Step 5. – Became Corrupt
They have deeply corrupted themselves
as in the days of Gibeah:
he will remember their iniquity;
he will punish their sins. (Hos. 9:9 ESV)
This series is about a progression. Israel did not reach this point overnight. It was gradual, over time, as they became comfortable living at each level down from where they were before. The natural progression is to keep moving. The last level, or step, was that they were involved in worldly things. From there, it is only natural that those worldly things begin to corrupt.
I find it very interesting that of all the examples of corruption that could possibly be used, the Gibeah incident is cited. What was the Gibeah incident? It was an Old Testament sex scandal that was so important that it takes up 3 of the 21 chapters of the book of Judges (Judges 19 – 21). The rest of the book covers a period of approximately 350 years!
In this story, we find a Levite and his concubine traveling from her father’s house in Bethlehem to where they lived in the hill country of Ephraim. They stopped overnight in the city of Gibeah which was part of the tribe of Benjamin. In those days, there were no places to stay for the night. You either had family that you stayed with, or someone just took you in for the night. There was an old man who lived and worked in Gibeah, but who was also from Ephraim, who took them in for the night.
The sin of Gibeah is found in the latter part of chapter 19:
So he brought him to his house and fed the donkeys. Then they washed their feet and ate and drank. While they were enjoying themselves, all of a sudden, perverted men of the city surrounded the house and beat on the door. They said to the old man who was the owner of the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him!”
The owner of the house went out and said to them, “No, don’t do this evil, my brothers. After all, this man has come into my house. Don’t do this horrible thing. Here, let me bring out my virgin daughter and the man’s concubine now. Use them and do whatever you want to them. But don’t do this horrible thing to this man.”
But the men would not listen to him, so the man seized his concubine and took her outside to them. They raped her and abused her all night until morning. At daybreak they let her go. Early that morning, the woman made her way back, and as it was getting light, she collapsed at the doorway of the man’s house where her master was.
When her master got up in the morning, opened the doors of the house, and went out to leave on his journey, there was the woman, his concubine, collapsed near the doorway of the house with her hands on the threshold. “Get up,” he told her. “Let’s go.” But there was no response. So the man put her on his donkey and set out for home. (Jud. 19:21-28 HCSB)
The Hosea scripture tells us that the Israelites have “deeply corrupted themselves” and compares it to the “days of Gibeah”. There are 2 parts to the corruption in Gibeah:
- The men of the city were looking for a homosexual act
- The men of the city settled for gang raping the concubine
The raping of the concubine was not the only sin. The fact is, this was not even what they wanted. They wanted the man to be brought out to them so that they could do to him what they eventually did to her. They settled for her. These children of Israel were acting exactly like the men of Sodom did just before the Lord destroyed it (see Gen. 19:4-11). The language describing the two incidents is strikingly similar.
From these two accounts alone, we should understand how the Lord feels about homosexuality – it is corruption! The homosexual sin of Gibeah set the bar for the Lord to judge Israel as being “deeply corrupted.”
Then we look at where our country is today. There is a large group of people fighting for LGBTQ rights in our country. They have set aside an entire month, and labeled it “Pride Month”. That is interesting. Step 2 of this Downward Fall was Pride! And here we are.
Hosea 9:9 compares a deeply corrupt Israel with the sins of Gibeah, which we know was based in homosexuality.
Leviticus 18:22 tells us that homosexuality is an “abomination.”
Corruption is not just homosexuality. That is just one facet of it. Corruption basically means being deeply immersed in all forms of wickedness so that sin is normal and a way of life.
But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. (2 Tim. 3:1-8 ESV)
This list describes the corruption seen in the world today. Not just in the world as a whole, but right here in our country. The New Testament is full of lists of sinful actions and attitudes. Based on my general definition of corruption given above, if these sins become a way of life, or if a person is deeply immersed in them, then they are corrupted. Paul shares one of these lists just before he lists the fruit of the Spirit:
Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I tell you about these things in advance—as I told you before—that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Gal. 5:19-21 HCSB)
The Bible has more to say about corruption:
The fool says in his heart, “God does not exist.”
They are corrupt; they do vile deeds.
There is no one who does good.
The Lord looks down from heaven on the human race
to see if there is one who is wise,
one who seeks God.
All have turned away;
all alike have become corrupt.
There is no one who does good,
not even one. (Ps. 14:1-3 HCSB)
Corruption is not the end of the line. Someone that has been corrupted can still be redeemed. That is the whole point of the Gospel. That is why Jesus came. That is the overall point to the book of Hosea. And that is where we will eventually get. Unfortunately, things are still going to get worse before they get better. There are still 2 more steps to go down from corruption!
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