Hosea 9 - Bible Study, Explanation, and Application
Hosea 9 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.
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 HAS LOST THE LOVE OF GOD (9:1-17):
The people of Israel had prostituted themselves and “played the whore” to secure themselves in their land.
Their wages from their prostitution were threshing floors of grain and wine vats filled with wine.
But God told them they wouldn’t be able to enjoy any of it. They were going to be removed from their land and their wages and made to eat “unclean food in Assyria” (9:3).
They would be exiled and no longer able to celebrate the Lord’s feast days or to offer their vain sacrifices.
The day of punishment was swiftly approaching for Israel, spurred on by their foolish false prophets and the madmen who claimed to speak with the Spirit of God (9:7).
God cared for Israel when they were a young plant, a small and helpless nation. He looked at them with the pleasure of someone who finds the first ripe fruit of the season, or like one who finds a cluster of grapes after wandering in the wilderness. But they chose idols over God, like the Baal of Peor (Num 25:3) that led the nation into immorality.
God was going to take away the hope of the nation and strip away their national identity in future generations.
He would not allow their posterity to flourish. Hosea prophesied, “Ephraim’s glory shall fly away like a bird – no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!” (9:11).
Israel’s evil had made God detest them, He said, “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” (9:15).
Hosea prophesied, “My God will reject them because they have not listened to Him; they shall be wanderers among the nations” (9:17).
APPLICATION:
One of the great blessings of being a follower of God today is the ability to worship Him anywhere.
One of the punishments for the people of Israel was exile from the land away from the Temple where God’s worship was commanded to take place.
They couldn’t follow God’s instructions the way they were commanded to if they got kicked out of the land.
Thankfully, today, our location isn’t critical to our worship.
When a woman questioned Jesus at a well in John 4 about the proper location of worship, Jesus told her the location didn’t matter, what mattered was that a person worshiped in “spirit and in truth” (John 4:23).
So, while the location isn’t a key factor, worshiping according to the truth of God’s word and in the proper spirit still matter a great deal to God.
The people of Israel worshipped without concern for truth or spirit, and that is still a temptation for worshippers today, so we need to mindful of that no matter where we worship around the world.
