Studies in Hosea
8 - Unholy
We’ve reached chapter 10 in Hosea and the going is tough because the message is grim. God cannot forget their past relationship of genuine love. “Israel was a spreading vine” (verse 1), luxuriant and filled with fruit. But defection has set in – big time. Perhaps this section could be subtitled “Look back in anguish” as God outlines their on-going waywardness. They have no reverence for the Eternal.
“Their heart is deceitful” (verse 2) – the force of the word is ‘smooth, slick, slippery’ – it was used of the psalmist’s treacherous comrade in Psalm 55 verse 21 where he wrote, “His speech is smooth as butter, yet war is in his heart; his words are more soothing than oil, yet they are drawn swords.” The Message Bible paraphrases verse 2, “Their sweet smiles are sheer lies. They’re guilty as sin. God will smash their worship shrines, pulverise their god-images.”
It grieves God to see that His ancient people are up to no good, year in, year out. Dumb idols proliferate: ethics have vanished. “They make many promises, take false oaths and make agreements; therefore lawsuits spring up like poisonous weeds in a ploughed field” (verse 4). Bethel’s calf-god, a detestable idol overlaid with gold, is said to be at Bethaven which means ‘house of wickedness.’ The Living Bible puts verses 5 - 6 like this, “The people of Samaria tremble in case their calf-god idols at Bethaven should be hurt; the priests and people, too, mourn over the departed honour of their shattered gods. This idol – this calf-god thing – will be carted with them when they go as slaves to Assyria, a present to the great king there. Ephraim will be laughed at for trusting in this idol; Israel will be put to shame” (chapter 10 verses 5 – 6 The Living Bible).
What a heavy message! Without God’s blessing, the kings were impotent. Their stupid calf-idol will become tribute for the Assyrian king when they are deported. “Samaria and its king will float away like a twig on the surface of the waters. The high places of wickedness will be destroyed – it is the sin of Israel. Thorns and thistles will grow up and cover their altars” (verses 7 - 8). When it finally dawns on them that their hill-top shrines which were the centres of their corrupt cult have contributed massively to their national shame and disgrace, they will cry out to be buried alive. “Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!” (verse 8).
Reference is made again to Gibeah where civil war nearly wiped out Benjamin’s tribe when it sheltered the lewd men who’d ravaged the Levite’s concubine. The Living Bible puts verses 9 and 10 this way. “O Israel, ever since that awful night in Gibeah, there has been only sin, sin, sin! You have made no progress whatever. Was it not right that the men of Gibeah were wiped out? I will come against you for your disobedience; I will gather the armies of the nations against you to punish you for your heaped up sins.”
Ephraim used to be a pet heifer, tenderly trained by Yahweh, that loved to thresh but she would not yield her neck to the harness, but just ploughed her wicked ways. The word ‘trained’ suggests tractable, responsive, useful. But things are different now. As a trained heifer, the chosen people should have broken up the fallow ground and sowed a righteous crop, but the nation had forgotten its vocation. Instead of being a working heifer, the nation had become a grazing cow. The NIV Study Bible comments, “Now God would cause Israel (here called both Ephraim and Jacob) and Judah to do the heavy work of ploughing and harrowing under a yoke – a picture of going into the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities.
Here’s a timeless truth. “Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love (here’s that Hebrew word chesed again) and break up your unploughed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers righteousness on you” (verse 12). Sadly that is not what Ephraim has been doing. “But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception. Because you have depended on your own strength and on your many warriors the roar of battle will rise against your people” (verses 13 - 14).
No one can live by the devil’s standards and then expect to reap a reward from God. When you sow sin, you reap sin. This is not rocket science, just spiritual law! Israel’s salad days were over, she would soon feel the Assyrian yoke. The danger of self-reliance is symbolised in soldiers and fortifications, but the arm of flesh will fail us. The Message Bible ends chapter 10 with this paraphrase, “You thought you could do it all on your own, flush with weapons and manpower. But the volcano of war will erupt among your people. All your defence posts will be levelled as viciously as King Shalman levelled the town of Beth-arba, when mothers and their babies were smashed on the rocks. That’s what’s ahead for you, you so-called people of God, because of your off-the-charts evil. Some morning you’re going to wake up and find Israel, king and kingdom, a blank – nothing.”
Sometimes we’re tempted to gloss over Bible passages such as today’s study because it’s unpleasant reading and we say, “I got nothing out of that,” but the Bible declares that “All scripture is God breathed and is useful” (2 Timothy 3:16). The wise will realise these things. The discerning will understand them.