Hosea 9

EXAMINATION

CONSIDERATIONS

Was Hosea’s marriage actual or symbolic?

Did God command Hosea to do something immoral in marrying a woman of harlotry?

Why did God command Hosea to marry and live with such a woman?

ASSOCIATIONS

Associate the persons or events of column one with the correct person or event of column two.

1

2

Jezreel

capital of Israel

Achor

Egypt

Ephraim

house of vanity

Gibeah

Israel’s captors

Admah

near Jericho

Zeboiim

city of plain of Sodom

Lebanon

Hosea’s wife

Gomer

Hosea’s mother-in-law

Baal

hope

Diblaim

another name for Israel

Lo-ruhamah

city of plain of Sodom

Lo-ammi

city where great sin was done

Gilgal

name of idol

Beth-aven

Hosea’s daughter

Assyria

Hosea’s son

Memphis

Hosea’s son

Samaria

famous for cedar trees

MEMORIZATIONS

. and I will have ________ upon her that had not obtained ________; and I will say to them that were _________ my people, Thou ________ my people; and they shall say, ________ art my God. Their ________ will not suffer them to turn unto their God; for the ________ of whoredom is with them, and they _________ not Jehovah. My people are ________ forlack of knowledge; because thou hast ________ knowledge, I will also ________ thee.

Sow to yourselves in ________, reap according to kindness; break up your ________ ground; for it is time to ________ Jehovah, till he come and rain _________ upon you. When Israel was a __________, then I loved him, and called my son out of ________. I will heal their ________, I will love them ________; for mine anger is turned away from him.

CONTEMPLATIONS

What is the symbolic or typical significance of the names of Hosea’s children.?

Where, in the New Testament, are these names used as fulfillments of Messianic prophecies?

What did Hosea’s rescue of Gomer from the slave market symbolize in God’s relationship to Israel?

What was the religious condition of the nation in Hosea’s day?

How is Ephraim like a caked not turned?

To what point had the people fallen in their living in Hosea’s day? Describe it using Hosea’s terms.

Why is Hosea compared to the apostle John of the N.T.?

Where is the phrase O death, where are thy plagues? O Sheol, where is thy destruction? quoted or paraphrased in the N.T.?

Name 5 characterizations of Israel listed in Hosea’s book (such as, silly dove).

How near the end of Israel’s existence did Hosea prophesy? What other prophets were his contemporaries?

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 Hos 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

Why did Hosea tell Israel to cease her rejoicing?

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

Did Israel go into captivity to Egypt? Why?

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

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

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

How does God visit men? Name two ways,

Hosea 9:10-17

REPROVINGISRAEL FOLLOWED BAAL

TEXT: Hosea 9:10-17

10

I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the first-figs in the fig-tree at its first season: but they came to Baal-peor, and consecrated unto the shameful thing, and become abominable like that which they loved.

11

As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird: there shall be no birth, and none with child, and no conception.

12

Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, so that not a man shall be left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!

13

Ephraim, like as I have seen Type, is planted in a pleasant place: but Ephraim shall bring out his children to the slayer.

14

Give them, O Jehovah: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts,

15

All their wickedness is in Gilgal; for there I hated them: because of the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of my house; I will love them no more; all their princes are revolters.

16

Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit; yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay the beloved fruit of their womb.

17

My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him; and they shall be wanderers among the nations.

QUERIES

a.

What does Hosea portray by the figure grapes in the wilderness?

b.

Does Hosea mean in Hosea 9:11 that not a single child would ever again be born to a woman of Israel?

c.

Why did Hosea say (Hosea 9:15) that all their wickedness is in Gilgal?

PARAPHRASE

Oh Israel, how well I remember those first delightful days when I found you so helpless and dependent upon Me. Your love was as refreshing to Me as juicy grapes would be to a thirsty desert traveler or as satisfying as the early fruit on the fig-tree. But then you deserted Me for Baal, the god of Peor, and so thoroughly devoted yourselves to this shameful thing you became as foul and abominable as it was. Ephraim, your glorious fruitfulness will fly away like a bird. Whereas you previously produced many bright and prosperous offspring, your licentious worship of luxury will be punished by childlessness and destruction of any youths who might be born through wars, famine and pestilence. I chose Ephraim to be like Tyre, planted in a fertile, pleasant place, to grow to become a strong, rich and powerful nation. But now, for Ephraim’s apostacy, I will give it up to desolation and its sons to death by the sword. Yes, indeed, give them, Oh Lordgive them wombs that miscarry and breasts that cannot nourish. Gilgal is the major source of all their wickedness, and I hate what goes on there. Because of their wickedness I will expel them from the fellowship of covenant relationship with Me. My love and blessings I withdraw from them. All their governing-men are government-destroyers! Israel is doomed. Her roots are dried up and she can no longer furnish nourishment to the tree. She shall bear no more fruit. Even if they bear children, I will cause these beloved children to die. My God will destroy the people of Israel because they will not listen or obey. They will be homeless vagabonds wandering among the nations.

SUMMARY

Israel, so pleasing to God when He delivered her from Egypt, became as abominable as the licentious, pagan religions she adopted. God will dispossess her and make her to become a vagabond people.

COMMENT

Hosea 9:10 I FOUND ISRAEL LIKE GRAPES IN THE WILDERNESS. BUT THEY CAME TO BAAL-PEOR. AND BECAME ABOMINABLE LIKE THAT WHICH THEY LOVED. Israel’s faith and obedience and love to Jehovah when He first chose them while they were still in Egypt was refreshing to God. Their love to Him was as pleasing as juicy grapes or fresh figs would be to a tired, thirsty, hungry traveler in the desert. Other prophets speak of God’s pleasure with early Israel (cf. Exodus 19:8; Exodus 24:3-7; Deuteronomy 5:27-29; Jeremiah 2:2-3).

But, alas, what a change came over this people! They allowed themselves to be deceived by sin (Hebrews 3:12-14). They had devoted themselves, heart and soul to Jehovah at Horeb; but the allurement of sensuality and materialism had led them to devote themselves heart and soul to Baalism (for a description of Baal worship see our comments on Hosea 2:8; Hosea 2:13; Hosea 2:17; and Hosea 4:12-13). The lasciviousness and abominable excesses that accompanied Baalism must have been great to deserve the extreme treatment sanctioned by God in Numbers 25:1-18. Israel kept flirting with Baalism from then on (cf. Judges 2:11; 1 Kings 16:31; 2 Kings 10:19; 2 Kings 21:3; Jeremiah 2:8; Jeremiah 19:5; Jeremiah 23:13; Jeremiah 23:27).

When people consecrate themselves to any person, thing or idea, it is a moral law that they become like that which they love. One cannot love without imitating (cf. Ephesians 5:1-2 in RSV; Philippians 2:5-8; Colossians 3:1-13; Hebrews 12:1-8; 1 Peter 2:21; 1 John 3:1-24; 2 Corinthians 3:18). When men worship idols and animals, they behave like dumb images and sensual animals (cf. Romans 1:18 ff). It is undeniably correct that Adolph Hitler’s infatuation with and adoration of Friedrich Nietzsche’s evolutionary philosophy transformed the little corporal into the insane, savage executioner of Europe. Karl Marx’s religion of materialism and humanism has given the world the Kremlin criminals and the Peking pirates. As one ancient has put it, The object which the will desires and loves, transfuses its own goodness or badness into it (cf. Psalms 115:4-8). Man, without God, makes a god in his own image and likeness, the essence and concentration of his own bad passions, and then conforms himself to the likeness of what was most evil in himself. Thus the heathen made gods of lust, cruelty, thirst for war. Then, fooling themselves, they deliberately forgot that these gods were the work of their own hands, the conception of their own minds, and fearfully and passionately imitated and obeyed them; Augustine wrote, … what a man’s love is, that he is. Naught else maketh good or evil actions, save good affections. Love has a transforming power over the soul, which the intellect has not. Tell me what a man loves with all his heart and I will tell you about the man. There is a Jewish proverb which says, He who serveth an abomination is himself an abomination. One of the early church fathers wrote, The intellect brings home to the soul the knowledge on which it worketh, impresses it on itself, incorporates it with itself. Love is an impulse whereby he who loves is borne forth towards that which he loves, is united with it, and is transformed into it.

Hosea 9:11 AS FOR EPHRAIM, THEIR GLORY SHALL FLY AWAY LIKE A BIRD. Israel had gloried in her continued existence when empire after empire, race after race, nation after nation had long since disappeared. God had protected, sustained and increased Israel’s economy, her territory and, most important of all, her youth. Israel was proud of all this and boasted that all this was due to her progressive, liberal attitude. She probably attributed all her prosperity, like America today, to her own human goodness and intelligence in breaking away from all the old, outdated, irrelevant mores of her ancestors. What an awakening Israel was soon to have! All that she gloried in would soon fly away like a bird.

Hosea very evidently did not mean that God would bring about absolute execution of every single baby born to any Israelite mother, for in Hosea 9:17 he prophesies that they shall become wanderers among the nations. What he means is that since they took great pride in their numbers, they would be reduced in every stage from conception to ripened manhood, (cf. Deuteronomy 28:58; Deuteronomy 28:62).

Hosea 9:12. YET WILL I BEREAVE THEM, SO THAT NOT A MAN SHALL BE LEFT. The populace of Israel shall be decimated in all stages, even those in the prime of manhood would be taken away by death, war, epidemic, etc.

Hosea 9:13 EPHRAIM, LIKE AS I HAVE SEEN TYRE. God blessed Israel and gave her a favored place in which to dwell and prospered her so that she became rich and powerful, like Tyre (cf. Ezekiel 27:32 -Ezekiel 28:19). But, like Tyre, she also became self-sufficient, proud, boastful, and so God’s justice must fall (cf. Isaiah 28:1-4). How often those with the advantages and privileges graciously provided by God misuse and pervert those privileges! Israel was privileged for a purpose. She was planted in a pleasant place in order to be salt unto the nations, and light to the pagan darkness. But she turned her pleasant place into the abode of the selfish and sensual. So now God decrees that she shall bring her children out to the slayer.

Hosea 9:14 GIVE THEM, O JEHOVAH: WHAT WILT THOU GIVE?. This is an expression of the agony in the soul of Hosea (like the lamentations of Jeremiah) over the impending doom of his countrymen. However, he surrenders, interrupting his wail of mourning with agreement to the pronouncement of God.

Hosea 9:15 ALL THEIR WICKEDNESS IS IN GILGAL. This may have been a different Gilgal than the one two miles from Jericho where Joshua’s army first camped, Some think the Gilgal mentioned in this verse was near Shechem. Gilgal was certainly not the first place Israel sinned, therefore we cannot interpret this verse to mean that God began His hate for Israel’s sin at this place. Gilgal simply became another source for His terrible hate because it was another place where Israel’s sin was flagrantly and blatantly practiced. The phrase I will drive them out of my house. is simply another way of saying I will cut them off from covenant relationship with Me. Israel is no longer an heir, a son in the house of God. The covenant-love of God is no longer their privilege for they have withdrawn themselves from His covenant by rejecting and disobeying it. They do not want God’s lovethey shall not have it! They can do without God’s lovethey shall have the opportunity to try! They are like the prodigal son (Luke 15). God never really stopped loving themthey stopped loving God and preferred that He stop loving them. They are left to the only other alternative in this morally-governed existenceself, sin, separation from good (cf. Jeremiah 16:5).

The phrase all their princes are revolters. is a pun! The men who claimed to be governors and for government were really responsible for all the anarchy and injustice then prevalent! What irony!

Hosea 9:16 EPHRAIM. IS DRIED UP. THEY SHALL BEAR NO FRUIT. The very roots of Israel are dried up and since there is no nourishment being furnished the tree it is good for nothing but to be cut down (cf. Luke 13:7). Even if Israel should bear fruit it would be as worthless as the tree and would be plucked off and thrown away. Only the people whose roots are drawing from the word of God will produce a tree planted by the rivers of water. bringing forth his fruit in his season. (Psalms 1:1-6).

Hosea 9:17. THEY SHALL BE WANDERERS AMONG THE NATIONS. According to the warning God had given their ancestors centuries ago by Moses (Deuteronomy 28:65), Israel would be cast into the midst of the nations, forever after to be a race of homeless vagabonds. And it is true to this day! There are more Jews in New York City than in all of Palestine! They have wandered all over the world. There are Jews in Russia, Germany, Italy, America, Canada, France and practically every other country under the sun today!

QUIZ

How and why do people become like the person or thing they love?

In what did Ephraim glory? and how did God take it away?

How was Israel like Tyre?

What happens when men reject the love of God?

Does the new nation of Israel established by the U.N. mean the wanderings of the Jews are over?