◄ Hosea 4:4 ►
But let no man contend; let no man offer reproof; for your people are like those who contend with a priest.
Study Bible
But let no man contend
The Hebrew word for "contend" is "riyb," which means to strive or argue. In the context of Hosea, this is a call to cease from arguing or disputing. Historically, Israel was in a state of moral and spiritual decline, and contention was rampant. The prophet Hosea, speaking on behalf of God, urges the people to stop their fruitless arguments. This is a reminder that human disputes often distract from divine truth and righteousness. In a conservative Christian perspective, this can be seen as a call to unity and peace within the body of Christ, avoiding unnecessary quarrels that can lead to division.

let no man offer reproof
The term "reproof" comes from the Hebrew "yakach," which means to correct or rebuke. In this passage, the admonition is against offering correction, not because correction is inherently wrong, but because the people are in such a state of rebellion that they are unreceptive to it. This reflects a time when the Israelites were resistant to God's guidance. From a conservative viewpoint, this serves as a cautionary tale about the hardness of heart that can develop when people persistently reject divine instruction. It underscores the importance of being open to correction and the wisdom of God.

for your people are like those who contend with a priest
The phrase "contend with a priest" highlights a serious breach of respect and order. Priests in ancient Israel were God's appointed mediators, responsible for teaching the law and guiding the people in worship. To contend with a priest was to challenge God's established authority. This reflects a deep-seated rebellion against divine order. In a conservative Christian context, this can be seen as a warning against challenging or undermining spiritual authority that is aligned with God's Word. It emphasizes the need for humility and submission to God's ordained leadership within the church.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Hosea
A prophet in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, Hosea's ministry was marked by his call to speak against the spiritual adultery and idolatry of Israel. His life and message were a reflection of God's steadfast love and the call to repentance.

2. Israel
The Northern Kingdom, often referred to as Ephraim in Hosea, was in a state of moral and spiritual decline, having turned away from God to worship idols.

3. Priests
In the context of Hosea, the priests were meant to be spiritual leaders and mediators between God and the people. However, they had become corrupt and were leading the people astray.

4. Contending
The act of arguing or disputing, which in this context refers to the people's resistance to correction and their contentious nature, even against those appointed by God.

5. Reproof
A term indicating correction or rebuke, which the people of Israel were rejecting, showing their hardened hearts and unwillingness to return to God.
Teaching Points
The Danger of Contention
Contending with God's appointed leaders is a sign of spiritual rebellion. We must be cautious not to resist godly correction and guidance.

The Role of Spiritual Leaders
Priests and pastors are called to lead with integrity. When they fail, it can lead to widespread spiritual decay. We should pray for and support our leaders in their calling.

The Importance of Reproof
Accepting correction is vital for spiritual growth. We should cultivate a heart that is open to God's reproof through His Word and His messengers.

Spiritual Accountability
Just as Israel was accountable for their actions, we too are accountable to God. We must examine our lives regularly and seek to align with His will.

The Consequences of Rebellion
Rebellion against God leads to spiritual and moral decline. We must strive to remain obedient and faithful to His commands.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the attitude of contending with a priest in Hosea 4:4 reflect the spiritual state of Israel, and what can we learn from this about our own attitudes towards spiritual authority?

2. In what ways can we ensure that we are open to reproof and correction in our spiritual lives, and how does this align with the teachings in Proverbs about wisdom and correction?

3. How can the failures of the priests in Hosea's time serve as a warning for spiritual leaders today, and what steps can be taken to maintain integrity in ministry?

4. Reflect on a time when you resisted correction. What was the outcome, and how might embracing reproof have changed the situation?

5. How does the concept of spiritual accountability in Hosea 4:4 connect with the New Testament teachings on the body of Christ and mutual edification?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Deuteronomy 17:12
This verse warns against contending with a priest, emphasizing the seriousness of rebelling against God's appointed leaders.

Malachi 2:7-8
Highlights the role of priests as messengers of the Lord and the consequences when they fail in their duties, similar to the situation in Hosea.

1 Samuel 15:23
Speaks to the sin of rebellion, equating it with divination, and highlights the importance of obedience to God over sacrifice.
Sermons
Restraint of Converting AgenciesHosea 4:4
The Lord's ControversyJ. Orr Hosea 4:1-5
The Lord's LawsuitC. Jerdan Hosea 4:1-5
A Terrible DeprivationD. Thomas Hosea 4:3-5
People
Hosea
Places
Beth-aven, Gilgal, Jezreel
Topics
Accuse, Bring, Charge, Charges, Contend, Contention, Fault, Law, None, O, Offer, Priest, Protests, Reproof, Reprove, Strive, Striving, Yet
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Hosea 4:3

     4266   sea
     4642   fish
     6142   decay
     7785   shepherd, occupation

Hosea 4:1-3

     5201   accusation
     7259   promised land, later history
     8764   forgetting God

Hosea 4:2-3

     4029   world, human beings in

Library
'Let Him Alone'
'Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.'--HOSEA iv. 17. The tribe of Ephraim was the most important member of the kingdom of Israel; consequently its name was not unnaturally sometimes used in a wider application for the whole of the kingdom, of which it was the principal part. Being the 'predominant partner,' its name was used alone for that of the whole firm, just as in our own empire, we often say 'England,' meaning thereby the three kingdoms: England, Scotland, and Ireland. So 'Ephraim' here …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Life, as Amplified by Mediaeval Biographers.
1. His Early Years.--Ephraim, according to this biography, was a Syrian of Mesopotamia, by birth, and by parentage on both sides. His mother was of Amid (now Diarbekr) a central city of that region; his father belonged to the older and more famous City of Nisibis, not far from Amid but near the Persian frontier, where he was priest of an idol named Abnil (or Abizal) in the days of Constantine the Great (306-337). This idol was afterwards destroyed by Jovian (who became Emperor in 363 after the …
Ephraim the Syrian—Hymns and Homilies of Ephraim the Syrian

Instruction for the Ignorant:
BEING A SALVE TO CURE THAT GREAT WANT OF KNOWLEDGE, WHICH SO MUCH REIGNS BOTH IN YOUNG AND OLD. PREPARED AND PRESENTED TO THEM IN A PLAIN AND EASY DIALOGUE, FITTED TO THE CAPACITY OF THE WEAKEST. 'My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.'--Hosea 4:6 ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. This little catechism is upon a plan perfectly new and unique. It was first published as a pocket volume in 1675, and has been republished in every collection of the author's works; and recently in a separate tract. …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Beth-El. Beth-Aven.
Josephus thus describes the land of Benjamin; "The Benjamites' portion of land was from the river Jordan to the sea, in length: in breadth, it was bounded by Jerusalem and Beth-el." Let these last words be marked, "The breadth of the land of Benjamin was bounded by Jerusalem and Beth-el." May we not justly conclude, from these words, that Jerusalem and Beth-el were opposite, as it were, in a right line? But if you look upon the maps, there are some that separate these by a very large tract of land, …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

Of Orders.
Of this sacrament the Church of Christ knows nothing; it was invented by the church of the Pope. It not only has no promise of grace, anywhere declared, but not a word is said about it in the whole of the New Testament. Now it is ridiculous to set up as a sacrament of God that which can nowhere be proved to have been instituted by God. Not that I consider that a rite practised for so many ages is to be condemned; but I would not have human inventions established in sacred things, nor should it be …
Martin Luther—First Principles of the Reformation

"For the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus Hath Made Me Free from the Law of Sin and Death. "
Rom. viii. 2.--"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." You know there are two principal things in the preceding verse,--the privilege of a Christian, and the property or character of a Christian. He is one that never enters into condemnation; He that believeth shall not perish, John iii. 15. And then he is one that walks not after the flesh, though he be in the flesh, but in a more elevate way above men, after the guiding and leading …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Epistle cxxi. To Leander, Bishop of Hispalis (Seville).
To Leander, Bishop of Hispalis (Seville). Gregory to Leander, Bishop of Spain. I have the epistle of thy Holiness, written with the pen of charity alone. For what the tongue transferred to the paper had got its tincture from the heart. Good and wise men were present when it was read, and at once their bowels were stirred with emotion. Everyone began to seize thee in his heart with the hand of love, for that in that epistle the sweetness of thy disposition was not to be heard, but seen. All severally …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

That the Ruler Relax not his Care for the Things that are Within in his Occupation among the Things that are Without, nor Neglect to Provide
The ruler should not relax his care for the things that are within in his occupation among the things that are without, nor neglect to provide for the things that are without in his solicitude for the things that are within; lest either, given up to the things that are without, he fall away from his inmost concerns, or, occupied only with the things that are within bestow not on his neighbours outside himself what he owes them. For it is often the case that some, as if forgetting that they have …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

The Prophet Amos.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. It will not be necessary to extend our preliminary remarks on the prophet Amos, since on the main point--viz., the circumstances under which he appeared as a prophet--the introduction to the prophecies of Hosea may be regarded as having been written for those of Amos also. For, according to the inscription, they belong to the same period at which Hosea's prophetic ministry began, viz., the latter part of the reign of Jeroboam II., and after Uzziah had ascended the …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Seasonable Counsel: Or, Advice to Sufferers.
BY JOHN BUNYAN. London: Printed for Benjamin Alsop, at the Angel and Bible in the Poultry, 1684. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. THIS valuable treatise was first published in a pocket volume in 1684, and has only been reprinted in Whitfield's edition of Bunyan's works, 2 vols. folio, 1767. No man could have been better qualified to give advice to sufferers for righteousness' sake, than John Bunyan: and this work is exclusively devoted to that object. Shut up in a noisome jail, under the iron hand of …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Joy
'The fruit of the Spirit is joy.' Gal 5:52. The third fruit of justification, adoption, and sanctification, is joy in the Holy Ghost. Joy is setting the soul upon the top of a pinnacle - it is the cream of the sincere milk of the word. Spiritual joy is a sweet and delightful passion, arising from the apprehension and feeling of some good, whereby the soul is supported under present troubles, and fenced against future fear. I. It is a delightful passion. It is contrary to sorrow, which is a perturbation …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

The Third Commandment
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: For the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.' Exod 20: 7. This commandment has two parts: 1. A negative expressed, that we must not take God's name in vain; that is, cast any reflections and dishonour on his name. 2. An affirmative implied. That we should take care to reverence and honour his name. Of this latter I shall speak more fully, under the first petition in the Lord's Prayer, Hallowed be thy name.' I shall …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

The Doctrine
OF THE LAW AND GRACE UNFOLDED; OR, A DISCOURSE TOUCHING THE LAW AND GRACE; THE NATURE OF THE ONE, AND THE NATURE OF THE OTHER; SHOWING WHAT THEY ARE, AS THEY ARE THE TWO COVENANTS; AND LIKEWISE, WHO THEY BE, AND WHAT THEIR CONDITIONS ARE, THAT BE UNDER EITHER OF THESE TWO COVENANTS: Wherein, for the better understanding of the reader, there are several questions answered touching the law and grace, very easy to be read, and as easy to be understood, by those that are the sons of wisdom, the children …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

The Prophet Hosea.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. That the kingdom of Israel was the object of the prophet's ministry is so evident, that upon this point all are, and cannot but be, agreed. But there is a difference of opinion as to whether the prophet was a fellow-countryman of those to whom he preached, or was called by God out of the kingdom of Judah. The latter has been asserted with great confidence by Maurer, among others, in his Observ. in Hos., in the Commentat. Theol. ii. i. p. 293. But the arguments …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Hosea
The book of Hosea divides naturally into two parts: i.-iii. and iv.-xiv., the former relatively clear and connected, the latter unusually disjointed and obscure. The difference is so unmistakable that i.-iii. have usually been assigned to the period before the death of Jeroboam II, and iv.-xiv. to the anarchic period which succeeded. Certainly Hosea's prophetic career began before the end of Jeroboam's reign, as he predicts the fall of the reigning dynasty, i. 4, which practically ended with Jeroboam's …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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