Daily Devotions
Hosea
"Because of their own counsels"
Text: Hosea 11:6
THE LIMITATIONS OF HUMAN COUNSEL
Divine counsel was available to Israel. God had provided priests and prophets who could seek and obtain His counsel. But Israel had chosen to rely on its own counsel.
“And the sword shall slash in his cities,
Devour his districts,
And consume them,
Because of their own counsels.”
Hosea 11:6
1. “Because of their own counsels”
a) The rulers of the nation had counselors.
i) There were military advisors.
ii) There were religious advisors (false prophets).
iii) There were political advisors.
b) The problem lay in the kind of counselors the king had.
i) Many were self-serving.
ii) Some were in the pay of foreign powers.
iii) Many were ungodly.
iv) Those who spoke on behalf of the Lord were ignored.
c) “Their own counsels”
i) This was stated to highlight the fact that Divine counsel had been rejected.
ii) And human counsel prevailed even though perilous mistakes were made.
2. “The sword”
a) This was a symbol for warfare.
b) Israel was under threat of a major war conflict with Assyria.
3. The war that would take place
a) The cities of Israel would be slashed.
b) Many districts would be attacked.
c) Many would be consumed by death.
DELIVERANCE FROM THE THREAT OF WAR
What could have averted the disaster of utter defeat by the Assyrians? Judah, in the reign of King Hezekiah also faced a war threat from Assyria. Through humbling himself before God and through the ministry of the prophet Isaiah, Judah was delivered from the threat of the Assyrian Empire (Isaiah 37-38).
Turning to God in humble prayer was the key. Israel had rejected faith in God. Instead, it relied on the human counsel of ungodly advisors. Israel suffered catastrophic defeat under the Assyrians. The nation that had begun so well with God’s blessings, ended up being destroyed by the Assyrian empire.