Hosea 10:1-15--The LORD Will Punish Israel (c0nt.)

Hosea 10
English Standard Version

10 Israel is a luxuriant vine
    that yields its fruit.
The more his fruit increased,
    the more altars he built;
as his country improved,
    he improved his pillars.
2 Their heart is false;
    now they must bear their guilt.
The LORD will break down their altars
    and destroy their pillars.

3 For now they will say:
    “We have no king,
for we do not fear the LORD;
    and a king—what could he do for us?”
4 They utter mere words;
    with empty oaths they make covenants;
so judgment springs up like poisonous weeds
    in the furrows of the field.
5 The inhabitants of Samaria tremble
    for the calf of Beth-aven.
Its people mourn for it, and so do its idolatrous priests--
    those who rejoiced over it and over its glory--
    for it has departed from them.
6 The thing itself shall be carried to Assyria
    as tribute to the great king.
Ephraim shall be put to shame,
    and Israel shall be ashamed of his idol.

7 Samaria's king shall perish
    like a twig on the face of the waters.
8 The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel,
    shall be destroyed.
Thorn and thistle shall grow up
    on their altars,
and they shall say to the mountains, “Cover us,”
    and to the hills, “Fall on us.”

9 From the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, O Israel;
    there they have continued.
    Shall not the war against the unjust overtake them in Gibeah?
10 When I please, I will discipline them,
    and nations shall be gathered against them
    when they are bound up for their double iniquity.

11 Ephraim was a trained calf
    that loved to thresh,
    and I spared her fair neck;
but I will put Ephraim to the yoke;
    Judah must plow;
    Jacob must harrow for himself.
12 Sow for yourselves righteousness;
    reap steadfast love;
    break up your fallow ground,
for it is the time to seek the LORD,
    that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.

13 You have plowed iniquity;
    you have reaped injustice;
    you have eaten the fruit of lies.
Because you have trusted in your own way
    and in the multitude of your warriors,
14 therefore the tumult of war shall arise among your people,
    and all your fortresses shall be destroyed,
as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle;
    mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.
15 Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel,
    because of your great evil.
At dawn the king of Israel
    shall be utterly cut off.

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The more Israel prospered, the  more idolatrous and rebellious it became.  Not the symbolism of Israel being characterized by a vine in the Old Testament and this is never a good thing, but Jesus calls Himself the True Vine that is the True Israel and is successful everywhere where Israel has failed.  There is not just an issue with their fruit, but with their root.  The text says their hearts are false.

They boldly proclaim, "We have no king because we do not fear the LORD."   They openly flaunt their rebellion and wickedness.  The show their lack of faith by asking, "What can He do for us?"  They say they do not believe in God but it seems they blame Him for doing nothing to help them escape their problems they got themselves into. Does that not sound familiar (like the modern-day atheist)?

They make empty promises that they intend to break.  No oath, promise, vow, or covenant they make has any meaning nor can it be trusted.  Since they have not tended to the vineyard of their hearts, poisonous weeds will spring up to choke out the good vine.  The people that once found comfort and security in the image of the golden calf that they worshiped in place of the LORD now tremble in fear as it is being shown powerless to save them.  They will be put to shame along with their idols, false prophets, and false priests and priestesses.

Though they had a system of "might makes right" to choose their king, even their mighty kings will perish.  God will not save the king.  Thorns and thistles, a symbol of the Curse from Genesis 3, will cover all the altars these kings and their subjects made to the various false gods they worshiped.  All of them will be broken down and become nothing but ruble and dust by the time the 70 years of exile are over.

From the day of the northern kingdom's birth as a separate nation, they have been sinful.  You could say they were born in sin because their first acts were acts of rebellion against the LORD.  They refused His covenant and worshiped idols in His place violating the first and second commandments.  The LORD calls their sin up sin a double-iniquity (iniquity is high-handed sins of rebellion, they are not accidently sinning, they are doing it willfully.  They know the rules and are choosing to deliberately disobey them).

Ephraim used to be a trained calf that needed no yoke to make it do what it was supposed to do.  It would thresh the grain without needing any kind of restraint, but now the LORD will put a heavy yoke upon it.  Judah will be in charge as the farmer plows the field using it's teams of livestock.  Though Ephraim was allowed to rule the northern ten tribes for a while, the tribes will unite once again under the leadership of the tribe of Judah whom the LORD chose to be the tribe that the King would come from.  All of True Israel will submit to His authority.  Though, He promises that His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

​We then start to see the Law of the Sower again--"You reap what you sow."  The LORD cautions Israel to be careful about what they sow.  They have a choice to sow righteousness and reap steadfast love, or they can continue to reap the fruits of the iniquities they have sown.  The LORD seems to be offering them one last chance to repent and He will forgive them, though He knows they will not do this.  They will refuse to do the work of weeding the garden, breaking up the fallow ground, and cultivating the hearts and minds of the people to be receptive to the Word of God once again.

Therefore, judgment, destruction, and tumult will come upon the people of God.  Mothers and children will be dashed to pieces--no one will will be spared.  Even the city known as the "house of God" will not be spared.  Yes, even their wicked king will be cut off from the land of the living.