Hosea 10:13

Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men. YE HAVE PLOWED WICKEDNESS. Ye do not even leave it to grow of itself, which it is sure to do on the naturally corrupt soft of the heart, but ye are at pains to cultivate it. YE HAVE REAPED INIQUITY - i:e., the fruit of iniquity; as "righteousness" () is "the fruit of righteousness" (; ; Galatians 6:6). Iniquity itself is its own awful fruit reaped by the perpetrator at last. YE HAVE EATEN THE FRUIT OF LIES - "lies," false and sp...

The reason is here found, why I thought that the Prophet did not simply exhort the people, but rather charged them with obduracy for not growing better, though often admonished. He then relates how much God had previously done to restore the people to a sound mind; for it had been his constant teaching, _Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap, in proportion, kindness, _or _according to the proportion of kindness_; _plough a ploughing for yourselves; it is the time to seek the Lord _Though then the people heard these words daily, and had their ears almost stunned by them, they did not yet change for the better, nor made themselves pliable; nay, as it were with a fixed purpose, they ploughed, he says, ungodliness, they reaped iniquity; they therefore did eat the fruit of falsehood, for they sustained just punishments, or satiated themselves with falsehood and treachery. We now apprehend th...

9-15 Because God does not desire the death and ruin of sinners, therefore in mercy he desires their chastisement. The children of iniquity still remained in Israel. The enemies would be gathered against them. It is just with God to make those know what hardships mean, who indulge themselves in ease and pleasure. Let them cleanse their hearts from all corrupt affections and lusts, and be a broken and contrite spirit. Let them abound in works of piety towards God, and of justice and charity towards one another: herein let them sow to the Spirit. Seeking the Lord is to be every day's work, but there are special occasions when to seek him. Christ shall come as the Lord our righteousness, and grant us of it abundantly. If we sow in righteousness, we shall reap according to mercy; a reward not of debt, but of grace. Even the gains of sin yield the sinner no satisfaction. As our comforts, so o...

Verse Hosea 10:13. _YE HAVE PLOUGHED WICKEDNESS_] Ye have laboured sinfully. _YE HAVE REAPED INIQUITY_] The _punishment_ due to your iniquity. _YE HAVE EATEN THE FRUIT OF LIES_] Your _false worship_ and your _false gods_ have brought you into _captivity_ and _misery_. _BECAUSE THOU DIDST TRUST IN THY WAY_] Didst confide in thy own counsels, and in _thy mighty men_, and not in the God who made you....

YE HAVE PLOWED WICKEDNESS - They not only did not that which God commanded, but they did the exact contrary. They cultivated wickedness. They broke up their fallow ground, yet to sow, not wheat, but tares. They did not leave it even to grow of itself, although even thus, on the natural soil of the human heart, it yields a plenteous harvest; but they bestowed their labor on it, plowed it, sowed, and as they sowed, so they reaped, an abundant increase of it. “They brought their ill doings to a harvest, and laid up as in provision the fruits thereof.” Iniquity and the results of iniquity, were the gain of all their labor. Of all their toil, they shall have no fruits, except the iniquity itself. : “By the plowing, sowing, eating the fruits, he marks the obstinacy of incorrigible sinners, who begin ill, go on to worse, and in the worst come to an end. Then too, when the corrupted soul labors...

EXPOSITION The concluding thought of the last chapter is the commencing one of this; while the sad subject of Israel's guilt being resumed continues in the first section (Hosea 10:1) of the chapter, and that of their punishment in the second section (Hosea 10:9), with a solemn caution to make a better use of the future than they had clone of the past. HOSEA 10:1 ISRAEL IS AN EMPTY VINE. The comparison of Israel to a vine is frequent; but the epithet _boqeq _is variously rendered; (1) as "empty." Thus Aben Ezra explains it as "empty in which there is no strength to bring forth fruit, nor fruit;" and thus also Kimchi explains it: "An empty vin

YE HAVE PLOUGHED WICKEDNESS,.... Contrived it, and took a great deal of pains to commit it; by ploughing sowed it, and which sprung up in a plentiful crop: it may denote their first sins, from whence all others arose; as their irreligion and infidelity; their apostasy from God; their idolatry and contempt of his word and prophets: YE HAVE REAPED INIQUITY; abundance of other sins have sprung up from thence; a large harvest of them have been reaped and got in; or great numbers of other sins have been committed; one sin leads on to another, and these proceed "ad infinitum"; wickedness is of an increasing nature, and grows worse and worse, and proceeds to more ungodliness: many understand this of the punishment or reward of sin: YE HAVE EATEN THE FRUIT OF LIES; as a sweet morsel though bread of deceit; which could not profit them, nor yield them in the issue the pleasure it promised them,...

TRUST (_ See Scofield) - (Psalms 2:12). _...

CHAPTER 9:10-11:11 RETROSPECT, ISRAEL'S FAILURE AND RUIN _ 1. Israel once beloved, now fugitive wanderers (Hosea 9:10) _ 2. Their guilt and punishment (Hosea 10:1) 3. Exhortation and rebuke (Hosea 10:12) 4. The mercy of a merciful God (Hosea 11:1) Hosea 9:10. Like a wayfaring man who finds grapes and figs in the desert and delights in them, so the Lord found Israel in the desert and they were His pleasure when He led them out of Egypt. But they requited His love by going after Baal-peor, one of the filthiest gods of heat

ISRAEL MUST REAP THE RUIN HE HAS SOWN. From the days of Gibeah Israel has sinned, and never progressed since (Hosea 10:9, but see notes); Yahweh comes to punish them, and gather the peoples against them (Hosea 10:10). Israel like a well-broken-in heifer loves to thresh; but the harder tasks (ploughing, harrowing) must precede before the crops can be gathered; the discipline must precede the joy of harvest (Hosea 10:11; Hosea 12 is perhaps a gloss). But Israel has ploughed wickedness and reaped disaster, the tumult of war shall arise in his midst, bringing destruction upon the fortresses, the land and her children ruined, and their king swept away (Ho