Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”
The “lack of knowledge” is a cyclic plague for the “people” of God; because, while they are born of the Spirit, they still have their carnal nature lurking within them, and without “knowledge” of “the word of the LORD” (Hosea 4:1), they soon fall into error and then comes destruction. The United States of America is not a theocracy, but she is founded upon the Holy Word of the “Creator”, the Lord God Almighty; particularly the Bible’s Commandments for morality, integrity, and brotherly kindness. She is not perfect, because she is made up of carnal beings, but her “Creator” is Perfect and, out of the abundance of His grace and mercy, He perpetually redirects her in the direction of perfection. When the Lord’s “people” quit reading and studying the Word of God, destruction lies just before them. When “people” neglect the Word of God, they are a “people” without a compass to direct them, and they fumble headlong in the direction of destruction. I am astonished at how many people have virtually no “knowledge” of the Word of God. The absence of “knowledge” of the Word of God creates a vacuum in the people’s mind and the devil rushes in to fill it with vanity, corruption, and immorality, which leads them headlong into destruction. To reject the “knowledge” of God’s “word” is to reject Him as our Lord and Master and King and High Priest and Savior. Therefore, He plainly tells us that, “because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me”! That is, you will not have access “to me”; as He told Jeremiah, “for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble” (Jeremiah 11:14). He further emphasized the peril of rejecting the “knowledge” of His “word”, telling them and us that “seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children”; that is, your rejection of the “knowledge” of His “word” will severely imperil your children as they try to make their way in life. Such lack of “knowledge” leads to “swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood” (Hosea 4:2). Furthermore, the “lack of knowledge” leads to this: “Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.” (Hosea 4:3). Some scoff as they did in Biblical times, some angerly reject the “word”, and some think it doesn’t apply to them. Nevertheless, let us take heed to Jeremiah’s exhortation to the “people”, “If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove.” (Jeremiah 4:1). Let us prayerfully resolve to read the Word of God, share it with all who are interested, and faithfully attend the Lord’s Church where the Word is preached; all the while kindly exhorting those who have so little “knowledge” of the Word of God. Thankfully the Lord tells us “I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.” (Romans 11:4) and “Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.” (Isaiah 1:9; Romans 9:29)!