20151228 Monday, December 28 2015
Hosea 05: The Return Of The King

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"They have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them ... I will return again to My place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face, and in their distress earnestly seek Me"

The word "king" means father of a kin, the progenitor of a family, the key ancestor of a people. The prime Biblical example of that is Jacob, who the LORD (see The Identity Of The LORD God and The LORD God Our Saviour) renamed as "Israel" (see A Biography Of Jacob: When Jacob Became Israel). Jacob was the father of the people named after him, the Israelites; Jacob was the "king" of his kin (see A Biography Of Jacob: The Jacobites Of Syria).

The Biblical record has many other examples of how some families grew from a clan encampment into a fortified city (hence the Bible references to kings of cities). Some of them further grew territorially into a nation (nation simply means nativity, birth from a common ancestor) - in so doing either annihilating, adopting, or driving away other families of people.

The first king over humans was the LORD God in the Garden of Eden (see In The Beginning Was The Word). Unfortunately, when challenged, the first humans failed their test of patriotism ("patriotism" literally means faithful to the father, the head of the kin) and followed the rebel spirit who was then becoming known as "Satan" - which means accuser, or critic (see What Is Satan's Real Name?).

The LORD was again a king over humans when He created the nation of Israel. Unfortunately, again, the Israelites failed to stand true in their national patriotism and demanded a king from one of their brothers - in effect, frat-riotism (faithful to one's brothers) rather than true patriotism (faithful to the father, the genuine creator of the nation).

The result was the man-led national disasters and political buffoonery (see What Happens To A Nation When God's Law Is Forsaken?) that Israel experienced throughout all of its subsequent history, right to the present day (see the prophecy and history series beginning with Israel In History and Prophecy: Roots and Branches) - exactly as the LORD declared to them when they rejected Him (see also Saul's Impeachment and What Caused Solomon's Idolatry?).

"8:6 But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD.

8:7 And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. 8:8 According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. 8:9 Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.

8:10 And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king. 8:11 And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. 8:12 And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. 8:13 And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. 8:14 And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. 8:15 And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. 8:16 And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. 8:17 He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. 8:18 And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day.

8:19 Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; 8:20 That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.

8:21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the LORD.

8:22 And the LORD said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city." (1 Samuel 8:6-22 KJV)

The people of Israel earned themselves many rebukes from the LORD, but their failings were not His failings. The LORD's purpose and plan cannot be stopped - even by the most pompous, self-righteous political hypocrites who reject the LORD's Kingdom and make toy countries for themselves. The LORD is returning to be what He has always been (see the Fact Finder question below).

"5:1 Hear this, O priests! Pay attention, O house of Israel! Give ear, O house of the king! For the judgment is for you; for you have been a snare at Mizpah and a net spread upon Tabor. 5:2 And the revolters have gone deep into slaughter, but I will discipline all of them. 5:3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me; for now, O Ephraim, you have played the whore; Israel is defiled.

5:4 Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. For the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not the LORD. 5:5 The pride of Israel testifies to his face; Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt; Judah also shall stumble with them. 5:6 With their flocks and herds they shall go to seek the LORD, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them. 5:7 They have dealt faithlessly with the LORD; for they have borne alien children. Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.

5:8 Blow the horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah. Sound the alarm at Beth-aven; we follow you, O Benjamin! 5:9 Ephraim shall become a desolation in the day of punishment; among the tribes of Israel I make known what is sure. 5:10 The princes of Judah have become like those who move the landmark; upon them I will pour out my wrath like water. 5:11 Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because he was determined to go after filth. 5:12 But I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like dry rot to the house of Judah.

5:13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to the great king. But he is not able to cure you or heal your wound. 5:14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear and go away; I will carry off, and no one shall rescue. 5:15 I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me." (Hosea 5:1-15 KJV)

Fact Finder: Why is salvation stated to be in and of the Kingdom of God?
See The First And Last Nation and The Patriotism Prophecy