ISRAEL MUST NOT REJOICE AT THEIR HARVEST FEAST BECAUSE EVERYTHING WILL SHORTLY BE TAKEN FROM THEM WHEN THEY ARE EXILED TO EGYPT/ASSYRIA BECAUSE OF WHAT THEY HAVE BECOME AND BECAUSE OF HOW THEY HAVE TREATED YHWH (HOSEA 9:1). The words that follow may well have been spoken by Hosea at the northern ver... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Rejoice not, O Israel, Do not shout for joy, my people, For you have played the harlot, from your God, You have loved hire (hired women) on every grain-floor.' Hosea warns Israel not to be so full of joy at their harvest feast at the Feast of Tabernacles because they needed to recognise that by... [ Continue Reading ]
‘The threshing-floor and the oil-press will not feed them, And the new wine will fail her.' They were to recognise that in the not too distant future they would discover that their threshing floors and oil presses would no longer provide food for them, and that their new wine would fail. This woul... [ Continue Reading ]
‘They will not dwell in YHWH's land, But Ephraim will return to Egypt, And they will eat unclean food in Assyria. They would no longer be allowed to live ‘in YHWH's land'. They had overlooked the fact that the land was YHWH's (Leviticus 25:23) and that they were being bad tenants, and could theref... [ Continue Reading ]
‘They will not pour out wine-offerings to YHWH, Nor will they be pleasing to him, Their sacrifices will be to them as the bread of mourners, All who eat of it will be polluted, For their bread will be for their appetite, It will not come into the house of YHWH.' And once in exile there will be... [ Continue Reading ]
‘What will you do in the day of solemn assembly, And in the day of the feast of YHWH?' As there would be no offerings and sacrifices, what would they do on the day of solemn assembly, when, had they been at home, they would have gathered to worship and offer sacrifices? And what especially would t... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For, lo, they are gone away from destruction, Egypt will gather them up, Memphis will bury them.' For when they went into exile they would leave behind them a scene of destruction. Israel and Samaria would have been totally destroyed. And in the bleak future that lay ahead they would be ‘gathere... [ Continue Reading ]
‘The days of visitation are come, The days of recompense are come, Israel will know it, the prophet is a fool, The man who has the spirit is mad, For the abundance of your iniquity, And because the enmity is great.' For what they would now face would not be ‘days of assembly' and ‘days of YHWH'... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Is Ephraim a watchman? Are the people of my God a prophet? A fowler's snare is in all his ways, Enmity in the house of his God.' Hosea then sarcastically asks the people whether they thought that they were YHWH's watchman, or considered themselves to be YHWH's prophet? And if not why did they t... [ Continue Reading ]
They have deeply corrupted themselves, ‘As in the days of Gibeah, He will remember their iniquity, He will visit their sins.' For YHWH's charge against Israel was that their sins were as deep as the sins of Gibeah, which had also had sexual motivation and had been of the most despicable kind (se... [ Continue Reading ]
I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness, I saw your fathers as the first-ripe in the fig-tree at its first season, They came to Baal-peor, and consecrated themselves to the shameful thing, And became abominable like what they loved. Then He dredges up the past as an example to them. Let them... [ Continue Reading ]
‘As for Ephraim, their glory will fly away like a bird. There will be no birth, and none with child, and no conception.' Ephraim's fate is sealed, and it is a bleak one indeed. ‘Their glory' may indicate such wealth as they have (compare Isaiah 17:3), but in context clearly includes their progeny. T... [ Continue Reading ]
EPHRAIM'S FUTURE IS BLEAK (HOSEA 9:11). As a result of their sinfulness Ephraim's future is depicted as being very bleak. Their wealth and prosperity (their ‘glory' - compare Isaiah 17:3) will fly away, the wombs of their wives will be barren and their children will be brought out to the slayers. A... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, so that not a man will be left. Yes, woe also to them when I depart from them!' And even though they seek to bring up the children that they already have, yet will YHWH bereave them so that no man is left. According to the curse formula... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Ephraim, like Tyre, is planted in a pleasant place. But Ephraim will bring out his children to the slayer.' Like Tyre (le tsor), Ephraim are planted in a pleasant place. If the reference to ‘like Tyre' has in mind the investment of Tyre in 722 BC seen as a stark warning to Ephraim (i.e. Tyre too we... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Give them, O YHWH - What will you give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.' Moved by what he sees before him at the feast Hosea calls on YHWH to act against the people in judgment. As he ponders what to ask for, he turns his thoughts to YHWH's words in Hosea 9:12, and in consequence asks... [ Continue Reading ]
‘All their wickedness is in Gilgal, For there I hated them. Because of the wickedness of their doings, I will drive them out of my house, I will love them no more, All their princes are rebels.' ‘All their wickedness is in Gilgal' has in mind that Gilgal was one of Israel's cultic centres paral... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, They will bear no fruit. Yes, though they bring forth, Yet will I slay the beloved fruit of their womb.' Hosea closes the passage as he opened it. Ephraim will be smitten, their root will be dried up, and they will bear no fruit (no birth, none with c... [ Continue Reading ]
‘My God will cast them away, Because they did not listen responsively to him, And they will be wanderers among the nations.' For because they had continually refused to listen responsively to Him He now intended to cast them away, with the result that they would become wanderers among the nations... [ Continue Reading ]