Hosea 10:1-15 (CLICK HERE FOR BIBLE VERSES)
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Hosea 10:1-15. Let’s go!
Hosea 10:1-15 (NIV)
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 wooden idols.
7 Samaria and its king will float 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!”
9 “Since the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, O Israel, and there you have remained. Did not war 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 for yourselves righteousness, 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 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 Thus will it happen to you, O Bethel, because your wickedness is great. When that day dawns, the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.
On verses 1-15: Here are four lessons I learned from Hosea 10.
1. Hosea 10 describes Israel’s situation as well as our own. God made us to live righteously and to obey His commands (“sow righteousness” – v12). In return, God would give us His unfailing love (“reap unfailing love” – v12) and “shower righteousness” on us (v12). But we did not live up to our end of the relationship. Instead of living righteously, we “planted wickedness” (v13), depending on our own strength and worshiping other people, places and things. We have deceitful motives (v2). We have made promises we couldn’t keep (“false oaths”) and hurt people in the process (v4), ending up in all kinds of disputes and fighting.
In so doing, the consequence we deserved was not unfailing love but destruction (“all your fortresses will be devastated” – v14). Instead of being a house of God (“Bethel”), we became a house of wickedness (“Beth-Aven”, a derogatory name for the city of Bethel) (v5).
But as we will see in the chapter that follows, God decided to have mercy on sinful and wayward Israel. Similarly, God chose to have mercy on us as well when He sent Jesus Christ to die for our sins. The devastation and destruction that we deserved was placed on Jesus, the true King of Israel, who was “completely destroyed” for our sake (v15).
2. These verses also speak to how we all want to serve someone or something. Like “a trained heifer that loves to thresh” (v11), as crazy as it sounds, we naturally want to bear a yoke and be subject to someone. If we do not serve and submit to God, we will end up serving and submitting to a much crueler master. In Israel’s case, those crueler masters would be other nations who would be “gathered against them to put them in bonds for their double sin” (v10).
3. These verses also speak about how when we put our hope in an idol, that idol will not last. Just as the human king that the Israelites had put so much hope in was taken away (v3, 7, 15), just as the calf-idol that the Israelites worshiped in Bethel was taken away to Assyria (v5-6), just like the high places where the Israelites committed their idolatrous practices would be destroyed (v8), the idols we worship will eventually be taken away and destroyed. When we put our hope in something or someone other than God, we will ultimately be disappointed because that idol cannot and will not last.
4. Instead of chasing after idols that won’t last, let’s make verse 12 our theme today: “Sow for yourselves righteousness, 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 righteousness on you.” It’s not that we can earn God’s unfailing love by anything good that we do, but when we seek to live a life that is pleasing to God (“sow for yourselves righteousness”), we experience God’s unfailing, unconditional love and we break up the unplowed ground in our hearts and lives, giving God room to sow and reap even more.
Thank You, Lord, that You made me to serve and submit to You, that You are a gentle and kind master, whereas all other people, places and things that I might otherwise bow down to are cruel masters. Thank You that when all I deserved was destruction, You placed that complete devastation on Your Son Jesus instead, so that I could go free. Thank You for Your amazing grace for me. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
Copyright © 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.
