The prophet Hosea had an urgent message for the people of Israel: the LORD had a bone to pick with Israel. “Swearing, lying, and murder, and stealing and adultery break out; bloodshed follows bloodshed…” (Hosea 4:2). Israel was tearing itself apart. The damage was so great and the crisis so grave that the land was being destroyed; even the fish of the sea and the birds of the air were dying (Hosea 4:3). But Hosea was not content with describing the symptoms of the crisis that had fallen upon Israel. He wanted to penetrate deeper to identify the root causes of the illness that was afflicting his people.
The fundamental accusation Hosea made was that there was no faithfulness—no "rock-solid reliability"--in Israel; there was no loyalty to the LORD; and there was no knowledge of God in the land (Hosea 4:1). The people of Israel were adrift, blown in every direction with every breeze that came their way; unsure of their identity, ignorant of their covenantal commitments to the LORD and to each other; and fundamentally lacking in any deep knowledge of God. Their faith, such as it was, was superficial.
Yet the prophet still was not satisfied with this message because he had not yet identified the real source of the problem. He goes on, “…with you is my contention, O priest…My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children” (Hosea4: 4, 5, 6).
The priests had primary responsibility for teaching the people of Israel the requirements of their covenant relationship with God. They were responsible for teaching Israel about the character of God and the implications this had for their worship and their life together. They were responsible for instructing Israel in the need for a single-minded devotion to the LORD and for a deep love and concern for their neighbour. But they had failed!
As Hosea saw it, and as he described the situation as God’s spokesperson, Israel was crumbling fundamentally because the religious leadership had failed in their primary responsibility: to teach Israel who they were called together to become. They had failed to teach Israel the responsibilities of the covenant. They had failed to teach Israel about the character of their God. Yes, the priests kept the religious show on the road by tending to the sacrifices and public assemblies. But in their primary task of teaching Israel about its heritage as recipients of God’s gracious deliverance from Egyptian slavery, God’s provision in the wilderness, and God’s offer of the covenant relationship, the priests had failed miserably. Now Israel was paying the price for that failure.
There is a resounding warning for the Church in the words of Hosea. One of the fundamental failures of church leaders is the failure to teach Christians about God, about our relationship with God, about the foundations of the Christian faith, about the requirements of our relationship with our neighbours, and about simple right and wrong. The feebleness of our teaching of the Bible is at the centre of this malaise. The superficiality of Christian knowledge of God is stifling.
But I don’t want to lay the ultimate responsibility for this at the feet of individual clergy alone. For over the past decades there has been a trend in the preparation of clergy for ordination to reduce the required instruction in the Christian faith—and especially in the Bible—prior to setting them loose on congregations. Two or three or four courses focused on the Bible prior to ordination simply is not enough! Clergy released with such a paucity of Bible instruction have little reserve on which to draw when they encounter the relentless pressure of preaching weekly and of teaching their congregation what Hosea would call the “knowledge of God.” They aren't able help us hear the Word of God afresh with power and conviction. They aren't able to help us stand apart from the cultural assumptions that shape us—even when they are fundamentally at odds with the Gospel. Instead, they are reduced to using “canned” sermons and serving pop psychology seasoned with a sprinkling of pious mush rather than the solid food of the Gospel. Is it little wonder that the Church is in decline? A steady diet of the latest ill-prepared serving of fast food is not sufficient to feed the hungry souls of Christians. No wonder so many of us are listless, out of shape spiritually, and unable to find our way through the challenges of life.
Those who have leadership of the Church have a responsibility to ensure that their clergy have more—not less—instruction in the core elements of the Christian faith, and especially in the Scriptures. Practical skills are great; a mission focus is necessary; but without a strong foundation in the fundamentals of the “knowledge of God,” they are all for naught. The Church will not be able to muster the resources of faithfulness, loyalty or the knowledge God that are necessary to live with integrity as Christians in this complex twenty-first century world. We just need to read Hosea to see where that is leading us.
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