Week 1 Day 3 Mercy vs Sacrifice

Hosea Week 1, Day 3 Mercy vs Sacrifice

We are going to continue on today with the theme of obedience that we took a quick look at yesterday. Remember the verses that we looked at in Hosea:

Hosea 6:5-7
5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets,
I have slain them by the words of My mouth;
And your judgments are like light that goes forth.
6 For I desire mercy and not sacrifice,
And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
7 “ But like men they transgressed the covenant;
There they dealt treacherously with Me.

Looking at Strong’s Concordance we see this word: mercy
Checed 2617 goodness, kindness, faithfulness
And translated in the King James these different ways (the number refers to how many times it was translated as this word) — mercy 149, kindness 40, lovingkindness 30, goodness 12, kindly 5, merciful 4, favour 3, good 1, goodliness 1

Is this giving you a fuller idea of what mercy may have meant in the Old Testament. Seeing it translated so many different ways helps us to once again realize that in the thinking of the ancient Hebrew there is more of a link between what was felt and what was thought and what was done; a much more holistic way of looking at life.
Verse 6 of Hosea 6 is quoted by Jesus at least a couple of times during his 3 ½ year ministry. I am thinking it must have been pretty important if Jesus uses it as a reference to what he is trying to teach. Let’s take a quick look.

Matthew 9
9 As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.
10 Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
12 When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

What is Jesus teaching here?





Matthew 12
1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”
3 But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? 6 Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. 7 But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord even[b] of the Sabbath.”

What is Jesus teaching here?



So here is the Greek word that is used in the New Testament for mercy:
eleos 1656 translated mercy every time
1) mercy: kindness or good will towards the miserable and the afflicted, joined with a desire to help them
a) of men towards men: to exercise the virtue of mercy, show one's self merciful
b) of God towards men: in general providence; the mercy and clemency of God in providing and offering to men salvation by Christ
c) the mercy of Christ, whereby at his return to judgment he will bless true Christians with eternal life

Now let’s take a moment and try and put this all into context. We know that God would get upset when sacrifice was just performed out of duty or manipulation rather than love. Our example of Saul was a good one. And we see this most emphatically with the many exchanges that Jesus had with the Pharisees. Because remember these were the religious leaders of Jesus’ time and they were great at making sacrifices. They knew the Law and took great pride in being to point out to others when they were not following the Law the way they felt it should be followed. They would argue amongst themselves as to the exact meaning of certain laws according to which Rabbi they followed.

We have two perfect examples here of their thoughts; first Jesus is eating with sinners and the Pharisees could not understand why a teacher would lower himself as to be seen in public with tax collectors and other known sinners. Then in the other example they chastise Jesus because he does not correct his disciples for picking some grain to eat on the Sabbath, which would have been considered work by them and one did not work on the Sabbath.

In both these cases as we see Jesus quotes from Hosea. But what is his reasoning for doing these things that could cause such controversy? Think about it; He associated with sinners because they were the ones in need of being called to repentance. And he allowed the disciples to pick the grain because they were hungry. So here was Jesus showing mercy to sinners (spiritually) and even his own disciples (physically). Jesus is not just caring for those around him in their outward actions, he was actually concerned about them, their heart condition and whether they needed to eat or not.

What did Jesus want his disciples to understand from this exchange he had with the Pharisees?



But Jesus keeps pointing out to the Pharisees that God desires mercy and not sacrifice. The Pharisees were good at sacrifice, but how were they at mercy? Do you think they even had room in all their rules for mercy?


Do you find that sometimes it is easier to follow the rules than it is to have the right attitude about why those rules are there in the first place? Think of some examples where you follow the rules but your heart is not in it. Do you think God is satisfied with this type of obedience? What are some ways to get the needed attitude adjustment?




I have often heard it taught that we should just obey God and that our attitudes and emotions will follow, after much soul searching I am beginning to wonder if that is true. At this point in time, I am learning that following God means complete surrender to His will….not just what I do but also what I think, feel, desire, choose as well as do.

Write out your thoughts! Can you be obedient in actions only and still be obedient?