Punishment In Store

9 ¹ Don’t rejoice, Isra’el! Don’t enjoy yourselves as other peoples do; for you have gone whoring away from your God, you love being hired as a whore on every grain-floor. ² Threshing-floor and winepress won’t feed them, and new wine will disappoint her. ³ They won’t remain in the land of Adonai; instead, Efrayim will return to Egypt, and they will eat unclean food in Ashur.

Hosea is speaking in verses 1–9. Isra’el sought prosperity by serving pagan fertility Gods like the nations, just as a woman would seek the wages of a prostitute. However, they could not rejoice jubilantly at “the Lord’s feast” (v. 5) because God had withheld the harvest, causing deprivation that would increase during Isra’el’s exile (v. 3).

⁴ They will not pour out wine offerings to Adonai; they will not be pleasing to him. Their sacrifices will be for them like mourners’ food – everyone eating it will be polluted. For their food will be merely to satisfy their appetite; it will not come into the house of Adonai. ⁵ What will you do at a designated time, on a day which is a festival for Adonai? ⁶ For suppose they escape the destruction – Egypt will round them up, Memphis will bury them. And their precious treasures of silver? Nettles will possess them, thorns will be in their tents.

Isra’el’s failed harvest would leave the people with barely enough to eat, with nothing for offerings and sacrifices. The bread of mourners was food defiled by association with death. It could not be offered to God. Isra’el would seek refuge from devastation in Egypt, but they would die there outside their land.

⁷ The days of punishment have come, the days of retribution are here, and Isra’el knows it. [Yet they cry,] “The prophet is a fool, the man of the spirit has gone crazy!” Because your iniquity is so great, the hostility [against you] is great. ⁸ The watchman of Efrayim is with my God, but a prophet has a fowler’s snare set on all his paths and hostility even in the house of his God. ⁹ They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Giv‘ah. He will remember their guilt, and he will punish their sins.

God had sent prophets to warn the people, but their guilt and hostility were such that they considered God’s inspired messengers to be insane fools. Nevertheless, God was with them. Watchman is a common biblical image for prophets (Jer 6:17; Eze 3:17; 33:2). The fowler’s snare may be what the prophet was to the ways of foolish Isra’el (Isa 8:14; 2 Co 2:16).

¹⁰ “When I found Isra’el, it was like finding grapes in the desert; when I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing a fig tree’s first figs in its first season. But as soon as they came to Ba‘al-P‘or, they dedicated themselves to something shameful; they became as loathsome as the thing they loved.

God speaks in verses 10–17. Isra’el initially brought God as much pleasure as grapes found in the desert or the first fruit of the fig tree, but that changed with the incident of pagan sexuality at Ba’al-peor (Numbers 25:1–9; Psalm 106:28–30), where the people tried to ensure fertility by worshiping Ba’al, here referred to as Shame. The point is that Isra’el was now repeating its foolish behavior.

¹¹ The glory of Efrayim will fly away like a bird – no birth, no pregnancy, no conception. ¹² Even if they raise their children, I will destroy them till none is left – and woe to them when I leave them, too!”

Efrayim’s glory was the Lord, whose departure would end their fertility and cause them woe. Not only does sin corrode, but it also makes God angry. In verses 2 and 3, 6, 11–13, and 15–17 of chapter 9, God’s anger towards sinful Isra’el is expressed. There are four ways God’s anger is evident in these verses.

¹³ Efrayim, as I see it, is like Tzor, planted in a pleasant place; but Efrayim will bring out his children to the slaughterer. ¹⁴ Adonai, give them—what will you give? Give them wombs that miscarry and dried-up breasts! ¹⁵ “All their wickedness was already there in Gilgal; that’s where I came to hate them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds, I will expel them from my house, I will love them no more; all their leaders are rebels. ¹⁶ Efrayim has been struck down, their root has been dried up, they will bear no fruit. Even if they do give birth, I will kill their cherished offspring.” ¹⁷ My God will cast them aside, because they wouldn’t listen to him, and they will become wanderers among the Goyim. [1]

There are references to child sacrifice in verses 13 and 16. The cult of Ba’al was hideous and a complete paradox. This is something that is brought out in Psalm 106:28-30. On the one hand, its objective was to enable women to give birth to many healthy children. But the same cult consumed children in ritual sacrifice. While these verses do not explicitly charge the Isra’elites with child sacrifices, the judgments of barrenness could be a response to such atrocities.

Just as verses 10–14 begin with an allusion to Ba’al-peor, these verses begin with an allusion to Gilgal (cp. 4:15; 12:11), a town so full of evil that God had rejected them (hate in v. 15 = reject in v. 17).

Reflecting on Hosea 9, we see how societal norms can lead to collective unfaithfulness and complacency. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the negativity around you, in the news, or on social media, commit to being a voice of hope and truth in your community. By intentionally fostering a culture of positivity and faith, you can actively counter the despair reflected in Hosea’s message.

Next, we will continue to explore Hosea.

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^[1] Hosea 9:1-17