Hosea 10:1-15.  Chapter 10 again brings us two complaints first Hosea (Hosea 10:1-8) and then God (Hosea 10:9-15).  One of the places mentioned yesterday will be revisited in God’s complaint here in chapter 10, Gibeah.  Also Hosea will bring back up a place mentioned a couple of times before in the book, Beth-Aven (Hosea 4:15; 5:8 (where it is linked with Gibeah)).  Remember from the post on Hosea 4:15-5:15 (7/31/12) that “Beth-Aven” is another name for Bethel.  The name “Bethel” will actually be used here in chapter 10 by God later in Hosea 12:4 by Hosea in one of his complaints.  It will be interesting to see what sort of comparison or contrast they are making by using the name “Bethel”. Also you might want to remember that “Beth-Aven” means “house of trouble” and that “Bethel” means house of God”.  At the beginning of yesterday’s post I mentioned that although the words were coming from Hosea that they were still a message from God.  One thing that I failed to point out was verse 14.  IN the middle of the complaint from God Hosea inserts a question or request.  The complaint from God in chapter 9 (vv. 10-17) has a chiastic structure (see 8/2/12 post) with verse 14 at the center.  In that verse Hosea says, “Give them LORD, What will you give them?”  It’s obviously more than a question, it’s a request by Hosea for God to punish, which God does.  Prophets were more than just messengers for God they were his partners in the world and advocates (people who argue a case for someone, like a lawyer).  In that verse we saw Hosea asking God to deal with the evil of Israel.

Back to today’s reading.  In his complaint against Israel Hosea compares Israel to a vine.  As I mentioned in yesterday’s post I like to garden, more specifically I like to grow plants that make food (like tomatoes).  I am pretty disappointed when my plants don’t produce much.  I have tried several time to grow head lettuce and have never been successful, so I don’t try head lettuce very often anymore.  I want the plants that I plant to produce crops for me.  In the case of Hosea’s complaint the vine (Israel) is only producing fruit for itself.  And the fruit that is producing it uses to build places to worship false gods (probably Baal who was one of the most important gods of the non-Israelite people living in the area).  This summer I haven’t gotten a lot of tomatoes on my vines and several of the ones that I have seen have been eaten just before I went to pick them by some animal.  I think a rat comes in and gets them right before they are ripe.  It is very disappointing since I wont eat the tomato if I even suspect a rat has nibbled on it.  The fruit is wasted (at least from my perspective).  That is what is going on in Israel, they are wasting their fruit on someone or something it should not be going to.  Verse 2 tells us that the Israelites  have been faithless and the result is God is going to destroy the things they have wasted their efforts on (This morning I picked a tomato that had a little chew mark on it and though, “Maybe if I cut out that part…” but I eventually threw it in the garbage disposal sent it to tomato oblivion.)

Verses 3-5 give us more details of the unfaithfulness of the people of the northern kingdom.  In  verses three they say that they have no king but in verse 7 we see that they actually do have a king.  The rest of verse 3 helps us understand that they are really talking about God.  They don’t have a king because they don’t respect God (who was always supposed to be the king of the Israelites).  Their disrespect is explained even more when they doubt the ability of God to care for them at the end of the verse.

Verses 4-5 make a contrast with the true God, whom they have rejected.  Instead they make useless or hollow contracts or promises with a useless god, the “calf of Beth-aven” (It is possible that the promises were being made to Yahweah, their true God.  But they would be useless too since God will not share.  Remember the first commandment he gave to the Israelites what that they were to have no other gods (Exodus 20:3)).  You see in the history of the northern kingdom one of their early kings made a false god in the shape of a bull and built a place to worship it in Bethel (mockingly called Beth-Aven here).  The bull was a symbol of Baal, the main god of the Canaanites living in the area.  Baal was supposed to be the god of fertility of both people and the land.  They though that worshipping Baal would give them lots of kids and lots of tomatoes crops.  A really sad part of the worship of Baal (aside from the fact that he was a dumb lifeless fabrication of human imagination) was that the people would sacrifice their children to him, actually kill them.  In the mythology about Baal he is killed by Mol the god of death each year and goes to the underworld.  His followers mound his departure and perform all sorts of rituals to bring him back.  It’s sort of a stupid human explanation for winter and spring, and the followers of Baal thought that they could cause a better spring if they honored Baal.

The end of verse 5 should probably be part of the thought in verse 6.  In spite of all their attempts to worship this false god when the Assyrians invaded (724-722 BC) this idol would become part of the stuff they would take, their booty, a tribute to the king of Assyria.  Jareb was not a name but a description of the king of Assyria.  Jareb means “to contend” and fighting was something the Assyrians knew how to do well.  It’s kind of like when they used to call Babe Ruth (a great baseball player from long ago) the “Sultan of Swing”.  Babe Ruth was a great hitter but he wasn’t a Muslim king.  Eventually the people would suffer shame because of following their own ways instead of God’s ways.  Their king would be like a stick floating on the waters of history being carried where-ever the currents took him, so much for controlling your own destiny.  Verse 8 ends Hosea’s complaint with the places of false worship being destroyed and covered with weeds.  It’s interesting that weeds are a part of the curse of God.  They are things we constantly have to fight to make our gardens productive.  They are a constant reminder of our broken relationship with God and here that ever present reminder is there overtaking the false places of worship.  The response of the people is not to turn to God (Hosea 6:1) but rather they beg to be hidden by the mountains and the hills.  There is a similar response to the trouble God brings on the world just before Jesus establishes the forever kingdom promised to and looked for by the Jewish people (Revelation 6:16).  The interesting thing about this time of trouble (Often called “The Great Tribulation”) is that God’s desire even then is for people to come back to him (See Revelation 2:5, 16, 21-22; 3:3, 19; 9:21; 16:9-11; 22:17) but instead they just want to hide from him.

In the second section of today’s reading God again brings charges against Israel.  Verse 9 reminds us again that Israel has sinned from very early in their history.  Again we see a reference to Judges 19-21 this time, maybe, with more emphasis on the civil war and battles among the Israelites which almost resulted in the destruction of a complete tribe.  Gibeah was not only a symbol of the spiritual evil in Israel but it also was a symbol of military strength.  Gibeah was where the first king of the nation of Israel, Saul, had his palace and fortress.  No matter how strong the Israelites though they were they were no match for God’s power.  In verse 10 God tells us and them that when he wants he will deal with them for their “double guilt”.  The double guilt probably refers to their pride and self confidence, especially militarily as the first point of guilt.  They had made an alliance against Assyrians with Syria and felt that they were safe.  The ancient fortress of Gibeah and all of the fortified cities of Israel would be no match for the “people God was gathering together against them”.  The second point of guilt would have been their unfaithfulness to God, their idolatry.

In verse 11 God describe Israel as a capable farm animal.  It is interesting that Judah is mentioned too since Hosea has been dealing mostly with the northern kingdom.  Here it looks like the northern kingdom will be dealt with separately but Judah is not off the hook either (See the Hosea 5:5).  Right in the middle of his warning God inserts a challenge.  He tells Israel to “sow with a right life in mind”.  He tells them to prepare the hard land”.  Then he tells them to turn back to God and wait for God to bring the rain.  You can have the best soil in the world and plant the best seeds but with out water their will be no growth.

Unfortunately they did not listen.  They worked only for evil and bad fruit was what they produced (an echo back to Hosea’s complaint in verse 1 and to God’s earlier complaint in Hosea 9:10.   Verse 13 sums up the things Israel has done wrong as following their own ways (probably referring to worshipping Baal) and their trust in their own strength.  It’s very similar to the complaints Isaiah had against the southern kingdom, Judah, about the same time in history.  Judah did not honor God as God and they were filled with pride and selfishness.

Verses 14-15 warn Israel what will happen because they are not trying to live God pleasing lives.  A battle is coming and their fortress will be destroyed.  Scholars do not know who Shalman is, though it could be a reference to Shalmaneser then king of Assyria.  They are not sure about Beth Arbel either but the point is clear that some terrible defeat must have happened there and the rest of the northern kingdom was next.  Great defeat was coming to Bethel (the house of God which they had made into a house of emptiness or trouble) in fact the defeat would be so great that their king would be killed at dawn the very beginning of the battle.

Blowing off God and relying on our own wisdom and strength is a recipe for disaster.  We need to realize that God is the all powerful creator fo the universe.  But he also personally involved in our lives.  He cares about us and cares for us.  Sometimes that care involves punishment, we can push God out of our lives but he will not go quietly.  That is because he knows that life without him will be filled with all kinds of bad stuff.  More importantly he knows that eternity without him will be worse.  We need to listen when he asks us to return.  We need to listen when he asks us to live god pleasing lives.

God help me listen.  Help me understand.  Help me obey.  Let my life please you.  Thank you for caring.  Thank you for continually come after me.  Let me respond and let my response be motivated by love for you.  Let not the house of my heart be empty let it be Bethel.