Deeper Commentary

Hos 10:1 Israel is a luxuriant vine that puts forth his fruit- This continues the imagery of Hos. 9:10 a few verses before; God in love saw Israel like this in the wilderness, imputing goodness to them, even though they did not have real spiritual fruit. "Luxuriant" rather than "empty" [as AV] seems the right reading, because the next clause talks of this vine's abundant fruit. The prophecy concludes with a picture of Israel just like this in Hos. 14:5-7. This is what they were capable of- repenting, and becoming the reestablished Kingdom of God as a blessing to others. Even in condemning Israel and divorcing them, Yahweh still held to this final vision for them. Just as Hosea fantasized of how the now barren and bereaved Gomer would somehow bring forth fruit to him.

 

According to the abundance of his fruit he has multiplied his altars- Baal was a fertility cult, and so the more God blessed them with good harvests, the more they worshipped Baal. This was the ultimate abuse of God's love. Material blessing so often leads to something far worse than the spoilt child syndrome; it led Israel to Baal, because they abused the Divine blessings. The fruit on the vine however, as explained on Hos. 9:10, was how God perceived them. The more He loved them and imputed beauty to them, the more they abused it. We are in a relationship with God whereby His love for us is far greater than ours for Him; and it is so easy for us to abuse that. We note the plural- "altars". Repeatedly, the prophets condemn Israel for following "other gods" in the plural. Israel worshipped many gods, many baalim, a baal for this and for that; just as Gomer had many lovers, and served as a cult prostitute at various shrines to many gods.

 

As their land has prospered, they have adorned their sacred stones- "Prospered" and "adorned" are the same word. The AV is better: "according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images". Baal was a fertility god. The more blessing Yahweh gave them in terms of good harvests, the more they made "good" idols to Baal. They attributed the good harvests to Baal and not Yahweh. This was all reflected in how Gomer took Hosea's material blessings and offered them to Baal, and also received payment from the men she slept with. She attributed those 'blessings' of payment to the blessing of Baal. The more God blessed His people by grace, the more they abused it. Israel were indeed prosperous at the time of Jeroboam II, and there is archaeological evidence of her prosperity at the time, and for the marked growth in size of Jerusalem. This was the love of Hosea for Gomer reflecting God's apparently senseless love for Israel.

Hos 10:2 Their heart is divided, and so now they will be found guilty- Yet again, the essential guilt of Israel was because of the state of their hearts. Just as Gomer claimed to be married to Hosea whilst having affairs, so Israel's heart was divided between God and idols. It is this state of division which is so painful to God and which is the basis for guilt. If we are in relationship with God, He absolutely must have our entire heart. We think of the Lord's desire that the Laodicean church would be either hot or cold, but not lukewarm. A divided heart makes us far worse than those who are ignorant of Him. Perhaps James alludes here in soberly warning against having a double heart toward God (James 1:8; 4:8). We stand before God's judgment "now". Hosea realized the critical intensity of the moment; right now, they were found guilty in court before God. The judgment "will be" [demolition of altars, etc.]- and in that gap, they could repent. This is the intensity of our position before God. This is the crucial importance of life and living now.

"Will be found guilty" may mean that it was God's hope, as it was Hosea's for Gomer, that they would recognize their guilt. This is the same hope as in :3, "Surely they will now say...". This repeated hopefulness for their repentance is such a major theme in Hosea. It was rooted in love, for love "hopes all things". And it is part of our love for this world and for individuals. Even if that hope, as in Hosea, is never realized. To love someone is to hope for them."The hope of Israel" is an ambigious genetive. The hope that Israel has, or, the hope for Israel which God has. Not all Israel will experience that hope, certain as hope, elpis, really is. Israel's hope is the hope they have, but like "the world's redemption" it will not save / redeem all the world. The hope of Israel, the hope for and about Israel, is God's hope for them. It was Hosea's hope for Gomer. But very few of "Israel" will experience it.

He will demolish their altars, He will destroy their sacred stones- Presumably the invaders destroyed the gods of those they conquered. The Canaanite idols were not those of Babylon or Assyria.

Hos 10:3 Surely now they will say, We have no king; for we don’t fear Yahweh; and the king we have, what can he do for us?- Often in Hosea, God appeals to Israel to let Him be their ‘king’ (Hos. 13:10). But there is a Hebraism whereby a husband is called the ‘king’ of his wife. God’s appeal was reflected in Hosea’s desire for Gomer to as it were re-marry him, to let him truly be her king / husband. And yet she felt like Israel: “What then should a king do [for] us?”. She was so selfish that she didn’t see anything in it for her… when so much love was being offered to her. All this explains why God felt that Israel's rejection of Him at Gilgal when they asked for a human king was the epitome of their marital unfaithfulness to Him (see on Hos. 9:15). Israel in exile were without God as their king, and without the human king of their choosing. This is the indescribable agony of the rejected; they are left without that which they loved, and also without God.

Hos 10:4 They make promises, swearing falsely in making covenants- The preceding verse, as explained there, is in the marital context. Israel had despised their marriage covenant with God (see on Hos. 8:1) as Gomer had with Hosea. They had made a false oath. But they had likewise made false oaths in their secular lives, breaking the covenant they made with Shalmaneser (2 Kings 17:4).

Therefore judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field- This continues the theme of Israel reaping what they had sown (see on Hos. 8:7). By not being serious about their promises, the harvest was poisonous weeds ruining their crop. The result seems out of proportion, in secular terms, to 'just' not being serious about their promises. But this again is a great theme of the prophets- that apparently 'little sins' reap massive and eternal consequences. The mention of the furrows prepares us for :12. They had ploughed and sown, but to evil. Hosea will go on to appeal for them to do so to righteousness. "Poisonous weeds" is the same word used in Deuteronomy, of how Israel's grapes (:1) would become poison because of their idolatry (Dt. 29:18; 32:32,33). The word is used of how the Lord Jesus on the cross was given such poison to drink (Ps. 69:21); there, He carried the condemnation of Israel (Jer. 8:14; 9:15 s.w.). All His sufferings were their judgments. In this sense He bore [the condemnation for] our sins.

Hos 10:5 The inhabitants of Samaria will be in terror because of the calves of Beth Aven- Beth Aven is how God and Hosea saw Beth El. The house of God had become the house of idols and sin. "Be in terror" is the same word translated "assemble themselves" [in prayer and worship] in Hos. 7:14. The people loved their idols, and begged their gods that these idols not be removed from them. Bethel [where the golcden calf was] is called Beth Aven in Josh. 7:2.

For its people will mourn over it, along with its priests who rejoiced over it; because its glory has departed from it- See on Hos. 9:11 Glory. The people mourned the loss of their beloved calves and their removal by the Assyrians as a trophy for their gods (:6). This is the measure of idolatry; when the worshippers mourn when their idol is removed. They should have removed the idols, and so God does so- and they weep and pray that they be not removed. Again, God's issue with Israel was not concerning individual acts of obedience or disobedience, but a general state of heart and direction in life.  

Hos 10:6 It also will be carried to Assyria for a present to a great king- The golden calves were carried off by the Assyrians. As noted on :5, they ought to have removed them themselves, and so God removed them. And they were terribly upset about it. This is the measure of a man; if at the Lord's return our idols of wealth, homes, cars, devices... are removed from us, will we like Lot's wife look back in anger and sadness? Or count all such things as nothing that we might press on and be with the Lord? "A great king" is AV "Jareb", the avenger / defender. The idea is 'A present to the king (whom they looked to as) their defender / avenger'. They should have treated Yahweh as their king, defender and avenger. But they turned to Assyria for help, and now were destroyed by Assyria. In terms of the Hosea-Gomer relationship, the lovers turned against them.

Ephraim will receive shame, and Israel will be ashamed of his own counsel- Hitzig translates: "He (the Assyrian king) shall take away or carry off the shame of Ephraim; that is, the calf-idol". The calves should have been their shame, but instead they mourned for them (:5). They went where their calves went- to captivity in Assyria. We become like that which we worship. The calves were built by Jeroboam after "taking counsel" (1 Kings 12:28); hence "his own counsel" refers to the calves. Yet Israel collectively are accused of Jeroboam's sin; he "made them sin", but they did so willingly, and so we see clarified the principle that even if we are led into sin by others, we still remain responsible for our sin. And the person, such as Jeroboam, who led us into the sin is also as it were charged for it. See on :8. "His own counsel" would be a reference to  I Kings 12:28: “The king took counsel and made two golden calves”.

Hos 10:7 Samaria and her king will float away, like a twig on the water- The ten tribes and their king were taken captive; the Assyrian invasions are likened to an overflowing river which carried them away. Again we have the figure of lightness, seen in the lighthearted and not serious attitude of Gomer to Hosea's great love.

Hos 10:8 The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed. The thorn and the thistle will come up on their altars- Thorns and thistles are the punishment for sin, as clearly stated in Eden. Their altars would not be used by others, but would be left as ruins, covered by the judgment for sin. "Aven" or Beth Aven is how God and Hosea saw Beth El, no longer the house of God but the house of idols. Although Jeroboam built the shrine there and made Israel sin thereby, it was still "the sin of Israel", their sin. See on :6. Bethel [where the golcden calf was] is called Beth Aven in Josh. 7:2.

They will tell the mountains, Cover us! and the hills, Fall on us!- Instead of calling out to Yahweh in repentance as they were carried into captivity, Israel instead just wished to die; the hills or high places were associated with their sins, and they would choose death rather than repentance. They would prefer to die at the hands of their high places rather than repent. The Lord quoted these words to the women watching Him carry His cross, applying them to the Jews in AD70, whom He sensed would likewise be impenitent; His quotation from Hos. 10:8 is set in a context so appropriate to the situation He was in. Israel were a useless tree (:1), a twig cut off (:7).  If they did these things to Him, the green and healthy shoot or twig, what would be done to the dry dead wood of Israel…? His concern was always with the sufferings others would experience rather than being lost in His own introspection. The Lord’s following words as He carried the cross were: "If they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?", and they are packed with allusion to O.T. Scriptures (Ez. 17:24; Jer. 11:16,19; Ps. 1; Jer. 17:5-8). Without getting too deeply involved in the actual exposition, a simple lesson emerges: He was not so overpowered by the terrible physicality of His human situation that He ceased to be spiritually aware. His mind was full of the word, not just out of place quotations flooding His subconscious, but real awareness of the spirit of the Father's word and its' intensely personal relevance to Himself. In this He sets a matchless example.

Hos 10:9 Israel, you have sinned from the days of Gibeah, there they remained. The battle against the children of iniquity doesn’t overtake them in Gibeah- The idea of the Hebrew could be 'More even than in the days of Gibeah'. "The battle" in view is based upon that against the Benjamites by the other tribes of Israel because of the rape and murder of the Levite's concubine in Gibeah (Jud. 18). That "battle" in judgment of their iniquity didn't stop there, it didn't "overtake them" or end there; because they continued the essence of that sin, sinning like that from that day onward, Benjamin was yet to suffer. "There they remained" would mean that they adhered to that trait since then. Yet it is "Israel", the ten tribes, who addressed; and yet Benjamin, one of the two tribes of Judah, is also to be judged. This is another example of the two kingdoms being judged with the same judgment. The Divine hope that Judah would be more repentant didn't come true. The Hebrew however is difficult here, and the GNB may be correct in suggesting a particular judgment against Judah at Gibeah, which was the home of Saul, the king / partner they chose after rejecting Yahweh as their king / partner / husband: "The LORD says, "The people of Israel have not stopped sinning against me since the time of their sin at Gibeah. So at Gibeah war will catch up with them". See on Hos. 9:15.

Hos 10:10 When it is my desire, I will chastise them; and the nations will be gathered against them, when they are bound to their two transgressions- Binding them to their sins presumably means judging them for their sins. The two sins could refer to the two calves set up by Jeroboam; or to the equal sins of Israel and Judah; see on :9. But again we note that their judgment at the hands of the nations was intended as a chastisement, with the hope of reformation [s.w. "correct", "reform"]. Not of the generation who perished, but the hope was that others would be chastised by what happened at the invasion, and be reformed. Yet this intention and possibility didn't really come about. The gathering of plural nations could be understood by the Assyrians and Babylonians using mercenaries from the surrounding nations; but as the Lord understood the judgment to apply to AD70 and the last days (see on :8), so these judgments look ahead to the final tribulation of Israel when "all nations shall be gathered" against them.

"Their two transgressions" can be "their two rings". The two rings may refer to goads placed near the eyes of the ox. Verse 11 Heb. speaks of Ephraim as a goaded heifer.

Hos 10:11 Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh- The idea may be that they preferred the easier work of threshing than of ploughing. Ephraim had been trained or taught, but they refused to listen (Jer. 32:33 s.w.). But threshing is a figure of judgment, and the great prophetic theme is that Israel received the judgments which they themselves had lived out through their profligate living.

 

So I will put a yoke on her beautiful neck- "Her beautiful neck" reflects how much God loved Israel; even in putting them under the yoke, He saw her beauty and loved her. It seems that Hosea's attraction to Gomer, even when she became barren, likewise continued despite all her unfaithfulness.

I will set a rider on Ephraim, Judah will plough, Jacob will break his clods- We note the parallel between the ten tribes and the two tribes. They had sinned together, and would both be judged, but it was the Divine hope that they would come together out of exile and reestablish God's kingdom in the land. The rider upon them could be a Messianic figure; or it could be that their dominators in exile would be the means of their ploughing and sowing to righteousness rather than sin, as noted on :4. But the returned exiles didn't really live up to this; the pain of God through Hosea was that so much potential was wasted by Israel's short term outlook and desire for the immediate and the sinful.

Hos 10:12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap according to kindness. Break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek Yahweh, until He comes and rains righteousness on you- As noted on :4, they had ploughed and sown, but to evil. Now they were to do so to righteousness. This new approach to living, to sowing, was to be achieved whilst in captivity (see on :11). They were to realize their spiritual potential, their fallow ground, and seek Yahweh so that the Messianic rain of righteousness could come down upon them. The Messianic kingdom could have come then, but they would not, and so it has been delayed until God's people truly seek Him. The faithful few such as Ezra encouraged the exiles to "seek Yahweh" (Ezra 7:10; Is. 55:6 s.w.); but generally they weren't interested. "Rains" is also the word for "to teach", and has been used in :11 of how previously, Israel had been 'taught' but had refused to listen. If they sought Yahweh, if they opened up their fallow ground, then He would teach them. We find God not by academic Bible study alone; it is the heart's desire to seek God which results in Him teaching us. It's not that God hides behind the pages of the Bible until we find Him. He comes to us and teaches us; but in response to our broken hearted seeking of Him.

Hos 10:13 You have ploughed wickedness and you have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies- See on :4. "Lies" here effectively stands for idols. The "wickedness" they sowed was "the wind", a superficial life with a lighthearted approach to the heavy things of God's glory; and they reaped the whirlwind (see on Hos. 8:7). "The wind", the lighthearted attitude to God which characterizes so many in our age, is here "wickedness" and "iniquity". Again we see how such attitudes which are seen as totally excusable and understandable in secular terms are seen by God as great wickedness.

For you trusted in your way, in the multitude of your mighty men- Israel are repeatedly condemned in Hosea for hiring foreign warriors to defend them rather than turning to Yahweh for help. They trusted in those men, who were effectively "your way". The way of Yahweh is total trust in Him. To trust in human strength is to depart from His way; and this sets us a huge challenge, in an age where as never before there are all manner of schemes to apparently save us from the consequences of sin.

Hos 10:14 Therefore a battle roar will arise among your people, and all your fortresses will be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth Arbel in the day of battle. The mother was dashed in pieces with her children- Shalman could be a contraction for Shalmaneser, the Assyrian king who destroyed the ten tribe kingdom. But Hosea here speaks in the past tense, and Shalmaneser destroyed Samaria forty years after Hosea. So there may here be reference to a historical incident which we don't know about, by a king called Shalman. Or the reference could be to the first invasion by Shalmaneser (2 Kings 17:3), when one border fortress at Beth Arbel was destroyed. Israel trusted in their fortresses (see on Hos. 11:6), and they were intended to learn from the destruction of just one of them. God works in such a gentle way with us; we may see one aspect of our human defences destroyed, one bank fails, one insurance policy fails to cover us. And this should lead us to not depend upon the others we have and throw ourselves completely on Yahweh. The massacre at the otherwise unknown little fortress of Beth Arbel was intended to be a warning of judgment to come; and they could have avoided it if they had been perceptive. We too see dry runs of judgment to come, in our own lives and in the experiences of others we are aware of. And we are to take the lesson.

Hos 10:15 So Bethel will do to you because of your great wickedness- Bethel and its shrine would bring about their judgment at the hands of the Assyrians (:14); their idols were the ones who were to destroy them, just as Israel had turned to Assyria and its idols for help, and then Assyria turned upon them and destroyed them.

At daybreak the king of Israel will be destroyed- This could have been literally uttered the night before the assassination or death of one of the kings contemporary with Hosea, perhaps Hoshea. "In a morning" (Heb.) might mean 'suddenly, unexpectedly'. Or it could have been a prophecy whose fulfilment was delayed or even cancelled by repentance. Or again, the night of judgment is perhaps portrayed as daybreak because there is always the hope of reformation and the final dawn of the Messianic age hinted at in all the Divine threats of judgment. Just as Hosea intended to make Gomer suffer in order than she would quit her lovers and return to him.