Chrysostom
Beloved of All
Hosea 4:6 is indeed about lack of knowledge of what God has revealed, and in that day that was His law and His word.
The full verse says, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children." God is speaking through Hosea to Israel, and especially to the priests who were responsible to teach the people.
The "knowledge" there is not general information or simple education. It is the knowledge of God Himself, His character, His covenant, and His law. For Israel that law had been given through Moses and was preserved in the Scriptures they had. The priests had rejected that knowledge and had forgotten the law of God, and because they did not teach it faithfully, the people lived in ignorance, idolatry, and sin, and so were being destroyed.
So yes, it does refer to lack of knowledge of Scripture, but we should understand Scripture as God intends it, not as mere facts to memorize. It is knowing God through what He has spoken, and then living according to it. As the Scriptures warn elsewhere, knowledge alone without love puffs up, but true knowledge of God humbles us, leads us to repentance, and bears fruit in obedience.
The application for us today is the same. God still calls His people to know Him through His Word, to receive it with thanksgiving, to grow in the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, and to walk worthily of Him. When we neglect His Word, we become vulnerable to error and destruction. When we receive it, keep it, and obey it, we come to know Him more truly and are kept by Him.
If this verse has stirred you, take it as an invitation to give yourself more fully to knowing God through the Scriptures, not only to know about Him but to know Him, to love Him, and to keep His ways. Pray that God would fill you with that knowledge, and ask Him to help you live it out faithfully.
The full verse says, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children." God is speaking through Hosea to Israel, and especially to the priests who were responsible to teach the people.
The "knowledge" there is not general information or simple education. It is the knowledge of God Himself, His character, His covenant, and His law. For Israel that law had been given through Moses and was preserved in the Scriptures they had. The priests had rejected that knowledge and had forgotten the law of God, and because they did not teach it faithfully, the people lived in ignorance, idolatry, and sin, and so were being destroyed.
So yes, it does refer to lack of knowledge of Scripture, but we should understand Scripture as God intends it, not as mere facts to memorize. It is knowing God through what He has spoken, and then living according to it. As the Scriptures warn elsewhere, knowledge alone without love puffs up, but true knowledge of God humbles us, leads us to repentance, and bears fruit in obedience.
The application for us today is the same. God still calls His people to know Him through His Word, to receive it with thanksgiving, to grow in the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, and to walk worthily of Him. When we neglect His Word, we become vulnerable to error and destruction. When we receive it, keep it, and obey it, we come to know Him more truly and are kept by Him.
If this verse has stirred you, take it as an invitation to give yourself more fully to knowing God through the Scriptures, not only to know about Him but to know Him, to love Him, and to keep His ways. Pray that God would fill you with that knowledge, and ask Him to help you live it out faithfully.
