that we are, as he says in the second chapter [Cap. 1, 10. 2, 1. 19.], children of the living God and God's people, yes, his bride 2c.
Among these teachings are the glorious and comforting sayings that the prophet intersperses from the Gospel. In the second chapter he says [Cap. 1, 10.]: "And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said unto them: Ye are not my people, it shall be said unto them, O ye children of the living God!" Likewise
1) In the Latin editions: äeeirno ter-tio.
2) Erlanger: cmstoüiaiU instead of: enstoUiunt.
[Cap. 2, 1.], "Say unto your brethren, they are my people; and unto your sister, let her be in grace." Likewise [Cap. 2, 19. f.], "I will betroth myself unto thee for ever; I will confide in thee in righteousness and judgment, in grace and mercy. Yea, in faith will I betroth myself unto thee; and thou shalt know the: LORD know." There is also added [v. 21.] a promise that the prayer shall be heard: "In that day, saith the LORD, will I hear; I will hear heaven. "2c.
But of the prayer of the hypocrites, who reject the doctrine of faith and rely on their righteousness, he says in the seventh chapter [v. 14] that it is an abominable howling, by which the ears of God are offended. The masses of the papists, their horae canonicae, their sermons and other services are of this kind today.
And in the fifth chapter he says [v. 6]: "Then they will come with their flocks and herds to seek the Lord, but will not find him, for he has turned away from them." For he teaches that those who miss the time of repentance and continue in their sins cannot escape punishment in any way, since God does not hear them.
Thus he says in the eighth chapter [v. 13] that God hates the sacrifices of the hypocrites: "Though they sacrifice much, and bring flesh, and eat it, yet the Lord hath no pleasure in it." For this pleases Him, which He said above in the sixth chapter, v. 6: "I delight in love, and not in sacrifice."
Now although the church has these glorious gifts, which relies not on her righteousness but on the mercy of God, yet he says [Cap. 2, 15.] that she is in the valley of Achor, that is, she is afflicted in many ways, as he therefore compares her to an orphan in the fourteenth chapter [v. 4.
In the third chapter there is a glorious prophecy of Christ, and a testimony that he is the awakened God. For he says thus [v. 5], "After this the children of Israel shall return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall honor the Lord and his grace in the latter days." For he calls Christ David, as Ezekiel, Cap. 34, 24. Because the same worship David-.
and attributed to the Lord, it follows that this David is God by nature, according to the saying [Isa. 42:8]: "I will not give my glory to another."
In the sixth and thirteenth chapters are clear testimonies of the resurrection of the dead. [Cap. 6, 1-3. "The Lord hath torn us asunder, he also will heal us; he hath smitten us, he also will bind us up. He maketh us alive after two days; he will raise us up the third day, that we may live before him. Then we will be careful and diligent to know the Lord. For he shall break forth as the brightness of the morning, and shall come upon us as the rain" 2c. For the resurrection of Christ, by which he overcame death and destroyed hell, was followed by the revelation of the gospel over the whole earth, and we also will
called to the hope of the resurrection through Christ.
In the thirteenth chapter is a glorious saying [v. 14.], "I will deliver them out of hell, and from death. Death, I will be a poison unto thee; hell, I will be a pestilence unto thee." Those who believe this through Christ fear neither death nor hell, for they know that through Christ death is slain and hell is destroyed. Therefore, there is nothing left to do but to unite with Christ, the victor over death and hell; he does not want to enjoy his victory alone, but distributes the spoil, as he says in the Gospel [Luc. 11, 22], and makes us partakers of this victory. To this true and eternal God, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be praise and glory forever and ever. Amen.