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by _Steve » Sat Nov 26, 2005 2:44 am
There are several questions here.
First, is it a faulty hermeneutic to see judgments as occurring literally and blessings being fulfilled spiritually? Well, the judgments were certainly fulfilled literally, as the historical record shows. As for the blessings, those associated with the Sinaitic covenant were also fulfilled quite literally, so long as Israel met the conditions for their fulfillment (See Deut.28). Those blessings were forfeited by the Jews' apostasy, and they reaped the predicted judgment for doing so. This all happened literally.
The blessings that have their spiritual fulfillment in Christ, in the present age, are those associated with the Abrahamic covenant, not the Sinaitic covenant. There were no curses mentioned in connection with this covenant—only blessings (see Gen.12:1-3)! The means of fulfillment of this covenant is explained in the New Testament. Christ is Abraham's seed (Gal.3:16), through whom all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. This blessing is spiritual (Gal.3:14), but then, God never said it would be otherwise.
Second, what is Hosea 3:4-5 talking about? Here is the passage:
"For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They shall fear the LORD and His goodness in the latter days."
Remember, in the Northern kingdom, to which this prophecy is addressed, their "kings" and "princes" were murderous usurpers, their "sacrifices" were offered to golden calves at Bethel and Dan, and the "sacred pillars," "ephods" and "teraphim" were the paraphenalia of their idolatry. The fact that they would be without king, prince, sacrifice, sacred pillar, ephod or teraphim means that, as a result of God's judgment upon their nation, they would no longer have any of the crutches upon which they leaned instead of Yahweh.
In my opinion, verse 4 is talking about God's chastening Israel during the lengthy period, beginning with Israel's conquest and deportation by Assyria, in 722 B.C. until the return of their remnant to "David, their king"—which I take as a reference to the restoration of the Davidic dynasty in the person of Christ (i.e., the establishment of the New Testament Church).
During this long period (three-quarters of a millennium), the Israelites were scattered and/or absorbed among the Gentiles of the region, and inhabited Galilee and Samaria, respectively. However, the these regions were visited by Christ, and the inhabitants embraced Him in large numbers (Matt.4:12-16/ John 4:39). Hosea said this would happen "in the latter days" (v.5)—a timeframe which the New Testament writers recognized as their own day (e.g., Acts 2:16f/ Heb.1:2/ James 5:3/ 1 Pet.1:20).
Third, the ploughing of Zion like a field (Mic.3:12), if figurative, can apply either to 586 BC or to AD 70. However, in the latter instance, it is reported that the Roman, Turnus Rufus, caused a plough to be pulled over the ruins of the temple courts—an event often identified as the literal fulfillment of this verse.
The vision of Micah 4 does not necessarily have to follow the events predicted in 3:12, since it starts a new section, and is almost identical with Isaiah 2:1-4. This is one of Isaiah's many "kingdom passages" which can be shown to be fulfilled in the Church Age (though they did not cite this passages, the apostles often quoted from the many similar kingdom passages, applying them to the church).
On your final question, it is not quite true to say that the judgments came upon the believer and the unbeliever alike in Israel. There were only a remnant of believers in Israel in 586 BC as well as in AD 70. We know that the believers fled to Transjordan before the holocaust of 70 (Luke 21:20-21). There is also reason to believe that the few righteous in Jerusalem in 586 (like Jeremiah and Baruch) were divinely spared in the time of that invasion (see Jer.45:2-5).
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Reason: In Jesus,
Steve