Resource Detail

2026 Hosea Lesson 4

THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD

Hosea 4:1-5:7

Key Verse: 4:6

1. What problems does God point out in the society of Israel (4:1-2)? What consequences of sin do you see for individuals and for society as a whole (4:3-10)? What steps of the pattern can you observe?
2. What does God mean by “my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge” (4:6)? What kind of “knowledge” is in view here—information about God, personal relationship with God, or covenant faithfulness? What is one step of obedience you can take to know God?
3. What does “a spirit of prostitution” mean (4:11-13)? How does God describe Israel’s stubbornness (4:14-16)? Why is God’s command to Judah, “leave him alone,” important (4:17-19)?
4. Why does God hold the leaders especially responsible for the people’s sin (5:1-2)? What does it mean that “their deeds do not permit them to return to their God” (5:3-5)? Why does God say He will withdraw from people (5:6-7)?

2026 New Year Message Juan Seo (Feb 15, 2026)

THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD

Hosea 4:1-5:7

Key Verse 4:6

My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.

I have an opening question: Who would you most want to meet? Taylor Swift? LeBron James? Lionel Messi? Warren Buffett? A few years ago, a private lunch with Warren Buffett was auctioned for charity. Do you know how much someone paid? About 19 million dollars just for lunch. Why would someone pay that much money for a meal? Because they believe it’s worth it. They think one conversation with Warren Buffett could change their lives. I don’t have 19 million dollars. And even if I did, I wouldn’t spend that money just to have lunch with Warren Buffett. Because there is someone far more important that I need to know. That someone is God. That someone is Jesus. When we want to meet Jesus, we don’t have to pay 19 million dollars. We don’t even have to pay one dollar. We can come to Jesus freely. But at the same time, knowing God may cost us everything. There is nothing more valuable in this world than knowing God. After I met Jesus personally, there was a season when I wrote a Daily Bread reflection every single day. And at the top of my reflection notes, I wrote two questions: “Who is God?” “Who is Jesus?” If we know who God is, if we truly know who Jesus is, our lives will begin to make sense.

Today’s passage teaches us about the importance of knowing God. The setting is a courtroom. God stands as the prosecutor, bringing charges against Israel. And at the same time, God is the judge who will declare the final verdict. If you’ve ever watched a trial—even on TV—you know how it works. First, the prosecutor announces the charges. Then he presents the evidence. After that, there’s an argument and a response. Finally, the judge—or sometimes a jury—delivers the verdict: guilty or not guilty. And if the defendant is found guilty, the judge announces the sentence. The elements of trial are described in this passage. What are the charges God brings against Israel? What evidence does God present? What is the sentence God declares? But even more importantly, I want us to wrestle with one key question: Why did Israel walk away from God in the first place? We can find the answer in this passage.

When we read chapter 4, verses 1 and 2 carefully, we can see exactly what God is charging Israel with in this courtroom scene. There are three sins of omission—things they failed to do—and then five specific sins they actually committed. Look at verse 1. “Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites, because the Lord has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: ‘There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land.’” What is the charge God is bringing against them? Notice the three “no’s.” “No faithfulness.” “No love.” And “no acknowledgment of God.”

So what does “no faithfulness” mean? Faithfulness is about a responsible, committed relationship between two people. It means loyalty. Steadiness. Integrity. Keeping your word. It’s the attitude of someone who stays true—who doesn’t change when circumstances change. We often use this word in the context of marriage. A husband is called to be faithful to his wife. A wife is called to be faithful to her husband. It means you don’t give your heart to someone else. You don’t break your vows. You remain loyal. That’s why faithfulness is such an important word in our relationship with God. The relationship between God and His people is based on the covenant. God promised to protect His people, to provide for them, and to bless them. The people of Israel promised to love the Lord their God with all their heart, with all their soul, and with all their strength. They promised to worship God alone. And throughout Israel’s history, God proved Himself faithful. Even when the people of Israel failed, God kept His word. But what happened to the people of Israel? They broke the covenant. They turned away from God. They worshiped idols. They ran after other gods. They committed spiritual adultery. Faithfulness, the foundation of their relationship with God, had collapsed. Therefore, God says, “There is no faithfulness in the land.”

Now let’s look at the second charge: “no love.” The word translated “love” here is the Hebrew word hesed—חֶסֶד. We’ve studied this word before. It can be translated as love, mercy, kindness. It carries the idea of steadfast love, unfailing love, covenant love. God loves His people based on the covenant relationship. Because He promised to love people, He faithfully carries out that love. That’s why hesed is closely connected to faithfulness. God’s love is not just feelings—it’s committed, loyal, promise-keeping love. A covenant involves mutual responsibility. Both sides are expected to keep their word. If one side breaks the covenant, technically, the other side is no longer obligated to continue. And Israel broke the covenant. So God had every right to walk away, saying, “The covenant is over.” But he didn’t. Instead, God continued to act in covenant love. That’s hesed. Love that remains committed even when the other side fails. But what about Israel? The people did not reflect that covenant love toward God. The loyalty was gone. The mercy was gone. The kindness was gone. The relational commitment was gone. So, God brings this second charge: “There is no love in the land.”

Now we come to the third thing that was missing: “no acknowledgment of God.” In Hebrew, the word here is da’at—דַּעַת. The main meaning of that word is “knowledge.” The NIV translates it as “acknowledgment,” but other translations like the NRSV, ESV, and NASB translate it as “knowledge.” So what is God really charging them with? He’s saying, “There is no knowledge of God in the land.” This is not about the intellectual information of God. In the Bible, “knowledge of God” means relational knowledge. It means knowing God personally—recognizing who God is. Israel still had religious activity. They still had rituals. But they didn’t truly know God. They didn’t live in an intimate relationship with Him. They didn’t recognize God as Lord in their daily lives. In fact, Hosea 4:6 says it even more directly: “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.” That verse is key for us today. So I’m going to come back to this later in the sermon and go much deeper into what it really means to know God—and what happens when that knowledge is missing.

So far, we’ve talked about the three things Israel had lost: no faithfulness, no love, and no knowledge of God. Now in verse 2, God moves from what’s missing to what’s present. Look at verse 2. “There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.” Five specific sins are listed here: cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and adultery. And every one of them directly violates the Ten Commandments. “Cursing” can also be translated as “swearing falsely.” It refers to misusing God’s name. That connects to the third commandment: “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.” God’s holy name was being treated casually, dishonestly, even manipulatively. “Lying” violates the ninth commandment: “You shall not give false testimony.” Truth had collapsed in their society. They could no longer trust one another. “Murder” breaks the sixth commandment: “You shall not murder.” “Stealing” violates the eighth commandment: “You shall not steal.” “Adultery” breaks the seventh commandment: “You shall not commit adultery.” Marriage—the covenant between husband and wife—was being dishonored. The Ten Commandments were the foundation of their covenant relationship with God. And that foundation was being openly violated. They were tearing apart the relationship with God.

And underneath all of this, the most serious sin of all was idolatry. Do you remember what the first two of the Ten Commandments are? The first is: “You shall have no other gods before me.” The second is: “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.” Israel broke both of those commandments. Verses 10–11 say they “have deserted the Lord to give themselves to prostitution.” That word “prostitution” is not just about physical immorality. In the Bible, it's a spiritual language. It means abandoning the covenant relationship with God and giving your heart to idols. It’s spiritual adultery. Instead of loving the Lord, they loved the gods of Canaan—Baal and Asherah. Instead of trusting the Lord, they trusted idols for security, prosperity, and protection. When they faced problems, they didn’t consult God. Verse 12a says, “My people consult a wooden idol, and a diviner’s rod speaks to them.” Can you imagine that? The “diviner’s rod” was a tool used in pagan practices to try to discern the will of a false god. They trusted idols more than they trusted the living God. They treated a stick of wood as more reliable than the Word of the Lord. Verse 12b says they were led astray by “a spirit of prostitution.” It describes an internal condition. Their hearts were already bent away from God. There was a spiritual prostitution inside them—a mindset that preferred idols over the Lord. Verse 13 tells us they “sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills.” They worshiped under oak, poplar, and terebinth trees—places associated with Canaanite worship. These were high places. Their idolatry wasn’t hidden. It was public. It was popular. So this wasn’t just private confusion. It was national apostasy. And here’s the tragedy: they were still religious. They still offered sacrifices. They still had rituals. But the object of their worship had changed. They had replaced the living God with idols.

If we stop trusting God and start trusting the things of this world, we are being led by that same “spirit of prostitution.” Idolatry is giving our ultimate trust, love, and dependence to something other than God. For example, if we believe that we can live a truly happy life without God—if we think, “As long as I succeed, make good money, build my career, and become respected or famous, I’ll be fine”—that’s idolatry. Because we’re saying success can save me. Money can secure me. Reputation can satisfy me. Or what if we trust powerful people more than we trust God? If we believe that our future depends more on political leaders, bosses of workplaces, or influential networks than on God—that reveals where our real trust is. If we constantly run to pleasure for comfort—alcohol, entertainment, gaming, pornography, shopping, social media—if those things are where we seek peace, escape, or identity more than in God, that is spiritual adultery.

Now let’s talk about the consequences. When Israel abandoned God and ran after idols, did their lives become better? Were they happier? More secure? Absolutely not. Maybe there was temporary pleasure. Sin often gives that. Idolatry can feel exciting at first. It promises prosperity, fertility, protection, and success. But in the end, it always leads to destruction. Verse 3 says the land “dries up,” and “all who live in it waste away.” Even “the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea are swept away.” It’s describing environmental collapse, economic hardship, and social decay. When the covenant is broken, even creation suffers. Their daughters turned to prostitution, and their daughters-in-law committed adultery (13). The nation became corrupt (5:3). Their deeds were evil (5:4). Chapter 5, verse 5 says they “stumble” day and night. That means instability. They thought idols would make them strong—but they became weak. They thought idols would secure their future—but their society began to collapse. They thought idols would satisfy—but they ended up empty.

Now let’s think about God’s judgment. In the setting of the courtroom, after the charges are presented and the evidence is clear, the verdict comes. In 4:6b, God says, “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.” Rejection meets rejection. They rejected God—and now they are rejected by God. In 4:9, God says, “I will punish them for their ways and repay them for their deeds.” God is responding righteously. He is giving them over to the results of their own actions. In verse 17, God says, “Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone!” God is saying, “If you insist on holding onto your idols, I will give you over to them.” Sometimes judgment is God stepping back and allowing us to go the way we insist on going. In 5:6, God says, “When they will go with their flocks and herds to seek the Lord, they will not find him; he has withdrawn himself from them.” They would still perform religious rituals. They would still bring sacrifices. But God says, “You will not find Me.” Why? Because their hearts were far from Him.

Now let’s take a closer look at our central questions. Why did Israel end up in such a miserable condition? Why did everything collapse—spiritually, morally, socially? Let’s read Hosea 4:6a together. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” That verse gives us the root cause. The deepest reason Israel fell into idolatry and judgment was a lack of knowledge. And this is not general knowledge. Hosea is talking about the knowledge of God. So what does “knowledge of God” really mean? In the Bible, knowledge is not intellectual understanding, but relational, personal, and experiential. The Hebrew word for knowledge is da’at. It doesn’t mean knowing facts about someone—it means knowing someone in a relationship. You can know facts about Taylor Swift or LeBron James. You can know their birthdays, their achievements, and their biography. But you don’t actually know them. In the same way, it’s possible to know Bible stories or theology, but still you don’t know God. To know God means to experience God, have a deep relationship with God, and recognize who He truly is—His holiness, His mercy, His authority. It means trusting Him, fearing Him, loving Him, and obeying Him.

James I. Packer, a British evangelical theologian, wrote a classic book titled Knowing God. In his book, he makes a powerful distinction between knowing God and knowing about God. He famously says that a little knowledge of God is worth more than a great deal of knowledge about God. You can study theology. You can articulate doctrines. You can explain difficult theological concepts. And yet, you may not know God. Packer describes what it looks like when someone truly knows God. First, those who know God have great energy for God. Second, those who know God have great thoughts of God. Third, those who know God show great boldness for God. Fourth, those who know God have great contentment in God. Then Packer asks the practical questions: How can we know God? He says, first of all, we must recognize how much we lack knowledge of God. If we think we already know God enough, we stop seeking God. Second, we must listen to God’s Word and receive it as the Holy Spirit interprets it, in application to ourselves. Third, we must accept God’s invitations and do what He commands. Fourth, we must recognize and rejoice in the love that God has shown in drawing us into the divine fellowship with Him. He says that knowing God is a matter of a personal relationship with God. Knowing God is not a one-time event. It is a lifelong pursuit.

Hosea’s warning is clear: “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge of God.” If we don’t know God personally and experientially, everything else in our lives eventually becomes unstable. We may succeed outwardly, but inwardly we will be restless. We may appear strong, but spiritually we will be fragile and easily fall into sin. We may be religious, but we will not have faith in Christ. So, the real question is this: “Do you truly know God?” May God help us to know Him deeply in our personal relationship with Him. Amen.