TEXT [Commentary]

  4.   Hosea’s reaction: Israel is a wayward vine (10:1-8)

1 How prosperous Israel is—

a luxuriant vine loaded with fruit.

But the richer the people get,

the more pagan altars they build.

The more bountiful their harvests,

the more beautiful their sacred pillars.

2 The hearts of the people are fickle;

they are guilty and must be punished.

The LORD will break down their altars

and smash their sacred pillars.

3 Then they will say, “We have no king

because we didn’t fear the LORD.

But even if we had a king,

what could he do for us anyway?”

4 They spout empty words

and make covenants they don’t intend to keep.

So injustice springs up among them

like poisonous weeds in a farmer’s field.

5 The people of Samaria tremble in fear

for their calf idol at Beth-aven,[*]

and they mourn for it.

Though its priests rejoice over it,

its glory will be stripped away.[*]

6 This idol will be carted away to Assyria,

a gift to the great king there.

Ephraim will be ridiculed and Israel will be shamed,

because its people have trusted in this idol.

7 Samaria and its king will be cut off;

they will float away like driftwood on an ocean wave.

8 And the pagan shrines of Aven,[*] the place of Israel’s sin, will crumble.

Thorns and thistles will grow up around their altars.

They will beg the mountains, “Bury us!”

and plead with the hills, “Fall on us!”

NOTES

10:1 luxuriant vine. Hosea’s metaphor is a reminder of the covenant relationship that Israel enjoyed with Yahweh (cf. Isa 5:1-7; see note on Nah 2:2 and the commentary on Joel 1:7). The NLT follows the lead of many translations that render the Hebrew participle boqeq [TH1238A, ZH1328] as “luxuriant” (cf. bqq II, HALOT 1.150). Although this meaning is unique in the OT, support among the Semitic languages may be found in the Arabic baqqa (be abundant). Most of the English versions, as well as the German, French, Italian and Spanish versions, the LXX, and Vulgate, handle the problem similarly. Andersen and Freedman (1980:549-550) treat the form as an active verb and take God as its subject: “He made Israel, the vine, luxuriant.” Another approach has been to relate boqeq to the root bqq I [TH1238, ZH1327] (destroy), a verb that is found eight times elsewhere with negative or destructive force (cf. note on Nah 2:2). English versions that have followed this meaning include the KJV and NKJV, which lay stress on the concept of emptiness or being barren.

Commentators are divided as to the emphasis here. Many focus on the fruitfulness of the vine as pointing to Israel’s prosperity (e.g., Keil 1954:128; Hubbard 1989:171). Garrett (1997:206) provides the novel suggestion that Israel is just all vine and devoid of fruit. Stuart (1987:159) proposes a double entendre here: Although “Yahweh had abundantly prospered Israel, . . . this ‘vine’ has not fulfilled its purpose, which was to serve its role as Yahweh’s faithful people.” Whatever one decides concerning the etymology and meaning of the Hebrew form, in harmony with the succeeding lines it must indicate that Israel has misspent its God-given prosperity on the idolatrous worship of foreign gods.

loaded with fruit. The form of the Hebrew verb (shawah [TH7737/7737A, ZH8750/8751]) has two possible meanings: “smooth/make level” or “place/set.” The latter meaning is in keeping with its four occurrences in the Psalms (Pss 16:8; 21:5 [6]; 89:19 [20]; 119:30). Stuart (1987:157) favors an understanding not unlike the former alternative, proposing that this form of the verb “means basically to make something come up to par, to a level or standard it ought to meet.” The NLT’s rendering according to the sense of the context is most closely related to this idea. In any case, the emphasis of the metaphor is that despite the fact that conditions were favorable to good growth and good fruit (Garrett 1997:207), Israel has stored up its fruit for itself, not for God. The point of the first two lines is therefore contrastive: Israel is indeed a fruitful vine, but it lays up its treasures solely for its own ends, not God’s.

10:2 hearts . . . are fickle. The verb khalaq [TH2505, ZH2744] (to be smooth or slippery) is frequently used of deceptive speech. Thus, it portrays the seductive words of the wayward woman (Prov 2:16; 7:5). The NLT’s “fickle” captures the force of the context, which emphasizes Israel’s vacillating loyalties. As Sweeney (2000:103) remarks, the Hebrew verb “conveys a sense of duplicity and divided allegiance.”

break down their altars. This verb (‘arap [TH6202, ZH6904]) occurs elsewhere of breaking the neck of an animal (Exod 13:13; 34:20).

10:4 They spout empty words and make covenants. The syntax of the MT is debated. Perhaps the best solution (and that followed by the NLT here) is that proposed long ago by Keil (1954:129; cf. HALOT 1.51 ’lh I, qal) to take ’aloth as an infinitive absolute from ’alah [TH422, ZH457] (take an oath)—its unusual form to be accounted for by its assonance with the following karoth [TH3772, ZH4162] (cf. Andersen and Freedman 1980:554). Syntactically, the two infinitive absolutes qualify the preceding verb (speak) by describing “the manner or the attendant circumstances of that situation” (Waltke and O’Connor 1990:588). Thus, by making oaths and promises they don’t intend to keep, Hosea’s people just speak words.

10:5 tremble. This is a notoriously difficult verse. Among the problems is the precise understanding of the verb gur [TH1481/A/B, ZH1591/1592/1593], which can be understood as coming from any of three possible roots in the OT: (1) seek refuge, (2) attack, and (3) dread. It may well be that Hosea intended a double entendre playing upon the first of the three possible meanings listed above: The people who tremble in worshipful fear before the idol will become refugees in a strange land.

priests rejoice. The word “priests” is a special term used exclusively for those who officiate in idol worship (see note on Zeph 1:4). The verb translated “rejoice” often describes the worshiper’s praise of God for who he is or what he has done (Pss 9:14; 13:5; Isa 29:19; Hab 3:18). Here it also is to be understood in a context of worship—the celebrations associated with the calf idol. Thus, the people and priests who rejoice over the glory of the calf idol of Bethel will mourn over the loss of the glory that they have heaped upon it.

be stripped away. Hosea intended another double entendre (cf. note on “tremble” above); the verb that means “uncover” or “reveal” is also used of going into exile/captivity.

10:6 the great king. See note on 5:13.

10:7 Samaria and its king will be cut off. The NLT renders the sense. Only one verb occurs in the verse in the MT. The verb nidmeh [TH1819/1820/A, ZH1948/1949/1950] permits a few possible meanings: “be silent,” “be cut off/destroyed/ruined.” The Lord has already used it to warn of the destruction of the nation and its people (4:5-6). Hosea’s observation focuses on the capital city of the northern kingdom and its king. Hosea will later call special attention to the king’s demise (10:15). The precise meaning intended depends on the imagery that follows (see next note).

like driftwood on an ocean wave. The Latin Vulgate reads quasi spumam super faciem aquae (“like foam upon the face of the waters”; cf. KJV). The imagery in this case depends on foam being viewed as the result of the churning of the angry waters (Laetsch 1956:79). The homograph qetsep [TH7110/7110A, ZH7912/7913] occurs elsewhere in the OT predominantly with the meaning “wrath,” especially of the Lord’s anger (e.g., Deut 29:27; Jer 21:5; cf. NIDOTTE 3.962-963). The NLT follows the LXX, Theodotion, and Peshitta here in taking qtsp to be a “twig” (driftwood when on the water), a meaning that occurs only here in the OT but is followed by several English versions (e.g., NIV, NRSV). The underlying verb behind this word may be related to a form of the Hebrew verb qatsats (cut off/cut down). Sweeney (2000:106) acknowledges both the meanings “wrath” and “chip of wood” and suggests that the idea of a chip “probably refers to a cut-off branch from a tree or bush, and the image of the severed fragment floating helplessly on the water as it is carried off aptly conveys the prophet’s views. In most of its occurrences, qetsep means ‘wrath,’ and thereby provides another double entendre in reference to YHWH’s wrath and the result for the king.”

10:8 Aven. Lit., “wickedness” (’awen [TH205, ZH224]). This noun has been applied to Bethel previously (i.e., Beth-aven; 4:15; 5:8; 10:5). Although it occurs here without the compound element “Beth-” (house of), it “still recalls the derogatory name given to the city” (McComiskey 1992:169). Here it is the city’s pagan shrines that are dubbed evil or wicked: bamoth ’awen [TH1116/205, ZH1195/224] (high places of wickedness).

Thorns and thistles. The image of wild plants overgrowing former places of civilization is familiar prophetic language describing destruction brought about as a result of the Lord’s judgment at the hands of an enemy (e.g., 9:6; Isa 5:6; 7:23-25; 32:13; 34:13).

COMMENTARY [Text]

Hosea’s reactions toward the people’s apostasy must mirror God’s own feelings. Despite the God-given prosperity of his people, they had forgotten God (cf. Deut 8:11-14) and abused his grace by spending their wealth on the construction of pagan altars. Increased riches were used to build statues and idols in order to facilitate the worship of foreign gods. Never satisfied with all that God had done for them, they gave him lip service and went off to worship other deities.

The portrayal of Israel as a luxuriant vine should have reminded the people that they were the cultivation of Yahweh, the divine husbandman. Theirs was a unique relationship, for God and his people were bound together as a covenant community. Blessed by God they could be expected to be a faithful and productive nation (Lev 26:1-13; Deut 11:15; 28:1-14). To be unfaithful, however, courted the Lord’s justifiable anger and judgment (Lev 26:14-29; Deut 28:15-68). The very conditions that existed in Hosea’s day were those that Israel was warned about from the beginning (cf. Deut 11:16-17) so the threat of foreign invasion and captivity were still valid (cf. Lev 26:17; Deut 28:36-37, 45-57, 64-68).

Hosea reported that the great irony in all of this was that the one whom they rejected was their real benefactor. Hosea predicted that those whom they had chosen, Baal and their human king, would be of no benefit to them in the coming struggle. For the pagan altars, together with their idols, would be smashed to bits, and the great calf idol of Bethel (cf. 1 Kgs 12:25-30) would be carried off to Assyria. That idol before which they once stood in reverential fear, gazing upon its glorious countenance, would have its grandeur stripped away, leaving the people to fear for their safety, grieving over their loss.

Nor would their reliance on human kingship serve them well. That for which they clamored (1 Sam 8:4-5, 19-20; cf. 1 Kgs 12:16) would collapse and become an admitted failure. The capital city of Samaria would be captured and its king carried off. What little remained would be overrun by thorns and thistles, the whole place becoming a desolation. Those who manage to survive the invasion will wish for a speedy death to end their misery. Even then, Israel would still refuse to submit to Yahweh, their rightful king.

Alas, so it came to pass (2 Kgs 17:5-6). When the inspired historian of 2 Kings looked back on the disaster, his judgment of the situation, like Hosea’s, was in accordance with the Lord’s pronouncement. Israel’s entrenched fascination with idolatry and its attendant evils in general and its commitment to the state religion instituted by Jeroboam I had taken their toll. When the Lord’s patience had reached full limit, his righteous judicial wrath came upon them (2 Kgs 17:7-23).

Several literary figures embellish the message. Israel was pictured metaphorically as a luxuriant vine—and the lesson that is based upon it describes its performance and fate (10:1-2). The ethical practices of Israelite society, now divorced from the standards of divine law, were termed perverted justice, which had sprung up like poisonous weeds in a farmer’s field. Israel’s reliance on kingship was exposed for its foolishness in a colorful simile that predicted that the king himself would be carried away like a chip of wood floating on an ocean’s wave. The climax to the message of divine condemnation and judgment comes in verse 8, where the utter hopelessness that ensues upon the invasion of the northern kingdom is portrayed in dramatic fashion. Thorns and thistles will mask the former pomp and magnificence of Samaria. The few survivors in the land will long only for death to end their unrelieved misery, even calling upon the mountains and hills to fall on them and bury them.

What a disobedient Israel could expect to receive from God is that which lies in store for an obdurately sinful world. For the text here is utilized later to depict a far greater conflict than that which Israel faced. The Scriptures make it clear that a world system in rebellion against God is on a crash course with God and the forces of heaven. That eschatological event will take place in a period known most frequently as “a time of trouble for my people Israel” (lit., “Jacob’s trouble”; Jer 30:7; cf. Dan 12:1), “the great tribulation” (Rev 7:14; cf. Matt 24:21; Mark 13:19), or “the day of the Lord” (2 Pet 3:10; cf. Joel 2:1-11, 28-32).

The affliction, horror, and carnage of those days are graphically presented in many places in Scripture (e.g., Isa 66:14-16; Rev 15–16). Perhaps none is so striking as John’s description of those who experience the terrors of that time of God’s judicial wrath (Rev 6:12-17). Not only is the bloodshed of worldwide war described, but a cataclysm in the physical world so enormous that those who dwell on earth will hide themselves in caves and among the rocks of collapsing mountains and cry out, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb” (Rev 6:16). What an awesome picture! The gentle Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world will come as the Divine Warrior (Rev 19:11-21), who comes to pour out his anger against sin, to sit in judgment over the world (Rev 20:11-15), and to establish his eternal, righteous Kingdom (Rev 11:15; 21–22; cf. Dan 7:13-14). Peter’s challenge stands before us all: “Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live” (2 Pet 3:11-12).