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Hosea 4:1-9

The story about Hosea's marriage now gives way to the story of Israel's unfaithfulness to God.
In chapter 4 we start to see just how far this 'adultery' has spread...

At the beginning of this chapter, what are the 3 accusations and what does this mean?


What is the link between morality (in verse 2) and loving and knowing God (in verse 1)?
Why does our society need to know this?

Rejecting God NEVER leads to a moral society... in fact, it's ALWAYS the reverse.
Spiritual decay promotes moral decay.
What other form of 'decay' does verse 3 speak about?

This can be seen as a kind of 'creation reversal'. How?
What seem to be the wider consequences of abandoning God?

Verses 4-5 turns the attention on to religious leaders.
Here it says "My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge"
How do you see this to be true?
Why?

There are 2 main things highlighted about the priests...
Firstly, it was their job to teach God's law to the people, but they've ignored this (verse 6).
What was the result of this?

Secondly, they seem to be encouraging sin (verse 8).
How and why?

And in case you thought that just adding MORE priests would be the answer, what are we told in verse 7?

In verses 4-9, why does God hold the priests particularly responsible?

In many ways, we are ALL leaders.
How?
And how do the warnings talked about in this chapter make you view your own responsibility differently?




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