Hosea 9:1-9

LOVE REBUKING Hosea 9:1, Hosea 13:16

REPROVINGISRAEL FORSOOK GOD

TEXT: Hosea 9:1-9

1

Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, like the peoples; for thou hast played the harlot, departing from thy God; thou hast loved hire upon every grain-floor.

2

The threshing-floor and the wine-press shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail her.

3

They shall not dwell in Jehovah's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria.

4

They shall not pour out wine-offerings to Jehovah, neither shall they be pleasing unto him: their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted; for their bread shall be for their appetite; it shall not come into the house of Jehovah.

5

What will ye do in the day of solemn assembly, and in the day of the feast of Jehovah?

6

For, lo, they are gone away from destruction; yet Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them; their pleasant things of silver, nettles shall possess them; thorns shall be in their tents.

7

The days of visitation are come, the days of recompense are come; Israel shall know it; the prophet is a fool, the man that hath the spirit is mad, for the abundance of thine iniquity, and because the enmity is great.

8

Ephraim was a watchman with my God: as for the prophet, a fowler's snare is in all his ways, and enmity in the house of his God.

9

They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.

QUERIES

a.

How will Ephriam be in Egypt and Assyria at the same time?

b.

What is the bread of mourners?

c.

What are the days of visitation?

PARAPHRASE

Do not think this is a time for rejoicing, Israel, just because you have had a few seasons of prosperity. You have been as unfaithful to your God as an adulterous woman is to her husband by attributing your prosperity to idols and worshipping them. The small harvests of grain, oil and wine you now enjoy are very temporary. They shall soon come to a complete end. You will be taken from God's land, Ephraim, into a land of bondage like Egypt was to your ancestors. Your land of bondage will be Assyria and you will be so subservient and poor you will have to eat food that is unlawfuluncleanbecause there will be no Temple there and no opportunity to sanctify yourselves and your harvests to the Lord as Moses required. Yea, you will not be able to present acceptable offerings to Jehovah because He can be worshipped only at the Temple. Even your daily food, because you are not able in Assyria to sanctify your harvests by the offering of the first fruits, will be like bread of mourners or unclean to you. And what will you do about observing your great feast days when you cannot go to the house of Jehovah? Behold, Israel is done for! She has fallen into destruction. Very soon now her people will be buried in a foreign land where they have been taken captive. Her own land will be so desolate weeds will grow up in its deserted houses. Israel is about to receive payment for her sin. Israel is about to learn that she was, in listening to false prophets, following fools and demon-spirit possessed men. Your multiplied iniquities and rebellious hearts led you to reject God's prophets and turn to false prophetsnow God is going to give you the consequences of your evil desires. Israel fancies himself capable of knowing God's revelation without trusting God's appointed prophets. The false prophets Israel did trust in became a trap to her in all her ways, Israel has declared war on God and His prophets in her renegade temples. Israel has become as grossly corrupt as the men of Gibeah who, in the days of the Judges, were sex perverts. God practically exterminated the tribe of Benjamin as a result of this and He will soon visit upon Israel's wantonness a like perfect wrath.

SUMMARY

Israel is warned not to feel so secure in a few seasons of material prosperity. Because Israel had been unfaithful to her God she would be carried away into bondage in Assyria where she would be unable to make acceptable approach to God,

COMMENT

Hosea 9:1-3 REJOICE NOT, O ISRAEL. THE NEW WINE SHALL FAIL. THEY SHALL EAT UNCLEAN FOOD IN ASSYRIA. It seems that Israel was enjoying certain periods of harvest blatantly supposing them to be signs that all was well and secure in spite of their iniquitous excesses. Israel also attributed its agricultural prosperity to the idols it had appropriated from its heathen neighbors. Israel had played the harlot in its unfaithfulness to Jehovah, regarding the harvest-blessing upon its threshing-floors as gifts. from the Baals, for which it served them with still greater zeal. While the harlotry spoken of in Hosea 9:1 refers primarily to spiritual adultery (cf. ch. Hosea 2:5; Hosea 2:8; Hosea 4:12), it is still a fact that the harvest festivals were also occasions for boisterous festivities in honor of the fertility deities; and they committed at the threshing floors and wine presses the shameful immoralities against which Hosea and Amos so vehemently protest (cf. ch. Hosea 4:13-14).

Their good fortune with their crops was only temporary, however, for it would all soon be gone and God was about to withdraw His beneficence.

In addition to imminent crop failure, their exile was so near as to be spoken of by Hosea in the perfect tense (as if it had already happened). Israel has made itself an unwelcome guest in the land of Jehovah. Of course, Israel did not consider it Jehovah's land and herself a guest. Very few nations do! Yet it is still true that God owns the heavens and the earth and all the cattle on a thousand hills (cf. Psalms 24:1-2; Psalms 50:10-15; Isaiah 66:1-2), and men and nations are merely stewards of His grace. They shall give an account! Israel would be plucked from this land given to her ancestors who came from Egyptian slavery, and cast into a bondage like those of old except that the new exile would be in Assyria. Egypt is not to be taken literally here. Hosea 9:3 is a perfect example of Hebrew poetic parallelism. Egypt becomes a figurative picture of what the Assyrian exile will be like. All food which was not sanctified to the Lord by the presentation of the first fruits, was unclean, unlawful food to Israel (Exodus 22:29; Exodus 23:19; Exodus 34:22; Exodus 34:26; Leviticus 23:10-12; Leviticus 23:15-17). In heathen lands it would be impossible for Israel to come to the Temple of Jehovah (which could lawfully be located only in Jerusalem) and sanctify her harvests. In addition to this they might be forced (cf. Daniel 1:5; Daniel 1:8 ff) to partake of food that would be strictly prohibited by the Mosaic law. The context here seems to indicate the former as the primary consideration.

Hosea 9:4. THEIR SACRIFICES SHALL BE UNTO THEM AS THE BREAD OF MOURNERS. The bread of mourners was bread that had been in a house where a dead body had lain. Because the dead defiled a house for seven days and all that was in the housebread thus defiled was called bread of mourners. Any sacrifice they might attempt to make in Assyria to Jehovah would be unclean or defiled (like mourner's bread) because there was no place to offer sacrifices acceptable to God but Jerusalem and the Temple. They would have to eat bread for the support of lifefor their appetitebut since they could not sanctify the first fruits of the harvest, it too would be unclean. Hosea is trying to emphasize here the awesome, terrifying nature of Israel's spiritual destruction when God withdraws His gracious presence. Israel will be cut off from God. God will not hear hershe will be dead.

Hosea 9:5 WHAT WILL YE DO IN THE. DAY OF THE FEAST OF JEHOVAH? Israel will not be able to worship God, give thanks to Him and call upon Him for forgiveness and blessing in the great annual feast-days while in captivity. They would be deprived of all their ancestors had counted valuable, beautiful, holy and needful. All the religious, national, social, economic, cultural heritage of Judaism centered around its great feasts. Their extreme importance may be seen in the fact that the Jews have attempted to perpetuate these feasts in the centuries following the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. by the Romans. No Jew worships on any holy day today as God has directed for the simple reason there is no temple in Jerusalem to which they may go. To observe the Passover, or Day of Atonement, in New York City is contrary to the Torah (O.T. Law). And Israel, in captivity to Assyria, would be bereft of all opportunity to approach God in a way acceptable to Him.

Hosea 9:6. EGYPT SHALL GATHER THEM UP, MEMPHIS SHALL BURY THEM. THORNS SHALL BE IN THEIR TENTS. Egypt will not be the actual place of the captivity of Israel (cf. Hosea 9:3) nor will they literally die and be buried in Memphis. These are symbols of bondage, slavery and death, These are places where their ancestors had been in bondage centuries ago. The prophet is simply making his prediction of their future captivity in Assyria as vivid and real as he can by referring to a past experience of the nation. Many thousands of the people of Israel were buried in Assyria, never to see their homeland again. A few Israelites, of a generation or two later than Hosea'S, returned from captivity, (cf. comments on Hosea 8:8-9).

Their land would be desolate. Their spacious dwellings (cf. Hosea 8:13-14), the objects of their affections, their precious treasures would all be looted by an enemy or left behind to be overgrown with weeds and thornsdeserted. Things for which they had devoted so much of their time and energy would be wrested from them (cf. Matthew 6:19-21; Luke 12:15-21).

Hosea 9:7 THE DAYS OF VISITATION ARE COME. ISRAEL SHALL KNOW IT. THE PROPHET IS A FOOL. FOR THE ABUNDANCE OF THINE INIQUITY. Visit means to come with a special purpose, either of blessing or punishment. God visits men to bless (Genesis 50:24; Psalms 106:4; Zephaniah 2:7; Luke 1:68; Luke 1:78; Luke 7:16; Acts 15:14). God also visits men to judge and punish them (cf. Leviticus 18:25; Psalms 59:5; Isaiah 10:3; Isaiah 23:17; Jeremiah 10:15; Jeremiah 51:18; Micah 7:4). Woe to that person or nation who does not recognize God's visit of blessing (cf. Luke 19:44; 1 Peter 2:12), for they shall soon receive His visit of punishment! Whenever a prophet, preacher or teacher of God's Word comes to a person or community or nation with a message from God's Word, he is God's ambassador, and God has visited that person or nation. Woe to those who are indifferent and pay no heed to God's visitorswoe to those who reject and persecute God's visitors!

Just which prophet is called a fool and who is doing the calling is a matter debated by the commentators. We prefer the interpretation that the prophet is the false prophet who prophesies lies. When God visits His judgment of justice and truth upon Israel then she will recognize and know that the prophets she had been following who were promising her peace when there was no peace, are fools (cf.Ezekiel 13:10 ff; Jeremiah 6:14; Jeremiah 8:11; Micah 3:5). The man that hath the spirit and is mad is the same demon possessed false prophet as is described in Micah 2:11 who utters wind and lies. False prophets usually were under the influence of demoniacal power and were inspired by a lying spirit (cf. 1 Kings 22:22), It is also undoubtedly true that the wicked people of Israel were, at this time, calling God's true prophets, fool (cf. Amos 7:10-17). The prophets were despised, slandered, called mad, hunted, tortured, slain (cf. 2 Kings 9:11; Jeremiah 29:26; Hebrews 11:32 ff). But what men call foolish and what God calls foolish are usually exactly opposite (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:18, Hosea 2:16)!

Israel's punishment and judgment is about to come because of her abundant iniquity and great enmity. Israel's terrible sin was that she had mislaid God (cf. Hosea 8:14). Israel's abundant iniquity was in being indifferent to the many visits of blessing Jehovah had made to her. Her great enmity against God was manifest in her enmity against God's ambassadors, the prophets. One is reminded of the great enmity of the Jews of a later generation as they expressed it in killing the Son of God (cf. Matthew 21:33-46; Mark 12:1-12; Luke 19:9-19). Israel demonstrated its hate for God by its hate for the prophets of God! What of those men and nations today who have hated and killed Christian preachers and missionarieshow great is their hate for God!

Hosea 9:8 EPHRAIM WAS A WATCHMAN WITH MY GOD: AS FOR THE PROPHET, A FOWLER'S SNARE IS IN ALL HIS WAYS, AND ENMITY IN THE HOUSE OF HIS GOD. Keil translates the first phrase of Hosea 9:8, A spy is Ephraim with my God. The meaning Hosea intended, according to Keil and Lange, is that Israel searches out divine revelations on her own along with the God of Hosea. In other words, Israel does not depend on Hosea to be declaring to her the revelation of God, but she trusts in her own so-called prophets (who were not commissioned by God). Ephraim (Israel) believed the revelations of her false prophets to be equal with, if not superior to, the revelations of Hosea. But, her prophets were leading her into the snare (trap) of the devil (pride). Israel's prophets were leading her into the devil's camp which was at war (enmity) with God. By insisting to the people that their message was right and that Israel should set up a temple of her own and worship a golden calf, they were leading the people to join with Satan and the hosts of wicked demons in war on God!

Hosea 9:9 THEY HAVE DEEPLY CORRUPTED THEMSELVES, AS IN THE DAYS OF GIBEAH. Israel has fallen to the depths of sin. Nothing is sacred to her anymoreGod's Word, human lifenothing. They are as corrupt as those despicable, beastly men of Gibeah who, when they could not take the Levite man and molest him sexually, took the Levite's concubine, all of them, raped and ravaged her and left her for dead on the doorstep (cf. Judges chap. 19-20). As a result of the sins of the men of Gibeah, the tribe of Benjamin was almost completely exterminated. The Lord has laid the sins of Israel to their charge. What they have sown, they will reap. The Lord will pay them in full for their evil works.

QUIZ

1.

Why did Hosea tell Israel to cease her rejoicing?

2.

Why was the land of Israel called Jehovah's land?

3.

Did Israel go into captivity to Egypt? Why?

4.

Why were the offerings and sacrifices of Israel not pleasing to Jehovah when they were in captivity?

5.

How would Israel's daily food in Assyria become unclean?

6.

What is Hosea trying to emphasize by showing their condition in captivity?

7.

How does God visit men? Name two ways,