'For Israel hath forgotten his Maker'

This morning's MSN newsfeed had the headline: "New Discovery Highlights How Jews and Christians Were Once Naughty with Magic."

The article began, "The Israeli Antiquities Authority recently released an announcement about their acquisition of an ancient magical amulet, reportedly from Arbel in Northern Israel, that bears the Divine Name of God. The fifth-sixth century CE magical device, which was worn to ward off evil, was apparently found at the site of an ancient synagogue. The discovery is making waves because—in popular understandings at least—ancient Jews were not supposed to participate in magic.

"According to the press release, the bronze amulet is inscribed with four Greek letters “I A W Θ, representing the Jewish Divine Name (Yahweh, IHYH).” The teardrop shaped amulet was designed to be worn as a pendant around the neck . . . The divine name appears beneath the horse’s hooves and above the rider a Greek inscription declares 'The One God Conquers Evil.' "

*****

Hosea 10 talks about the captivity coming on the Northern Kingdom and that it’s irrevocable; it’s unavoidable. When Jeremiah writes to the Southern Kingdom, God says, "Pray not for this people."

"In Ezekiel, He’ll say, ‘There’s no mercy for them.’ You can’t take those verses out of context. You take a verse like in Jeremiah 7 where He says, ‘Don’t pray for this people,’ and you think that’s the only instruction about prayer . . . 

"What He says in Jeremiah is what He says in Hosea: ‘Things have gone so far there’s no turning back and that fifth course of chastening (Leviticus 26) is on the way.’

"Hosea goes through the specific indictment against Israel about why that’s true:

[1] Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images.
[2] Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: he shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images.
[3] For now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared not the LORD; what then should a king do to us?
[4] They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.
[5] The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Beth-aven: for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it.
[6] It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to king Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.

"God wanted fruit to Him and they took the blessings God had given them, as His chosen nation in the earth, and they attributed those blessings to the Baal-worshipping crowd and the false religions they got involved in.

"In the first three chapters of Hosea he pictures in his marriage the unfaithfulness of Israel and how they were going after all these false gods. We saw how his wife, Gomer, attributed all the blessings she had to her lovers and it turned out it was really Hosea who provided them for her.

"The problem is in verse 2: 'Their heart is divided.' A passage in Ezekiel says their idols are in their heart. In other words, the external altars in the false religions and false gods they set up--the origin of that is in the corruption of their heart. That’s the source of all apostasy.

"Hosea 9:15: [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.

"Notice their wickedness is in Gilgal. Hosea 12:11: [11] Is there iniquity in Gilead? surely they are vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields.

"They’re sacrificing bullocks but where we’re they supposed to sacrifice? In Jerusalem, not up in Gilgal.

"When Hosea ended chapter 8, he said, [14] For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples; and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.

"They were only to have ONE temple. They were just completely abandoning God’s Word and setting up their own religious systems and they got churches all around.

"The furrows of the field is the place where all this false worship is springing up. Remember verse 4: [4] They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.

"What chapter 11 tells you is that what’s in the furrows of the field are these false altars where they’re offering sacrifices to devils. Hemlock is a deadly poison. He looks at those Baal altars and sacrifices, worshipping at the table of devils, and he says that’s poison to the nation and it’s killing them. Just destroyed them."

(another post later this evening)