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"Bring charges against your mother"

Text: Hosea 2:2

THE SIN OF IDOLATRY IN ANCIENT ISRAEL

One of the gravest sins Israel committed was with reference to idolatry. The worship of idols was a serious affront to the LORD.

“Bring charges against your mother, bring charges;
For she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband!
Let her put away her harlotries from her sight,
And her adulteries from between her breasts.”
Hosea 2:2

1. The language employed

a) The word “charges” was a formal legal word.

b) The imagery employed: “Marriage”.

i) The LORD is the “Husband”.

ii) Israel is the “wife”.

2. “Bring charges against your mother, bring charges”

a) Many charges could be made against Israel.

b) The threat of “charges” was raised up to alert Israel of its many sins!

3. “For she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband”

a) Israel had failed as a wife miserably.

b) Her relationship with God as Husband was non-existent.

c) This was a factual declaration.

4. “Let her put away her harlotries from her sight”

a) The word “harlotry” was a reference to idolatry.

b) Idols were literally within sight.

c) Israel literally loved idol worship.

d) She was deeply devoted to idols.

e) She was never devoted to the Lord!

f) Idols must be put away or the charges would stand.

5. “And her adulteries from between her breasts”

a) Israel had embraced idolatry.

b) Idolatry was nothing less than “spiritual adultery”.

c) If adultery was ground for divorce, so was spiritual adultery ground for divorce of the relationship between the LORD and Israel.