God Says I Will Not Punish Prostitution and Adultery

Hosea 4:14
“I will not punish your daughters
when they turn to prostitution,
nor your daughters-in-law
when they commit adultery,
because the men themselves consort with harlots
and sacrifice with shrine prostitutes —
a people without understanding will come to ruin!

New Living Translation
But why should I punish them for their prostitution and adultery? For your men are doing the same thing, sinning with whores and shrine prostitutes. O foolish people! You refuse to understand, so you will be destroyed

If you do not understand the context of this title you may rush to a false conclusion and think that prostitution and adultery are now permissible. However the context of our key text today helps us understand the truthfulness of that title. God through Hosea warns Israel against idolatry and other sins.

Israelites were disobedient to God. They sinned against God in many ways. Then the men who wanted to stop the immorality of their daughters, daughters-in-law, and spouses would threaten them that God will punish them. They did not do it because they loved God or were faithful to God but because they wanted to use God to achieve their own ends.

God responds in our text today by telling them that I will not punish prostitution and adultery. God tells the men that, He will not act on their prayers and wishes because they themselves were engaged in prostitution and adultery. If God were to act, He would be biased to punish the women and spare the men. God says to them I will not act on your behest. God says I will not punish prostitution and adultery!

The prostitution of the women was hurting the men. They selfishly wanted to be immoral while the women remained moral. They were unable to catch their spouses in the act so that they can punish them. They now resorted to seeking God’s help. They asked God to punish the immoral women. They wanted God to side with them. God refused because they too were doing the same thing. God says I will not punish prostitution and adultery!

If God punishes prostitution and adultery He will punish both men and women and not even at the request of the other. God did punish them by sending them to Assyrian exile. God does not run our errands. God does not hurt and punish people to meet our needs and desires. If God punishes anyone it is in His own interest. God refused to punish immoral women at the request of immoral men. God says I will not punish prostitution and adultery!

Government leaders who steal money cannot go to a prayer meeting, prayer breakfast, and places of worship and ask God to stop corruption and punish corrupt people. God refuses to be used to punish political enemies. God says if I punish I punish both and not one-sided. God says I will not punish prostitution and adultery!

A thief who loses anything will not get God’s help to catch the thief who stole from him/her. If you cheat on your spouses you will never catch them cheating even when you are too close to evidence or sure about it. God will not assist one guilty party to frustrate or punish the other guilty party. If you engage in racism and tribalism, the day it hurts you, do not ask God to punish the perpetrators yet you are one of them. God says I will not be biased or be used to settle scores between sinners. God says I will not punish prostitution and adultery!

If you get articles like this one online then you edit and remove author’s name so that it looks like you are the writer, then you share it as if it is your work, you are a thief, God will not help you when what belongs to you is stolen. If your spouse’s cheating hurts you, stop cheating before asking God to help stop your spouse. If corruption hurts you, quit corruption and restore stolen wealth before asking God to punish the corrupt. If tribalism/racism hurts, stop and reverse what you have done, before asking God to deal with the discriminating persons. If violence hurts, stop being violent. If abuse is painful, do not abuse others. It is only under the circumstances of your innocence and dedication to God, that God can intervene to help you.

This was the message of Jesus to those who caught a woman in the act of adultery, John 8:7. I will not help you settle scores for you too are guilty. Jesus told them to stone the woman if they were innocent of the same adultery. No one stoned the woman. Jesus refused to be used to side with men who were adulterous but were pretending to be better than the woman. God says I will not punish prostitution and adultery!

You should not stop sinning so that God punishes a person or people for you, no. God can read your heart and He would not do that. You must truly be converted and even willing to forgive. You must be converted because you love God and want to serve God. Your motivation should be God’s love and not using God to catch and punish your offenders. God can read your motives and will not accept to be used by you. God says I will not punish prostitution and adultery!

Job 31:9
“If my heart has been enticed by a woman,
or if I have lurked at my neighbor’s door,
Job 31:10
then may my wife grind another man’s grain,
and may other men sleep with her.

New Living Translation
“If my heart has been seduced by a woman, or if I have lusted for my neighbor’s wife,
then let my wife serve another man; let other men sleep with her.

Contemporary English Version
If I have desired someone’s wife and chased after her,
then let some stranger steal my wife from me.

Good News Translation
If I have been attracted to my neighbor’s wife, and waited, hidden, outside her door,
then let my wife cook another man’s food and sleep in another man’s bed.

Job 31:9-10 cited above is a sharp message from Job. He applies the same principle that what he has done to others should happen to him. The warning today is that God will not be partial. God will not act as our hireling who punishes people on our behalf and leave us doing the same thing yet unpunished. God says I will not punish prostitution and adultery just to manage your spouse for you, as you continue in the same act. I am not a biased God. God says I will not punish prostitution and adultery!

What is happening to us is what we have done to others. Many times the worst we go through and have not been protected against are the very things we have made others go through. What you make others go through, you will go through without protection, no prayer will change the situation, Jeremiah 7:16 and Jeremiah 11:4, God will respond and say, I won’t punish your tormentors. This is a sharp call to live right, do right and be right with God, perhaps He will come to our rescue. May God help us in Jesus’ name, Amen!

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