'From the sole of the foot even unto the head'

Hosea 5: [4] They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD.

[5] And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them.
[6] They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD; but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them.

"That's why in Jeremiah when this takes place on Judah, God says to Jeremiah, 'Pray not for this people.' Why? There's no hope," explains Richard Jordan.

"In Ezekiel, God said, 'There's no mercy coming.' They've had the opportunity; now the 5th Course of Judgment, the captivity, is on them and the Lord withdraws His blessings, withdraws His face from them, and says, 'Now I'll just treat you like you aren't anything special to me.'

"You read through this stuff, and I know everybody wants to think about God as being a God of grace, love, mercy and all that kind of stuff . . . Listen, a battery without a negative pole won't work. It takes both poles, positive and negative, and this passage is just one negative blast one verse after another, because that's the reality. Negative, negative, negative.

Hosea 5:1: [1] Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment is toward you, because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.

"Notice He's addressing the priest, the royal family and the nation. The religio-political bosses of Israel and He's going to lay it out on all of them.

"A snare is a thing you try to catch people with. Paul says in II Timothy 2, [26] And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

"When you're caught in a snare, you're taken captive by the enemy. A snare is used to catch prey with.

"In Jeremiah 5 you see it in the context of Jeremiah's preaching: [23] But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.

[24] Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.
[25] Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you.
[26] For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.
[27] As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.
[28] They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.

"The word picture here is real graphic. This is why Asaph in Psalm 73 sees the wicked prosper and he doesn't know what to do. They get so fat their face is shiny with the grease coming out. They look like they're making a killing.

[29] Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
[30] A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;
[31] The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?

"They set their snares where Israel was vulnerable. They go to the places where people expect good things to happen to them--spiritual things, victories.

Hosea 5:2: [2] And the revolters are profound to make slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all.

"That's just what He said in Jeremiah. The Book of Jeremiah was talking to Judah and the Book of Hosea is talking to the northern kingdom, but it's the same problem. Their revolting and rebellious heart that commits spiritual adultery, departs from the Lord and follows after other gods.

"He's talking to the priests, the kings and the nation they lead. You've got these religious political bosses who are leading the nation into destruction.

Hosea 9: [15] All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters.

"The whole leadership of the nation was corrupt so He's going to drive them out. Listen, a nation that's led by corrupt, wicked people--people who make prey on others--wind up in that kind of destruction.

That's why He says about the nation in Isaiah 1: [3] The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

"An ox knows his master. A dog, you can whistle, 'Hey Fido,' and he'll come right to you because he knows you're his master. Israel didn't know who God was. They're dumber than the oxen and the dogs and the horses, spiritually speaking.

[4] Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.
[5] Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
[6] From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
[7] Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

"He's using figures of speech to describe the corruption of the nation and they're sin-sick in their idolatry, in their rebellion, and He says, 'I'm going to wipe you out.' "

(new article tomorrow)