671. Hosea - Chapter 12 (#4) - By a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt - October 28, 2024

[00:00:06] Welcome to Wisdom Today. My name is Bill Kelley and I'll be your host. In this podcast we will be exploring the book of Proverbs.

[00:00:21] Let's open in prayer. Father God, I thank you for anyone listening to this podcast today. Lord, I pray that you would reveal to everyone how much you truly love each and every one of them.

[00:00:33] In addition, I pray that everyone listening would have favor with both God and man. I ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

[00:00:43] This is Proverb 28 beginning in verse 1.

[00:00:47] The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.

[00:00:53] Because of the transgression of a land, many are its princes. But by a man of understanding and knowledge, right will be prolonged.

[00:01:05] A poor man who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain which leaves no food.

[00:01:12] Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but such as keep the law contend with them.

[00:01:19] Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand all.

[00:01:27] Better is the poor who walks in his integrity than one perverse in his ways, though he be rich.

[00:01:36] Whoever keeps the law is a discerning son, but a companion of gluttons shames his father.

[00:01:44] One who increases his possessions by usury and extortion gathers it for him who will pity the poor.

[00:01:53] One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.

[00:02:01] Whoever causes the upright to go astray in an evil way, he himself will fall into his own pit, but the blameless will inherit good.

[00:02:13] The rich man is wise in his own eyes, but the poor who has understanding searches him out.

[00:02:22] When the righteous rejoice, there is great glory. But when the wicked arise, men hide themselves.

[00:02:29] He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.

[00:02:39] Happy is the man who is always reverent, but he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.

[00:02:46] Like a roaring lion and a charging bear is a wicked ruler over poor people.

[00:02:53] A ruler who lacks understanding is a great oppressor, but he who hates covetousness will prolong his days.

[00:03:02] A man burdened with bloodshed will flee into a pit. Let no one help him.

[00:03:10] Whoever walks blamelessly will be saved, but he who is perverse in his ways will suddenly fall.

[00:03:18] He who tills his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows frivolity will have poverty enough.

[00:03:26] A faithful man will abound with blessings, but he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.

[00:03:36] To show partiality is not good, because for a piece of bread a man will transgress.

[00:03:43] A man with an evil eye hastens after riches, and does not consider that poverty will come upon him.

[00:03:53] He who rebukes a man will find more favor afterward than he who flatters with the tongue.

[00:04:01] Whoever robs his father or his mother and says it is no transgression, the same is companion to a destroyer.

[00:04:11] He who is of a proud heart stirs up strife, but he who trusts in the Lord will be prospered.

[00:04:20] He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but whoever walks wisely will be delivered.

[00:04:28] He who gives to the poor will not lack, but he who hides his eyes will have many curses.

[00:04:35] When the wicked arise, men hide themselves, but when they perish, the righteous increase.

[00:04:44] Friends, today I'd like to take a closer look at verse 6.

[00:04:48] And Proverb 28, verse 6 says this,

[00:04:53] Better is the poor who walks in his integrity than one perverse in his ways, though he be rich.

[00:05:01] Friends, we will come back and take a closer look at that verse prior to closing today.

[00:05:08] But what I'd like to do is continue our study in the book of the minor prophet Hosea.

[00:05:15] Now, we've been in this study for about two months now, and we're nearing the end of this study.

[00:05:24] But what I'd like to do is go back to Thursday's podcast.

[00:05:28] And on Thursday's podcast, I read an article that is found in my Bible, the Nelson Study Bible entitled Back to Baal.

[00:05:38] And I brought up three points that I'd like to review prior to beginning our lesson for today.

[00:05:44] Number one, Baal was the most important deity in the Canaanite pantheon.

[00:05:52] Baal worship was very, very common in the land of Canaan.

[00:05:58] Point number two, God is the only living God.

[00:06:02] And throughout the course of this study, God revealed himself to the Israelite people.

[00:06:09] And every once in a while, he would just kind of like poke his head out and say,

[00:06:13] Here I am. Here I am. Remember me?

[00:06:16] This is what you should be doing.

[00:06:18] But they would not listen to him.

[00:06:21] And point number three, Baal's favor was gained through sympathetic magic in the form of ritual prostitution.

[00:06:31] And I have mentioned this on a number of occasions in this study.

[00:06:37] But something about shrine prostitutes and having them available to have illicit sex during Baal worship was intriguing to many people.

[00:06:51] And they succumbed and fell into that type of activity.

[00:06:56] And it was kind of hard to get away from that.

[00:07:00] Because it would feel good, at least temporarily, during that particular service.

[00:07:06] But what we're going to do today is we're going to complete the 12th chapter.

[00:07:11] And there's only three verses, but I'm going to go over a particular point with each verse.

[00:07:18] So let's begin.

[00:07:19] Chapter 12, verse 12.

[00:07:22] Jacob fled to the country of Syria.

[00:07:25] Israel served for a spouse and for a wife he tended sheep.

[00:07:31] Now friends, here we are going back to the book of Genesis.

[00:07:37] And Jacob had a twin brother named Esau.

[00:07:40] Now Isaac loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

[00:07:47] So when Isaac was at an old age and he felt he was ready to go, that Rebekah had Jacob trick his father into giving him Esau's rightful birthright.

[00:08:03] And he did not belong to Esau.

[00:08:04] But he did not belong to Esau.

[00:08:05] Esau was the older brother.

[00:08:06] He should have gotten the double portion, the double blessing.

[00:08:10] But Rebekah prepared a feast for her husband.

[00:08:16] She knew that he would like this feast.

[00:08:19] And so she convinced Jacob to put on hairy garments so he would smell and feel like his brother Esau.

[00:08:31] And when he went in, the father said,

[00:08:34] Hey, who are you?

[00:08:37] And he said, I am your son Esau.

[00:08:41] And he deceived him.

[00:08:43] He literally lied.

[00:08:44] And after he had completed his stew, after he gave him his blessing, then Esau came in and asked for the blessing.

[00:08:54] And Isaac said, Oh, my gosh, what have I done?

[00:08:58] And when Esau found out what Jacob had done, Jacob didn't feel he had any choice but to flee.

[00:09:07] And that's what they're talking about here.

[00:09:09] So he fled to the country of Syria.

[00:09:12] And it says Israel served for a spouse and for a wife he tended sheep.

[00:09:18] Now, many of you know this story, but basically he ended up working seven years for his future wife, Rachel.

[00:09:26] And as it turned out, the night he was supposed to get Rachel, Laban deceived him.

[00:09:32] And instead of giving him Rachel, he gave him Leah, her older sister.

[00:09:37] And so he ended up having to work seven more years for Rachel.

[00:09:43] That is a wonderful story.

[00:09:45] But he ended up actually working for him about 20 years before returning.

[00:09:51] Let's look at verse 13.

[00:09:53] By a prophet, the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt.

[00:09:57] And by a prophet, he was preserved.

[00:10:01] So here we're talking about Moses, who was probably the greatest prophet who ever lived outside of Jesus.

[00:10:10] Usually in the Bible, when we talk about prophets, we talk about Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel, the three great prophets.

[00:10:18] But Moses also was a prophet and was probably greater than any of those three.

[00:10:25] But Moses was the person that God chose to bring his people Israel out of the land of Egypt, where they had been in bondage for over 400 years.

[00:10:37] Let's go to verse 14.

[00:10:54] So here in the first part where it says Ephraim provoked him, they're talking about God.

[00:11:00] So Ephraim, and a lot of times when they say Ephraim, they're representing the entire country of Israel.

[00:11:09] So he's saying that Israel provoked God to anger most bitterly.

[00:11:14] Now, friends, I would like to go over the commentary for verses 12 through 14.

[00:11:20] It says God had always protected his people.

[00:11:23] He protected Jacob when he had to flee for his life to a foreign land.

[00:11:28] And I just went over that story.

[00:11:30] He used Moses to bring Israel out of Egypt and preserve the people on their way to the promised land.

[00:11:38] And that, of course, was the land of Canaan that God had promised his people.

[00:11:44] And Israel's ingratitude made evident by its sin, angered the Lord and made judgment inevitable.

[00:11:54] So God was so angry, he felt he didn't have any choice except to judge his people for what they had done.

[00:12:03] Now, friends, before we close today, I'd like to go back to our proverb of the day.

[00:12:08] And we are in Proverb 28.

[00:12:11] And my verse of the day was verse 6.

[00:12:15] And verse 6 said,

[00:12:17] Better is the poor who walks in his integrity than one perverse in his ways, though he be rich.

[00:12:27] And, friends, it's more important that we have integrity than whether we are rich or whether we are poor.

[00:12:36] Let's listen to the commentary for verse 6 in my Bible.

[00:12:41] The Proverbs balance their words on poor and rich people.

[00:12:46] They do not assume that godliness leads to wealth or that wealthy people are necessarily godly.

[00:12:55] As this proverb points out,

[00:12:58] sometimes we must choose between doing good and getting rich.

[00:13:05] And, friends, to me, that's an easy choice.

[00:13:09] We are always to do good.

[00:13:12] You know, if you get rich but it is at the expense of breaking the law or doing something illegal,

[00:13:19] it's not going to be worth it.

[00:13:22] Most of the time you probably are going to be found out.

[00:13:25] And a lot of times you may end up going to jail for that.

[00:13:29] Friends, it simply isn't worth it.

[00:13:31] We need to be good.

[00:13:33] We need to do good.

[00:13:34] And we need to do only good.

[00:13:37] That is who God is.

[00:13:39] And we should try to emulate God in all we do.

[00:13:43] So my call to action today is really pretty simple.

[00:13:48] I want to read this commentary again for verse 6.

[00:13:52] It says,

[00:13:53] The Proverbs balance their words on poor and rich people.

[00:13:56] They do not assume that godliness leads to wealth or that wealthy people are necessarily godly.

[00:14:03] As this proverb points out,

[00:14:05] sometimes we must choose between doing good and getting rich.

[00:14:10] And that's my question to you.

[00:14:12] If you have a choice, are you going to do good?

[00:14:17] Or is it more important for you that you become rich?

[00:14:24] Friends, an easy choice.

[00:14:26] But not that easy.

[00:14:28] Because money is an enticement.

[00:14:31] And many people will do many, many things for money.

[00:14:36] I want you to think about it.

[00:14:38] And do not be deceived that God is not mocked.

[00:14:43] Whatsoever you sow, that shall you also reap.

[00:14:48] Friends, remember that everything we do has consequences.

[00:14:52] Do the right thing every single time.

[00:14:55] Friends, I will never end a podcast without giving anyone an opportunity to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

[00:15:03] If there's anyone listening today and you've never taken that step,

[00:15:07] I invite you to repeat a simple prayer after me today.

[00:15:11] Father God, thank you for sending your son Jesus to earth.

[00:15:15] Jesus, thank you that you came to earth and were willing to die on a cross for everyone listening to this podcast today.

[00:15:23] Jesus, I believe that you are the Son of God.

[00:15:26] And by dying on that cross, all of my sins have been forgiven.

[00:15:30] Jesus, thank you for forgiving me of my sins.

[00:15:34] However, Jesus, I still need your help.

[00:15:37] I ask that you come into my heart.

[00:15:39] I make you my Lord and Savior.

[00:15:43] Friends, if you said that prayer, you are now a member of the family of God.

[00:15:48] Welcome to the family.

[00:15:50] Now, may the Lord bless you and keep you.

[00:15:54] The Lord maketh they shine upon you and be gracious to you.

[00:15:58] The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

[00:16:04] Friends, tomorrow is Testimony Day.

[00:16:08] Please join me and a special guest as we further explore wisdom today.

[00:16:14] I'll see you next time.