Further Study: Spiritual Adultery
“As time went by, Hosea became aware of the fact that his personal fate was a 
mirror of the divine pathos, that his sorrow echoed the sorrow of God. In this fellow suffering as an act of sympathy with the divine pathos the prophet probably saw the meaning of the marriage which he had contracted at the divine behest. . . .
“Only by living through in his own life what the divine Consort of Israel experienced, was the prophet able to attain sympathy for the divine situation. The marriage was a lesson, an illustration, rather than a symbol or a sacrament.”—Abraham J. Heschel, The Prophets (Mass.: Prince Press, 2001), p. 56.
“In symbolic language Hosea set before the ten tribes God’s plan of restoring to every penitent soul who would unite with His church on earth, the blessings granted Israel in the days of their loyalty to Him in the Promised Land. Referring to Israel as one to whom He longed to show mercy, the Lord declared, ‘I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.’”—Ellen G. White,Prophets and Kings, p. 298.
Discussion Questions:
- We tend to think of idolatry as the bowing down to statues. In what ways can idolatry be something that is much more subtle and deceptive than that?
- In class, further explore this idea of what it means to know God. If you say that you “know the Lord,” what do you mean by that? How is this knowledge of God acquired?
- Some ancient theologians argued that God is impassible, that is, He does not experience pain or pleasure due to the actions of other beings, such as humans. What might cause people to argue that position? Why do we, however, reject it?
- Dwell more on the fact that our redemption is so costly. What does that tell us about what is our worth to God?
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Not knowledge of God, but time with Him. It's what we need, what God desires.
God declared in the book of Hosea; "My people are destroyed for the lack of knowledge." God has been dealing with the Idolatry of Israel, by turning back to their gods in Egypt where God redeemed them from bondage. Having the knowledge of the Divine Will of God, is the power of God that will lead His people to wholly dependant and fully trusting in God. It is encourage in love relationships to know your friend before you give in for marriage. This is also encouraged by God in our loving relationship with Him. We must come to know Him and experience His Mercy and forgiveness for this will solidify our trust and total dependence to God. The knowledge of God include his forever forgiving grace and love. We will not adulterate ourselves in our relationships with God when we're totally convinced by faith and true living experience, that our Lord and Saviour is our only Hope for Eternal Life. Obtain the Knowledge of God's Divine Will and live it to gain an experience of His forgiveness and grace that will bind us for Eternity. Thank you Jesus.
I think this lesson teach us important thing about us and our lives like Seventh-day Adventists: our personal fate, preaching for God also and is mirror of divine will for us to present in church and world.
Kimberly, I think that you have summarized the situation well. It is not about knowledge but about the relationship. Time spent sharing with God is very important. I maintain that there are two aspects to this. 1) personal time in a one-to-one relationship; and 2) sharing time with one another. These two aspects go hand-in-hand.
What we do need in a discussion such as this are some creative ideas about how we can build these relationships.
There is only one way to build a relationship. Spend time to communicate and do things together. The better the relationship is, the more intimate it will become.
Question? Do we know above the Man, or do we know of the Man??
God wanted to be intimate with us, develop a genuine, personal, intimate, passion relationship with him, But there is too
much stuff in our life. Relationship is key.
In every area of our lives God wants us to know that He is in charge and delights to not only forgive us for incorrect decisions, choices, mistakes and failures of trust, but also in covering them with His blood. His love for us is as pure as pure can be and His delight is in our ability to slow down, spend time with Him and let Him speak to our individual hearts all day long. The gift of His pure love is what he longs for us to understand. We are our own worse enemies as we complicate the acceptance of Holy Spirit over our pitiful selves!
The passage inspires a lot on God's love for mankind. God has opened His hands even to the worst sinner. His love has no limits but man's love for God is like "I don't care type". Mankind is like Gomar ever sinning and retreating only in few hours, possibly every Sabbath because of a preacherman, which I feel should not be the case. We need to repent and stand firm in before the Lord
Kimberly, I agree that we need to spend time with God, for that is critical. The scriptures also say, however, "my people perish from a lack of knowledge." Hosea 4:6. If it is not knowledge of God that we need, then what? What is possibly more important than that?
Kimberly, I just want to respond to your question about what is more important than a knowledge of God. I think that the two phrases (having knowledge of God and knowing God) are different if you examine them closely. I can say that I have a knowledge of a person without actually knowing the person. In that knowledge can come by reading, observing, seeing, word of mouth from someone else etc. In knowing a person, I would have to spend time with that person and in doing that I get to know the person's personality, habits, likes and dislikes, temperament. In knowing the person I have a somewhat relationship.
God wants us to know Him - to know Him intimately. That is the reason He uses husband/wife, parent/child relationships to illustrate the type of relationship He wants with us. God wants us to know Him inside and out and that can only happen if we spend quality time praying, communicating, studying His word. In so doing we are drawn closer to Him as we depend totally on His guidance and His will for our lives.
Yes, it is also important to have a knowledge of God, but having a knowledge of who He is, what he can do, does nothing if we do not totally use the knowledge to get to know Him personally or intimately.
Let us continue to have a closer walk with the God who loves us with an everlasting love.
James 2:9 if we say that we believe and we know God, our knowledge should exeed and differ with that of the demons. Because they too believe and know there is God and they tremble...
We are far away from God living in sin world. Hopeing to come home one day. To see Him face to face. Now remains faith, hope and love. By hope we are saved.
I am based in Africa Zambia, I attended Sabbath School already this morning and our class was at pains agreeing whether Hosea's marriage was a literal one or symbolic?
Dear Hector,
The Bible says that God told Hosea to find a woman and marry her. You can't marry a symbolic woman. 😉 And a "symbolic marriage" would not have been much of an object lesson to Israel, would it?
God told Hosea to marry a woman who He knew would be unfaithful. This was to provide an object lesson to the people of Israel who were being unfaithful to God.
Sometimes being a prophet is a very painful assignment!!
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To know God is go first hae an encounter with Him. He becomes a part of your daily livng. I have been a SDA all of my life and I knew our doctrine, Spirit of Prophecy, the health message, how to prepare and serve in our ceremonial and sacred services but I did not know God or fallen in love with Jesus.
Hosea 4:6 say, we are rejected because we rejected knowledge, ultimately we are rejected. I am so glad today that I know God, and hae fallen in love with my Savior Jesus Christ and strive each day with the help of the Holy Spirit to do things pleasing in His sight.
Wesley
Yes Hector I too eet the same thought during our study, from brethrens.. They think this that Strange command of Hosea from God was not literal but symbolic; But thanks Inge Anderson a symbolic marriage was not going to any kind of lesson to stubborn Isrealites... That was a real marriage!!