Cause and Effect | Hosea
By Rev. Jeremiah Cheung
From Hosea Chapter 10:9-15
10:9 Since the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, Israel, and there you have remained. Will not war again overtake the evildoers in Gibeah? 10When I please, I will punish them; nations will be gathered against them to put them in bonds for their double sin. 11Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh; so I will put a yoke on her fair neck. I will drive Ephraim, Judah must plow, and Jacob must break up the ground. 12Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you. 13But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception. Because you have depended on your own strength and on your many warriors, 14 the roar of battle will rise against your people, so that all your fortresses will be devastated—as Shalman devastated Beth Arbel on the day of battle, when mothers were dashed to the ground with their children. 15So will it happen to you, Bethel, because your wickedness is great. When that day dawns, the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.
The principle of cause and effect (sowing and reaping) is relevant not only in the agricultural world but also in the moral world. Everything we do has consequences because, while God is loving, He is also just. Does there seem to be a contradiction between these two attributes of God?
The prophet explains these two aspects of God by recounting history.
The story begins with a crime in Hosea 10:9: “Since the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, Israel”. Here, Hosea refers to an incident that took place in the era of the judges. Men of Gibeah raped a woman until she died and this act led to a civil war. The tribe of Benjamin was almost wiped out in that war, yet the men of Gibeah still did not learn from history and continued in their sin. Is it any surprise that their actions brought on God’s judgment?
But God is a God of mercy, and He calls them to repentance in Hosea 10:12: “Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.” God wanted them to reclaim the unplowed ground and await his return. This was not any ordinary unplowed ground; it was a metaphor for their hearts, which were sinful and hardened. God wanted them to repent and sow righteousness in their hearts, so that they may reap love. This is the law of cause and effect. We reap what we sow.
Sadly, the men did not heed God’s call. Hosea 10:13 says, “But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception. Because you have depended on your own strength and on your many warriors.” They planted wickedness and reaped evil instead.
Ultimately, God announced what their end will be in Hosea 10:15: “So will it happen to you, Bethel, because your wickedness is great. When that day dawns, the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.”
Church, God cannot be mocked. We must fear Him, we cannot live heedlessly thinking that our deeds and words have no consequences. Let us sow much righteousness, that we may also reap much goodness.
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因與果 | 何西亞書
張國強牧師
何西亞書 10:9-15
10:9 以色列阿, 你從基比亞的日子以來, 時常犯罪; 你們的先人曾站在那裡, 現今住基比亞的人以為攻擊罪孽之輩的戰事臨不到自己。10我必隨意懲罰他們, 他們為兩樣的罪所纏, 列邦的民必聚集攻擊他們。11以法蓮是馴良的母牛犢, 喜愛踹榖, 我卻將軛加在牠肥美的頸項上, 我要使以法蓮拉套, 猶大必耕田, 雅各必耙地。12你們要為自己栽種公義, 就能收割慈愛, 現今正是尋求耶和華的時候,你們要開墾荒地, 等他臨到, 使公義如雨降在你們身上。13你們耕種的是奸惡, 收割的是罪孽, 喫的是謊話的果子, 因你倚靠自己的行為, 仰賴勇士眾多, 14所以在這民中必有鬨嚷之聲, 你一切的保障必被拆毀, 就如沙勒幔在爭戰的日子拆毀伯亞比勒, 將其中的母子,一同摔死。15因他們的大惡, 伯特利必使你們遭遇如此, 到了黎明, 以色列的王必全然滅絕。
因果論不單影響了植物界, 生命界, 也影響了道德界, 我們所作的一切都必會有結果的, 神是公義的, 慈愛的, 但二者在神裡是不是有矛盾的。
先知何西亞從歷史講起, 10:9 以色列阿, 你從基比亞的日子以來, 時常犯罪。基比亞早發在士師時代, 他們強暴婦女至死, 結果引發了內戰, 便雅憫支派差點就滅亡了, 但現在基比亞人仍沒有從歷史中學習了教訓, 他們繼續犯罪, 如果當然是帶來神的審判。但神是憐憫的神, 神呼籲他們要悔改; 10:12 你們要為自己栽種公義, 就能收割慈愛, 現今正是尋求耶和華的時候,你們要開墾荒地, 等他臨到, 使公義如雨降在你們身上。神要他們要開墾荒地, 等他臨到, 這當然不是指普通的荒地, 這是指他們的心田, 他們的心是剛硬的, 是犯罪的, 神要他們悔改, 在他們的心栽種公義, 這樣他們才能收割慈愛, 這是因果的定律, 我們種什麼? 我們也收什麼?
但他們卻不是如此, 10:13 你們耕種的是奸惡, 收割的是罪孽, 喫的是謊話的果子, 因你倚靠自己的行為, 仰賴勇士眾多。他們種的是奸惡, 結果他們收割的是罪孽。最後神宣告他們的結果: 10:15 因他們的大惡, 伯特利必使你們遭遇如此, 到了黎明, 以色列的王必全然滅絕。
教會, 神是輕慢不得的, 我們要敬畏祂, 我們不能隨便, 我們所行所言會帶來結果的, 讓我們多種善因, 也能多收善果。