Hosea 9:1-17

     God rebuked Israel for their idolatry and for falsely thinking their prosperity came from Baal (Hos. 9:1-2). God promised Israel would go into captivity for their gross violation of the covenant (Hos. 9:3). Once in captivity, they will be perpetually defiled and not able to offer true sacrifices to God (Hos. 9:4-5). Being in captivity, weeds will overrun their treasures and home (Hos. 9:6). God pronounces, “The days of punishment have come, the days of retribution have come; let Israel know this!” (Hos 9:7a). Because of Israel’s sin, God’s prophet was regarded as a fool and demented. Another rendering reads, “Because your sins are so many and your hostility so great, the prophet is considered a fool, the inspired person a maniac” (Hos. 9:7b NIV). In reality, God’s prophet was to serve as a watchman over His people, warning them of approaching danger. However, God’s people turned on the prophet and laid traps for him and treated him with hostility (Hos. 9:8). Another rendering reads, “The prophet is a watchman over Ephraim on behalf of God, yet traps are laid for him along all of his paths; animosity rages against him in the land of his God” (Hos. 9:8 NET). The phrase, “They have gone deep in depravity as in the days of Gibeah” (Hos. 9:9) refers to an event in the book of Judges where bisexual Benjamites raped a Levite’s concubine (Judg. 19:1-30). This moral depravity spoke of Israel’s spiritual condition. Early in Israel’s history, God delighted in them, as one might be delighted in finding grapes and figs in a desert land (Hos. 9:10a). However, their glory turned to shame when they engaged in idol worship at Baal-peor (Hos. 9:10b; cf. Num. 25:1-3). The act of idolatry became a normal pattern for Israel, and God promised to execute the curses of the Mosaic Covenant by bringing infertility, death, and exile into a foreign land (Hos. 9:11-14). Because of their evil, God would drive them out of His land, giving special mention of Israel’s leaders, saying, “All their princes are rebels” (Hos. 9:15). God promised that Israel would no longer advance as a nation, saying the fruit of their wombs would be destroyed (Hos. 9:16). God would cast them away “because they have not listened to Him; and they will be wanderers among the nations” (Hos. 9:17).