The Hunger and Thirst for Unrighteousness

The Hunger and Thirst for Unrighteousness

Text: Hosea 4:7-13 Date: 5-10-26

1. The appetite for more wickedness (Hosea 4:7-9)

Prosperity should have led to a greater thankfulness and worship toward God. Instead, the people’s prosperity led to their downfall.

The priests had taken the wonderful honor of serving God and exchanged it for the dishonor of serving idols.

The priests eat up the sin of the people. The picture is that of the priests taking advantage of the sins of the people and becoming full off of them (Lev. 6:24-30). They were either stealing the sin offering or abusing the privilege of helping with it.

The very people responsible for leading the people to God and teaching righteousness were themselves encouraging sin so they could make a profit. Truly, these leaders had an appetite for wickedness. Does this sound familiar? Money, greed, gluttony, and material possessions have become the unquenchable desires of many religious leaders.

When the common person saw the priest doing wrong, it served to embolden them in their own wickedness. The more wickedness by the people, the more the priests reaped a harvest of fraudulent and unethical people.

2. The aftermath of a wasted life (Hosea 4:10-13)

• Disobedience (4:10)

The priests and people engaged in gluttony and prostitution but didn’t gain anything from it. They were not filled, and the population did not increase. Why? Because they failed to take heed of the Lord and His ways.

Application: This demonstrates the foolishness of idol worship. Blessings will never come to a nation that chooses idolatry over God.

The nation’s abandonment of God in pursuit of idols ranks as one of the most worthless experiences known to mankind.

• Deceitful hearts (4:11)
• Devotion to false gods (vs. 12-13)

Not only did the people and priests engage in gluttony, prostitution, and excessive consumption of wine, but they also sought counsel from idols made of wood.

Instead of keeping God’s commandments, the nation forsook the Lord, refused to obey Him, and fell in love with stone and wood gods. They allowed their infatuation with idols and love for wine and sex to guide their lives. They lived a life of deceitfulness where they trusted these fleeting things to fill a vacuum in their hearts. In the end, it led to wasted lives. Only obeying and faithfully following the true and living God can fill the void in our heart, satisfy our hungry soul, and fill us with overflowing joy and peace.

Truth: Let us remember that: “The amazing love of God will not let us go, will not let us down, and will not let us off”.[1] My people, God calls them in 4:6 and 12. While God’s heart remained broken, He waited patiently for repentance. And the same is true today. He is eagerly waiting for all to repent and come to the knowledge of God. (Acts 17:30)

Lessons for us today:

• Forsaking God and pursuing a life of gluttony, promiscuity, drunkenness, and worship of inanimate objects does not bring about lasting satisfaction.
• “Faithfulness toward God always results in faithfulness to the most sacred ties of earth” (Feinberg 29).
• Sin will never fill the void in your life. Only God can do that.
• Stemming the tide of national unrighteousness can only begin when we personally hunger and thirst for righteousness in our daily lives.
• Consider the things you do each day, what you think about, and how you spend your time. Acknowledge your deep need for God and His righteousness, and desperately seek Him alone.

[1] Phillips, J. (2009). Exploring the Minor Prophets: An Expository Commentary (Ho 4:6–14). Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp.