Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

9:10 Like grapes in the wilderness. . . . Like the first fruit on the fig tree. The unexpected discovery of grapes in the desert or the first figs of the season is absolutely delightful (cf. v. 13). I saw your fathers shows this is another reference to the nation's early history. But like Hosea's marriage, that cherished relationship had a surprisingly short life. they came to Baal-peor (Num. 25:3, 5, 18; cf. Ps. 106:28). Idolatry and whoredom have also gone hand in hand from Israel's very beginning.

9:11-12 Woe to them when I depart from them. When Israel spurns God's grace, they are left to their own devices. Judgment is dramatic, for there will be no birth, no pregnancy, not even conception. If the nation does not change, it will soon head toward extinction.

9:14 A miscarrying womb would be the opposite of the fruitfulness the people sought in Baal worship (see Introduction: Purpose, Occasion, and Background).

9:16-17 their root is dried up; they shall bear no fruit. Again (see note on v. 14), this punishment is the opposite of what they sought in worshiping the Baals. wanderers among the nations. That is, they will be exiles. they have not listened to him. God's people put themselves at risk when they abandon dependency on the Lord and obedience to him.

10:1-2 For the image of Israel as a vine, cf. Ps. 80:8-16; Jer. 2:21; Ezek. 15:1-8; 17:1-10. This example suits Hosea's repeated pattern that Israel got off to a good start but then went wrong. The vine's fruit increased, and the country improved. However, the more Israel prospered, the more Israel sinned. the more altars he built . . . he improved his pillars. It was just as Moses had warned (Deut. 8:11-14). Abundance is risky; God's people could not handle it (cf. Prov. 30:7-9).

10:3 We have no king. The prophet foretells the end of the northern monarchy due to the people's unfaithfulness.

10:4 It is difficult to determine whether those who utter mere words are Israelites (v. 3) or their kings. If Israelites, it refers to Israel's misplaced reliance on their leaders and the hypocritical or blind claim that they are nevertheless faithful to the Lord (cf. 1 Sam. 8:7; Hos. 7:14). If it refers to the words of kings, their covenants/promises do not stem from integrity but are untrustworthy, empty oaths.

10:5 The address moves to the future. The inhabitants . . . tremble. Both their king and calf-idol will be removed from Samaria. What the people and the priests once rejoiced over, they will mourn for. On Beth-aven, see note on 4:15. The term glory describes the special presence of God in his sanctuary (cf. Ex. 40:34). Here it is the presumed presence of God at the illegitimate sanctuary. It will depart (or go into exile, ESV footnote), just as the legitimate glory did (1 Sam. 4:21-22).

10:6 The idol they worshiped becomes tribute for the great king of Assyria (see 5:13).

10:7 The imagery like a twig on the face of the waters (i.e., tossed about every which way and then swept away) illustrates the helplessness and weakness of the kings that Israel trusted.

10:8 The thorn and thistle indicate that the land is unproductive; cf. Gen. 3:18; Matt. 7:16; Heb. 6:8. For Aven (another name for Beth-aven), see note on Hos. 4:15.

10:9 the days of Gibeah. See note on 9:9. The idea is that if disaster overtook the Benjaminites at Gibeah, how much more is Israel now in trouble.

10:10 When I please, I will discipline them. While the primary source of Israel's discipline and downfall is the Lord himself, the agency of discipline will be through the nations that shall be gathered against them (cf. Isa. 10:5). OT prophets frequently linked the first cause (the Lord) with secondary causes (here, the nations).

10:11-13 The passage is punctuated with agrarian images, again alluding to the issue of fertility. Ephraim was a trained calf--another allusion to Israel's beginnings. The Lord spared Israel the yoke; she loved to thresh in his field (cf. Deut. 25:4). But that freedom was abused: you have plowed iniquity . . . reaped injustice (Hos. 10:13). Therefore, the Lord must harness Ephraim. The idea here is in concert with Hosea restraining his wife, so that Israel would sow the seeds of righteousness and plow and reap a crop of steadfast love (v. 12; cf. 8:7). A deaf ear to the prophet's appeals will translate into a military disaster.

10:14 as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle. "Shalman" is an otherwise unknown name but may refer to the Assyrian king Shalmaneser V (727-722 b.c.), who besieged Samaria from 725 to 723. The location of "Beth-arbel" is unknown. The violence described suits Assyrian barbarity, and the degree of punishment is equal to the size of the offenses.

11:1 When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. Here is one of the most endearing passages in Hosea. The prophet uses another family metaphor, portraying the Lord not only as a husband but also as a father (cf. Luke 15:11-32). This metaphor was not original to Hosea (cf. Ex. 4:22-23). Matthew 2:15 uses the line "out of Egypt I called my son" to show that Jesus is the "Son of God," i.e., the heir of David who embodies Israel's relationship to God (cf. 2 Sam. 7:14; Ps. 89:26-27).

11:2-4 The Lord loved Israel from the beginning and never stopped loving them. Throughout their history, he taught Ephraim (that is, Israel) to walk and healed them (v. 3), as a father does with his child. Some commentators think the image of a parent and a child continues in v. 4 in led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love. The meaning would be light bands or cords with which a parent supports and guides a toddler who is learning to walk. But most commentators think that in v. 4 the image changes to that of a kind farmer with his animals, who removes the yoke and leads the animal, not with harsh ropes and a yoke (as in 10:11), but with light "cords" and "bands" to guide the animals to their food. Then the Lord, like a gentle farmer, even bent down and fed them (11:4). In all of this manifestation of grace, the Lord was not initiating a new basis for a relationship between him and his people, for the relationship from the beginning was never based on law but on redemptive grace. Among other places, this is illustrated by the preamble of the Ten Commandments: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery" (Ex. 20:2). It was God's love that provided and still provides the underpinning for an ultimate relationship of care, guidance, and obedience. Tragically, however, more than anything else, it was the Lord's love that was spurned: The more they were called, the more they went away (Hos. 11:2), and "My people are bent on turning away from me" (v. 7).

11:5-7 They shall not return . . . but Assyria. Some read "not" as "surely" (ESV footnote), since 8:13; 9:3; and 11:11 seem to contradict reading a negative here. This is grammatically possible, but not necessary. (See note on 7:16: "Egypt" in those earlier verses may be a name representing all foreign powers, whereas here Hosea says they will not literally return to Egypt.) This verse may mean that hope of finding deliverance from Egypt will fail. The Israelites will find themselves subject to a new pharaoh, not in Egypt but in Assyria.

11:8 How can I give you up? In highly anthropomorphic terms, the Lord pours out his irrepressible love; Isa. 49:15 and Jer. 31:20 express the same sentiment. The relationship between God and his chosen must not be viewed as a formality. These emotional outpourings demonstrate that the Lord is a person, filled with compassion--unlike the lifeless Baals. His affection weighs heavier than Israel's ingratitude, and he cannot bring himself to renounce his people, even though they renounce him. How can I make you like Admah . . . like Zeboiim? These two cities were totally destroyed (see Deut. 29:23; also Gen. 14:2, 8). The love that the Lord has for his children restrains him from obliterating them. He will preserve Israel through a remnant (cf. Rom. 11:5).

11:10-11 His children shall come trembling . . . I will return them to their homes describes the return of a remnant of God's people from exile.