Guilty as charged - A lawsuit of love

Hosea 4 does not begin with comfort. He begins with a case. “Hear the word of the Lord,” he says, because the Lord has a “controversy” with the people in the land. This brings to mind the picture of a courtroom, where a lawsuit is being heard. This is the lawsuit of convenant infidelity between God and his people. The opening statement given by the “plaintiff” in this case the Lord himself: “There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land.”

As evidence, Hosea presents the following: there is swearing, lying, stealing, sexual betrayal, violence (bloodshed follows bloodshed). This is not merely a list of private moral failures. It is a picture of a society unraveling. The covenant has been forgotten, and the breakdown of this covenantal relationship with God leads to the breakdown of community. In the modern context, we see these sins plainly in the world around us.

Swearing and lying is not just crude speech, but the erosion of truth. In our digital age, misinformation spreads like wildfire. Public discourse is often marked by distortion and half-truths. No society is immune to scandals or quiet dishonesty.

Stealing may take a more sophisticated form today. There is corporate fraud, corruption, theft of intellectual property, tax evasion, exploitation of migrant labour – unjust profit built on the vulnerability of others. In relatively affluent society like ours, stealing can also be seen in consumer excess, taking more than we need when others lack what is basic.

Sexual betrayal is perhaps one of the most visible parallels to Hosea’s day. Israel’s spiritual adultery mirrored sexual unfaithfulness. In our time, many have taken liberties with the covenantal nature of physical intimacy that God designed for marriage. It may not always take the form of overt adultery. More often, it is quieter and subtler. Marriages can be strained when self-indulgence replaces self-giving love. The vows spoken before God can be eroded not only by infidelity, but by neglect — the inability or unwillingness to prioritise a spouse’s physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. In a high-pressure society like ours, long work hours, relentless ambition, and the pursuit of success can slowly displace the home. In such environments, the ground becomes fertile for broken trust and wounded families.

And then there is violence - “bloodshed follows bloodshed.” On a global scale we see war, ethnic conflict, terrorism, and deep political polarisation. Even where physical violence is rare, ‘relational violence’ persists: cyber bullying, harsh speech, cancel culture, dehumanising rhetoric.

The defendant in this lawsuit of convenant infidelity is not ‘everyone’. Hosea was speaking to God’s covenant people. This matters deeply for us in Singapore. Today’s Christians in Singapore must ask ourselves uncomfortable questions. Do we know God, or do we merely know about Him? Has our prosperity dulled our dependence? Has comfort weakened conviction? Do we outwardly maintain order while inwardly drifting from steadfast love?

So what should we do? Hosea does not call us to panic, but to return before returning becomes impossible. One of the most sobering lines in the passage is: “Their deeds do not permit them to return… the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not the Lord.” It appears that repeated compromise can harden into captivity. Today’s small exceptions can become tomorrow’s inability to repent.

Take heart — we have journeyed through three chapters of Hosea thus far. We remember how the book begins: with a scandalous sign of God’s unusual love. Hosea is commanded to love an unfaithful wife, his own marriage becoming a living parable of God’s covenant love for a wayward people. The story does not end in judgment; God makes an astonishing promise: “I will betroth you to me forever… in steadfast love and in mercy… in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD” (Hosea 2:19–20). What is striking is this: the very things Israel lacked — faithfulness, steadfast love, the knowledge of God — are precisely the things God Himself pledges to restore. And what Israel lacked then, we often lack now. Yet what God promised then, He remains committed to accomplishing.

The narrative of Hosea teaches us not to settle for a Christianity that is busy but unfaithful, informed but unloving. Let us ask for knowledge of God: a knowledge that changes how we speak, how we treat the vulnerable, how we handle money, how we keep promises, how we forgive. Let us pray for each other to return to Scripture and relationship with God, giving space for God to convict and heal. Let us pray for faithfulness and love practiced publicly – keeping our world, upholding our marriage promises, repenting of our sins quickly, reconciling with our neighbours intentionally, caring for the vulnerable actively. Ultimately, this trial of covenant infidelity does not seek to destroy us, but to expose our guilt such that God may restore us. Dn Lenith Cheng