The prophet Hosea is a great warning for those of us who take for granted that our loving Lord will not punish us. Just like the ancient Hebrews were punished despite their chosen status, we too can receive God’s wrath and indignation. The specific threats leveled by the Lord through Hosea are so disturbing as to cause great anxiety on our part. The Hebrews of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, also called Ephraim or Jacob here, believed they were serving the Lord sufficiently enough because they continued to call upon his name as they observed regular sacrifices in the places they had designated to him. Yet their sacrifices were an affront, as they had neglected the weightier things of the law: justice and mercy. We should consider that we, too, despite our beloved status, may be risking God’s wrath by being satisfied with ourselves in what is less than holy…
Hosea 8
Put the ram’s horn to your lips!
An eagle looms over the house of the LORD,
because the people have transgressed My covenant
and rebelled against My law.
Israel cries out to Me,
“O our God, we know You!”
But Israel has rejected good;
an enemy will pursue him.
They set up kings, but not by Me.
They make princes, but without My approval.
With their silver and gold they make themselves idols,
to their own destruction.
He has rejected your calf, O Samaria.
My anger burns against them.
How long will they be
incapable of innocence?
For this thing is from Israel—
a craftsman made it, and it is not God.
It will be broken to pieces,
that calf of Samaria.
For they sow the wind,
and they shall reap the whirlwind.
There is no standing grain;
what sprouts fails to yield flour.
Even if it should produce,
the foreigners would swallow it up.
Israel is swallowed up!
Now they are among the nations
like a worthless vessel.
For they have gone up to Assyria
like a wild donkey on its own.
Ephraim has hired lovers.
Though they hire allies among the nations,
I will now round them up,
and they will begin to diminish
under the oppression of the king of princes.
Though Ephraim multiplied the altars for sin,
they became his altars for sinning.
Though I wrote for them the great things of My law,
they regarded them as something strange.
Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to Me,
and though they eat the meat,
the LORD does not accept them.
Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins:
They will return to Egypt.
Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces;
Judah has multiplied its fortified cities.
But I will send fire upon their cities,
and it will consume their citadels.
Hosea 9
Do not rejoice, O Israel,
with exultation like the nations,
for you have played the harlot against your God;
you have made love for hire on every threshing floor.
The threshing floor and winepress will not feed them,
and the new wine will fail them.
They will not remain
in the land of the LORD;
Ephraim will return to Egypt
and eat unclean food in Assyria.
They will not pour out wine offerings to the LORD,
and their sacrifices will not please Him,
but will be to them like the bread of mourners;
all who eat will be defiled.
For their bread will be for themselves;
it will not enter the house of the LORD.
What will you do on the appointed day,
on the day of the LORD’s feast?
For even if they flee destruction,
Egypt will gather them
and Memphis will bury them.
Their precious silver will be taken over by thistles,
and thorns will overrun their tents.
The days of punishment have come;
the days of retribution have arrived—
let Israel know it.
The prophet is called a fool,
and the inspired man insane,
because of the greatness
of your iniquity and hostility.
The prophet is Ephraim’s watchman,
along with my God,
yet the snare of the fowler lies on all his paths.
Hostility is in the house of his God!
They have deeply corrupted themselves
as in the days of Gibeah;
He will remember their guilt;
He will punish their sins.
I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness.
I saw your fathers as the firstfruits
of the fig tree in its first season.
But they went to Baal-peor,
and consecrated themselves to Shame;
so they became as detestable
as the thing they loved.
Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird,
with no birth, no pregnancy, and no conception.
Even if they raise their children,
I will bereave them of each one.
Yes, woe be to them
when I turn away from them!
I have seen Ephraim, like Tyre,
planted in a meadow.
But Ephraim will bring out
his children for slaughter.
Give them, O LORD—
what will You give?
Give them wombs that miscarry
and breasts that dry up!
All their evil appears at Gilgal,
for there I hated them.
I will drive them from My house
for the wickedness of their deeds.
I will no longer love them;
all their leaders are rebellious.
Ephraim is struck down;
their root is withered;
they cannot bear fruit.
Even if they bear children,
I will slay the darlings of their wombs.
My God will reject them
because they have not obeyed Him;
and they shall be wanderers
among the nations.
Hosea 10
Israel was a luxuriant vine,
yielding fruit for himself.
The more his fruit increased,
the more he increased the altars.
The better his land produced,
the better he made the sacred pillars.
Their hearts are devious;
now they must bear their guilt.
The LORD will break down their altars
and demolish their sacred pillars.
Surely now they will say,
“We have no king,
for we do not revere the LORD.
What can a king do for us?”
They speak mere words;
with false oaths they make covenants.
So judgment springs up
like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field.
The people of Samaria will fear
for the calf of Beth-aven.
Indeed, its people will mourn
with its idolatrous priests—
those who rejoiced in its glory—
for it has been taken from them into exile.
Yes, it will be carried to Assyria
as tribute to the great king.
Ephraim will be seized with shame;
Israel will be ashamed of its wooden idols.
Samaria will be carried off with her king
like a twig on the surface of the water.
The high places of Aven will be destroyed—
it is the sin of Israel;
thorns and thistles will overgrow their altars.
Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!”
and to the hills, “Fall on us!”
Since the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel,
and there you have remained.
Did not the battle in Gibeah
overtake the sons of iniquity?
I will chasten them when I please;
nations will be gathered against them
to put them in bondage
for their double transgression.
Ephraim is a well-trained heifer that loves to thresh;
but I will place a yoke on her fair neck.
I will harness Ephraim, Judah will plow,
and Jacob will break the hard ground.
Sow for yourselves righteousness
and reap the fruit of loving devotion;
break up your unplowed ground.
For it is time to seek the LORD
until He comes and sends righteousness
upon you like rain.
You have plowed wickedness and reaped injustice;
you have eaten the fruit of lies.
Because you have trusted in your own way
and in the multitude of your mighty men,
the roar of battle will rise against your people,
so that all your fortresses will be demolished
as Shalman devastated Beth-arbel
in the day of battle,
when mothers were dashed to pieces
along with their children.
Thus it will be done to you, O Bethel,
because of your great wickedness.
When the day dawns,
the king of Israel will be utterly cut off.
Hosea 11
When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called My son.
But the more I called Israel,
the farther they departed from Me.
They sacrificed to the Baals
and burned incense to carved images.
It was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
taking them in My arms,
but they never realized
that it was I who healed them.
I led them with cords of kindness,
with ropes of love;
I lifted the yoke from their necks
and bent down to feed them.
Will they not return to the land of Egypt
and be ruled by Assyria
because they refused to repent?
A sword will flash through their cities;
it will destroy the bars of their gates
and consume them in their own plans.
My people are bent on turning from Me.
Though they call to the Most High,
He will by no means exalt them.
How could I give you up, O Ephraim?
How could I surrender you, O Israel?
How could I make you like Admah?
How could I treat you like Zeboiim?
My heart is turned within Me;
My compassion is stirred!
I will not execute the full fury of My anger;
I will not turn back to destroy Ephraim.
For I am God and not man—
the Holy One among you—
and I will not come in wrath.
They will walk after the LORD;
He will roar like a lion.
When He roars,
His children will come trembling from the west.
They will come trembling like birds from Egypt
and like doves from the land of Assyria.
Then I will settle them in their homes,
declares the LORD.
Ephraim surrounds Me with lies,
the house of Israel with deceit;
but Judah still walks with God
and is faithful to the Holy One.
Hosea 12
Ephraim chases the wind
and pursues the east wind all day long;
he multiplies lies and violence;
he makes a covenant with Assyria
and sends olive oil to Egypt.
The LORD also brings a charge against Judah.
He will punish Jacob according to his ways
and repay him according to his deeds.
In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel,
and in his vigor he wrestled with God.
Yes, he struggled with the angel and prevailed;
he wept and sought His favor;
he found Him at Bethel
and spoke with Him there —
the LORD is the God of Hosts—
the LORD is His name of renown.
But you must return to your God,
maintaining love and justice,
and always waiting on your God.
A merchant loves to defraud
with dishonest scales in his hands.
And Ephraim boasts: “How rich I have become!
I have found wealth for myself.
In all my labors, they can find in me
no iniquity that is sinful.”
But I am the LORD your God
ever since the land of Egypt.
I will again make you dwell in tents,
as in the days of the appointed feast.
I spoke through the prophets
and multiplied their visions;
I gave parables through the prophets.
Is there iniquity in Gilead?
They will surely come to nothing.
Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal?
Indeed, their altars will be heaps of stones
in the furrows of the field.
Jacob fled to the land of Aram
and Israel worked for a wife—
for a wife he tended sheep.
But by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt,
and by a prophet he was preserved.
Ephraim has provoked bitter anger,
so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt upon him
and repay him for his contempt.
Hosea 13
When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling;
he was exalted in Israel.
But he incurred guilt through Baal,
and he died.
Now they sin more and more
and make for themselves cast images,
idols skillfully made from their silver,
all of them the work of craftsmen.
People say of them,
“They offer human sacrifice
and kiss the calves!”
Therefore they will be like the morning mist,
like the early dew that vanishes,
like chaff blown from a threshing floor,
like smoke through an open window.
Yet I am the LORD your God
ever since the land of Egypt;
you know no God but Me,
for there is no Savior besides Me.
I knew you in the wilderness,
in the land of drought.
When they had pasture,
they became satisfied;
when they were satisfied,
their hearts became proud,
and as a result they forgot Me.
So like a lion I will pounce on them;
like a leopard I will lurk by the path.
Like a bear robbed of her cubs I will attack them,
and I will tear open their chests.
There I will devour them like a lion,
like a wild beast would tear them apart.
You are destroyed, O Israel,
because you are against Me—
against your helper.
Where is your king now
to save you in all your cities,
and the rulers to whom you said,
“Give me a king and princes”?
So in My anger I gave you a king,
and in My wrath I took him away.
The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;
his sin is stored up.
Labor pains come upon him,
but he is an unwise son.
When the time arrives,
he fails to present himself at the opening of the womb.
I will ransom them from the power of Sheol;
I will redeem them from Death.
Where, O Death, are your plagues?
Where, O Sheol, is your sting?
Compassion is hidden from My eyes.
Although he flourishes among his brothers,
an east wind will come—
a wind from the LORD
rising up from the desert.
His fountain will fail,
and his spring will run dry.
The wind will plunder his treasury
of every precious article.
Samaria will bear her guilt
because she has rebelled against her God.
They will fall by the sword;
their little ones will be dashed to pieces,
and their pregnant women ripped open.
Hosea 14
Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God,
for you have stumbled by your iniquity.
Bring your confessions
and return to the LORD.
Say to Him: “Take away all our iniquity
and receive us graciously,
that we may present
the fruit of our lips.
Assyria will not save us,
nor will we ride on horses.
We will never again say, ‘Our gods!’
to the work of our own hands.
For in You the fatherless find compassion.”
I will heal their apostasy;
I will freely love them,
for My anger has turned away from them.
I will be like the dew to Israel;
he will blossom like the lily
and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.
His shoots will sprout,
and his splendor will be like the olive tree,
his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon.
They will return and dwell in his shade;
they will grow grain and blossom like the vine.
His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.
O Ephraim, what have I to do
anymore with idols?
It is I who answer and watch over him.
I am like a flourishing cypress;
your fruit comes from Me.
Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
whoever is discerning, let him know them.
For the ways of the LORD are right,
and the righteous walk in them
but the rebellious stumble in them.
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