Gilgal is Where I Started Hating You: A Look at Hosea 9 pt1

I'm reading in Hosea today.  I believe that all scripture is profitable and this little book is chock full of profitable scripture that applies to us today.

Hosea is written to the Northern Kingdom, also known as Israel or more significantly, Ephraim.  If you aren't sure who Ephraim is, he was the younger son of Joseph, Jacob's son.  Jacob, whom God re-named Israel, adopted Joseph's sons.  Due to a lot of things that happened, the blessing of the firstborn didn't go from Jacob to his firstborn, Reuben, or any of the sons down the line who were born to his first wife and concubines.  The blessing was going to go to Joseph, the firstborn son of his second and beloved wife (now there's something to ponder in and of itself).  Instead of Joseph getting the blessing though, Jacob blessed Joseph's sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.  

Further complicating things for us as readers, Manasseh didn't get the bulk of the blessing, Ephraim did.  Joseph presented his sons to his father for the blessing in the correct order, the oldest on Jacob's right and the younger on Jacob's left.  Jacob crossed his hands for the blessing giving the blessing of the firstborn to the younger.  This displeased Joseph who tried to correct his father.  Jacob basically told Joseph that he knew what he was doing and the younger would be greater than the older.  You can find this story in Genesis 48 and the blessings Jacobs bestowed on each son in Genesis 49.  Remember that all these blessings matter and nothing in God's word is wasted.

Some food for thought is that many to regard Great Britain as a type Manasseh and the United States as a type of Ephraim.  I'm not talking bloodlines or anything like that.  I'm just talking about prophetic symbolism.  

With that in mind, we are going to look at the prophecy of Hosea to Ephraim.  We are going to see if anything the prophet said might apply to the United States, and also what other insights we can glean.

Hosea begins by God telling Hosea to marry a prostitute because, "...the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord." Hosea 1:2.  The first three chapters tell the story of Hosea, Gomer his wife, and their children who are given prophetic names. Hosea is told to marry Gomer as a picture of God and Israel.

The prophecies that are directly illustrated by the life of Hosea end in chapter four, though there are allusions though out.  The first two verses of chapter four say,

"Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.  By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood."

I think that 'blood toucheth blood' means that there is so much violence that the blood from one violent act doesn't stop running before it touches the blood from another.  Maybe that is a little hyperbolic, but we are pretty much there in the US.  Just watch the news.

Notice that there is no knowledge of God in the land.  A simple online search  of Christian statistics show that desire to read the Bible is declining and the middle ground between true believers and those who are antagonistic, middle ground meaning those who don't care one way or the other, is declining as well.  More and more people can't tell you the simplest Bible story, much less the Gospel

Hosea goes on to say in Hosea 4:6, 

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee...

You see, it isn't just lack of knowledge, it is the rejection of godly knowledge that destroys God's people. 

Just a little more, and this is where it gets good.  The whole 
9th chapter of Hosea is where I really see the United States.  I'm going to pull out parts for the sake of expediency but please read for yourselves. 

The time of Israel's punishment has come; the day of payment is here...you say, 'The prophets are crazy and the inspired men are fools!'  the prophet is a watchman over Israel for my God, yet traps are laid for him wherever he goes.  He faces hostility even in the house of God.  The things my people do are as depraved as what they did in Gibeah long ago.  God will not forget. He will surely punish them for their sins...They deserted me for Baal-peor.  Soon they became vile, as vile as the god they worshiped. I have watched Isreal become as beautiful as Tyre.  But now Israel will bring out her children for slaughter, (KJV says 'murderer').  All their wickedness began at Gilgal; there I began to hate them.

Now I know that is a long passage but I really did just pull out the parts I want to look at.  The first thing I want to cause you to think about is that Israel, Ephraim in the KJV, brings his children to the murderer.  I believe this is like abortion in our day.

The other thing I want to bring to your attention is the locations mentioned here: Baal-peor, Gilgal and Gibeah.  These are such significant places, it behooves us to consider why God mentions them specifically.

I have already written on Baal-peor in a post called, The Midianite Woman.  Baal-peor is actually a local deity that is worshiped from Mount Peor but, I usually refer to it as a place as in, "The sin on the plain of Baal-peor."  I barely scratched the surface of what went on there but since you can read the overview in the post, I'll just move on to Gilgal and Gibeah.

There are several occasions that the Bible could be referencing here when mentioning Gilgal, but since God is telling us that this is where He began to hate His people, I think He is refering to the story in 1 Samuel 15, where King Saul is supposed to wipe out the Amalekites but he doesn't obey God's command.  This is another story I wrote about in a post called, To Obey is Better Than Sacrifice.  Again, I won't retell the story.  I encourage you to read it.  But, as you are reading, remember that Hosea tells us that this is the incident that causes God to begin to hate His people.  That is a big deal.

You may not be familiar with Gibeah but it is the location of one of the most violent and pivotal accounts given in the Bible.  It is the story that overshadows the entire book of Judges because, remember in the book of Judges, everyone did what was right in their own eyes. This sentiment is repeated in the book.  The verses (Judges 17:6 and Judges 21:25) are like bookends around the atrocity of Gibeah.

Another thing that is repeated over and over again in Judges is the phrase, "and there was no king in Israel."  God was to be king and even if the people were to have a king, which was provided for in Deuteronomy 17:15-20, it was to be a king in Gods time and of His choosing.  Think back to Saul (where God began to hate His people at Gilgal).  The people cried out for a king and God gave them one; but, if they had just waited a little while, they would have had David, God's choice.

So, what was the depravity of Gibeah, long ago, spoken of in the 19th chapter of Judges?  The concubine of a Levite runs home to her father, you know, marital spat or something.  The Levite comes after her and convinces her to return with him and she does.  On the way, they were preparing to spend the night in the town square of Gibeah when an old man offered them shelter.  Certain 'sons of Belial' came, pounded on the door and demanded that the old man throw out the Levite for them to rape.  The old man offered his virgin daughter and the concubine instead, but the townsmen, who were of the tribe of Benjamin, wanted the Levite.

The Levite then threw his concubine, or wife, out to the mob who proceeded to rape and abuse her to death.  Just remember, God didn't condone this behaviour, it is just recounted here.  As a matter of fact, Israel nearly wiped out the tribe of Benjamin for this horrible act.  

Everyone was doing what was right in his own eyes.  The old man thought it was okay to offer his daughter and the concubine.  The sons of Belial thought is was alright to forceably Sodomize the Levite and when they couldn't do that, they raped a woman to death!  Oh, and the Levite thought it was alright to throw a defenseless woman to an angry mob to save his own skin, Horrible!  Reprehensible! and God says so in Hosea.

Take a look around you, Folks.  These are the times in which we live.  Isaiah 5 says, 

"Woe to them that call evil good and good evil...Woe to them that are wise in their own eyes."

Hoses 9:9b says:

"God will not forget.  He will surely punish them for their sins."

I think that we are too late to stop judgement.  It is coming as sure as the sun will come up in the morning.  It is just a matter of when.  

The references in Hosea are to sexual sin (Baal-peor,) disobedience which is as the sin of witchcraft (Gilgal) and extreme violence (Gibeah).  We are certainly there.  The question is, will you be among those who are being judged, or will you be among the delivered? 

 The Bible says God know how to deliver the godly from their trials and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished (2 Peter 2:9).  My suggestion is to make sure you are right with God (see my post on the Gospel) and seek Him in His word.