Hosea 4:6

Hosea 4:6

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.

a. NLT: My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me. Since you priests refuse to know me, I refuse to recognize you as my priests. Since you have forgotten the laws of your God, I will forget to bless your children.

b. NIV: my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.

c. YLT: Cut off have been My people for lack of knowledge, Because thou knowledge hast rejected, I reject thee from being priest to Me, And thou forgettest the law of thy God, I forget thy sons, I also!

d. Amplified Bible Classic: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you [the priestly nation] have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you that you shall be no priest to Me; seeing you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.

e. Septuagint: My people are like as if they had no knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt not minister as priest to me: and [as] thou has forgotten the law of thy God, I also will forget thy children.

f. Stone Edition Torah/Prophets/Writings: My people have been eliminated for lack of knowledge; for you have spurned knowledge, and I will spurn you from serving Me; and as you have forgotten the Torah of your God, I, too, will forget your children.

1. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…”

a. My people [5971 * `am] [Strong: from 6004; a people (as a congregated unit); specifically, a tribe (as those of Israel); hence (collectively) troops or attendants; figuratively, a flock:--folk, men, nation, people.]

b. are destroyed [1820 * damah] [Gesenius: to be silent, to be quiet, to rest, to cease, tomake an end, to lay waste, desolate, to be cut off, to perish.] [Strong: a primitive root; to be dumb or silent; hence, to fail or perish; trans. to destroy:--cease, be cut down (off), destroy, be brought to silence, be undone, X utterly.]

c. for lack of knowledge [1847 * da`ath] [Strong: from 3045; knowledge:--cunning, (ig-)norantly, know(-ledge), (un-)awares (wittingly).]

1). We need revelation knowledge.

a). 2 Peter 1:2, 3 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,

1:3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that [pertain] unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

(1) knowledge [1922 * epignosis] [Zodhiates: It is more intensive that gnosis, knowledge, because it expresses a more thorough participation in acquiring of knowledge on the part of the learner. In the NT, it often refers to knowledge which very powerfully influences the form of religious life, a knowledge laying claim to personal involvement.]

2). Believers are destroyed because of their ignorance and they are also led into captivity.

a). Isaiah 5:13 Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.

3). World Outreach Church Daily Devotional 1/21/14 Sometimes we try to discover how we can receive our healing when what we really need to do is find out why we got sick to begin with. If we can find the answer to that question, we can correct the problem and be healed. Why do Christians get sick? There are many different reasons, but a primary one is a lack of knowledge of God’s Word. Isaiah 5:13 says, “Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge.” The Amplified Bible says, “Therefore my people go into captivity [to their enemies] without knowing it and because they have no knowledge [of God].” Many people are bound up and taken captive by the enemy through sickness and disease. Yet they think their physical condition is God’s will because they don’t have knowledge of His Word. These people say, “I’m sick for the glory of God!” because they don’t know that Jesus paid the price for their healing. They don’t have knowledge of the Word, so they are taken captive—and they don’t even know it. But when you take hold of the Word in your heart, it transforms your life. You’re set free from the notion that God wants you sick for some purpose of His own, and you can receive the healing that rightfully belongs to you as a covenant child of God.

2. “…because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee…”

a. because thou hast rejected [3988 * ma'ac] [Strong: a primitive root; to spurn; also (intransitively) to disappear:--abhor, cast away (off), contemn, despise, disdain, (become) loathe(some), melt away, refuse, reject, reprobate, X utterly, vile person.]

b. knowledge [1847 * da`ath] [Strong: from 3045; knowledge:--cunning, (ig-)norantly, know(-ledge), (un-)awares (wittingly).]

1). Rejecting the knowledge of God will result in individual, family, and cultural corruption.

a). Roman 1:28-32 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

1:29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

1:30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

1:31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

1:32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

c. I will also reject thee [3988 * ma'ac] [Strong: a primitive root; to spurn; also (intransitively) to disappear:--abhor, cast away (off), contemn, despise, disdain, (become) loathe(some), melt away, refuse, reject, reprobate, X utterly, vile person.]

3. “…that thou shalt be no priest to me…”

a. thou shalt be no priest [3547 * kahan] [Strong: a primitive root, apparently meaning to mediate in religious services; but used only as denominative from 3548; to officiate as a priest; figuratively, to put on regalia:--deck, be (do the office of a, execute the, minister in the) priest('s office).

4. “…seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God…”

a. thou hast forgotten [7911 * shakach; or shakeach] [Strong: a primitive root; to mislay, i.e. to be oblivious of, from want of memory or attention:--X at all, (cause to) forget.]

b. the law [8451 * towrah; or torah] [Strong: from 3384; a precept or statute, especially the Decalogue or Pentateuch:--law.]

c. thy God [430 * 'elohiym] [Strong: plural of 433; gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative:--angels, X exceeding, God (gods)(-dess, -ly), X (very) great, judges, X mighty.]

1). Institute Of Creation Research Daily Devotional 8/24/2013 This lament over the ancient apostasy of Israel embodies an age-long principle which surely applies to those nations today which once professed Christianity but are now dominated by humanism. Our own nation is experiencing an awful scourge of moral anarchy among our children and young people, and the reason why is because their parents and grandparents have largely "forgotten the law of thy God." America—particularly its intellectual leadership—has "rejected knowledge," so its people are being "destroyed for lack of knowledge." This ignorance exists despite an abundance of supposed actual knowledge (i.e., "science") in our educational institutions, for such facts are almost universally taught in a secular context. Our teachers have forgotten that "the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge" (Proverbs 1:7). Even in evangelical and fundamentalist churches and schools today, there is often too little emphasis on knowledge and too much on experience. Christian faith is not "feeling"; it is volitional commitment to a true intellectual understanding of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish," said Christ (Luke 13:5). The Greek word for "repent" means "change your mind!" One can only believe right if he first thinks right, and this requires true knowledge. Listen again to Hosea's warning: "The LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy |i.e., 'kindness'|, nor knowledge of God in the land" (Hosea 4:1). "They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind" (Hosea 8:7). HMM