Central Idea

Hear O Israel! God will utterly strike the land and its inhabitants because the people do not know him, evidenced by their wicked behavior toward one another.

"Hear" the purpose of harsh words!

God does not aimlessly run his mouth in anger or disgust, like we so often do. There is great purpose in every harsh word of the Bible. Here, that purpose is indicated by the first word (in Hebrew) of the chapter: "Hear!" (We see this same command resounded in 5:1.) God is imploring the people to heed his words of judgment with the purpose that they might hear them beyond a superficial level and repent (cf. 5:15).

The Lord is speaking to us in this manner as well. So often I am tempted to speed-read through passages of God pronouncing judgment in the Prophets. But every word has purpose! So may God give us attentive hearts and accomplish his ends with these texts.

Where is the rhetorical setting of this passage?

The language (particularly the word "ריב"--indictment) brings us into the courthouse. God has opened a lawsuit against Israel, trying her as a criminal. He is, as it were, the prosecuting attorney. The charge is covenant unfaithfulness (1c-2b) and the sentence is the destruction of the land and its inhabitants (vs3), as we discover the Lord also plays the role of judge.

This is not a court case we want to be found in! Praise God that we ultimately find him in a third role as well: defense attorney (Rom 8:31-34). In this there is great hope--not that he will succeed to showing us innocent through smooth argument, but rather that full acquittal will be won through his sure blood that has been spent to pay every debt we have incurred. How we need Jesus in the courtroom of God--we dare not defend ourselves!

Why refer to the people as "the inhabitants of the land" in vs1b?

Why say, "against the inhabits of the land" and not simply "against Israel" or "against the people"? The language is leading us toward the punishment, that is the Progression of vs3. This judgment will be complete, says God via Hosea: the land will mourn (agricultural destruction), those who dwell on the land will languish (a massive death poll of people, with even animals swept into the destruction), and--as if to demonstrate with finality the extreme nature of the punishment--even the fish will die. (For another example of animals being swept away in judgment upon the people, see Zeph 1:2-3.)

What is the connection between what Israel lacks and the sins they commit?

There is a key observation that needs to be made to answer this question. Notice that the positive things required (but that are missing)--faithfulness, steadfast love, and knowledge of God--are all qualitative, relating to our connection to God and the core of his heart. However, the negative realities that sadly do exist in Israel (lying, murder, ...) are all breaches of the law, more specifically the Ten Commandments.

(The exception to this is cursing--i.e. pronouncing curses on people--which is not explicitly forbidden in the law except toward God, rulers, the deaf and the blind. See Ex 22:28, Lev 19:14. But certainly this would be implicitly forbidden under the command to love your neighbor as yourself. See Lev 19:18. It is also possible that this is not outside the Ten Commandments after all, but relates to not using the Lord's name in vain.)

What the Lord is telling us via Hosea is similar to what we find in the books of Gal and 1John, among other places. Everything depends on if we know God and his heart or not. Nothing else matters (so to speak), except how it reveals the authenticity or hypocrisy of our knowledge of God. That is why the Ten Commandments are brought up, as if to say, "Whoever says 'I know him' but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him," (1John 2:4) or "Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love." (1John 4:8). This is why Ground was chosen to connect vs1c to vs2.

This knowledge is more important than sacrifice (6:6); was the basis for Yahweh’s deliverance of Israel in the exodus (13:4); constitutes the essence of the eschatological blessings (2:22[20]); and its absence will mean destruction for the nation (v 6).  (Word Biblical Commentary)