Hosea 9
9
Israel’s Sorrow While in Exile
1Stop rejoicing, people of Israel!
Stop rejoicing as you celebrate your festivals like pagans,
for you have deserted your God
and committed fornication with other gods.
You have loved the prostitute’s pay on every threshing floor
as if Baal were the one who could give you good harvests.
2You will not be able to enjoy the bounty of your harvest—
for others will consume your wheat, oil, and wine.
3Ephraim will not remain in Yahweh’s land;
they will have to go back to Egypt
or eat Assyria’s polluted food. # 9:3 In exile, the Israelites had to eat the polluted (ceremonially unclean) food of Assyria. See
Ezek. 4:13
.
4Their sacrifices will not be pleasing to Yahweh.
They will not be able to offer their firstfruits
nor pour out drink offerings of wine to him,
for their food will be like funeral fare—
food given to those in mourning.
Whoever eats it will become unclean.
They will only have sufficient food to satisfy their hunger
and not enough to offer to Yahweh in his house.
5What will you do on the appointed feast days,
on the day you gather for Yahweh’s festivals? # 9:5 That is, the three annual feasts (Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles), which could not be observed properly in exile, for they required going to the temple. It seems like the Northern Kingdom did not coalesce in Assyrian exile as Judah did in Babylonian/Persian exile. In fact, we never hear from the ten lost tribes again after 722 BC. Apparently, they were victims of total or almost total ethnic genocide, or at least culturally extinguishing cleansing. Many in the North were worshiping the golden calves at Bethel and not even going to Jerusalem. Some of the remnant were left behind to mix with others, producing the Samaritans of the New Testament era.
6Look! Even if you flee from destruction,
Egypt will round you up.
Your gathering together
will be for your burial in Memphis. # 9:6 Or “Moph,” also called “Noph.”
Your silver treasures will be lost among the weeds, # 9:6 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
and thornbushes will overgrow your homes.
7Your day of punishment has come,
and the time for recompense has arrived,
and Israel will know it. # 9:7 As translated from the Aleppo Codex, Leningrad Codex, and the Masoretic Text.
You say, “The prophet is a fool.
This man of the Spirit is crazy!” # 9:7 This appears to be a derisive description regarding God’s Spirit coming upon the prophet, who would go into a trance or ecstatic state and prophesy.
But your guilt is great,
even greater than all your deep-seated hatred.
8This prophet of my God is a watchman for Israel.
Yet, everywhere he goes, the people set traps for him.
He is considered an enemy in the house of his God. # 9:8 Or literally “A watchman Ephraim with my God, a prophet, a snare of a fowler on all his paths, hatred in the house of his God.” Verses
7–8
are the most difficult verses in Hosea to translate, as the Hebrew text is uncertain. There is a lack of certainty whether these words (or some of them) were spoken by Hosea or by the people of Israel. It seems more fitting in the context to view them as spoken by Hosea.
Israel’s Sins at Gibeah
9Israel has sunk so deeply into depravity—
just as you did at Gibeah. # 9:9 Perhaps one of the lowest points of Israel’s history took place at Gibeah. The men of the city raped and killed a Levite’s concubine (see
Judg. 19:22–30
), which led to a civil war that nearly wiped out the tribe of Benjamin. Gibeah would also be recognized by the people of that day as the place where Israel asked God for a king (see
1 Sam. 8
). Instead of Yahweh being their king, the Israelites ended up with Saul.
God will not overlook the guilt of your actions;
he will punish you for your sins.
Israel’s Sins at Baal Peor
10 Yahweh says, “When I found you, Israel,
it was as pleasing as finding ripe grapes in the desert.
When I saw your ancestors,
it was as delightful as seeing the early ripe figs # 9:10 See
Mic. 7:1
.
on a new fig tree in its first productive season.
But when they reached Baal Peor # 9:10 Baal Peor means “lord of the [mountain] gap.” See
Deut. 4:3–4
.
they devoted themselves to the shameful god, Baal, # 9:10 Or “they devoted themselves to Shame [i.e., Baal].” Hebrew speakers of that day were accustomed to substituting Shame for Baal . This is specifically Baal of Peor, a local Moabite Baal, not the Baal introduced to Israel by Jezebel. See
Num. 25:1–15
;
Ps. 106:28
;
1 Cor. 10:8
;
Rev. 2:14
.
and became as shameful as the things they loved. # 9:10 This could be a reference to the Moabite women the Israelite men slept with in Acacia who led them astray into pagan idolatry.
11The glory of Israel # 9:11 Although the shining presence of God could be in view here, the next line indicates that Ephraim’s (Israel’s) glory is their children, the generation to come. Moral corruption of a nation often results in a decline of the birthrate, as God’s punishment of evil. Also note the sharp contrast between the shame in v.
10
and the “glory” departing in v.
11
. will fly away from you like a bird, # 9:11 The Hebrew word for “glory” is kabod . It is a very loaded word in the Old Testament. God’s glory is heavy, weighty. The glory that left the temple (see
Ezek. 11:23
) will come crashing back in (see
Ezek. 43:1–5
) with the restoration. This glorious heaviness is beautifully and poetically contrasted with the lightness of a bird flying away. Later rabbis also described this, equivalently, as the Shekinah, a cloud of Yahweh ’s presence. This imagery goes back to the cloud of the dwelling place and Solomon’s Temple that was also present at the Mount of Transforming Glory (see
Ex. 33:18
;
2 Chron. 7:1
;
Matt. 17:5
).
leaving you infertile—no pregnancy, no conception.
12Even if they raise their children, I will remove them,
and not one will be left alive.
Even worse than that will be when I desert you.
13Ephraim, I once saw you like the city of Tyre # 9:13 Tyre was a beautiful port city and the mother of the Carthaginian (Semitic; “Punic” is the Latin pronunciation of Phoenician ) culture which, with Hannibal’s leadership, rivaled Rome. Many empires tried to conquer Tyre but were only partially able to do so. Tyre had plenty of money to pay tribute if she had to. Only Alexander, in the most extensive siege warfare ever seen up to that date, was able to fully take the city (332 BC). This could be translated “like a palm tree” instead of “Tyre.” The first line of this verse is uncertain in the Hebrew. Many translations defer to the Septuagint for clarity.
planted in a pleasant setting,
but now you must send out your sons
to be slaughtered in battle.”
14Yahweh, give them . . .
Yes, what punishment should I ask you to give?
Give them wombs that miscarry and breasts with no milk. # 9:14 The broken sentence in the first line of this verse seems to be the most accurate translation, even though it is ambiguous in English. It appears that Hosea was deeply struggling in his heart over God punishing his unfaithful people. Perhaps because Hosea’s wife was unfaithful, he saw his own feelings as a mirror of Yahweh ’s feelings for his wife, Israel. Hosea began to pray for his people, but his feelings rose up abruptly, so he asked instead what God would do. Should he demonstrate his love or condemn her? Hosea submitted to God’s choice.
Israel’s Sins at Gilgal
15 Yahweh says, “All of Ephraim’s evil began at Gilgal.
It was there that I started to become their enemy.
I will drive them out of my house
because of the evil they have done.
I will no longer love them
because all their leaders are rebels.
16Ephraim, you’re finished!
Your root has dried up,
and you will bear no more fruit. # 9:16 This verse is loaded with significant irony, for the name Ephraim means “doubly fruitful.”
Even if the women do give birth,
I will put their beloved children to death.”
17My God will disown you
because you have not listened to him.
You will become wanderers among the nations.
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Hosea 9: TPT
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