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Hosea 9 - Exile To Come

Fast Forward
Much of the ninth chapter presents a glimpse of exile conditions. Looking back from our perspective it seems incredible that ancient Israel could be so determined to ignore the warnings of prophets like Hosea. If you knew hard times were on the horizon you would prepare, wouldn’t you?

Emptiness
Hos 9:1-2 Rejoice not, O Israel! Exult not like the peoples; for you have played the whore, forsaking your God. You have loved a prostitute's wages on all threshing floors. Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail them. When I did something mischievous as a child my parents knew I was guilty because of my grin. Upon discovery of my mischief my father would say, “wipe that smile off your face or I’ll wipe it off for you.” You might think that sounds harsh, but right here we read of our heavenly Father telling his children that they should wipe the smile off their faces. Their guilt was not a laughing matter. The beauty of prophetic biblical poetry is that elements may be abstract the one hand yet literal, sometimes in more than one sense, on the other. In this case their playing the whore appears to be a clear reference to giving themselves to idol worship in order to curry the favor of false gods for agricultural prosperity. Such unfaithfulness toward God is like the whore, unfaithful to her husband, who prostitutes herself for ill-gotten gain. In a largely agricultural society prosperity meant good harvests to fill the threshing floor and good grape harvests to fill the winepresses. They attributed their prosperity not to God, but to Asherah, Baal, and whatever other idols they embraced. Hos 8:7 included a judgment of wheat without grain. Such would result in a threshing floor that could not feed. Any number of problems could result in failure of the vineyards. It is very likely that Assyria burned crops and destroyed vineyards when their armies sacked the territories around Samaria. Regardless of the mechanism of famine, the Lord declared it would happen and it did. Israel also experienced spiritual famine. Their immorality grew without bounds as the Lord withdrew His presence. With regard to immorality, cult prostitution was a significant element of the idol trade and commercial religion. While “civilized” people today may find these practices strange or even barbaric, we place our hopes and happiness in all sorts of strange things that aren’t of God and which often conflict with God’s absolute moral standards.

Food Strike
Hos 9:3-4 They shall not remain in the land of the Lord, but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria. They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the Lord, and their sacrifices shall not please him. It shall be like mourners' bread to them; all who eat of it shall be defiled; for their bread shall be for their hunger only; it shall not come to the house of the Lord. It is clear that Hosea sees Israel’s exile, but 9:3 sounds contradictory when it speaks of Ephraim returning to Egypt and at the same time eating unclean food in Assyria. From 2 Ki 17:4 we can understand the reference to Egypt. In a literal sense, Israel turned to Egypt for protection and military assistance. In a metaphoric sense, Israel was about to return to conditions similar to their slavery in Egypt prior to the Exodus. The exile itself literally resulted in dispersion of exiles throughout Assyrian territories. Certainly the Mosaic laws were not observed in those lands, particularly ceremonial laws involving things like food preparation. It is interesting to note that while many Israelites engaged in idolatry, in their syncretism they were also careful to only eat “clean” foods. It would have been a revolting thought to imagine having to eat unclean foods. The importance of food in Hebrew culture extended far beyond mere sustenance. Breaking bread together was an important part of their community of life and their worship. They would eat, but the food would cease to have meaning beyond physical survival. Their times of community joy would become times of sadness as their prosperity would be replaced by war and finally the collapse and disbursement of their society.

Pause?
Hos 9:5 What will you do on the day of the appointed festival, and on the day of the feast of the Lord? This question should have given his audience pause. What would it be like when joy of their inheritance, their celebrations, the sharing of all the goodness of God’s fulfilled promises ended?

Not an Idle Threat
Hos 9:6 For behold, they are going away from destruction; but Egypt shall gather them; Memphis shall bury them. Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver; thorns shall be in their tents. God’s judgment was not an idle threat. Israel was facing destruction and they refused to acknowledge and repent of their evil. Their attempt to change their allegiance to Egypt would result in their being rounded up for exile. After the exile nature would reclaim the land once possessed by Israel.

Prophets Lament
Hos 9:7-9 The days of punishment have come; the days of recompense have come; Israel shall know it. The prophet is a fool; the man of the spirit is mad, because of your great iniquity and great hatred. 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. They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah: he will remember their iniquity; he will punish their sins. The automotive industry works closely with the tire industry, oil industry, and hundreds of small companies that make everything from mirrors to wire harnesses. While the idol industry of ancient times might not have been quite so complex, for idols to sell there had to be demand. The marketing efforts of cult temples, priests, prostitutes, prophets, and craftsmen of various specialties created demand. False prophets created and capitalized on myth and manipulation. The automobile and idol industries are certainly different in many respects, but the concept helps us to understand why people were motivated so strongly to engage in idol worship. Even if they knew it was bunk, idol worship was viewed by many as essential to maintaining their standard of living. Their punishment was coming. They would be repaid for their evil. They were so full of their pompous vanity they regarded the few true prophets of the land such as Hosea as crazy. Hosea laments that although his heart is burdened for Israel and he longs to see the nation change its ways, the people of his nation are set against him. They are ready to silence him for speaking up against them. Sin hates to be exposed and the prophet’s truth was loathed. The reference to Gibeah is a reference to events recorded in Jg 19. In that passage a Levite stops for the night with a family in Gibeah, a town in the region of Benjamin. Wicked men of the city came to the house and wanted the owner to let them rape the Levite. To appease the men, the owner sent the Levite’s concubine out to the crowd. She was raped all night until the crowd was done with her. They left her body on the stoop of the house for the Levite to find at first light. For this sin the tribe of Benjamin was nearly wiped out completely by the other tribes. Hosea declares that the sin of Israel is of the same magnitude and would be punished by God.

What Could Have Been
Hos 9:10 Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. Like the first fruit on the fig tree in its first season, I saw your fathers. But they came to Baal-peor and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame, and became detestable like the thing they loved. The nation was once the dearest love of God. Its patriarchs founded it centuries ago. They began as a people tender and precious in God’s eyes. God has not forgotten those times, but the descendants of this society are unworthy of their inheritance. Hosea compares his contemporaries with Israel in the wilderness when they stopped to camp at Shittim in the region of Moab (Nu 25:1-9). While there, the people began to worship Baal of Peor and God became intensely angry with them. The intention here was to remind the people that once loved, they incurred God’s wrath when they chose to worship lifeless idols instead of their maker who saved them, protected them, and kept for them great promises.

Faded Glory
Hos 9:11-14 Ephraim's glory shall fly away like a bird—no birth, no pregnancy, no conception! Even if they bring up children, I will bereave them till none is left. Woe to them when I depart from them! Ephraim, as I have seen, was like a young palm planted in a meadow; but Ephraim must lead his children out to slaughter. Give them, O Lord—what will you give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. In this passage the cycle of life is used as the allegory. Ephraim’s glory is God. God is going to withdraw. It will be as though Israel was never born, not ever even conceived. In another sense God is declaring yet another judgment upon them, lack of fertility. Part of idolatry, in addition to seeking agricultural success, is to plead to the gods for fertility. Because Israel participated in these fertility rites they would also suffer poor fertility. God declares that even when they do have children those children will frequently die young. These are the woes Israel will suffer when God is not there to multiply them and protect them. Ephraim, the region where Samaria was located and the hub of the Northern Kingdom, was perfectly located. It was meant to remain the home of Israel, but because of their sin Israel would be “uprooted.” The leaders of Israel would lead the people – God’s children – to slaughter in war and exile for the survivors. Frustrated with their sin, Hosea cries out to God to curse them for their evil choices.

Rebellion
Hos 9:15 Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal; there I began to hate them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more; all their princes are rebels. The town of Gilgal lay just across the Jordan from Baal-Peor. Although Gilgal was an early center for YHWH worship, it eventually became known as a center of pagan worship. As for Hosea’s prophecy, the most damning judgment on Israel is the withdrawal of God’s love. Samarian leaders lived in open rebellion to God. God has had enough of their rebellion. He is rejecting them. From God’s perspective it seems like exile was a light punishment. After reading of such a judgment you might think that God’s love depends on human works. Human works were no more a criteria for God’s love in Hosea’s time than they are today. God alone judges the human heart because God alone knows the human heart. God’s love is His to give to whom He will. Israel was people who continually rejected God and exalted themselves. God sent one prophet after another. God’s character is holiness. He offers His love and mercy. Repentance is the right response of a heart that gives itself wholly to God. Rebellion is ultimate rejection of God. Rebellion is illogical and irrational, but if what you reap is what you sow, then such bad judgment on our part deserves such judgment from God. God still hates rebellion.

Rejection
Hos 9:16-17 Ephraim is stricken; their root is dried up; they shall bear no fruit. Even though they give birth, I will put their beloved children to death. My God will reject them because they have not listened to him; they shall be wanderers among the nations. Israel was completely corrupt and the judgment upon them was equally complete. They should have remained rooted in God Almighty, the source of life. By choosing dead carved images over a living eternal God they could no longer receive good things from God. Bearing no fruit is spiritual in the sense that God’s Holy Spirit was taken from them and with it the driving force for good works, social justice, and holiness. In a literal sense it meant their very lives would become unproductive, even to the point of high infant mortality. Israel, rejected by God, would become scattered. When Assyria took Israel into captivity, they did not simply relocated the various tribes of Israel to some sort of common destination like the Nazis of the twentieth century. To destroy a culture Assyria’s kings knew they had to disperse and dilute the Hebrew people across their entire empire. To fill the “empty” space in Northern Canaan, Assyria also brought in its own people and other relocated refugees to occupy Israel. This is how the region of Galilee, territory once belonging to Zebulun, Issachar and Naphtali, came to be known a Gentile region. Even after Babylon conquered Assyria a century later most of the Hebrews scattered by the Assyrian exile never returned. Most of them were assimilated into whatever local culture they were moved into. Since the founding of the political state of Israel in 1948 pockets of Israelite descendants have been found in diverse areas from Africa to Siberia. Those choosing to embrace the Jewish faith have been accepted in modern Israel. 
 

Majoring in the Minors

Hosea Chapters:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

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