The Word Made Fresh
1Israel has been a healthy green vine that yields much fruit.
The more their fruit increased the more altars they built,
and as their country grew they strengthened its foundations.
2But now their heart is false, and they must bear their guilt.
The LORD will break down their pillars and smash their altars.
3Then they are saying, “We have no king
because we have no respect for the LORD.
Besides, what can a king do for us?”
4Their words amount to nothing.
They make agreements with empty promises, and legal issues sprout
like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the fields.
5The people of Samaria are all atremble for the calf of Beth-Aven.
They grieve for it, as do the priests who idolized it,
but its glory is long gone.
6It will be hauled off to Assyria as a tribute to the great king.
Ephraim and Israel will be ashamed of their idols.
7Samaria’s king will fade away
Like a stick floating on the water.
8The altars of Beth-Aven are the sin of Israel and will be destroyed.
Briers and thistles will cover their altars.
Then they will cry to the mountains, “Cover us!”
And to the hills, “Fall over us.”
9Israel has sinned since the days of Gibeah.
Their sins have continued, and war will overtake them there.
10I plan to come against the people and punish them.
I will gather nations against them.
They will be punished for their many sins.
11Ephraim was a trained cow that loved to graze,
and I protected her lovely neck;
but I will make her plow the ground.
And Judah, too, must plow, and Jacob must turn the dirt for himself.
12Plant righteousness for yourselves!
Harvest steadfast love!
Plow your prepared land!
It is time to seek the LORD so that righteousness
will be rained over you!
13But you have planted wickedness and harvested wrongdoing.
You have dined on the fruit of lies
because you have trusted in your own strength
and in your armies of soldiers.
14That is why the destruction of war will come against your people.
Your fortresses will be destroyed
like Shalman destroyed Beth-Arbel on a day of war.
Mothers and their children were dashed to pieces.
15The same thing will happen to you, Bethel,
because of your great wickedness.
When that day dawns
the king of Israel will be utterly destroyed.
Commentary
1-2: Hosea charges that Israel’s prosperity only resulted in more apostasy. As they prospered they built more altars that were used to sacrifice to local deities, but now they say, “We have no king.”
4: Their worship rituals are hollow words and the oaths they make to their gods are empty. They have become a litigious society because of their disdain for the Law God gave them.
5: Samaria is the capital city of Israel. Beth-Aven (“house of wickedness”) is a slur against Bethel (“house of God”), a primary cultic site where Jeroboam had set up a golden calf for them to worship.
6: The golden calf will become part of the spoils carried away to Assyria when the kingdom falls.
7-8: The king will perish, and the high places of worship will be desolate.
9-10: God speaks: Gibeah is once again given as an example of the kind of people Israel has become; their destruction is nigh.
11: The calf imagery continues: once upon a time Ephraim was trained and loved to do God’s bidding without being yoked (“I protected her lovely neck”). But now Ephraim and Judah, and indeed all of Jacob (all twelve tribes) will be forced to labor.
12: There still appears to be a window of opportunity left them though, doesn’t there?
13-15: Ephraim and Judah will be yoked together because they have “planted wickedness.” Verse 13 follows the annual agricultural cycle of plowing, reaping and consuming; but they have plowed wickedness, and wickedness has produced a bitter harvest. They trusted in their own military instead of God and as a result they will suffer the punishment of war. “Shalman” and “Beth-Arbel” occur nowhere else in the Bible. Shalman may be the Assyrian King Shalmanesar (see 2 Kings 18:9).
Takeaway
The fall of Israel and Judah continues through Hosea’s prophesies, and it is difficult to read. But God is a merciful God, which we will see again when we reach the last chapter.