Hosea 10:4

They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus Judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of a field.

Social sins and their result

I. Social sins.

1. Vain speech. “They utter empty speeches.” Not only are words of falsehood, blasphemy, and unchastity sinful, but empty words. How much idle language is there current in society!

2. False swearing. In judicial courts, in homes, in shops, in fields.

3. Unrighteous treaties. There is no harm in making covenants. Making a bad covenant is implied. The primal reference is to certain treaties Israel had formed with foreign nations. Untruthful as well as unrighteous bargains, are being struck every hour.

II. Results of social sins. “Judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.” Out of these social sins certain results appear. How do they come?

1. They come as a growth. Every sin is a seed from which a pestiferous plant must spring.

2. They come as a poison. Hemlock, or poppy, or darnel; poisonous productions.

3. They come in abundance. Very prolific is sin. See its plants growing in the ridges and furrows of life; in sick chambers, hospitals, workhouses, in prisons, in battlefields. (Homilist.)

Sin disturbing human relations

The sin of Israel is now contemplated in its effects on human relations. Before, it was regarded in relation to God. But men who are wrong with Him cannot be right with one another. Morality is rooted in religion, and, if we lie to God, we shall not be true to our brother. Hence, passing over all other sins for the present, Hosea fixes upon one, the prevalence of which strikes at the very foundation of society. What can be done with a community in which lying has become a national characteristic, and that even in formal agreements? Honeycombed with falsehood, it is only fit for burning. Sin is bound by an iron link to penalty. “Therefore,” says Hosea, God’s judgment springs up, like a bitter plant (the precise name of which is unknown) in the furrows, where the farmer did not know that its seeds lay. They little dreamed what they were sowing when they scattered abroad their lives, but this is the fruit of that. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap”; and whatever other crop we may hope to gather from our sins, we shall gather that bitter one, which we did not expect. The inevitable connection of sin and judgment, the bitterness of its results, the unexpectedness of them, are all here, and to be laid to heart by us. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Sin the cause of sorrow

There is a connection between sin and sorrow, between wickedness and calamity, between moral transgression and physical, social, political disaster. We may define sin negatively is impiety, iniquity, unspirituality; but Hosea speaks of it as a positive aggressive force, inflicting injury on the heart of the individual transgressor, and infecting also the external condition of the people. In emphasising the influence of sin on external conditions, the prophet teaches a profound truth, but not the whole truth. Jesus teaches that sin works disaster, even when the external condition is prosperous, and all that appears is respectable. Moral transgression is always followed by moral punishment. The connection between moral transgression and physical disaster is not constant and necessary. The prophet begins with a reference to Israel’s condition as blessed by God. “Israel is a luxuriant vine.” But he is found guilty. Here is the prophet’s charge against Israel on account of their sin.

1. It perverts prosperity. Prosperity itself is not sinful. It is far from the thought of the Hebrew prophet that misery is the normal condition of the servant of Jehovah. But sin perverts prosperity. It allows the material to eclipse the spiritual. It fails to use prosperity for the noblest ends. It fails to take account of the latent force of prosperity; it does not appreciate its value. Prosperity is to be valued as a condition of life, as a means of ministering to life more abundant.

2. It destroys religion, and takes away its inspiration. Sin does not at once do away with religion. It would fashion religion to its liking; but in this transformation the essence of religion evaporates. So it was at least in Israel. In perfunctory religion there is nothing to take hold of and mould the man.

3. It invalidates government. The deepest conditions of national prosperity are not of man’s creation, not determined by human legislatures. The political intercourse of men is conditioned on eternal principles of right, and nations as well as men must act in truth.

4. It emasculates society. It is a pitiable picture which Amos and Hosea paint of society in Samaria. Appetite reigns, drunkenness abounds, licentiousness and cruelty follow in their train. The very indulgence which sin practises defeats its own object. The fibre of the muscle is relaxed, the vigour of the mind is gone, patience, courage, hope have fled with faith, and the people lie supine, weak, inert. The prophet has disclosed the disastrous consequences of sin, but his purpose is to establish righteousness. God’s aim is not to curse, but to bless. But alas! the prophet, like all spiritual teachers, speaks to heavy ears. The people have but little leisure for righteousness. They would none of Hosea’s counsel, they despised all his reproof. (T. D. Anderson.)