Hosea 10 - Bible Study, Explanation, and Application
Hosea 10 Bible Study
HOSEA CHAPTER REVIEW:
Hosea 1 – God told Hosea to marry a wife of whoredom as a picture of Israel’s unfaithfulness to Him. Hosea married Gomer, and together they had 3 children together. Their names were “Jezreel,” “No Mercy,” and “Not My People.” Though Israel had acted very wickedly, God promised them hope for a positive future, but judgement was coming first.
Hosea 2 – Hosea’s wife returned to her sins and committed adultery, just as Israel had turned its back on God repeatedly. God warned Israel to repent or suffer severe consequences. Israel didn’t realize all of its blessings came from God and God could take them all away. God would punish Israel, but Hosea foretold a day when God would restore His wife (Israel) to Himself by grace.
Hosea 3 – God told Hosea to buy his wife back after she was unfaithful to him. This was a picture of God’s grace to Israel after their unfaithfulness. Israel’s immediate future was going to be spend enduring the consequences of their sins, but God promised He would show them grace in the “latter days” when they were reunited under “David their king.”
Hosea 4 – Hosea described the sorry sinful state of the people of Israel. They were decaying as a nation because they lacked knowledge of the law of God. The priests were piranhas that fed on the sins of the people. Hosea described their unfaithfulness to God as whoredom and adultery.
Hosea 5 – This chapter continues listing the sins of the people of Israel and includes the unfortunate prophecy that Judah would fall into the same sins. God was tearing down the power of Israel and Judah little by little. He would eventually pour out His wrath on them and withdraw from them for a time, leading them to repentance.
Hosea 6 – God was frustrated with the sacrifices of the people. Though they made sacrifices, they made them without truly loving God in their hearts. It was just an empty ritual, and God informed them of its meaninglessness. Judah and Israel’s love for God was like the morning dew. It would reappear for a short time only to quickly vanish away.
Hosea 7 – Israel looked to Egypt and Assyria for help, but no ally, no matter how strong, could save them because God was their enemy. God compared them to “silly doves” that He would catch in His net and destroy. God didn’t want that to be Israel’s fate, He wanted to redeem them, but they refused to repent of their rebellion against Him.
Hosea 8 – Israel forgot the God the Maker and put their trust in things they made (kingdoms, fortifications, idols, etc.). God was going to give them over to the consequences of their choices. He described Assyria as a vulture, flying overhead and waiting for its prey.
Hosea 9 – God had a bad taste in His mouth when it came to the nation of Israel. It hadn’t always been that way, in fact God had once looked at Israel the way a wanderer in the wilderness looks at a ripe cluster of grapes. But because of their sins, God was going to strip the people and their children of their national identity.
TIMELINE:
The first verse of the book informs the reader that Hosea lived during the reigns of Uzziah (Azariah), Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah in Judah, and the reign of Jeroboam II in Israel.
Uzziah’s (Azariah’s) reign began around 815 B.C.
Hezekiah’s reign ended sometimes around 695 B.C.
Jeroboam II reigned ended in the mid-700s B.C.
This puts Hosea’s prophetic work squarely in the 700s B.C. The text indicates he did most of his teaching prior to 721 B.C. That was the year God punished Israel by bringing the Assyrians against them and exiling them from the Promised Land.
OUTLINE:
ISRAEL HARVESTS THE POISON OF THE SIN THEY SOWED (10:1-15):
Israel had been like a flourishing vine with lots of fruit (an rich and prosperous nation), but they took their prosperity and used it to multiply their sins.
The richer they became, the more idols they built. The more God blessed them, the more idols they set up to false gods.
But their idolatries were about to bring about the downfall of their state.
Soon, they would have no king. Since they failed to honor the King of Heaven, God would strip away their earthly king.
Because of their lies, false oaths, and broken covenants, their fields would produce poison (hemlock; 10:4).
The people that used to rejoice in their idols would mourn over them because of their weakness and inability to help them. Their idols would be carried off into Assyria and would offer them nothing but shame.
The “high places” where much of the idolatry took place would be destroyed and thistles would overgrow the altars.
The people who once worshiped false gods on the mountains would beg those mountains to hide them from the wrath of the true God.
“…and they shall say to the mountains, ‘Cover us;’ and to the hills, ‘Fall on us’” (see Luke 23:30 and Rev 6:16).
God’s wrath and judgement would be satisfied when He “gathered the nations” to bind Israel (10:10).
Verse 12 contains an interesting line. It reads, “Ephraim was a trained calf that loved to thresh, and I spared her fair neck; but I will put Ephraim to the yoke; Judah must plow; Jacob must harrow for himself.”
The idea seems to be that Israel had been gently cared for by God, and their lives had been made easy (threshing was not difficult work for a cow). But in their ease, they embraced lives of sin, so now God was going to make their lives difficult. Ephraim (Israel) was going to be put to the yoke and Judah would harrow the field (harrowing required pulling a farm instrument through a field to break up dirt clods).
Hosea encouraged the people to break up their fallow ground (uncultivated land), sow righteousness, and harvest love. If they did this, God would “rain righteousness upon them” (10:12).
Thus far, they had plowed iniquity, harvested injustice, and sustained themselves on the fruit of lies.
Rather than the rain of righteousness, God was going to give them war, death, and exile.
APPLICATION:
When Israel grew wealthy and successful, they started filling their lives with things that took their attention away from God.
Hosea said, “The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built; as his country improved, he improved his pillars” (these were pillars associated with idolatry; 10:1).
There is a national application of this principle for countries, but I want to look at a personal application.
When a person starts to get a little bit of money, they often take on new hobbies or extra business ventures. These things aren’t necessities, but rather additions to their life for pleasure or further prosperity.
Their newfound wealth opens doors that previously weren’t available, and these new opportunities attract their interest and checkbooks.
But one needs to consider that rarely does one take on an extra hobby or job without sacrificing some time.
To be clear, an extra job or hobby isn’t wrong, but there is a danger in them because, if a person isn’t careful, they can begin to sacrifice their time and energy to these unnecessary pursuits in an almost idolatrous way.
The more hobbies or jobs we take on, the greater the temptation to spend unhealthy amounts of time pursuing the things of the world instead of the things of God.
Many forget that God has created us here with a mission, and when we’ve achieved a comfortable level of success, it would be wise to ask, “What would God have me do next?” rather than “What does the world have to offer me now that I can afford more of its offerings?”
Satan has ways to tempt you when you are poor, and he definitely has ways to tempt you when you are rich, and one of his most powerful and subtle ways is by keeping you distracted with all the world’s offerings and keeping you so busy that you forget that your mission is to build the Kingdom of God.
