For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Hosea 10:1-8

1 Israel was a spreading vine;
    he brought forth fruit for himself.
As his fruit increased,
    he built more altars;
as his land prospered,
    he adorned his sacred stones.
2 Their heart is deceitful,
    and now they must bear their guilt.
The Lord will demolish their altars
    and destroy their sacred stones.

3 Then they will say, “We have no king
    because we did not revere the Lord.
But even if we had a king,
    what could he do for us?”
4 They make many promises,
    take false oaths
    and make agreements;
therefore lawsuits spring up
    like poisonous weeds in a plowed field.
5 The people who live in Samaria fear
    for the calf-idol of Beth Aven.
Its people will mourn over it,
    and so will its idolatrous priests,
those who had rejoiced over its splendor,
    because it is taken from them into exile.
6 It will be carried to Assyria
    as tribute for the great king.
Ephraim will be disgraced;
    Israel will be ashamed of its foreign alliances.
7 Samaria’s king will be destroyed,
    swept away like a twig on the surface of the waters.
8 The high places of wickedness will be destroyed—
    it is the sin of Israel.
Thorns and thistles will grow up
    and cover their altars.
Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!”
    and to the hills, “Fall on us!”

A. Find Out:

1. How was Israel described and what did he do? v.1
2. Why, and what must now happen? v.2
3. What will they acknowledge? v.3
4. What is constantly happening? v.4
5. What do the people fear for, and what will happen to it? v.5,6
6. What will happen and what will be the outcome? v.7,8

B. Think:

1. What is being mainly spoken against here?
2. How will destruction come?
3. How does the picture given go beyond just the destruction?

C. Comment:

Flowing straight on from the previous chapter, Hosea picks up again the picture he used in 9:10 of grapes on a vine. He starts here by saying that the vine, Israel , had been luxuriant to start with, but as it had prospered, it had become lax and had turned to other forms of worship and had filled the land with altars to “other gods”.  For this, God will come and destroy them. That is the simple message here.

In these verses he shows what will happen and the outcome of that. First, what will happen. The calf-idol that had been set up at Bethel (original name of Beth Aven) will be carried away and the priests who had attended it will also be taken. The idols scattered around the country will all be destroyed and the various stone altars set up to the false gods will also be destroyed.

Yet it goes further than that.  He goes on to show the effect of the coming destruction. In captivity, when they get carried away, they will have no king, no leadership and there will be strife between the ordinary people. Finally there is a powerful picture of the land after the destruction: “thorns and thistles will grow up and cover their altars”. The picture here is of long-term desolation. This will not be a quick-fix thing but will leave the land empty for a long time to come!

D. Application:

1. Judgement may take a time to come but it is always effective.
2. Judgement is only delayed to give time for repentance.

Passage: Hosea 10:9-15

9 “Since the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, Israel,
    and there you have remained.
Will not war again overtake
    the evildoers in Gibeah?
10 When I please, I will punish them;
    nations will be gathered against them
    to put them in bonds for their double sin.
11 Ephraim is a trained heifer
    that loves to thresh;
so I will put a yoke
    on her fair neck.
I will drive Ephraim,
    Judah must plow,
    and Jacob must break up the ground.
12 Sow righteousness for yourselves,
    reap the fruit of unfailing love,
and break up your unplowed ground;
    for it is time to seek the Lord,
until he comes
    and showers his righteousness on you.
13 But you have planted wickedness,
    you have reaped evil,
    you have eaten the fruit of deception.
Because you have depended on your own strength
    and on your many warriors,
14 the roar of battle will rise against your people,
    so that all your fortresses will be devastated—
as Shalman devastated Beth Arbel on the day of battle,
    when mothers were dashed to the ground with their children.
15 So will it happen to you, Bethel,
    because your wickedness is great.
When that day dawns,
    the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.

A. Find Out:

1. Of what place does Hosea remind them? v.9 (See Judg 19 & 20)
2. What picture does he give to describe what will happen? v.11
3. What does he say the Lord wants? v.12
4. But instead what have they done? v.13
5. So what will happen? v.14
6. What will happen and why? v.15

B. Think:

1. What specific sins are mentioned in this passage?
2. What needs to happen to the land (the nation) according to Hosea?
3. What references are there to it happening via an enemy?

C. Comment:

Having just spoken about an enemy coming and clearing away all the idols, Hosea continues painting the picture of the sin of the nation, the need of the nation and what will happen to it.

Let’s observe the picture of sin first.  He states they have sinned (v.9), even double sin (v.10 – possibly referring to their past – Gibeah had been an incident of sin producing war – see Judges 19 & 20), there is wickedness, evil, deception and self-reliance in the land (v.13), all lumped together and described as great wickedness (v.15).

Next consider what he says needs to happen. The land or the nation needs to be ploughed up. The hard, unfeeling, unrepentant nation needs breaking up so that something new can be sowed that will produce a different harvest. They have produced sin (weeds?) and therefore the nation needs ploughing up, completely turning over and starting the growing process all over again, so that righteousness can be the fruit instead. They ought to be seeking the Lord but they are not, and so the land will be turned over!

 Finally consider the Lord’s means of “ploughing the nation”. He is going to gather nations against them (v.10),  they will be devastated by an enemy (v.14).

D. Application:

1. Sometimes we need to completely start over again.
2. Seeking the Lord would be the first sign of that.