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.
Hosea 4 opens God's charge against Israel, and the charge begins with ignorance. The verse answers in kind: they threw away knowledge, so God refuses them priestly nearness; they forgot His law, so He forgets their children.
The charge behind the ruin
The chapter opens with God's complaint: the land has no truth, no mercy, no knowledge of God. One writer separates two cases here — knowledge that bears no fruit, and knowledge you can see in how a person lives.
William KellyIt is worth noting this. A hypocrite or a theorist may have some knowledge that bears no good fruit. But in people who are simple and real, you cannot separate the knowledge of God from holy and righteous ways, just as evil in practice goes with ignorance of God.
Knowledge that shows itself in obedience
So the knowledge Israel lacked was never a matter of storing facts.
J. N. DarbyYou cannot separate the true knowledge of divine things from godliness. Only a godly nature — obedient, and dependent on God by grace — desires or understands them. "If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know whether the teaching is from God." … In Israel it came more in the form of law. But the principle is always true: real knowledge is the knowledge of God. There is no way to separate true knowledge from a state that owns God for what He is — obedience and dependence on Him.
Rejected, not simply missing
The people did not simply lack knowledge. They threw it away.
Other AuthorsMeanwhile the prophet has to mourn over this lack of knowledge: "There is no truth… nor knowledge of God in the land" (Hosea 4:1). This was the cause of all the trouble. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." They had "rejected knowledge" (Hosea 4:6).
The refusal had hardened to the point where correction could no longer reach them:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinProtest was useless, because they deliberately rejected the knowledge of Jehovah; they hated rebuke.
"No priest to me"
Commentators differ over who exactly loses priesthood here. One reading holds that the whole nation, not a professional class, is in view — the words are addressed to "my people."
William KellyThe true meaning seems to be Israel's loss of their place of nearness to God as His people (Ex. 19). It is not about priests of Aaron's line who might indulge irregular worship or turn a blind eye to sin. The question is not about individuals but about "my people"… We will hear about the priests soon. Here it is the people.
So Israel loses a glory God had promised them. The verse then turns to the priests:
J. N. DarbyIsrael is rejected from being a nation of priests to Jehovah — a glory which had been promised them (Ex. 19). This brings in the judgment of the official priests. They took pleasure in the sins of the people, so that they could grow rich on their sacrifices. The proverb "Like people, like priest" proved true in them.
Why priestly nearness needs knowledge
Why should lost knowledge cost them priestly nearness? One writer points to what coming near to God asks of a person.
Other AuthorsTo draw near to God in a way that gives Him pleasure, you must know Him, and you must learn what pleases Him. Over the years it became clear that Israel found no pleasure in knowing God.
The same loss, still being suffered
One writer applies the verse far beyond Israel, to God's people today.
H H SnellPeople today know a great deal of the Bible, and are familiar with its facts and details. Yet we can truly say that the children of God are suffering much through "lack of knowledge." … God's people lose a great deal through lack of knowledge of Christ… Many seem to think the highest blessing they can know here is present forgiveness of sins. As a result, they become entangled with much that is against the Lord's mind, and harmful to their own souls.
The way back
Hosea does not leave the matter at rejection.
Other AuthorsBut when repentance is worked in them, and they are raised up and live before God, then they will know. They will "follow on to know the Lord" (Hosea 6:3). They will learn that this pleases God more than anything else: "the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings" (Hosea 6:6).
Summary
- Cause — One root explains Israel's collapse: no knowledge of God in the land. Everything else grows from it.
- Choice — The knowledge was there, and they refused it. They hated rebuke, so correction could no longer reach them.
- Cost — Rejecting knowledge cost them priestly nearness, the glory promised in Exodus 19. No one draws near to God without knowing what pleases Him.
- Contagion — The rot ran through every level. "Like people, like priest" — the priests grew rich on the people's sins.
- Cure — Repentance wins back what refusal lost. Israel will "follow on to know the Lord," and God values that above sacrifice.