Hosea 9

Do not rejoice, Israel; do not be jubilant like the other nations. For you have been unfaithful to your God; you love the wages of a prostitute at every threshing floor. Hosea 9:1

At this time, Ephraim was experiencing a great deal of success. From the secular point of view, Jeroboam (II) was a successful king, reigning from 789–748 BC. At this time in history, the troublesome kingdom of Aram-Damascus was in serious decline, leading to its captivity, and Jeroboam recovered much of the country that had been lost. It was also a time of great prosperity. Yet, we know from modern history that prosperity is not always a good thing for a nation. It certainly was not good for Ephraim. The people were in a state of rejoicing over all their prosperity, and we can bet they were praising all their idols.

Apparently, at this time, Hosea made his voice heard. Some commentators think that he was preaching at one of the harvest festivals. We have no proof of this. Phillips says that Hosea would have been “about as popular as a skunk at a Sunday school picnic.” [1] Nevertheless, Hosea sounded off at one of the public forums, telling them that they had no right to rejoice. The pagan nations rejoiced out of their ignorance of God, but Israel had a long history of knowing about God and his commandments. They had just been unfaithful to all that they knew about the Lord. We can be sure that Hosea threw a wet blanket over all their celebrating.

We have already discussed the kind of rejoicing they were having with the “holy” prostitutes around their cult shrines (e.g., Hos. 1:2; 4:10,13,14,15,18; 5:3). The worship had obviously spread, and the prostitutes were now found in abundance at the threshing floors. In former times, the threshing floor was a place of rejoicing and praising the True God for his abundance.

“Threshing floors and winepresses will not feed the people; the new wine will fail them. They will not remain in the LORD’s land; Ephraim will return to Egypt and eat unclean food in Assyria” (9:2-3). God’s plan was always to supply his people with natural blessings. However, because they had turned to worship pagan gods, the Lord’s blessing would surely cease. Some scholars feel that the return to Egypt is to be taken metaphorically. [2] They would certainly be taken to Assyria and would be there a very long time. They were mere tenants in the Lord’s land. Since they refused to obey the Lord’s wishes, they would not be allowed to stay in his land. It would be impossible for them to obey the food laws in Assyria.

“They will not pour out wine offerings to the LORD, nor will their sacrifices please him. Such sacrifices will be to them like the bread of mourners; all who eat them will be unclean. This food will be for themselves; it will not come into the temple of the LORD” (9:4). John Roberts Dummelow, a Cambridge theologian, remarks here, “Bread of mourners, instead of being joyous festivals, they would be like funeral feasts.” [3] Coffman says, “Religious observances for the most part will be impossible for Israel in Assyria, to which they shall go in exile and slavery. The religious concerns of despised and hated slaves will find no consideration whatever from the heartless captors.” [4] Of course, they will be far removed from the temple of the Lord.

“What will you do on the day of your appointed festivals, on the feast days of the LORD? Even if they escape from destruction, Egypt will gather them, and Memphis will bury them. Their treasures of silver will be taken over by briers, and thorns will overrun their tents” (9:5-6). It is difficult for Jewish people to keep the Lord’s feasts in foreign lands. What is a holiday for Israel will likely be a workday in the foreign country. Foods that should be eaten may not be available. Meats will usually not be kosher or clean for Jewish consumption. Some laws regarding the land of Israel could not be celebrated in foreign lands. It was only after Israel began to return to the land in modern times that they could keep such things as the shemi-tah, or the seventh-year law of allowing the land to remain un-cultivated for a growing season.

While the escape to Egypt may be taken symbolically, this verse sounds like some really did flee to Egypt when the Assyrians conquered their land. It is ironic that Memphis had an extremely large and famous cemetery. This seems to imply that the refugees will die in great numbers after reaching Egypt. For some reason, Egypt always had an attraction to God’s people. We see many fleeing there after Babylon conquered Judah in 586 BC (2 Ki. 25:26). [5] Even the silver treasure these pitiful ones left behind will be covered over with briars and thorns. They were not going back to get their treasure. Nothing good would happen to them.

“The days of punishment are coming, the days of reckoning are at hand. Let Israel know this. Because your sins are so many and your hostility so great, the prophet is considered a fool, the inspired person a maniac. The prophet, along with my God, is the watchman over Ephraim, yet snares await him on all his paths, and hostility in the house of his God” (9:7-8). These verses are a little difficult to translate. The NET version may make more sense: “The time of judgment is about to arrive! The time of retribution is imminent! Let Israel know! The prophet is considered a fool– the inspired man is viewed as a madman– because of the multitude of your sins and your intense animosity” (9:7). We can be sure that Hosea was called a madman. Jeremiah got treated the same, and in fact, most of the prophets were persecuted. Stephen, just before his martyrdom, cried out to Jerusalem’s leaders: “Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him” (Acts 7:52).

“They have sunk deep into corruption, as in the days of Gibeah. God will remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins” (9:9). Gibeah was the birthplace and a royal city of King Saul. However, this city had been the scene of one of the worst atrocities in Israel. This terrible story is told in Judges 19:1-30. A Levite and his concubine were traveling from Bethlehem to the hill country of Ephraim. They stopped for the night at the Benjamite city of Gibeah. Unfortunately, the men of the city gathered around the house and demanded sexual favors from the traveler. Finally, they settled upon the gang raping of his concubine. The next morning, the Levite found her abused to death and lying at the door. When the Levite arrived home, he cut her body into pieces and sent them with messages of the horrible event to all the tribes. Since Benjamin was unrepentant, all Israel came against the tribe and almost totally annihilated it.

Hosea is here declaring that Ephraim is no better than the Benjamites of old. They had all sunk into terrible sins and deeply corrupted themselves.

A Holy God Remembers His Once Holy People

When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert; when I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree. But when they came to Baal Peor, they consecrated themselves to that shameful idol and became as vile as the thing they loved. Hosea. 9:10

When God led his holy people out of Egypt, he cared for them on a daily basis through the desert. They were special to him, and he loved them. Andrew Robert Fausset, Irish Anglican clergyman, says, “As the traveler in a wilderness is delighted at finding grapes to quench his thirst, or the early fig (esteemed a great delicacy in the East, Isaiah 28:4; Jeremiah 24:2; Micah 7:1); so it was my delight to choose your fathers as my peculiar people in Egypt (Hosea 2:15).” [6]

That special time turned sour on a few occasions, like when they coaxed Aaron to make them an idol to worship, or the sad occasion when they refused to enter the Promised Land. All these things seemed minor compared to the event of Baal Peor. Balak, the king, and Balaam, the false prophet, tried to curse them and failed. Balaam then came up with the idea of luring Israel into false pagan worship with all its sexual temptations. He succeeded wonderfully well and caused the Lord to strike down 24,000 of the people who had mixed themselves with the worship of Baal Peor (Num. 25:1-9; 2 Pet. 2:15; Rev. 2:14).

“Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird – no birth, no pregnancy, no conception. Even if they rear children, I will bereave them of every one. Woe to them when I turn away from them!” (9:11-12). Ephraim means “fruitful,” [7] but fruitfulness will be far from them, be it natural or spiritual. Barnes says of them, “ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude” (Deut. 28:58, 62). [8]

“I have seen Ephraim, like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place. But Ephraim will bring out their children to the slayer” (9:13). Tyre is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on the earth. It was occupied by the Phoenicians, but since it was built upon a small island, the city could scarcely be conquered. Ephraim was somewhat like that, being built on a well-defended hilltop. Unfortunately, Ephraim could not be defended as well as Tyre. One of the tragic pictures of the Bible is the parents bringing out their children to the slayer and watching them all be murdered. Yes, the Assyrians routinely murdered children and the infirm. One thing that stands out about the Assyrians is that they were extremely cruel conquerors.

God Has A Gift For Them

Give them, LORD – what will you give them? Give them wombs that miscarry and breasts that are dry. Hosea 9:14

God’s gift to them will be doubly tragic. It will be a miscarried womb and dry breasts! Their children will not only be taken from them and murdered, but they will not be able to have more and nurse them. Such was the lot of Assyrian captives. They would be slaves in a foreign land. All this in place of their former fruitfulness.

“Because of all their wickedness in Gilgal, I hated them there. Because of their sinful deeds, I will drive them out of my house. I will no longer love them; all their leaders are rebellious” (9:15). Gilgal was a significant biblical site located between the Jordan River and the city of Jericho. It was a site for the renewal of the covenant and a place where Joshua laid the twelve memorial stones after crossing the Jordan. It was a place favored by the prophets Elijah and Elisha (2 Ki. 2:1; 4:38). Unfortunately, like several other important sites, Gilgal was thoroughly polluted with false worship (4:15; 12:11; Amos 4:4; 5:5).

“Ephraim is blighted, their root is withered, they yield no fruit. Even if they bear children, I will slay their cherished offspring. My God will reject them because they have not obeyed him; they will be wanderers among the nations” (9:16-17). The prophet pictures this as a hopeless situation. Ephraim is blighted, fruitless, and cast away. The prophet announces that God will reject them because of their disobedience (cf. Deut. 31:16-18). They will be wanderers among the nations (Deut. 28:58-68). This situation of their wandering has existed for close to 2,700 years.

It is only in our lifetimes that the Lost Tribes have begun to return home to the land of Israel. In 1:10, we told about the Beni Menashe tribe (Tribe of Manasseh) of northwest India returning home. At present, 5,000 members of this tribe have already returned to Israel, and another 5,000 or so are on the way. Already 150,000 Ethiopian Jews or Beta Israel have returned to Israel. They feel that they are from the lost tribe of Dan. In spite of all their difficulty as a people, Ephraim will never be rejected. We believers can rejoice with them in saying, “For the LORD will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance” (Psa. 94:14).

Footnotes

1. Phillips, Exploring The Minor Prophets, p. 57.

2. Guthrie, et. al. The New Bible Commentary: Revised, p. 712.

3. Dummelow, Dummelow on the Bible, v. 9:4.

4. Coffman, Coffman’s Commentaries on the Bible, Hosea. v. 9:4.

5. Utley, Free Bible Commentary, v. 9:6.

6. Jamieson, Fausset, & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, Commentary on Hosea, v. 9:10.

7. Utley, Free Bible Commentary, v. 9:11.

8. Barnes, Barnes’ Notes, v. 9:12.