Hosea · chapter 10 of 14
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Hosea 10 compares Israel to a luxuriant vine that, the more fruit it bears, the more altars it multiplies to idols. God will tear down those altars, remove the king of Samaria and carry the calf off to Assyria. He calls the people to sow righteousness and reap steadfast love, and to seek the Lord before the day of battle comes.
Hosea 10 continues the agricultural images of the book and takes stock of Israel's history from its earliest times. God's blessings, far from producing gratitude, produced more idolatry. The chapter announces the end of the kings and the sanctuaries, but includes one of the most beautiful invitations in the book: to sow righteousness and seek the Lord.
Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields fruit for itself. The more his fruit increased, the more he multiplied altars; as his country improved, he improved his pillars. Their heart is divided, and now they must bear their guilt. God will break down their altars and destroy their pillars. They will say: we have no king, for we did not fear the Lord; and a king, what could he do for us? They utter empty words, swear falsely and make covenants, and judgment will spring up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.
The inhabitants of Samaria tremble for the calf of Beth-aven; its people mourn for it, and its priests wail over its glory, which has departed into exile. The calf itself will be carried to Assyria as a present to the great king. Ephraim will be put to shame and Israel will be ashamed of his counsel. The king of Samaria will perish like a twig on the face of the waters. The high places of Aven will be destroyed, and thorn and thistle will grow over their altars. They will say to the mountains: cover us, and to the hills: fall on us.
From the days of Gibeah Israel has sinned. God will discipline. Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh, and God spared her fair neck, but now he will put her to the yoke. Then comes the call: sow for yourselves righteousness and reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, until he comes and rains righteousness upon you. But they have plowed wickedness, reaped injustice and eaten the fruit of lies, because they trusted in their own way and in the multitude of their warriors. An uproar will arise among their people, and all their fortresses will be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle. So it will be done to them at Bethel because of their great evil; at dawn the king of Israel will be utterly cut off.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields fruit for itself, and the more fruit it bears, the more altars it multiplies. Prosperity, which should have led to gratitude, led to a self-centered religion.
They will say they have no king because they did not fear the Lord, and that a king could do nothing for them. They will acknowledge, too late, that their political securities are worth nothing without the fear of God.
Sow righteousness and reap steadfast love, break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord until he comes and rains righteousness on you. In the middle of judgment, God offers a way: repenting is working the hardened soil of the heart.
They have plowed wickedness and reaped injustice, and have eaten the fruit of lies, because they trusted in their own way and in their many warriors. Whoever trusts his own strength reaps what he sows.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: As a luxuriant vine that yields fruit for itself. — Hosea 10:1
Answer: They multiply them and make their pillars more beautiful. — Hosea 10:1
Answer: That they have no king because they did not fear the Lord, and that a king could do nothing for them. — Hosea 10:3
Answer: It will be carried to Assyria as a present to the great king. — Hosea 10:5-6
Answer: Sow righteousness, reap steadfast love, break up their fallow ground and seek the Lord. — Hosea 10:12
Answer: In their own way and in the multitude of their warriors. — Hosea 10:13
Hosea 10 invites us to look at what we do with blessings. Israel turned its prosperity into more altars, that is, into more religion for its own ends. In a small group you can ask what happens to gratitude when things go well and how to keep God at the center.
Verse 12 offers practical guidance: sow righteousness, break up the fallow ground, seek the Lord. Breaking up the fallow ground is letting God turn over hardened habits, and sowing righteousness is acting rightly before seeing the fruit. It is not work to earn God's favor but the response of one who waits for him to come and teach righteousness.
Hosea 10 ends with the king of Israel cut off like water that passes. Hosea 11 changes the tone in a surprising way: God remembers Israel as a son he taught to walk, and his heart turns against judgment.
It is an image of the terror of judgment, when people prefer to be buried rather than face what is coming. Jesus quotes it on the way to the cross, speaking to the women of Jerusalem, and Revelation takes it up for the day of final judgment.
The text mentions that Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle and that mothers were dashed to pieces with their children. It is not known with certainty which episode this refers to or who Shalman was, although the readers of the time knew the event. The passage uses a memory of the brutality of war to warn of what was coming.
Fallow ground is uncultivated, hardened soil. Breaking it up is preparing it for sowing. God uses it as an image of a heart that must be worked in repentance before righteousness can bear fruit.