Hosea 10

“Israel is an empty vine,” (v. 1) says, although the American Standard Version reads “luxuriant” vine. Either way, Israel had a lot of fruit (blessings) from God, but “according to the multitude of his fruit he has increased the altars” (v. 1)—the more God blessed Israel, the more she offered to her idols. But Jehovah “will break down their altars; He will ruin their sacred pillars,” (v. 2), and Israel will have no king to help (v. 3), nor will their idols aid them either (v. 5): “its people mourn for it [the calf, or idol], and its priests shriek for it--because its glory has departed from it.” It was nothing but poison to them, anyway (v. 4). Assyrian captivity awaits them (v. 6), and Israel’s “king is cut off like a twig on the water” (v. 7). Where Israel’s altars had existed “the thorn and thistle shall grow” (v. 8), and God’s judgment will be so severe that “they shall say to the mountains, ‘Cover us!’ and to the hills, ‘Fall on us!’" Rather that than meet a vengeful Jehovah.

“O Israel, you have sinned from the days of Gibeah” (v. 9). That hideous event, which had taken place hundreds of years before and mentioned in the previous chapter as well, was still in the mind of God and something Israel had never acknowledged or truly repented of. We may forget, but the Lord never does, and sexual perversion is something that is an affront to Jehovah, indeed, worthy of death under the old law (Lev. 20:13). But punishment comes in God’s own time: ”When it is My desire, I will chasten them” (v. 10). For the next few verses, Hosea uses a farm analogy: “Ephraim is a trained heifer…You have plowed wickedness; You have reaped iniquity” (vs. 11, 13). Jehovah’s advice is “Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the LORD, till He comes and rains righteousness on you” (v. 12). Israel’s punishment is sure, but perhaps with the right kind of repentance, could be mitigated somewhat. But it was ultimately the lack of faith in God that caused the people’s destruction: “You have eaten the fruit of lies, because you trusted in your own way, in the multitude of your mighty men” (v. 13), rather than in Jehovah. “Therefore tumult shall arise among your people, and all your fortresses shall be plundered” (v. 14). The punishment will be violent and terrible: “A mother dashed in pieces upon her children” (v. 14). Sin has hideous consequences.  There was no pity or respect for human life among the ancient savages like Assyria. And, I suppose, when we look at some of the revolting butchery of the 20th century, we must wonder if men have progressed much in the past 2700 years. The bottom line: “Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel, because of your great wickedness. At dawn the king of Israel ahall be cut off utterly” (v. 15). Bethel was one of the locations where Jeroboam set up his golden calves to keep the people of the northern kingdom from going to Jerusalem to worship and thus perhaps restoring allegiance to the house of David: “Whereupon the king [Jeroboam] took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them [the people of the north], ‘It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt’” (I Kings 12:28). Read the sickening story in that chapter. But back to the last thought in Hosea 10:15: “At dawn”—the Lord isn’t going to waste any time—“the king of Israel shall be cut off utterly”—nothing left of the one on whom the people had relied to protect them.