HOSEA CHAPTER NINE
Chapter Nine centers around the Day of Judgment, when Israel will experience the full price for their sin.
In the early days of Hosea’s ministry, Israel was prosperous. Conditions were good. The harvest was plentiful. Money flowed. After their venture into spiritual harlotry, those good conditions continued for a while. There was a tendency to assume, because it did not arrive immediately, that judgment would not come.
I fear that same tendency is present in our own country.
Hosea 9:1-2
The chapter opens with an admonition not to rejoice over their current prosperity because their sin has condemned them. Things are about to change.
A similar admonition is found in Isaiah 22:12-13.
1) What does Isaiah say the people should be doing?
2) What are they doing instead?
They have played the harlot and forsaken the Lord. According to The McArthur Bible Commentary, (p. 978), Baal worshippers consummated their worship by having sexual relations with temple prostitutes on the threshing floor and at the winepress. This was done in an attempt to gain blessings of more grain and grapes from the idol. If a good harvest followed such behavior, Baal was given credit for the blessing, rather than the Lord.
They have “loved harlot’s earnings” on every threshing floor.
3) What were the “harlot’s earnings”? See Blue Letter Bible
4) What does Hosea say will happen to those supposed blessings from Baal?
Hosea 9:3-7
There’s an important concept hidden in verse 3 that we need to understand. “They will not remain in the Lord’s land.” When they first arrived in the Promised Land, the people knew that God alone had given it to them. Over time, they began to see the land as theirs, rather than God’s. In Hosea 9:3, the land ownership is clarified. Every inch of Israel belongs to God. The word used here is ’erets and was also used in Genesis 2:4 to indicate the entire heaven and earth.
5) Read Leviticus 25:23 and Psalm 24:1. What does this say about ownership of this world?
6) If the verses in Leviticus 23 and Psalm 24 are true, and they are, what does this passage say about the ownership of the house in which you live, the land on which you reside, your possessions?
In a very real sense, all of the “things” we think belong to us are only on loan from our generous God. We are simply the custodians of God’s property.
PRAYER PAUSE:
Let’s take a moment to consider the generosity God has shown toward each of us, personally. Thank Him for all He’s allowed into your hands and commit now to being a better steward than ever before. Be sure to ask Him how He wants to use His property, currently entrusted to you, for the Kingdom of God.
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Hosea 9:7 says the days of punishment and retribution have arrived.
Look at BLB for information about the word translated as “punishment”
and about the word translated as “retribution”.
7) Compare and contrast punishment and retribution using what you’ve learned.
Hosea 9:3 continues by saying that, as part of their judgment, God will soon evict His people.
8) When they are “evicted by God”, where will they go?
9) How will this happen?
10) How does Hosea say life will change when they are in exile? (See verses 3-6)
11) Read 2 Kings 17 to see how this prophecy was fulfilled and make
notes on what you learn.
Israel faces several challenges that may not be immediately understood in light of our culture. The Law was very specific about cleanness and uncleanness. To be ceremonially unclean was avoided at all costs and resulted in being an outcast in varying degrees. The ritual of ceremonial cleanliness was in stark contrast to the nations around them, and was a source of pride to the people.
When they went into exile, they would live “unclean”. They would lose the “badge of distinction” that separated them from the pagans around them. Not only would they be demeaned by their moral failure, but also by their social failure, as well. When judgment comes, Israel will be as unclean as their neighbors.
12) Read the following verses to find out more about their “unclean” life.
unclean food - See Ezekiel 4, especially 4:13
no drink offering - See Exodus 29:40
unacceptable sacrifices - See Jeremiah 6:16-21
mourner’s bread - Haggai 2:13,14
no true festivals - Joel 1:13
weeds and thorns - Isaiah 5:3-6, Hosea 10:8
The entire system of sacrifices was set up to accomplish one thing. Demonstrate repentance and reconciliation with God. The festival that followed the sacrifices was done in celebration of a restored right relationship with God. What kind of festival could they have when they were so deeply estranged from God?
What kind of festival could they have when there was no sacrificial reconciliation to celebrate?
What kind of festival could they have when there was no sacrificial reconciliation to celebrate?
Hosea 9:7
This is another of the verses with multiple interpretations. Some commentators believe the words, “The prophet is a fool and the inspired man is demented” indicates the attitude of the people toward the true prophets of God.
Based on passages in 1 Kings, Ezekiel and Lamentations, however, I believe this verse is literally addressing the foolish prophets of Israel who prophesied prosperity and strength.
13) See 1 Kings 22:2-18. Compare and contrast the “prophets” versus the “prophets of the Lord”.
14) What kind of prophesies did the two groups make?
15) How does this verse describe the prophets and “inspired men”?
16) What did God say to Ezekiel about the prophets? Read Ezekiel 13:2-10
When I read the book of Hosea, I can’t help but wonder if God’s people will ever learn. Captivity was coming, just as Hosea told them, but they did nothing to avoid it.
The book of Lamentations is a collection of writings, composed during their captivity, expressing their grief over the tragedy they had experienced. Not only had they gone into captivity, but also their temple had been destroyed. The lamentations were read every year as a reminder of the consequences they had suffered because of their sin.
We’re only looking at one verse right now, but Lamentations provides a good picture of the terrible circumstances encountered in captivity.
15) What did the people learn about their false prophets? See Lamentations 2:14
In an act of heartbreaking judgment, God had given the people what they wanted. Jeroboam had run the descendants of Levi out of Israel and instituted his own brand of priest and prophet. The people were hostile to any prophet who spoke truth. They wanted the prophets to say only what they wanted to hear. Finally, God let them have exactly what they wanted, and it drove them straight down the road to destruction.
Hosea 9:8
There are three general ways of interpreting this verse. Either Ephraim was supposed to be God’s prophet/watchman, God’s prophet was persecuted by Ephraim, or the prophets Ephraim followed were false. In a way, all of those theories are correct. Ephraim/Israel was supposed to be God’s representative to the pagan nations around them. Instead, they persecuted God’s true prophets and followed the false prophets in the religion of Jeroboam.
In the NASB, which is the translation I use, the wording of this verse makes the meaning unclear. In the ESV, the wording seems to fit the second interpretation.
“The prophet is the watchman of Ephraim with my God;
yet a fowler’s snare is on all his ways,
and hatred in the house of his God.”
Hosea 9:8 esv
16) Who appointed the watchmen? See Jeremiah 6:16-17
17) What was the watchmen’s job? Also see Ezekiel 33:1-9
The job of the watchman was to, literally, keep watch throughout the night for enemy invaders. It was their responsibility to warn people of coming danger. If the people took appropriate action, the watchman had saved them. If the watchman failed to warn and people died, they were accountable for the deaths. The responsibility was enormous, and not one to be taken lightly.
The prophet Micah spoke of a different kind of watch. See Micah 7:7 and write out the verse.
PRAYER PAUSE:
I have a note in the margin of my Bible by Micah 7:7. “In the midst of overwhelming evil and darkness all around, watch and wait, for God will hear our cry!”
Pause now and cry out to God on behalf of your family and our nation, then wait expectantly. He will hear. He will be your light. He will show you His righteousness.
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The prophet (Hosea, as well as the other true prophets of his time) faithfully relayed God’s message to His people. They were rewarded with scorn and hatred. The “fowler’s snare” indicates a desire, on the part of the people, to “trip him up” or catch the prophet in a moment of weakness. They were hostile and, likely scornful, to the prophets. This attitude was not limited to Israel/Ephraim. Both Hosea, prophet to Israel and Jeremiah, a later prophet to Judah, suffered at the hands of God’s people.
Hosea, who was married to Gomer, likely received a constant barrage of harassment. Jeremiah (627-574 BC) suffered mightily for speaking truth.
18) In what way was Jeremiah a victim of “the fowler’s snare? (See Jeremiah 20:1-3 and his cry to God about his mistreatment in 20:7-13, as well as Jeremiah 32:2-3, 37:14-16, 38:1-13)
Hosea 9:9
Hosea says the people have “gone deep in depravity” (nasb) or “deeply corrupted themselves (ESV).
19) See BLB to learn more about the word translated as “depravity” or “corrupted”. How severe is the corruption?
The people are not just corrupt, they are as corrupt as those in Gibeah, and judgment is no longer a possibility. It is a certainty.
20) We’ve seen the reference to Gibeah before. (See Judges 19 if you
need to refresh your memory.)
Hosea again uses the literary device of simile to describe the nation of Israel/Ephraim.
21) Look for the word “like” or “as” to see how the nation is described.
Verse 1
Verse 10a
Verse 10b
Verse 11
Verse 13
The similes in verse 10 are how God first saw Israel, before their sin.
22) What might these words indicate about early Israel?
23) How did they change?
Just as the church in Ephesus, described in Revelation 2:1-7, had left their first love, so the nation of Israel had left their first love.
24) The passage in Revelation 2 indicates the church in Ephesus was “doing” quite a bit. What does it say about their doing?
25) Our good deeds amount to little if they do not flow from the love of God in our hearts. What does this passage say they are to do?
26) What “first deeds” might someone in love do for the object of their affection?
27) What “first deeds” might we do when we first meet Christ?
PRAYER PAUSE:
In our high-pressure society, it’s easy to spend so much time doing good that we leave little time for communion with God through prayer and Bible study. In what ways have you left your first love?
Spend some time reading 1 Corinthians 13 to remind yourself of the kind of love God has for us. Be still for a bit and ponder the enormity of His love for you.
Pause long enough to let His love soak you thoroughly.
Now, tell our Lord how much you love Him. Speak as you did when you first knew Him. Refresh your ardor and intimacy. Love Him.
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Verses 10-17 are considered to be the retelling of a conversation between God and Hosea. The discussion begins as God describes the early days with the nation of Israel. The first figs on my tree are always a “sweet surprise”. So it was with Israel. There was a surprising sweetness in their relationship with God, but those days have passed.
PRAYER PAUSE:
Do you enjoy a surprising sweetness in your relationship with the Lord? If not, this is the time to ask Him for that very thing. He longs for an intimacy deeper than that of husband and wife, and He will give it to you. If you are willing.
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These next few verses have been difficult for many commentators, and they have been for me. I looked at these words, imagined how they could wound, and prayed for all those among us who have lost children, whether by miscarriage or other death. The loss of a child is a pain like no other. On their behalf, I’m going to explain it as I see it rather than ask you to dig it out.
Let’s begin our discussion by clarifying an important point. This passage is not saying that a miscarriage today occurs as a judgment because of misdeeds of the parents. If you have experienced the pain of miscarriage, this passage is not written to condemn you, nor make you think you are to blame. Don’t let the enemy get a foothold on this, nor let him have the victory in your mind.
These verses are addressing the coming judgment of Israel.
First of all, the glory of the nation of Israel was supposed to be their God first, and their children second. We’ve looked at this before. Children are like arrows in the quiver of a warrior. (Psalm 127:5) In Israel, society revolved around the family.
When Jesus said, “In My Father’s house are many mansions,” (KJV) he was not talking about a three-story structure with fifteen or twenty bedrooms and marble floors. The word translated as “mansions” might be better translated as “rooms”.
In Jewish culture, the people lived in stone houses. When one of the sons became engaged, he and his father added a room, or “insula”, to the family’s dwelling. When it was complete, the bridegroom would go for his bride and bring her to his dwelling place. It was a separate room in his father’s house, designed and built with his bride in mind. Multiple generations would live together, and share the work of the home.
If Ephraim’s glory “will fly away like a bird”, it implies that their children will be like the bird’s offspring. When baby birds are mature enough to survive on their own, they fly away and are never at the nest again. Ephraim’s children, then, would leave and not return. This may indicate their leaving because of the coming Assyrian captivity or their leaving as the prodigal son left his father’s house.
There is one more explanation that chills my blood. The worship of Molech included the live sacrifice of children into the arms of the idol. A fire would be kindled and the child would be burned alive. The family’s glory was gone.
The children would not only die in the arms of the idol. They would also die during the Assyrian invasion and captivity.
Hosea argues with God. (This is the Leanna Paraphrase) “Since Ephraim is already slaughtering their children, why give them any more? If You stop allowing them to conceive, they won’t be able to kill any more babies. It would be better for an infant to be miscarried than to be burned alive.”
God replies, (more Leanna Paraphrase) “I know, Hosea. I’m sick to death of them. I can’t love them any more. I’m driving them out of My house and out of My land. When I remove My protection from them, Assyria will come and the children who escaped the fires of Molech will die by the Assyrian sword.” (See Ezekiel 24:21)
God has removed his protective covering over his people and is allowing the natural progression of their sin to occur. As Hosea has told them over and over again, their sin will take them further than they ever wanted to go and cost them far more than they every intended to pay.
There’s a heartbreaking truth in Hosea 9:16. God describes the children as “the ‘precious ones’ of their wombs”.
28) See BLB to find out more about how God views children.
Israel’s children were of inestimable value to God, yet Israel demonstrated a much different view of their offspring when they sacrificed them to idols.
PRAYER PAUSE:
The beautiful truth is that our children are also “precious ones of the womb” to our Lord. They are more precious to God than to us. They are more loved by God than by us.
Our children are precious treasures to God. He cares about them and about their life choices. It is His desire for them to love and serve Him.
Stop now and read Psalm 139:1-18, inserting the names of your children in place of the first person pronouns (I, me, my)
Pray for your children to know God in an intimate relationship and that they will serve Him with their whole heart all the days of their life. Be sure to thank God for His unending love for our children.
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In verse 13, Ephraim is said to be planted in a pleasant meadow “like Tyre”. Tyre was a Phoenician city located in what is now Lebanon. It was built on a rock island in the Mediterranean. A type of very costly purple dye was produced from the murex shell in Tyre.
Tyre was a wealthy city with every advantage but, because of their pride, in general, and their arrogance toward Jerusalem in her distress, they received God’s judgment. (See Ezekiel 26:1-21.) Tyre was attacked and under siege by Nebuchadnezzar (585-572 BC) and, later, conquered and destroyed by Alexander the Great in 332 BC.
Here’s the link to an article about Tyre and its sister city, Sidon.
Ephraim, too, was a wealthy area, located in a beautiful land with every advantage. Their arrogance toward God resulted in depravity and judgment. They, too, experienced the judgment of God at the hand of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
God goes on to say that Ephraim’s “root is dried up”. This is an agrarian reference. If the root of a plant has “dried up” or shriveled, it not only cannot bear fruit, it cannot survive for long.
Even if Ephraim bears children, they will not survive the coming destruction.
Hosea ends the discussion in verse 17. God will “cast them away” because they refused to listen to His call. For a people with a homeland given to them by God, the pronouncement is especially terrible.
29) What does verse 17 say Israel will become?
30) Review BLB to see the nature of their wandering.
This dispersion of God’s people throughout the world is known as the Diaspora. Follow the link below to see how God turned the tragedy into an opportunity for the Kingdom of God.
31) What was achieved by the dispersion of Jewish “wanderers” among the nations?
There are no circumstances so terrible that God cannot bring good from them. No matter what you face, God can use it for good. Scripture gives us two promises (among many more) to which I regularly cling.
32) Read Jeremiah 29:11 and write the verse below.
33) Read Romans 8:28 and write the verse below.
PRAYER PAUSE:
Before we leave this chapter, read those two verses aloud and insert your name. Thank Him for what He has done and what He will do on your behalf.
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Closing Thoughts:
We're two-thirds of the way through Hosea, with only five chapters left. I pray that you've learned as much as I have and that your study has drawn you closer to our Lord in ways you've never imagined.
I'm proud of your effort. Your response and your faithfulness have been a source of immeasurable joy for me. God bless you!
A little extra:
The photo above is of a small fishing boat on the sea of Galilee.
This photo is of ruins of homes in Capernaum.
Take note of the large central area and the smaller "insula" jutting off on the sides. In our Father's home, there are many rooms. He has prepared one just for you. Just for me.
Also take note of the close proximity of the rooms and the adjacent homes. We will not be far removed from our Heavenly Father when we reach heaven. We will be intimately adjacent to our King. We will live in our Father's house. Forever.
(The large building in the background sits over the historical site of the apostle Peter's home. Some of the stones are still standing.)
#Hosea #Biblestudy #indepthBiblestudy
