Hos 9:7, The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred.
This is not to say that the spiritual man prophesied about is actually mad; for it is written:
2Ti 1:7, For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
It is to say that those who are spiritual will be considered to be mad by those who have been affected by the strong delusion spoken of in
2Th 2:11, And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
; for those who do not have spiritual eyes to see do most unswervingly project their own insanity onto those who do; so that even Paul had to defend his own sanity (in reputation) by the following words:
2Co 5:13, For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause.
2Co 5:14, For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
2Co 5:15, And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
It is the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred against Christians and Jews, that leads the world to accuse us of being out of our minds through Freudian psychology; which is a lie that has been forged against the saints, even as it is written prophetically:
Psa 119:69, The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart.
The prophets of the OT spoke rationaly to their audience, who were often unwilling to listen. Frequently they were speaking before the King and his court.
Ranting and raving like a mad man was not what they did.
The words of Tyndale are very apropriate, " I want the the boy who follows the plough, the weaver and ordinary people to know the words of God and to discuss them as the work or travel."
Just as the 16th centuary ordinary folk were ignorant of what the bible teaches, so ordinary people today are ignorant.
They need rational teaching not ranting and raving of things they don't know or understand.
Most assuredly, they did not rant and rave like madmen; however their message was indeed the same message that was considered in another post to be the words of madmen:
That said anyone standing there shouting about OT prophercies and decrying sin is likely to be thought to be insane.
Hosea in particular may have been speaking of himself as well as a future situation when he wrote
Hos 9:7, The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred.
As I have explained above, it was not real madness that motivated these people, deemed to be insane by those around them; but in all reality, in the situation presented, the world is affected by a strong delusion, and those who are not deluded are considered to be so by the general population because it is the minority who understands the truth and therefore we are outside the norm; therefore our pov is considerd to be insane even though in all reality it is not but is the same pov that was held by the prophets of old.
Paul the apostle had to deal with charges of insanity in his mere preaching of the gospel to King Agrippa and Festus:
Act 26:23, That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.
Act 26:24, And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.
Act 26:25, But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness.
Act 26:26, For the king knoweth of these things, before whom also I speak freely: for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him; for this thing was not done in a corner.
Act 26:27, King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest.
Act 26:28, Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.
If not for the fact that the prophets had accomplished their ministries previously, Paul would have been considered to be insane by both of them and would have very likely been placed in a mental institution of their day.
Paul gives his defense against this charge, which was very likely circulating among some of the people, elsewhere in scripture:
2Co 5:13, For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause.
2Co 5:14, For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
2Co 5:15, And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
For indeed, if someone is spouting what is considered to be foolishness, will they not be considered to be a fool, or worse yet, a lunatic?
However it is written in the scriptures:
1Co 1:18, For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
1Co 1:19, For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
1Co 1:20, Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
1Co 1:21, For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
1Co 1:22, For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
1Co 1:23, But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
1Co 1:24, But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
1Co 1:25, Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
