TEXT [Commentary]

  6.   Hosea’s warning: seek God or perish (10:12-15)

12 I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness,

and you will harvest a crop of love.

Plow up the hard ground of your hearts,

for now is the time to seek the LORD,

that he may come

and shower righteousness upon you.’

13 “But you have cultivated wickedness

and harvested a thriving crop of sins.

You have eaten the fruit of lies—

trusting in your military might,

believing that great armies

could make your nation safe.

14 Now the terrors of war

will rise among your people.

All your fortifications will fall,

just as when Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel.

Even mothers and children

were dashed to death there.

15 You will share that fate, Bethel,

because of your great wickedness.

When the day of judgment dawns,

the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.

NOTES

10:12 I said. The NLT follows the general consensus in taking 10:9-15 as a single unit. Against this, however, is the fact that the MT does not contain a reference to God in the first person in 10:12. Rather, 10:12-15 looks very much like another of Hosea’s observations on Israel’s condition, together with advice and warnings of what lies ahead if Israel doesn’t change its ways (cf. 4:15-19; 6:1-3; 9:1-9). If such is the case, Hosea’s admonition is given in terminology that provides thematic connection with the imagery of farming in the previous divine oracle.

Plant . . . harvest . . . Plow. All three verbs are imperatives in the MT. Once again Hosea’s habit of expressing things in groups of three is evident (cf. 5:8; 9:11).

righteousness . . . love . . . righteousness. For love or “loving-kindness” (khesed [TH2617A, ZH2876]), see the note on Jonah 2:8. The term has appeared several times (e.g., 2:19; 4:2; 6:4, 6) and will be seen again in 12:6. Two different words for righteousness occur here. Considerable overlap can be seen in the use of these two terms so that their precise nuance depends on matters of context. McComiskey (1992:177-178) proposes that Hosea moves from the more general term for righteousness (tsedaqah [TH6666, ZH7407]) to one that emphasizes righteousness that flows from God’s covenantal standards (tsedeq [TH6664, ZH7406]).

to seek the LORD. The verbal root darash [TH1875, ZH2011] (seek) often stresses personal concern on the part of the plaintiff who wants to know and do God’s will (cf. 2 Kgs 22:13; Amos 5:4). It can also be used of inquiring of God or consulting an oracle.

10:13 you have cultivated wickedness. The verb translated “cultivate” also appears in 10:11 where it is used of Israel and Judah’s need to break up hard ground.

harvested a thriving crop of sins. Although Hosea urged the people to harvest a crop of love (10:12), their sowing and reaping yielded only sins.

eaten the fruit of lies. This forms a third negative trait answering to the three positive qualities that Hosea urged upon his readers in 10:12 (see commentary below).

10:14 Shalman . . . Beth-arbel. Neither Shalman nor Beth-arbel is known elsewhere. Some have suggested that the name Shalman was a shortened form of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser (2 Kgs 17:3; cf. Astour 1971:383-389). Due to the horrendous nature of the atrocity and given the past record of the Moabites (e.g., 2 Kgs 3:27), others have championed Shalmanu, the king of Moab mentioned in an inscription of Tiglath-pileser III (Wolff 1974:188).

While most scholars identify Beth-arbel with a town in Transjordan southeast of the Sea of Galilee (modern Irbid), 1 Macc 9:2 records an Arbela in Galilee, where the forces of Demetrius II camped on their way to Jerusalem. Strengthening the identification of Shalman as a Moabite king and Beth-arbel as a Transjordanian location in Gilead is the boast of the Moabite king Mesha that in taking the Reubenite town of Nebo (Num 32:3), he “took it and slew all: seven thousand men, boys, women and [girls] and female slaves,” which he had consecrated to his god Ashtar-chemosh (the Moabite Inscription, lines 15-17 [Thomas 1961:195-199]; cf. ANET 320; Arnold and Beyer 2002:160-162). The incident mentioned here, while known to Hosea’s readers, is not attested elsewhere in the OT or extrabiblical texts of the ancient Near East.

mothers and children. The atrocities of war in the ancient world are well documented (e.g., 2 Kgs 8:12; see the note on Nah 3:10).

10:15 completely destroyed. Lit., “utterly cut off.” The fate of Israel’s last king Hoshea is uncertain. It may be assumed that he died in captivity (2 Kgs 17:4). The fall of Samaria brought an end to the northern kingdom and its monarchy (see note on 10:7).

COMMENTARY [Text]

In this section, Hosea gives some positive advice for his contemporaries in the northern kingdom. Building on the earlier admonition to return to the Lord and really come to know him (6:1), he now urges his readers to put into their lives those qualities that come from God’s own nature and are available to them: righteousness and loving-kindness. Indeed, these are fundamental to their covenant relationship with Yahweh. If they will but cultivate these characteristics and let them flow from their hearts, God will respond in righteousness and bless them accordingly (10:12).

Having urged the people to adopt a new lifestyle, Hosea then warned them of the dire consequences of continued apostasy and its attendant wickedness. For they had chosen to proceed in a way permeated by personal iniquity, social injustice, and the buildup of military capabilities. They would soon learn the folly of their self-deception. Neither their armed forces nor their fortifications would deliver them in the coming day of battle. Rather, they would experience a devastating defeat and bloody slaughter that would bring the northern kingdom and its monarchy to an end (10:13-15).

The imagery Hosea used was both picturesque and meaningful to an agrarian society. Much as a farmer prepares the soil, sows the seed, and cares for his field in order to gain a bountiful harvest, so God’s people were instructed to plow up the unbroken soil of their hearts and yield to God. They must sow in righteousness with a view to reaping in their lives those qualities that come from a close walk with the Lord. In order to facilitate the growth of such qualities of character, God would rain down his righteousness. Thus they could harvest the blessings that come with covenant fidelity.

Hosea pursued the agrarian image further. Having delivered three positive admonitions necessary for Israel’s recovery, he pointed out three negative qualities that were prohibiting them from being “good farmers.” In doing so, he completed his argument. In place of the wickedness they had cultivated, they were to plant the good seeds of righteousness; where they had raised a crop of sins, they were to harvest God’s love; instead of eating the fruits of lies, they were to break up the hard ground of their hearts and seek the Lord. This they must do, or their fascination with idolatry and its attendant evils, which had taken their toll upon them, would eventually lead to their destruction at the hands of invaders.

Hosea’s readers of all ages can be admonished by the imagery here. Thus Jeremiah urged his readers, “Plow up the hard ground of your hearts! Do not waste your good seed among thorns” (Jer 4:3). Jeremiah likewise emphasized that the road to spiritual vitality begins with heartfelt repentance before God (Jer 4:4) and proceeds with a conscious adoption of a righteous regimen of life. Genuine commitment to God must be nourished by the Word of God, which is to be received not in a cavalier fashion or extinguished by worldly concerns, but with gladness and resolve to let “the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives” (Col 3:16).

A conscious seeking after God and a consistent attention to his Word are imperative for our spiritual well-being. The old-fashioned disciplines of prayer (see commentary on Jonah 2:2-4) and the study of the Scriptures are still the key to godly living. Believers often despair of knowing God’s will for their lives; yet these time-honored spiritual graces are their basic resource.

Christians also have another avenue of help. In addition to prayer (Ps 139:23-24) and the Word of God (2 Tim 2:15), they have the availability of the indwelling Holy Spirit (1 Cor 3:16) as their guide “into all truth” (John 16:13). It is he who helps and intercedes for the praying believers so that they may have perfect communion with the mind of God and know his will (Rom 8:26-27).

What a privilege is ours! We can learn of God’s general purposes for people and his standards for us by reading God’s precious Word daily. What power is ours! We can learn of God’s special will for each of us by spending time with him in prayer each day. Would we know the will of God for our lives? It is ours to have fully through his Word, prayer, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.