The very good news in the last 2 verses of this book, tells us that God's prophecy through Jeremiah came true, and Judah was released from their captivity (2Chron 36:22,23). The Jews had to be back in their land before Jesus was born.  God really does rule "in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will"(Dan 4:25)

V.6 Shortly after Josiah's death at Megiddo, Nebuchadnezzar defeated Pharaoah Necho at Carchemish in 605 BC.  The Babylonians were now supreme while the Assyrians and Egyptians took a back seat. 

In the same year Nebuchadnezzar's first invasion of Jerusalem took place. Jehoiakim became the first Babylonian captive.  Then, about seven years after Josiah's death, the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem (598 BC) and sent exiles to Babylon. 

Eleven years later (587 BC) they destroyed the city.  During that turbulent eighteen year span, four kings had office.  The first three came and went quickly, the fourth, Zedekiah, reigned eleven years (v.11) before being dragged to Babylon in disgrace.  Josiah was spared seeing these awful events, according to prophecy (34:28).

36  We are reading about the kingdom of God, though we might be forgiven for thinking that it was the kingdom of men. :1 the people made Jehoahaz king. :4  The king of Egypt made Eliakim king. :10 Nebuchadnezzar made Zedekiah king.

It was as a result of Josiah's own stubborness in fighting Pharaoh, that the final downfall of Judah came about, even though it was God's will that the end would come. Pharaoh uses the occasion of his defeat of Josiah to, 3 months later, depose Jehoahaz & subjugate the kingdom to Egypt.

Jehoahaz & Zedekiah had the same mother 2Kin 23:31, 24:18 , although there was about 13 yrs difference in their ages, & these 2 are therefore possibly the kings referred to in Eze 19

Jeremiah's words are here endorsed as being inspired by God. v 12,22

36:22-23 The language of these verses is replicated in Ezra 1:13marking the seamless continuity between the end of 2 Chronicles and Ezra.

36:13 Even though he had been given a place on the throne by the king of Babylon Zedekiah rebelled – but not so that he could serve God. The foolish man wanted to replace oppression by the Babylonians by his own sinfulness!

36:15 sent to them by his messengers is quoted by Jesus – Matt 21:34 – in the parable of the wicked husbandmen. His hearers would recognise the origins of Jesus’ words and see the implications.

4:1 Lord hath a controversy Micah 6:2
4:3 Land mourn ... languish Isaiah 24:4
4:6 people destroyed for lack of knowledge Isaiah 5:13
4:9 like people like priests Isaiah 24.:2
4:10 They shall eat ... not enough Leviticus 26:26
4:11 wine ... take away the heart Isaiah 28:7
4:13 spouses ... adultery Amos 7:17
4:15 come not to Gilgal Amos 5:5
4:18 her rulers with shame ... Give ye Micah 7:3
4:19 they shall be ashamed ... sacrifices Isaiah 1:29

At the border of the land, in the plains of Moab, Israel made a covenant with Yahweh, saying 'amen' to all that he said. The 'amen' is found repeatedly in Deuteronomy 27. Yahweh throughout the preheats utilises the language of the covenant to demonstrate that Israel's behaviour is a demonstration of the fact that they have broken the covenant.
The language of Hosea repeatedly draws on the fact that Israel have broken this covenant.

4:10 The quotation from Leviticus 26:26 should have taught Israel that they were astray from God. As the curses were coming upon them it must be that they were astray from God. He was punishing - chastening - them for their sins.

The type of Hosea taking a harlot as his wife is continued in today’s chapter. Israel has so forsaken God, committed adultery with false gods, and gone the way of other nations, that God says in Hos 4:1, “There is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.” We must pray that the Lord doesn’t say similar things about us.

V.15 The location of Bethaven is not known; and there were several different locations of Gilgal.  But the appeal to Judah neither to go to Gilgal nor Bethaven has nothing to do with visiting geographical places. 

Gilgal means a circle (connoted by a rolling wheel), and probably refers to a circle of stones set up as an altar.  Bethaven means the house of idolatry.  Thus, Gilgal and Bethaven are being used figuratively to appeal to Judah not to follow the idolatrous example of Israel.

4:13 Here and in the contemporary prophet - Amos 7:17  - Israel are shown to be unfaithful – this is how they were towards their God.

4:3 The way in which the ‘land mourns’, echoing the language of Isa 24:4, shows how contemporary prophets speak a united message.

4:1 In speaking of a ‘controversy’ Hosea is using the same idea as his partially contemporary prophet – Mic 6:2

4:7 God was going to mar the glory of His people because they marred His glory by their idol worship – Psa 106:20

FAITHFULNESS, LOVE, ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

God had a charge to lay against the Israelites. This is what he said, "Hear the word of the LORD, you Israelites, because the LORD has a charge to bring against you who live in the land. 'There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgement of God in the land,'" (Hos 1:4) This was a pretty bad state of affairs, and it is no wonder it was only a very short time later that God removed Israel from their land because of their wickedness.

We may feel that we are not like them and that the accusation of no faithfulness, no love and no acknowledgement of God does not aply to us in the same way it applied to the Israelites who were guilty of it 100% of the time. But if any of these deficiencies are in our lives, even in a small part, there is the potential for them to increase. We must aim to be completely faithful, to be completely loving and to acknowledge God in every area of our lives, no matter how small.

Are we faithful? Are we 100% committed to the LORD, no matter what? Would we deny our Lord? Do we faithfully tell others about him?

Are we loving? Does acting in love for God take first priority in even our smallest decisions? Does 1Cor 13:4-6 describe our way of life?

Do we acknowledge God's hand working in even the smallest ways in our lives? Do we tell others of the way he works in our lives?

Let's be faithful, loving and acknowledge God in every way and at all times.

Several verses in this chapter link the reason for Israel's failings with the priests who should have tought them about God. For example:

4:1 The absence of ‘knowledge of God’ is referred to again – 6:6 – by the prophet

V.19 Serving here means to serve as a bond slave; (douleuo 398) It is an exhortation to all to consider themselves under bondage to Christ, not free fo do their own will, but to be ready at all times to serve the Lord in His Work. We must remember that our spare time is not our own. If spare time is used in the Lord's Service, the bond slave is giving no more than his reasonable service.

20:28 When brethren were described as ‘overseers’ the great responsibility of that task is demonstrated by the way in which Paul describes what they were to take care of. It was the ecclesia. But the way Paul describes it’s origins highlights the responsibility . It was ‘purchased with his own blood’. Not doing the job properly would mean that some who Jesus had died for would be lost.

v 26-29  Paul's words here are reminiscent of Ezekiel's description of the watchman & his responsibility Eze 33  Of course it also echoes the imagery of the Lord Jesus concerning shepherding the flock John 10

20:24  Paul is so single minded in his purpose that he was willing to accept troubles thugh he could easily have avoided them by changing his plans.

20:11 The misfortune of Eutychus provided an opportunity for God’s grace to be seen. How often do we look for good when something untoward happens to us?

20:16 So Paul did not stop at Ephesus even though he passed by and there was a small group of believers there who were all very young in the faith. Maybe the reason why Paul did not see the need to stop there was because he was confident in the abilities of Timothy to take care of them. 1Tim 1:3, Acts 20:1

20:30 It is complacent to think that false teaching always emanates from without the Christian community. Such a view leads one into a false sense of security with one’s brethren. Here Paul warns that their own number will bring forth error in belief and practice and those who are not wary will be led astray. It is easy to spot error when it is coming from outside the community but we are far less likely to spot it in the early days of its manifestation in our own community.