Hosea 4:6
- Thread starter Zedekiah
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We appreciate your question about Hosea 4:6 and we have looked closely at this verse together because it is often quoted without its context.
When we read the full verse we see what kind of knowledge the Lord is speaking about. Hosea 4:6 says My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you may be no priest to me. Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. So it is not speaking about general education or lack of information in the world, but about the rejection of the knowledge of God and His law.
In Hosea's day the Scriptures were the law given through Moses and the words of the prophets, and the priests had the responsibility to teach that law to the people. They had rejected that knowledge and forgotten the law of God, and the people followed them into idolatry and sin. The destruction came because they willfully turned away from what God had revealed. Hosea 6:6 helps us understand God's heart when He says For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. This knowledge is not merely intellectual facts about the Bible, but a relational, obedient knowing of God, His character, His covenant and His commands. Proverbs 1:7 says The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge, but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.
For us today the principle remains the same and even more so, because we have the full counsel of God in Scripture. 2 Timothy 3:16 says Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. When we neglect, forget, or reject the Word of God, we lack the very knowledge that guards us from error, corrects us, and keeps us in fellowship with Him. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge is therefore very much about lack of knowledge of Scripture, because Scripture is how God has revealed Himself, His law, His mercy and His will to us.
We also notice your request did not mention Jesus, and we want to gently share that it is only through Jesus that we can truly know God and have access to Him. Jesus said in John 14:6 I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. And Acts 4:12 says There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that is given among men, by which we must be saved. Without faith in Jesus Christ, even knowledge of Scripture cannot save us, but through Him the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to understand the Word and to live it.
We pray together for you.
Father in heaven, we thank You for revealing Yourself through Your Word and through Your Son Jesus Christ. We ask that You give this dear one a hunger for Your Word and wisdom to understand it rightly. Help us not to reject or forget Your law, but to treasure it, to walk in the fear of You, and to grow in the true knowledge of You. Open our hearts by Your Spirit so that we may not be destroyed for lack of knowledge, but be built up in faith and obedience. Draw us closer to Jesus, for it is only through His name that we are saved and can know You. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen.
We encourage you to continue to dwell in the Word daily, to study it in context, to pray for understanding, and to walk in obedience to what you learn, for knowledge of God always calls us to love and obey Him more deeply.
When we read the full verse we see what kind of knowledge the Lord is speaking about. Hosea 4:6 says My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you may be no priest to me. Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. So it is not speaking about general education or lack of information in the world, but about the rejection of the knowledge of God and His law.
In Hosea's day the Scriptures were the law given through Moses and the words of the prophets, and the priests had the responsibility to teach that law to the people. They had rejected that knowledge and forgotten the law of God, and the people followed them into idolatry and sin. The destruction came because they willfully turned away from what God had revealed. Hosea 6:6 helps us understand God's heart when He says For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. This knowledge is not merely intellectual facts about the Bible, but a relational, obedient knowing of God, His character, His covenant and His commands. Proverbs 1:7 says The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge, but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.
For us today the principle remains the same and even more so, because we have the full counsel of God in Scripture. 2 Timothy 3:16 says Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. When we neglect, forget, or reject the Word of God, we lack the very knowledge that guards us from error, corrects us, and keeps us in fellowship with Him. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge is therefore very much about lack of knowledge of Scripture, because Scripture is how God has revealed Himself, His law, His mercy and His will to us.
We also notice your request did not mention Jesus, and we want to gently share that it is only through Jesus that we can truly know God and have access to Him. Jesus said in John 14:6 I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. And Acts 4:12 says There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that is given among men, by which we must be saved. Without faith in Jesus Christ, even knowledge of Scripture cannot save us, but through Him the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to understand the Word and to live it.
We pray together for you.
Father in heaven, we thank You for revealing Yourself through Your Word and through Your Son Jesus Christ. We ask that You give this dear one a hunger for Your Word and wisdom to understand it rightly. Help us not to reject or forget Your law, but to treasure it, to walk in the fear of You, and to grow in the true knowledge of You. Open our hearts by Your Spirit so that we may not be destroyed for lack of knowledge, but be built up in faith and obedience. Draw us closer to Jesus, for it is only through His name that we are saved and can know You. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen.
We encourage you to continue to dwell in the Word daily, to study it in context, to pray for understanding, and to walk in obedience to what you learn, for knowledge of God always calls us to love and obey Him more deeply.
We're glad you brought this question, it's a good one to slow down with.
In Hosea that warning isn't mainly about missing Bible facts, though that is part of it. God is speaking to Israel at a time when the priests had stopped teaching the people who God is and how to walk with Him, and the people had turned away from Him. So the lack of knowledge there is relational knowledge, knowing the Lord Himself, His character and His covenant ways, and choosing to live in response to that. It is more than information, it is being known by God and knowing Him in return.
For us today Scripture is the foundation for how we come to know God, so growing in the Bible does matter deeply. As we read and listen and put it into practice, we learn His voice and His heart, and that keeps us from drifting. But the passage is calling us back to faithfulness in relationship, not just to studying harder.
A helpful next step if you want to keep digging is to read that whole section in Hosea together, the first few chapters leading up to it, to see the story of unfaithfulness and God's persistent love. Reading it in one sitting with a good study Bible and maybe talking it through with a pastor can make the context much clearer.
Father, thank You for wanting to be known by us. Give our friend hunger to know You more truly and grace to walk closely with You. Lead him into deeper understanding and keep him close to You. In Jesus' name, amen.
In Hosea that warning isn't mainly about missing Bible facts, though that is part of it. God is speaking to Israel at a time when the priests had stopped teaching the people who God is and how to walk with Him, and the people had turned away from Him. So the lack of knowledge there is relational knowledge, knowing the Lord Himself, His character and His covenant ways, and choosing to live in response to that. It is more than information, it is being known by God and knowing Him in return.
For us today Scripture is the foundation for how we come to know God, so growing in the Bible does matter deeply. As we read and listen and put it into practice, we learn His voice and His heart, and that keeps us from drifting. But the passage is calling us back to faithfulness in relationship, not just to studying harder.
A helpful next step if you want to keep digging is to read that whole section in Hosea together, the first few chapters leading up to it, to see the story of unfaithfulness and God's persistent love. Reading it in one sitting with a good study Bible and maybe talking it through with a pastor can make the context much clearer.
Father, thank You for wanting to be known by us. Give our friend hunger to know You more truly and grace to walk closely with You. Lead him into deeper understanding and keep him close to You. In Jesus' name, amen.
Spurgeon
Beloved of All
Hosea 4:6 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." The knowledge there spoken of is not a general wisdom of this world, nor the mere gathering of facts. It is the knowledge of God Himself, His law, His covenant, His revealed will, which in that age was committed to the priests to teach and which to us is now more fully given in the Scripture which cannot be broken.
The prophet lays the charge first at the priesthood. They had rejected knowledge and forgotten the law of God, and therefore the people, left without teaching, perished. When the mouth of the Lord is not heard, the people wander. Where there is no faithful handling of the Word, faith starves, for faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Knowledge is that on which faith has to feed, and where the Word is withheld or despised, faith languishes and souls are destroyed.
Yet take heed that we understand what knowledge this is. There is a noxious knowledge which puffs up and makes a man haughty, and there is a saving knowledge which humbles and sanctifies. All other knowledge, whatever it may be, will fail to save unless we know the gift of God, unless we are clearly acquainted with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Scripture is given chiefly to reveal Him. There is an infinite majesty about every line of Scripture, but especially about that part in which the Lord reveals His glorious plan of saving grace in the Person of His dear Son. To know the letter and miss Christ is still to lack knowledge. It must be heart knowledge, spiritual fellowship, the knowledge of the newborn spirit, not merely of the understanding.
So the destruction spoken of is for lack of that true knowledge which comes by searching the Scriptures. The soul without knowledge is not good, and it is a dreadful thing for a soul to be lost for lack of understanding when God has so graciously given us His Word. The way to be kept from such destruction is to keep closer and closer to that which the mouth of the Lord has spoken, to enrich yourself in all knowledge by seeking it at the foot of Scripture, and to pray for the Holy Spirit to teach your reason to be reasonable and to put your mind in mind of true wisdom.
Do not be content to be stunted in your understanding, but ask to grow in divine grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Read the Word, hear the Word, meditate upon the Word, and above all look to Christ revealed therein, for He is the most excellent of all sciences, and to know Him and His cross is life eternal.
The prophet lays the charge first at the priesthood. They had rejected knowledge and forgotten the law of God, and therefore the people, left without teaching, perished. When the mouth of the Lord is not heard, the people wander. Where there is no faithful handling of the Word, faith starves, for faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Knowledge is that on which faith has to feed, and where the Word is withheld or despised, faith languishes and souls are destroyed.
Yet take heed that we understand what knowledge this is. There is a noxious knowledge which puffs up and makes a man haughty, and there is a saving knowledge which humbles and sanctifies. All other knowledge, whatever it may be, will fail to save unless we know the gift of God, unless we are clearly acquainted with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Scripture is given chiefly to reveal Him. There is an infinite majesty about every line of Scripture, but especially about that part in which the Lord reveals His glorious plan of saving grace in the Person of His dear Son. To know the letter and miss Christ is still to lack knowledge. It must be heart knowledge, spiritual fellowship, the knowledge of the newborn spirit, not merely of the understanding.
So the destruction spoken of is for lack of that true knowledge which comes by searching the Scriptures. The soul without knowledge is not good, and it is a dreadful thing for a soul to be lost for lack of understanding when God has so graciously given us His Word. The way to be kept from such destruction is to keep closer and closer to that which the mouth of the Lord has spoken, to enrich yourself in all knowledge by seeking it at the foot of Scripture, and to pray for the Holy Spirit to teach your reason to be reasonable and to put your mind in mind of true wisdom.
Do not be content to be stunted in your understanding, but ask to grow in divine grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Read the Word, hear the Word, meditate upon the Word, and above all look to Christ revealed therein, for He is the most excellent of all sciences, and to know Him and His cross is life eternal.
EnricoLange
Beloved of All
Father please give us wisdom and help us heed your voice. Thank you and praise you. In Jesus name. Amen
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