Double Unemployment

“I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your forefathers as the earliest fruit of the fig tree in its season.  But they came to Baal-peor and devoted themselves to shame, and they became as detestable as that which they loved.” Hosea 9:10  NASB

Devoted – The tragedy of unemployment is not financial duress.  It is the experience of fruitlessness.  That’s why welfare is so debilitating.  It robs a man of genuine productiveness.  It makes him a taker rather than a giver.  From the Hebraic perspective, no man remains human without purposeful production.  Unemployment steals a man’s soul.  But there is another kind of unemployment that is even worse.  That is the fruitlessness that comes from productive effort in the wrong direction.

Hosea is the prophet of our age as well as the age of Israel’s captivity.  Hosea reveals to Israel (and to us) that human effort alone is not sufficient to achieve God’s blessing.  As a nation, Israel was productive.  God rescued Israel and granted Israel the blessing of abundance.   But that national energy was turned toward something sinister at Baal-peor.  Unless you know the story of Numbers 25, you will not know the purpose of Hosea’s words.  At Baal-peor, men of Israel entered into sexual relationships with women of Moab and, as a result, pledged themselves to the gods of these women, making sacrifices to the Baal (“Lord”) of Peor.  YHWH brought a plague upon Israel as punishment.  Through the unhesitating but violent action of Phinehas, the plague was curtailed.  There is a lot to read between the lines in this account in Number 25, but the point that Hosea makes is this:  this was no seductive accident.  These men devoted themselves to their pursuit of lust and, as a result, inherited shame – a shame that became a permanent part of Israel’s history.  They were fruitlessly productive.  They put a lot of effort into the wrong things.

The Hebrew verb used here is nazar.  It is a niphal construction.  That is like one of our verb tenses.  In this case, it means that the action was reflexive.  They brought upon themselves shame through their acts of devotion.  Devotion is a good thing when it is applied to the correct object, but the same action can become the means of national tragedy and unending humiliation.  God tells Israel that He discovered wonderful attributes in them.  They were like grapes in the wilderness (a very unexpected but pleasant surprise) and the early figs (a great delicacy).  In spite of God’s careful instruction and His unwavering concern, Israel committed adultery, both physically and spiritually.  Israel could have devoted itself to God but instead Israel devoted itself to the pursuit of sexual desire.  The word that describes this apostasy is also the basis of the word that describes a Nazarite vow, a full-blown consecration to God-directed living.

We might conclude that this is just a reference to the history of Israel and it doesn’t apply to us.  We aren’t Jewish, so what does this matter?  But that would be a mistake.  Baal-peor is part of the history of all who attach themselves to YHWH, just as Hosea’s warning is a part of our adopted history.  More importantly, Baal-peor and Hosea remind us that the true value of devotion and consecration is not the effort expended but the object of the effort.  Our world is filled with devotion to the baals and with enticements to follow after those who offer themselves on behalf of the “lords” of life.  We may not lie down with Moabite women, but that does not diminish our pursuit of pleasure or our dedication to power.  We are surrounded, just as Israel was surrounded, by appeals to enter into liaisons with other objects of devotion.  And the result is always the same – shame – shame for us, shame for posterity.

To be employed in the service of the King is more than being fruitful.  It is being fruitful with godly purpose, with holy passion.  Anything less is lust for Baal.

Topical Index:  nazar, devotion, employment, Number 25, Baal-peor, Hosea 9:10