Hoseachapter 4
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Speaks with:Hosea 4×3Jeremiah 4×2Micah 6×2Hosea 6×2Isaiah 24×2Micah 3×2
Summary
Chapter summary
The indictment opens in court: 'Jehovah hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in the land.' Swearing, lying, murder, stealing, adultery: 'they break out, and blood toucheth blood.' The charge lands hardest on the priests: 'My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge' (4:6); because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will reject thee. The people sacrifice on hilltops under oak and poplar and terebinth, ask counsel of a stick, and are led astray by a spirit of whoredom. The chapter's chilling verdict: 'Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone.'
Context
Prophecy · Hosea — Hosea overview
- A. 1–5 No truth, no mercy, no knowledge of God in the land
- B. 6–11 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge
- C. 12–14 A spirit of whoredom has led them astray
- D. 15–19 Ephraim is joined to idols — let him alone
The outline
A.No truth, no mercy, no knowledge of God in the landvv. 1 to 5
Read vv. 1 to 5 →B.My people are destroyed for lack of knowledgevv. 6 to 11
Read vv. 6 to 11 →C.A spirit of whoredom has led them astrayvv. 12 to 14
Read vv. 12 to 14 →D.Ephraim is joined to idols — let him alonevv. 15 to 19
Read vv. 15 to 19 →
The world behind this chapter
Hosea 4The history
The word translated knowledge here is not information. In covenant language, to know God meant to be in an acknowledged, loyal relationship with him, the way a vassal knew his king. The complaint that there is no knowledge of God in the land is a charge of broken allegiance, and the priests are blamed because teaching that allegiance was their job.
Hill worship was as physical as the text describes. Shrines sat on ridge tops and under particular trees — oak, poplar, terebinth — because the shade was good and the height was thought to be nearer the gods. Excavated Israelite high places have altars, standing stones, and space for feasting.
The consultation by a piece of wood was ordinary divination. A rod or two arrow shafts were dropped or shaken and the pattern read for an answer. It was widespread across the region, and it is named here alongside the drinking and the shrine prostitution as part of the same package.
Two place names are turned into insults. Gilgal was where Israel first camped in the land under Joshua, and Bethel — house of God — is renamed Beth-aven, house of wickedness, because it housed one of the two golden calves. Hosea will use that nickname for the rest of the book.
What it meant to them
The line that would have landed hardest is that the people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, and that the priests rejected it first. The men paid to hold the nation's memory had let it go, and the whole country went down with them.
There is a warning to Judah tucked into the middle: do not come up to Gilgal. Hosea's message travelled south, and the southern kingdom was being told to watch what was happening to its northern relatives and stay away from it.
Sources cited
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Hosea 4. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.