Hosea 9:1-17.  Today’s reading contains the next two complaints.  Hosea 9:1-9 is the first of Hosea’s complaints against Israel.  Remember that we are going to see alternating complaints from both God and Hosea.  For his part though Hosea is still a messenger for God so his complaints are really God’s complaints too.

Remember that Hosea was told to marry a “cheating kind” of woman in the beginning of the book.  Also we saw that she actually did cheat on him.  This was a picture of the relationship between God and Israel.  Mostly Hosea’s wife represented the political and religious system of Israel, the “God” culture (or ‘god” culture) there.  The leadership in Israel was playing at being faithful to God when they were really cheating on him and worshipping fase gods.  They also were not trusting him to take care of them.  In fact they were actually looking to false, man made, gods to take care of them.   In this complaint Hosea returns to the example of his wife and charges Israel with being spiritual prostitutes all over Israel.  Because of their unfaithfulness to God he was not going to let the land support them.  In fact God was going to banish them to the very nations they had turned to for help, Egypt and Assyria.  But they would not enjoy the stay in these nations.  They would lose their identity as the “people of God.” (vv. 3-6).

Verse 7 tells us that they are going to be punished because their spiritual live have become so twisted (the meaning of the word iniquity).  They are living live hostile toward God.  Verse 9 tells us that their lives have become extremely depraved or corrupt (the word means beat up or marred).  Hosea tells us that the Israel of his day is like Gibeah.  Gibeah is the place in the book of Judges where the people raped the mistress of a Levite (a priest) and left her for dead.  She actually lay on the door step outside his room all night until she eventually died.  He then took her body home and cut it into 12 pieces that he sent to leaders of each of the 12 tribes of Israel.  This started a civil war among the tribes (Judges 19-21).  The story is completely sick from beginning to end and Hosea tells us that things in his time really are no better (for more read the posts on those chapters in Judges).

In verse 10 we start the next of God’s complaints against the people of Israel.  He had a great deal of hope for them.  I like to garden and when the plants first start to grow I show everybody.  I take the best care of them that I can and look forward to planting them in the garden (I usually start them in little pots so there wont be weeds till they get bigger) and seeing them produce fruit (especially tomatoes).  It is very disappointing when they die or fade or wilt or otherwise do not grow up and become fruitful (especially the tomatoes).  In the same way God is clearly disappointed in the way Israel has rejected him.  God’s compliant ends with very serious language, at one point he says that Ephraim wont have any children and even if they do those children will be killed.  Very dark.  God has rejected them because they have rejected Him (v. 17) so instead of living a blessed life in the promised land they would become wanderers among the nations.  Very bleak.

Again we see personal responsibility with respect to God, we need to listen to him.  We also see the down side of ignoring God, instead of living in the good land he has for us we wind up wandering among nations who don’t really want us.  And we don’t even have a place to honor God if we wanted to.  The lesson is to listen now and avoid God punishment.

Lord help me listen and respond to you.  I know you are not really about punishment but you will do it if it needs to be done.  Help me honor you with my life, I hate spankings.  And I really do love you though I too am sometimes unfaithful.  Help me trust you more each day.  Thank you for your patience and forgiveness.