unfaithfulness – Dancing In The Kingdom

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom – Chapter 9 – The Prophets and writings

Lament and Anger

[Bible references: Isaiah 1:2-20; 10:5-11; 13:1-22; 15:1-16:22; Isaiah 10:5-11; 66:24; Micah 5:10-15; Hosea 11:1-9; Luke 19:41-44]

God’s response to Israel’s unfaithfulness through the prophets was to lament. His lamenting included calls for Israel to repent and turn back to Him and was usually followed by anger and a promise to root out, pull down and destroy Israel or any other nation around Israel that was involved in sin.^[1] Sometimes God used other nations to discipline Israel but that was usually followed with threats to those same nations for their own behavior.[2]

^[1] Ex: Prophecy against Assyria (Isaiah 10:5-11), Babylon (Isaiah 13,), Moab (Isaiah 15-16) and others

[2] Enter the Bible, “Isaiah 1:29 – God’s Lament” Enter the Bible enterthebible.org/passage/isaiah-12-9-gods-lament; Banbury, Rosalind. “God Laments” Presbyterian Outlook pres-outlook.org/2021/03/horizons-8-god-laments/

Reflect

How does knowing God’s attitude towards sin affect our attitudes?

Observe

Read Hosea 11:1-9. What hope is expressed in the lament?

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom – Chapter 9 – The Prophets and writings

Challenging Unfaithfulness

[Bible references: Deuteronomy 16:18-20; 2 Chronicles 29:6; Isaiah 1; 56:1; Jeremiah 5:31; 28; Hosea 1:2; Amos 9:1-15; Zechariah 7]

Sometimes the prophet’s warnings would be not just for the kings but for everyone in the kingdom. The messages from the prophets often mixed the foretelling of the consequences for rejecting God with the hope that God will someday make things right. The most common offense cited by the prophets was the people’s lack of justice and the uselessness of their ritual sacrifices when they ignored justice. There were also diatribes against false prophets and against making idols. The most common metaphor used to describe Israel’s unfaithfulness to God and his commands was prostitution, even to the point where one prophet, Hosea, was told to marry an adulterous woman to be a visible reminder for Israel.

Observe

Read Zechariah 7. What words of warning are given to the people who were not faithful to God?