I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree at its first season; but they came to Baal Peor, and consecrated themselves to the shameful thing, and became abominable like that which they loved.
Parallel Translations
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I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree at its first season; but they came to Baal Peor, and consecrated themselves to the shameful thing, and became abominable like that which they loved.
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I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baal-peor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved.
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I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness, I saw your fathers as the first-ripe in the fig-tree at her first season; but so soon as they came to Baal-peor, they separated themselves unto the shameful thing, and became detestable like that which they loved.
Cross-references (23)
Passages linked to Hosea 9:10 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 11:13 For according to the number of your cities are your gods, Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have you set up altars to the shameful thing, even altars to burn incense to Baal.’
- Numbers 25:1-18 Israel stayed in Shittim; and the people began to play the prostitute with the daughters of Moab; for they called the people to the sacrifices of their gods. The people ate and bowed down to their gods. Israel joined himself to Baal Peor, and Yahweh’s anger burned against Israel. Yahweh said to Moses, “Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them up to Yahweh before the sun, that the fierce anger of Yahweh may turn away from Israel.” Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Everyone kill his men who have joined themselves to Baal Peor.” Behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought to his brothers a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, while they were weeping at the door of the Tent of Meeting. When Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from the middle of the congregation, and took a spear in his hand. He went after the man of Israel into the pavilion, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stopped among the children of Israel. Those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand. Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I didn’t consume the children of Israel in my jealousy. Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace. It shall be to him, and to his offspring after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.’ ” Now the name of the man of Israel that was slain, who was slain with the Midianite woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a fathers’ house among the Simeonites. The name of the Midianite woman who was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur. He was head of the people of a fathers’ house in Midian. Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Harass the Midianites, and strike them; for they harassed you with their wiles, wherein they have deceived you in the matter of Peor, and in the incident regarding Cozbi, the daughter of the prince of Midian, their sister, who was slain on the day of the plague in the matter of Peor.”
- Hosea 4:14 I will not punish your daughters when they play the prostitute, nor your brides when they commit adultery; because the men consort with prostitutes, and they sacrifice with the shrine prostitutes; so the people without understanding will come to ruin.
- Psalms 106:28-29 They joined themselves also to Baal Peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead. Thus they provoked him to anger with their deeds. The plague broke in on them.
- Jeremiah 2:2-3 “Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Yahweh says, “I remember for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your weddings; how you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness to Yahweh, the first fruits of his increase. All who devour him will be held guilty. Evil will come on them,” ’ says Yahweh.”
- Ezekiel 20:8 “ ‘ “But they rebelled against me, and would not listen to me. They didn’t all throw away the abominations of their eyes. They also didn’t forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them, to accomplish my anger against them in the middle of the land of Egypt.
- Hosea 2:15 I will give her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she will respond there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
- Micah 7:1 Misery is mine! Indeed, I am like one who gathers the summer fruits, as gleanings of the vineyard: There is no cluster of grapes to eat. My soul desires to eat the early fig.
- Exodus 19:4-6 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”
- Numbers 13:23-24 They came to the valley of Eshcol, and cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bore it on a staff between two. They also brought some of the pomegranates and figs. That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the children of Israel cut down from there.
- Numbers 15:39 It shall be to you for a fringe, that you may see it, and remember all Yahweh’s commandments, and do them; and that you don’t follow your own heart and your own eyes, after which you used to play the prostitute;
- Deuteronomy 4:3 Your eyes have seen what Yahweh did because of Baal Peor; for Yahweh your God has destroyed all the men who followed Baal Peor from among you.
- Deuteronomy 32:10 He found him in a desert land, in the waste howling wilderness. He surrounded him. He cared for him. He kept him as the apple of his eye.
- Deuteronomy 32:17 They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods that they didn’t know, to new gods that came up recently, which your fathers didn’t dread.
- Judges 6:32 Therefore on that day he named him Jerub-Baal, saying, “Let Baal contend against him, because he has broken down his altar.”
- 1 Kings 16:31 As if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshiped him.
- Psalms 81:12 So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts, that they might walk in their own counsels.
- Isaiah 28:4 The fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley, shall be like the first-ripe fig before the summer; which someone picks and eats as soon as he sees it.
- Jeremiah 5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?
- Jeremiah 31:2 Yahweh says, “The people who survive the sword found favor in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.”
- Hosea 11:1 “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
- Amos 4:5 offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim free will offerings and brag about them: for this pleases you, you children of Israel,” says the Lord Yahweh.
- Romans 6:21 What fruit then did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain In this verse God reproves the Israelites for having…
In this verse God reproves the Israelites for having preferred to prostitute themselves to idols, rather than to continue under his protection, though he had from the beginning showed his favour to them; as though he had said that they having been previously favoured with his free love, had transferred their affections to others; for he says, that he had found them as grapes in the wilderness. The word wilderness, ought to be joined with grapes, as if he had said, that they had been as sweet and acceptable to him as a grape when found in a desert. When a traveller finds, by chance, a grape in a barren and desolate place, he not only admires it, but takes great delight in a fruit so unlooked for. And thus the Lord, by this comparison, shows his great love towards the Israelites. He adds, — As the first fruit of the figtree; for the fig-tree, we know, produces fruit twice every year. Therefore, God says, — As figs at the beginning (or, as they say, the first fruits) are delightful, so have I taken delight in this people. The Prophet does not however mean, that the people were worthy of being so much loved. But the Hebrews use the word, to find, in the same sense as we do, when we say in French, — Je treuve cela a mon gout, (I find this to my taste.) I have therefore regarded Israel as grapes in the wilderness And this remark is needful, lest some one should subtilely infer, that the Israelites were loved by God, because they had something savoury in them. For the Prophet relates not here what God found in the people, but he only reproves their ingratitude, as we shall presently see.
The first part then shows that God had great delight in this people. It is the same or similar sentence to that in Hosea 11, where he says, ‘When Ephraim was yet a child, I loved him,’ except that there is not there so much fervour and warmth of love expressed; but the same argument is there handled, and the object is the same, and it is to prove, that God anticipated his people by his love. There remained, in this case, less excuse, when men rejected God calling them, and responded not to his love. A perverseness like this would be hardly endured among men. Were any one to love me freely, and I to slight him, it would be an evidence of pride and rudeness: but when God himself gratuitously treats us with kindness, and when, not content with common love, he regards us as delectable fruit, does not the rejection of this love, does not the contempt of this favour, betray, on our part, the basest depravity? We now then understand the design of the Prophet. In the first clause, he says, in the person of God, “I have loved Israel, as a traveller does grapes, when he finds them in the desert, and as the first ripe figs are wont to be loved: since then, I so much delighted in them, ought they not to have honoured me in return? Ought not my gratuitous love to have inflamed their hearts, so as to induce them to devote themselves wholly to me?”
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But they went in unto Baal-peor. So I interpret the verb באו, bau; and it is taken in this sense in many other places. For the Hebrews say, “they went in,” to express in a delicate way the intercourse between husbands and wives. And the Prophet does not, without reason, compare the sacrifices which the people offered to Baal-peor to adultery, as being like the intercourse which an adulterer has with an harlot. They then went in unto Baal-peor; and he adds, that they “separated themselves”. Some interpret the word נזר, nesar, as referring to worship, and as meaning that they consecrated themselves to Baal-peor; and others derive it from זרה, sare, which they think is here in a passive sense, and means, “to be alienated.” But I take it in the same sense as when Ezekiel says, “They have separated themselves from after me,” מאחרי, macheri, Ezekiel 14; that is, that they may not follow me. God here expostulates with the people for following their fornication, and for thus repudiating that sacred marriage which God contracts with all his people. I therefore read the two sentences as forming one context, The Israelites went in unto Baal-peor, as an adulterer goes in unto a harlot; and they separated themselves; for they denied God, and violated the faith pledged to him; they discarded the spiritual marriage which God made with them.” For the Prophet, we know, whenever he refers to idolatries speaks allegorically or metaphorically, and mentions adultery.
They have separated themselves, he says, to reproach; that is, though their filthiness was shameful, they were yet wholly insensible: as when a wife disregards her character, or as when a husband cares not that he is pointed at by the finger, and that his baseness is to all a laughing-stock; so the Israelites, he says, had separated themselves to reproach, having cast away all shame, they abandoned themselves to wickedness. Some render the word בשת, beshet, obscenity, and others refer it to Baal-peor, and render the sentence thus, “They have separated themselves to that filthy idol.” For some think Priapus to have been Baal-peor; and this opinion has gained the consent of almost all. But I extend wider the meaning of the word “reproach,” as signifying that the people observed no difference between what was decent and what was shameful, but that they were senseless in their impiety. They were therefore abominable, or abominations according to their lovers The Prophet, I doubt not, connects here the Israelites with idols and with Baal-peor itself, that he might strip them of all that holiness which they had obtained through God’s favour. We now apprehend the meaning of the Prophet.
Now, what is here taught is worthy of being noticed and is useful. For, as we have said, inexcusable is our wickedness, if we despise the gratuitous love of God, bestowed unasked. When God then comes to us of his own accord, when he invites us, when he offers to us the privilege of children, an inestimable benefit, and when we reject his favour, is not this more than savage ferocity? It was to reprobate such conduct as this that the Prophet says, that God had loved Israel, as when one finds grapes in the desert, or as when one eats the first ripe figs. But it must, at the same time, be noticed why the Prophet so much extols the dealings of God with the people of Israel; it was for this reason, because their adoption, as it is well known, was not an ordinary privilege, nor what they enjoyed in common with other nations. Since, then, the people had been chosen to be God’s special possession, the Prophet here justly extols this love with peculiar commendation. And the like is our case at this day; for God vouchsafes not to all the favour which has been presented to us through the shining light of the gospel. Other people wander in darkness, the light of life dwells only among us: does not God thus show that he delights especially in us? But if we continue the same as we were, and if we reject him and transfer our love to others, or rather if lust leads us astray from him, is not this detestable wickedness and obstinacy?
But what the Prophet says, that they separated themselves to reproach, is also worthy of being noticed; for he exaggerates their crime by this consideration, that the Israelites were so blinded, that they perceived not their own turpitude, though it was quite manifest. The superstitions which then prevailed in the land of Moab were no doubt very gross; but Satan had so fascinated their minds that they gave themselves up to a conduct which was worse than shameful. Let us then know that our sin is worthy of a heavier punishment in such a case as this, that is, when every distinction is done away among us, and when we are hurried away by the spirit of giddiness into every impiety and when we no longer distinguish between light and darkness, between white and black; for it is a token of final reprobation. When, therefore, shame ought to have restrained them, he says, that the Israelites had yet “separated themselves to reproach, and became abominable like their lovers”; that is, As Baal-peor is the highest abomination to me, so the people became to me equally abominable. It now follows —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain They were as abominable unto me, as their lovers…
They were as abominable unto me, as their lovers the idols.
Meaning, that he so esteemed them and delighted in them.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Hos 9:10 I found Israel like grapes in the…
Hos 9:10 I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: [but] they went to Baalpeor, and separated themselves unto [that] shame; and [their] abominations were according as they loved.
Ver. 10. I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness] Where anything is good and sweet, because in a barren and solitary place. Hence they are said to have sucked honey out of the rock, Deu 32:13, that is, water as sweet as honey, because in such necessity. The vine and fig tree are of so great account, as that Jotham in his parable brings in the trees, offering the sovereign power to them, Jdg 9:10; Jdg 9:12. To these two noble and useful trees, and to their most seasonable and comfortable fruit, doth the Lord here compare Israel; to grapes in the wilderness, and to the firstripe figs, quae delicatis in summo sunt pretio, which are counted great dainties. Mic 7:1. Our Saviour came with great desire to the fig tree, Mat 21:19, his soul desired the firstripe fruits; and though they had not been full ripe, he could have been glad of them, even of the firstfruits of the fig tree, at her first time, as it is here, in primordio eius, of those untimely fruits which the fig tree casteth when shaken of a mighty wind, Rev 6:13. By this expression, then, is set forth God’s dear and free love to Israel, when he found him in a desert land, in the waste howling wilderness: he compassed him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye, Deu 32:10. All this and more he did for them, ex mero motu, out of pure and unexcited love, according to his own heart, according to the good pleasure of his will, he loved them because he loved them, Deu 7:7-8; Deu 10:15, in the wilderness especially, where they grieved him forty years together, and tempted him ten times, Num 14:22. But God had said of Israel, "He is my son, even my firstborn," Exo 4:22, and so, "higher than the kings of the earth," Psa 89:27. He had chosen him for his love, and now loved him for his choice. This son of his he called out of Egypt, to keep a feast to the Lord in the wilderness, Exo 5:1, that is, to serve him, Exo 4:23, to serve him acceptably, Heb 12:28, to set up his pure worship according to his own prescription in the mount, Exo 25:40. This was altogether as delightful to God as grapes in the wilderness are to a wearied, parched traveller. And this the rather, because it was the kindness of their youth, the love of their espousals, which was as the firstripe of the figs, in the first time, at the first bearing; for the fig tree bears twice a year; and the Egyptian fig tree seven times a year, saith Solinus, Uno anno septies fructus sufficit. Now the firstripe fruits are ladies’ food, we say, or longing meat. God’s soul doth even long after the firstripe fruits, Mic 7:1, as we prize even nettle buds when they bud out first. If the vine do but flourish, the pomegranates bud, the tender grapes appear, Son 6:11; Son 7:12; he will pour his spirit upon the seed, and his blessing upon the buds, Isa 44:3. He liketh not those arbores autumnales, Jdg 1:12, autumn trees, that bud at latter end of harvest; he made choice of the almond tree, Jer 1:11, because it blossometh first. So he calleth for firstfruits of the trees, and of the earth, in the sheaf, in the threshingfloor, in the dough, in the loaves; yea, for ears of corn dried by the fire, and wheat beaten out of the green ears, Lev 2:14, to signify how pleasant unto him is the primrose of our age.
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But they went to Baalpeor] See Num 25:3. {See Trapp on "Num 25:3"} Heb. they went in to him, which obscoenum quid et turpe denotat, as Gen 16:2; so Psa 106:28, "They joined themselves also to Baalpeor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead," that is, sacrifices offered to the infernal gods, or to Pluto, the devil (whom the Phoenicians called Moth, or Death), in the behalf of the dead.
And separated themselves] Heb. Nazarited themselves, ad religiose colendum: they became votaries,
to that shame] i.e. to that shameful and abominable idol, that blushful Priapus, qui referebat viri pudendi speciem (Tarnov.): and whose worshippers are brought in, saying, Nos, pudore pulse, stamus sub Iove, coleis apertis. Bορβορουμεθα ταυτα λεγοντες, we rake a dunghill (as Cyril speaks in like case) in discoursing of such dunghill deities. Isidore interpreteth Baalpeor simulachrum ignominiae, an image of ignominy: and most sure it is that idolaters, left off their idols in deepest dangers, shall be ashamed of their expectation of help from them, Jer 3:19; Jer 11:13.
And their abominations were according as they loved] Or, according as they listed, so some interpret it: or, according as they loved the Moabitish women more or less, so they worshipped their idols: Solomon did the same. Or, they became as detestable as their very idols, which they loved and worshipped. Or, I abominate them as much now as ever I loved them before; and how much that was he had showed in the beginning of the verse. Now there is nothing that goeth more to God’s heart than the loss of his love upon an unthankful people. He had healed their backslidings in Egypt (where they had worshipped idols, Eze 16:26), he had loved them freely and immensely. Now therefore that they should so slight such a love, to go after such a shame, and so to undo themselves for ever; this was monstrous ingratitude, this was an insufferable injury.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness: the…
I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness: the Lord speaks of himself in the person of a traveller, who unexpectedly in the wilderness findeth a vine loaded with grapes, which are most delightful and welcome to him; such love did God bear to Israel, i.e. a very strong and hearty love: the simile expresseth the greatness, not the cause, of the Divine love.
I saw your fathers; not Abraham, or Isaac, and Jacob, but your fathers whom I brought out of Egypt.
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As the first-ripe in the fig tree at her first time; as the earliest ripe fruit, either of the fig tree as our version, or the first-ripe of any sweet and delicious fruit tree, as the word will bear, which are most valued and desired; so was Israel dear and valued.
They went to Baalpeor: this evinceth that the prophet speaketh not of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but of those who were brought out of Egypt, as appears in the story of their deportment in Shittim, Num 25:1-3, where they committed idolatry with Baal-peor, of whose rites authors do variously discourse, some reporting them to have been practised with shameless looseness, as the rites of Bacchus, Venus, or Priapus among the Romans; others say, this idol of Moab had his name from a mountain in Moab where he was worshipped, and had a stately and famous temple; this mountain is mentioned Num 22:41, with Num 23:28; and this is the more likely opinion.
Separated themselves; they did consecrate and dedicate themselves; possibly some turned priests to the idol; however, they addicted themselves to and worshipped the idol, and brought their sacrifices.
To that shame: by way of contempt and detestation the prophet speaks of this idol, and gives it the name of shame in the abstract, to express the greatest degree of detestation of it, and of that they did.
Their abominations, their idols, and way of worshipping them,
were according as they loved; either as they fancied, or as the idolatrous women whom they loved were multiplied, so their idols were, for they took the idols with them.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain As for Ephraim, their glory shall flee away like…
As for Ephraim, their glory shall flee away like a bird,.... That is, suddenly, swiftly, and irrecoverably, and never return more; which some understand of God their glory, and of his departure from them, as in Hos 9:12; others of their wealth and riches, and whatever was glorious and valuable among them, which should fly away from them in a moment, when taken and carried captive; rather their numerous posterity, in which they were very fruitful, according to their name, and in which they gloried, as children are the glory of their parents, Pro 17:6; which sense agrees with what follows, and which explains the manner of their fleeing away, and the periods of it:
from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception; that is, some of them, as soon as they were born; others while in the womb, being abortives; or, however, when they should, or as soon as they did, come from thence; and others, as soon as conceived, never come to any thing; or not conceived at all, as Kimchi interprets it, the women being barren.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain I found Israel - The Lord speaks of himself…
I found Israel - The Lord speaks of himself in the person of a traveler, who unexpectedly in the wilderness finds a vine loaded with grapes; such love did God bear to Israel. Your fathers - Whom I brought out of Egypt. As the first-ripe - As the earliest ripe fruit of the fig-tree, which is most valued and desired. Separated themselves - Consecrated themselves to that shameful idol. Their abominations - Their idols, and way of worshipping them. As they loved - As they fancied.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 10. I found Israel like grapes in the…
Verse 10. I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness] While they were faithful, they were as acceptable to me as ripe grapes would be to a thirsty traveller in the desert.
I saw your fathers] Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Caleb, Samuel, c.
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As the first ripe] Those grapes, whose bud having come first, and being exposed most to the sun, have been the first ripe upon the tree which tree was now in the vigour of youth, and bore fruit for the first time. A metaphor of the rising prosperity of the Jewish state.
But they went to Baal-Peor] The same as the Roman Priapus, and worshipped with the most impure rites.
And their abominations were according as they loved.] Or, "they became as abominable as the object of their love." So Bp. Newcome. And this was superlatively abominable.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Hos 9:10. I found Israel like grapes in the…
Hos 9:10. I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness — The sense is, as the traveller, passing through the deserts of Arabia, is greatly delighted if he happen to find in his way vines bearing grapes, so was Israel anciently delighted in by God. This relates particularly to their first entering into covenant with God, and their promises of ready obedience: see Exo 19:8; Exo 24:3; Deu 5:27-29. I saw your fathers — Whom I brought out of Egypt; as the first ripe in the fig-tree at her first time — As figs of the first season, and the earliest of that growth, which are the most valued and desired. But they went to Baal-peor — To the temple and worship of the god of the Moabites; and separated themselves unto that shame — That obscenity, so Horsley; that is, they consecrated themselves to that shameful idol; such as its worshippers ought to have been ashamed of, and as finally would cause shame to them. The word וינזרו, they were separated, alludes to the order of the Nazarites, who were in a peculiar sense set apart for God’s service; and, in like manner, these separated, or dedicated, themselves to the service of that filthy idol, Baal-peor, that shame, or shameful thing, as it is expressed Jer 11:13. And their abominations were according as they loved — They set up and worshipped other idols, according to their own fancies. Houbigant reads this clause, Abominations became as their love: and Bishop Horsley, As my love of them, so were their abominations; and he remarks, “the love gratuitous, the abominations without inducement, but from mere depravity; the love the most tender, the abominations enormous.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness -…
I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness - God is not said to find anything, as though “He” had lost it, or knew not where it was, or came suddenly upon it, not expecting it. “They” were lost, as relates to Him, when they were found by Him. As our Lord says of the returned prodigal, “This my son was lost and is found” Luk 15:32. He “found” them and made them pleasant in His own sight, “as grapes which a man finds unexpectedly, in “a great terrible wilderness of fiery serpents and drought” Deu 8:15, where commonly nothing pleasant or refreshing grows; or “as the first ripe in the fig-tree at her fresh time,” whose sweetness passed into a proverb, both from its own freshness and from the long abstinence (see Isa 28:4). God gave to Israel both richness and pleasantness in His own sight; but Israel, from the first, corrupted God’s good gifts in them. This generation only did as their fathers. So Stephen, setting forth to the Jews how their fathers had rebelled against Moses, and persecuted the prophets, sums up; “as your fathers did, so do ye” Act 7:51. Each generation was filling up the measure of their fathers, until it was full; as the whole world is doing now Rev 14:15.
But they went to Baal-Peor - “They,” the word is emphatic; these same persons to whom God showed such love, to whom He gave such gifts, “went.” They left God who called them, and “went” to the idol, which could not call them. Baal-Peor, as his name probably implies, was “the filthiest and foulest of the pagan gods.” It appears from the history of the daughters of Midian, that his worship consisted in deeds of shame Num. 25.
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And separated themselves unto that shame - that is, to Baal-Peor, “whose” name of “Baal, Lord,” he turns into “Bosheth, shame” . Holy Scripture gives disgraceful names to the idols, (as “abominations, nothings, dungy things, vanities, uncleanness,” in order to make people ashamed of them. “To this shame they separated themselves” from God, in order to unite themselves with it. The Nazarite “separated himself from” certain earthly enjoyments, and consecrated himself, for a time or altogether, to God; these “separated themselves from” God, and united, devoted, consecrated themselves “to shame.” “They made themselves, as it were, Nazarites to shame.” Shame was the object of their worship and their God, “and” their “abominations were according as they loved,” i. e., they had as many “abominations” or abominable idols, “as” they had “loves.” They multiplied abominations, “after their heart’s desire;” their abominations were manifold, because their passions were so; and their love being corrupted, they loved nothing but abominations.
Yet it seems simpler and truer to render it, “and they became abominations, like their loves;” as the Psalmist says, “They that make them are like unto them” Psa 115:8. : “The object which the will desires and loves, transfuses its own goodness or badness into it.” Man first makes his god like his own corrupt self, or to some corruption in himself, and then, worshiping this ideal of his own, he becomes the more corrupt through copying that corruption. He makes his god “in his” own “image and likeness,” the essence and concentration of his own bad passions, and then conforms himself to the likeness, not of God, but of what was most evil in himself. Thus the Pagan made gods of lust, cruelty, thirst for war; and the worship of corrupt gods reacted on themselves. They forgot that they were “the work of their own hands,” the conception of their own minds, and professed to “do gladly” “what so great gods” had done.
And more widely, says a father , “what a man’s love is, that he is. Lovest thou earth? thou art earth. Lovest thou God? What shall I say? thou shalt be god.” : “Naught else maketh good or evil actions, save good or evil affections.” Love has a transforming power over the soul, which the intellect has not. “He who serveth an abomination is himself an abomination” , is a thoughtful Jewish saying. “The intellect brings home to the soul the knowledge on which it worketh, impresses it on itself, incorporates it with itself. Love is an impulse whereby he who loves is borne forth toward that which he loves, is united with it, and is transformed into it.” Thus in explaining the words, “Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His Mouth,” Son 1:2, the fathers say , “Then the Word of God kisseth us, when He enlighteneth our heart with the Spirit of divine knowledge, and the soul cleaveth to Him and His Spirit is transfused into him.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Top. These are the best. (Haydock) --- The patriarchs…
Top. These are the best. (Haydock) --- The patriarchs were pleasing to God. He chose the Hebrews; but they began to worship Beelphegor or Adonis, even before the death of Moses. This worship was most shameful. What will not passion do when the gods shew the example!
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain As the traveller in a wilderness is delighted at…
As the traveller in a wilderness is delighted at finding grapes to quench his thirst, or the early fig (esteemed a great delicacy in the East, Isa 28:4; Jer 24:2; Mic 7:1); so it was My delight to choose your fathers as My peculiar people in Egypt (Hos 2:15).
at her first time--when the first-fruits of the tree become ripe.
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went to Baal-peor-- (Num 25:3): the Moabite idol, in whose worship young women prostituted themselves; the very sin Israel latterly was guilty of.
separated themselves--consecrated themselves.
unto that shame--to that shameful or foul idol (Jer 11:13).
their abominations were according as they loved--rather, as Vulgate, "they became abominable like the object of their love" (Deu 7:26; Psa 115:8). English Version gives good sense, "their abominable idols they followed after, according as their lusts prompted them" (Amo 4:5, Margin).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain ISRAEL, APOSTATE AND REBELLIOUS FROM TIME IMMEMORIAL, IS DOOMED…
ISRAEL, APOSTATE AND REBELLIOUS FROM TIME IMMEMORIAL, IS DOOMED TO DESTRUCTION, Hos_9:10-17.
Three times in chapters 9-11 (Hos_9:10; Hos_10:9; Hos_11:1) Hosea reverts to the early history of Israel to show how loving had been the divine care and how persistent Israel’s apostasy and rebellion. In the beginning Israel appeared to Jehovah like a desirable fruit; but ere long contact with the Canaanitish religion caused contamination and Israel became an abomination in the sight of Jehovah (Hos_9:10). In consequence, awful judgments will come (Hos_9:11-17). The form which the punishment will take is not quite clear, as the description is highly poetic. For the greater part Jehovah himself speaks; in Hos_9:14; Hos_9:17 the prophet appears as speaker.
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10. Like grapes in the wilderness — As grapes unexpectedly discovered in the desert delight the heart of the weary traveler, so Israel, in the beginning, delighted the heart of Jehovah (compare Hos_2:15; Jer_2:3). In the wilderness is to be connected with like grapes, not with Israel, though there may be an allusion to Israel’s abode in the desert (Deu_32:10).
As the first-ripe in the fig tree at her first time — R.V., “at its first season,” that is, when figs first begin to ripen. The appearance of the early figs is greeted with much joy, especially since they are regarded as of an extra fine quality. With similar joy Jehovah looked upon Israel; but ere long it proved a disappointment to him.
Baal-peor — Equivalent to Beth-peor, or Peor (Deu_3:29; Num_23:28), where the Baal of Peor was worshiped (Num_25:3; see on Hos_2:5); there the apostasy of Israel had its beginning.
Separated — Or, R.V., “consecrated.” Shame [“shameful thing”] — Hebrews bosheth — Baal. Probably shame was substituted for Baal (see on Hos_2:16, and references there).
And their abominations were according as they loved — Better, R.V., “and (they) became abominable (literally, abominations), like that which they loved.” The noun is used in the place of the adjective for the sake of emphasis (G.-K., 141c) — they became abomination incarnate. Worshipers inevitably grow into the image of the being they worship; thus the Israelites partook of the corrupt character of the Baal of Peor.
While the prophet does not say so, he certainly implies that the present conduct of Israel is equally abominable, for in Hos_9:11 he proceeds to announce judgment.
Glory — Not only children, but all the elements which combine to make a nation glorious — wealth, prosperity, great numbers, etc. All these will vanish as swiftly as birds fly. The greatest curse will be the withholding of offspring (compare Psalms 127, 128). The three threats are arranged in the form of a climax, which is expressed more clearly in R.V., “There shall be no birth, and none with child, and no conception.” Women will not conceive; if by accident they do, the offspring will perish in the womb; if perchance it retains life it will die at birth. The judgment is one suited to sins against chastity (compare Hos_4:11 ff.).
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 10. like grapes in the wilderness] With such delight…
10. like grapes in the wilderness] With such delight as a traveller would unexpectedly find grapes in the desert, did Jehovah regard the children of Israel at the beginning of their national existence. Comp. Jer_2:2, ‘I remember for thy good the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness.’ Jehovah condescends to overlook the frailties and inconsistencies of ancient Israel, and even idealizes its character. Comp. Hos_2:15, Hos_13:1.
as the firstripe in the fig tree] So the better portion of the people of Judah are compared to ‘very good figs, even as the figs that are first ripe’ (Jer_24:2). The white fig of Palestine ripens much before the black, sometimes as early as April; the ordinary fig-harvest is not till the middle of August, but early ripe fruit might be found in June. Hence the fitness of Hosea’s image (comp. Isa_28:4; Mic_7:1).
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at her first time] i.e., when it begins to be ripe.
they went to Baal-peor, &c.] So early did they fall away; comp. Hos_11:1-2. Baal-peor is here (as the form of the construction shows) put for Beth-peor (Deu_3:29, &c.), the place where Baal-peor was worshipped. The open falling-away to this heathen deity was one of the most startling episodes of the period of the wanderings (see Numbers 25). It is commonly held, but is really a pure conjecture, that the worship of Baal-peor was licentious. If this be correct, it will give a special significance to the last clause in the verse, which may however merely mean that the idols, being abominable to the true God, make their worshippers abominable, just as Shame may refer, not to the shameful rites of this Baal, but to God’s abhorrence of idolatry. In 1Ki_11:5 and elsewhere ‘an abomination’ is a synonym for an idol, apart from the character of the worship.
separated [i.e. consecrated] themselves unto that shame] Rather, unto Shame (Heb. bosheth). See above, and compare the substitution of bosheth or besheth for baal in proper names, e.g. Jerubbesheth (for Jerubbaal), Ishbosheth (for Eshbaal), Mephibosheth for Meribbaal (comp. Prof. Kirkpatrick on 2Sa_2:8).
and their abominations, &c.] Rather, and became abominations like that which they loved (comp. on Hos_12:11).
10–17. But not only in the days of Gibeah; from the very first, the nation trespassed against Jehovah. Awful shall be the judgment for the continued infidelity—so awful, that Hosea can hardly bear to contemplate it. He seems uncertain whether extermination or dispersion will be the penalty, but concludes with an announcement of the latter.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (10) Grapes in the wilderness.—Rich dainties to the desert…
(10) Grapes in the wilderness.—Rich dainties to the desert traveller. So had Jehovah regarded His people at the commencement of their national history in the wilderness.
Firstripe.—The early fig that ripens in June, while the rest come to maturity about August (Isa_28:4; Mic_7:1; Jer_24:2).
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Baal-peor was the place where Moabitic idolatry was practised. This great disgrace had burned itself into their national traditions and literature (Numbers 25; Deu_4:3; Psa_106:28-31).
Shame.—Heb. bosheth was a euphemism for Baal. Observe that names ending in “-bosheth” (Ish-bosheth, &c.) are replaced by the older forms in “-baal” in 1 Chron. Render the last clause, they have become abominations like their love (i.e., Baal).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I…
I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the first-ripe in the fig tree at her first time. Grapes and first figs are among the choicest and most refreshing fruits; but to find such delicious fruits in a dry, barren wilderness is specially grateful and delightful. There are three possible constructions of bammidhbor:
(1) with "found,
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(2) with "grapes," and
(3) with both.
According to the first, which, on the whole, seems preferable, the meaning is, "I found Israel of old as a man finds grapes in a desert;" and the sense is God"s good will towards and delight in Israel. Grapes found by a weary, exhausted traveler in a wilderness are a real boon, refreshing and strengthening him for continuing his journey and reaching his destination. Rashi gives the sense clearly and concisely thus: "As gropes which are precious and delicious in a desert, even so have I loved Israel." Aben Ezra, in his exposition, refers to Deu_32:10, "He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye;" and then adds, "As grapes in a wilderness where no one dwells; every one that finds them rejoices in them, and so in the first-ripe figs." The comment of Kimchi is fuller and more satisfactory: "As a man, when he finds grapes in the wilderness which is dry and fruitless, rejoices over them; and as he rejoices when he finds a first-fruit in the fig tree in its beginning; even so have I found Israel in the wilderness, and fed them and nourished them: they lacked nothing, equally as if they had been in an inhabited land; but they have not recognized my goodness." As the fig harvest is rather late in Palestine about the middle of August early figs have special worth, and are regarded as a delicacy. The comparison then is, according to Rashi, with the "early fig on the fig tree, which is ripe; like the fig on the fig tree in its beginning, i.e. in the beginning of the ripening of the figs;" then he subjoins, "Even so did your fathers appear in my eyes, that I loved them.
But they went to Baal-peor, and separated themselves unto that shame. Israel did not continue long in a condition so pleasing to God, but fell away from him, forgot his benefits, and turned aside to the abominable idols of the surrounding Gentiles. As Aben Ezra somewhat pathetically expresses it, "Yet my joy was only small and of short duration, for they did homage to Baal-peor, and separated themselves from me." Long, therefore, before the sin of Gibeah they transgressed in Baal-poor; in the early period of their history they apostatized and proved unfaithful to Jehovah. To this hideous god, corresponding to Priapus of the Greeks, the maidens of Moab sacrificed their virginity. The Israelites were designed to be Nazarites, that is, separated to Jehovah and consecrated to his service, but they separated themselves unto that shame, either the idol or his worship. And their abominations were according as they loved. If men are slaves to appetite, they make a god of their belly; if to lust, Baal-peor is their god; and men become like what they worship, and abominable as the idols they serve, as the psalmist says, "They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them." They "became abominations like their lover" (ohabh, paramour; namely, Baal-peor), that is, as abominable and loathsome in the sight of God as the idols which they adulterously worshipped.
Vers. 10, 11. God"s goodness met with ingratitude by a sinful people.
Instead of repenting of their sins, they persevered in their rebellion against God. As if God overlooked or connived at their enormities, they added their deep corruption in the matter of Gibeah, in the days of the judges, to the iniquity of Baal-peor at a still earlier period; while the sins of Gibeah and Baal-peor were equaled by those of the prophet"s own day.
I THE DELIGHT WHICH GOD TOOK IN THEIR FATHERS. Their sainted sires had been the favorites of Heaven; the fathers and founders of their race had sought God"s "face and favor free;" and, walking in his ways, enjoyed his benediction.
1. God"s pleasure in the piety of his people is truly astonishing, though that piety is entirely traceable to his own gracious dealings with them. When a weary wanderer in a wilderness comes upon grapes rich and ripe, or figs the first and finest of the season, how he is refreshed by fruits so rare and luscious! Such is the strong and suggestive figure by which God expresses his delight in his servants of old; nor does he take less delight in them in the present than in the ancient days. Men like Abraham the faithful, or Isaac the meditative, or Jacob the prayerful, or Joseph the pure, or Moses the meek, enjoy the sunshine of God"s favor still.
2. Where much is given much is required. If God thus delights in his people, surely his people should delight in God. If God views with such complacency the fruit of his own Spirit"s operations in the hearts of his people, and the effects of his own grace seen reflected in their lives, surely it is our bounden duty as well as high privilege to reciprocate in some measure the Divine goodness, delighting in the Divine ordinances, living in the Divine service, and promoting the Divine glory.
3. God is particularly delighted with the firstfruits, and not only so, but with the first of the firstfruits. Here is special encouragement to the young to devote themselves early to God, and early to delight themselves in him. They are invited to give their young hearts to God when the dew of their youth is heavy upon them when their perception is keen, their conscience tender, their affections warm, and their memory retentive.
II THEIR DEGENERACY. Their fathers had been to God as grapes in a desert land, and as the first ripe in the fig tree at her first time; but the degenerate descendants of such godly ancestry had become like fruit bitter and sour. They resembled fruitless fig trees, or the wild vine with its small harsh berries; and that, notwithstanding all Jehovah"s care and culture, they had long ceased to walk in the ways or follow the steps of their godly forefathers. The holiness of those forefathers, refreshing as grapes of best quality and figs of the first growth to the heart of God, was no longer to be found; their fruit was sour, their ways corrupt. The God of their fathers had ceased to be their God. Oh! it is a comfortable thing," says an old divine, "when a child is able to say, as Exo_15:2, "My God," and "My father"s God." "God was my father"s God, and delighted in my father; and, blessed be his Name, he is my God, and I hope he has some delight in me.
III THEIR DEPRAVITY. They for their part (the use of the pronoun adds emphasis) went to Baal-peor.
1. Here they are either contrasted with their godly forefathers, or the contrast is rather between God"s care and goodness on the one hand, and their ingratitude and baseness on the other. The complaint of God resemble, that of a fond and indulgent husband who has lavished his love on a worthless wife, and who, to his unspeakable mortification, discovers that he has been cherishing an adulteress. Instead of reciprocating his affection, She plays the wanton; instead of a suitable return for his many acts of kindness, tenderness, and care, she dishonors him by turning aside to some base adulterer. So with Israel when they turned from the living God to dumb idols; so with any people who, instead of seating their affections on God, transfer them to any earthly, sensual, or sinful object.
2. We see in the conduct of Israel a notable example of the perverted use of the Divine mercies. God had segregated Israel from the nations around them, and separated them to himself to be a peculiar people. The Nazarite who by his vow was separated and specially consecrated to Jehovah, was symbolical of the whole nation in its separation and consecration to God. But, regardless of God"s mercy and reckless of their own privileges, they separated themselves to the service of a shameful idol. When they went to Baal-peor, whether the idol itself or rather the place of the idol (the same as Beth-peer), they engaged with full consecration, rather desecration, of all their powers in the infamous worship of Baal, here called Bosheth, their shame.
3. Their abominations were according as they loved; that is,
(1) they became as abominable as that which they loved; or
(2) their abominable idols were multiplied according to their heart"s desire; or
(3) their abominations were according as they loved. They were guided in the choice el them, not, of course, by the Word of God nor by the Law of God, but by their own inclination. In matters connected with religion and religious worship men should beware of being influenced by their personal likings, or private inclinations, or aesthetic tastes, but make sure of a warrant from the Word of God. Another evil is to be avoided in this matter, that of allowing our judgment to be overmastered by our affections, and thus of being unduly influenced in our religious views by those whom we love, whether husband, or wife, or kindred, or friends, or family. If the other sense be preferred, according to which people become as abominable as the objects which they love, it is an illustration of the well-known principle that men come to resemble those whom they love. A child imitates and so gets assimilated to the parent whom he loves; looking up to and admiring that parent, he comes in time to resemble him in habits of thought and modes of acting.
4. Here, in passing, we observe one of the many references and allusions of the prophet to the earlier books of Scripture. Through the evil counsel of Balsam a stumbling-block was placed in the way of the people of Israel, when they were enticed to impurity and so to idolatry by the daughters of Moab, and when, in consequence of their sin in the matter of Baal-peor, so many thousands perished in the plague.
IV THEIR DESTRUCTION. Ephraim"s glory consisted of many elements prosperity, pomp, and power, but most especially their population and numerous progeny as contributing to that population. In this particularly did Ephraim glory; but the day of their glory comes to a speedy and disastrous end.
1. The departure of their glory is compared to the flight of a bird, and thus that departure is represented as sudden, like the flight of a bird when it is startled from its nest in the greenwood, or when some one throws open the door of the cage in the dwelling where it has been imprisoned; as swift, like the flight of the eagle toward heaven; as irretrievable, like the bird of powerful pinion, which distances pursuit and escapes beyond the possibility of being ever caught or found again.
2. Disaster awaits them at every stage conception, gestation, and parturition. The curse of God pursues them from first to last, hindering the conception, or causing abortion, or preventing the birth.
APPLICATION. Learn hence:
1. The folly of glorying in any earthly prosperity or worldly advantage. "Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
2. The prosperity of the wicked lasts not long. Ephraim, comprehending the ten tribes, had enjoyed great prosperity, and had surpassed Judah in numbers. This was particularly the case in the reign of Jeroboam II, to which this Scripture may probably refer. They had enjoyed prosperity so long, they thought it would last always; yet it passed away as in a moment.
3. Let us seek the glory that is real and abiding. "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he under-standeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.
4. What reason we have to bless God for his preserving care. "He preserved us in the very conception, preserved us in our mother"s womb, and then in the birth; and then in the cradle, in our childhood, in our youth, in our middle age, and in our old age; for we lie at his mercy at every point of time." Thy providence my life sustained, And all my wants redressed, When in the silent womb I lay, And hung upon the breast.
Vers. 10-17. Bereavement, barrenness, and banishment.
Here the prophet (ver. 10) finds a background for his picture of the final distress and captivity of Ephraim, by contrasting therewith the fair promise of prosperity and usefulness which the Hebrew nation had shown during its infancy. The body of the strophe uttered by Hosea with intense emotion is full of lamentations and mourning and woe (vers. 11-16). And the closing words (ver. 17) summarize in one brief and pregnant sentence the burden of the entire paragraph.
I A BRIGHT BEGINNING. (Vers. 10, 13) Jehovah "found Israel:" the people depended upon him for their preservation as a community. The emancipated slaves of Egypt would have been poor and helpless indeed but for his supporting care. But he set his love upon them, and planted and trained the Hebrew commonwealth as the Oriental husbandman does his vines and fig trees. At Mount Sinai Jehovah made a gracious covenant with Israel, set up his tabernacle with a view to dwell among the people, and arranged the tribes in order as his sacramental host. When they struck their tents at Sinai, and journeyed towards Paran, (Num_10:11, Num_10:12) the Lord looked upon them with complacency out of the cloudy pillar; and he marched on before the host, to lead Ephraim into a land beautiful for situation as that of the famous type, and where they might become as rich and prosperous as the Tyrians. The people had solemnly chosen Jehovah for their God, and "no strange god" was among them. So the Lord delighted in them, as the weary traveler in the desert rejoices in the clusters of the vine, or in the firstfruits of the fig tree.
II AN EARLY FALL (Ver. 10) Although God "had planted Israel a noble vine, wholly a right seed," very soon, alas! they "were turned irate the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto him." They had left Egypt, but Egypt had not left them. During the forty years which they spent in the wilderness, they frequently rebelled against the Lord. But the prophet mentions here only one of their provocations, the idolatry of Baal-peor or Chemosh, (Nu 25) an idol whose rites of worship involved the practice of the grossest sensuality. The Hebrews, in fact, had in those early days indulged in precisely the same abominations with which Hosea was now so familiar in this last time of the northern kingdom. The unchaste worship of Baal and Astarte, even before the tribes entered Canaan, had brought a sad blight upon the fair early promise which for a little while the chosen people had given. "They separated themselves like an evil class of Nazarites to the service of the filthiest of the gods of heathendom. "And their abominations were according as they loved;" i.e. they became more and more assimilated in their own character to the objects of their worship.
III AN INFAMOUS CAREER. (Vers. 15, 17) That early idolatry of Baal-peor repeated itself again and again, especially within the northern kingdom, after its revolt from the dynasty of David. There was:
1. The desecration of sacred places. "All their wickedness was in Gilgal;" it seemed concentrated as in a focus in that very locality which had been the first to be called "holy" within the Holy Land, (Jos_5:15) and which had been the scene of special mercies when the tribes began to take possession. It was a sore aggravation of Israel"s sin that the people should pervert Beth-el into Beth-even, and destroy the hallowed associations of such a place as Gilgal.
2. The ungodliness of the kings. "All their princes are revolters," i.e. apostates, men who with unanimous infatuation had departed from God and righteousness. All, without exception, were wicked men; therefore in the annals of the Books of Kings the same melancholy refrain constantly recurs: "He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.
3. The wickedness of the people. "They did not hearken unto God" (ver. 17). Israel "went after her lovers" the Baalim, prostituted herself to them, and forgot Jehovah her rightful Husband. He had long pleaded with her to return to him, but in vain. He had told her of his shame and anger because of her unworthiness, he had reproached her for perverting his gifts to the basest uses, he had threatened her with severe chastisements and even with final rejection; but she was "joined to idols," and "did not hearken unto him.
IV A TERRIBLE PUNISHMENT. With the denunciation of this penalty the whole passage is saturated. "Ephraim is smitten" (ver. 16). There is to be:
1. Bereavement. (Vers. 12, 13, 16) The once mighty and powerful nation is to have its ranks sadly thinned by sudden and violent deaths. "Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer." The ten tribes are to have their numbers so greatly lessened as to be brought to the verge of extermination. "There shall not be a man left." This would prove a heavy humiliation to a people who expected that the blessing which Moses pronounced upon them would always be contained: "They are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh". (Deu_33:17)
2. Barrenness. (Vers. 11, 14, 16) The name Ephraim means double fruitfulness, and the northern kingdom gloried in its numerous progeny; but, now that the curse of God is upon the nation, "their glory shall fly away like a bird," and they shall have few births, as well as many deaths. The very "root" of the once powerful and fruitful Ephraim has been smitten with an incurable hurt; and the fruit of Israel"s womb shall perish at the birth. For the nation has been guilty of both spiritual and literal harlotry; and of such sins barrenness is the appropriate penalty.
3. Banishment. (Vers. 12, 15, 17) This is the acme of Ephraim"s doom. "Woe also to them when I depart from them!" They are banished:
(1) From the favor of God: "I will love them no more;" "There I hated them.
(2) From the "house" of God, i.e. from his family from the blessings of his covenant.
(3) From "the Lord"s land" (ver. 3); for they are to become lost and hopeless wanderers among the nations." This doom has been very fully suffered by Israel in the past, and the nation is lying under it still. The condition of the Jews during the past eighteen centuries has been a striking verification of Old Testament prophecy, as well as a convincing argument for the truth of Christianity.
LESSONS.
1. The attractiveness of early piety, and the advantages which flow from it (ver. 10).
2. The duty of gratitude for being "planted in a pleasant place," temporally and spiritually (ver. 13).
3. The danger of backsliding, which besets every Christian, and our need of humility, watchfulness, and prayer (ver. 10).
4. The leavening influence of sin upon the whole heart and life of the sinner (ver. 10).
5. The awfulness of the condition of every God-forsaken soul (vers. 15, 17). C.J.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain They went to Baal-peer, and separated themselves unto that…
Hos_9:10
They went to Baal-peer, and separated themselves unto that shame.
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Sin and separation
The shame here alluded to was idolatry.
I. All sin is shame.
1. It is shame in its commission. People seldom do iniquity in the full blaze of day. They would rather not be seen in its commission. It is shameful to be a sinner; to possess reason and to play the part of an idiot; to have liberty and to act the part of a slave; to be admitted to the arms of a benefactor and then to stab him in return.
2. It is a shame in its consequence. It produces shame. Thou shalt be confounded, says God, because of your shame. The wicked shall rise to shame and everlasting contempt.
II. Sin is separation. Before a man can join the army of sin he must leave the service of God. Hence he separates himself. From what?
1. From the love, protection, guidance, and companionship of his God. What blessings to turn his back upon!
2. From the principles of truth, righteousness, and grace. He becomes another character. All that can exalt him is left behind.
3. From the prospect of future bliss. (Homilist.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain Hos_9:10-17 CF. Hos_4:11-14
4. "THE CORRUPTION THAT IS THROUGH LUST"
Hos_9:10-17 CF. Hos_4:11-14
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Those who at the present time are enforcing among us the revival of a paganism-without the pagan conscience-and exalting licentiousness to the level of an art, forget how frequently the human race has attempted their experiment, with far more sincerity than they themselves can put into it, and how invariably the result has been recorded by history to be weariness, decay, and death. On this occasion we have the story told to us by one who to the experience of the statesman adds the vision of the poet. The generation to which Hosea belonged practiced a periodical unchastity under the alleged sanctions of nature and religion. And, although their prophet told them that-like our own apostates from Christianity-they could never do so with the abandon of the pagans, for they carried within them the conscience and the memory of a higher faith, it appears that even the fathers of Israel resorted openly and without shame to the licentious rites of the sanctuaries. In an earlier passage of his book Hosea insists that all this must impair the peoples intellect. "Harlotry takes away the brains." {Hos_4:12} He has shown also how it confuses the family, and has exposed the old delusion that men may be impure and keep their womankind chaste. {Hos_4:13-14} But now he diagnoses another of the inevitable results of this sin. After tracing the sin and the theory of life which permitted it, to their historical beginnings at the entry of the people into Canaan, he describes how the long practice of it, no matter how pretentious its sanctions, inevitably leads not only to exterminating strifes, but to the decay of the vigor of the nation, to barrenness and a diminishing population. "Like grapes in the wilderness I found Israel, like the first fruit on a fig-tree in her first season I saw your fathers." So had the lusty nation appeared to God in its youth; in that dry wilderness all the sap and promise of spring were in its eyes, because it was still pure. But "they-they came to Baal-Peor"-the first of the shrines of Canaan which they touched-"and dedicated themselves to the shame, and became as abominable as the object of their love. "Ephraim"-the "Fruitful" name is emphasized-"their glory is flown away like a bird. No more birth, no more motherhood, no more conception! Blasted is Ephraim, withered the root of them, fruit they produce not: yea, even when they beget children I slay the darlings of their womb. Yea, though they bring up their sons I bereave them," till they are "poor in men. Yea, woe upon themselves" also, when I look away from them! Ephraim"-again the "Fruitful" name is dragged to the front-"for prey, as I have seen, are his sons destined. Ephraim" - he "must lead his sons to the slaughter."
And the prophet interrupts with his chorus: "Give them, O Lord-what wilt Thou give them? Give them a miscarrying womb and breasts that are dry!"
"All their mischief is in Gilgal"-again the Divine voice strikes the connection between the national worship and the national sin-"yea, there do I hate them: for the evil of their doings from My house I will drive them. I will love them no more: all their nobles are rebels."
And again the prophet responds: "My God will cast them away, for they have not hearkened to Him, and they shall be vagabonds among the nations."
Some of the warnings which Hosea enforces with regard to this sin have been instinctively felt by mankind since the beginnings of civilization, and are found expressed among the proverbs of nearly all the languages. But I am unaware of any earlier moralist in any literature who traced the effects of national licentiousness in a diminishing population, or who exposed the persistent delusion of libertine men that they themselves may resort to vice, yet keep their womankind chaste. Hosea, so far as we know, was the first to do this. History in many periods has confirmed the justice of his observations, and by one strong voice after another enforced his terrible warnings. The experience of ancient Persia and Egypt; the languor of the Greek cities; the "deep weariness and sated lust" which in Imperial Rome "made human life a hell"; the decay which overtook Italy after the renascence of Paganism without the Pagan virtues; the strife and anarchy that have rent every court where, as in the case of Henri Quatre, the king set the example of libertinage; the incompetence, the poltroonery, the treachery, that have corrupted every camp where, as in French Metz in 1870, soldiers and officers gave way so openly to vice; the checks suffered by modern civilization in face of barbarism because its pioneers mingled in vice with the savage races they were subduing; the number of great statesmen falling by their passions, and in their fall frustrating the hopes of nations; the great families worn out by indulgence; the homes broken up by infidelities; the tainting of the blood of a new generation by the poisonous practices of the old, -have not all these things been in every age, and do they not still happen near enough to ourselves to give us a great fear of the sin which causes them all? Alas! how stow men are to listen and to lay to heart! Is it possible that we can gild by the names of frivolity and piquancy habits the wages of which are death? Is it possible that we can enjoy comedies which make such things their jest? We have among us many who find their business in the theatre, or in some of the periodical literature of our time, in writing and speaking and exhibiting as closely as they dare to limits of public decency. When will they learn that it is not upon the easy edge of mere conventions that they are capering, but upon the brink of those eternal laws whose further side is death and hell-that it is not the tolerance of their fellow men they are testing, but the patience of God Himself? As for those loud few who claim license in the name of art and literature, let us not shrink from them as if they were strong or their high words true. They are not strong, they are only reckless; their claims are lies. All history, the poets and the prophets, whether Christian or Pagan, are against them. They are traitors alike to art, to love, and to every other high interest of mankind.
It may be said that a large part of the art of the day, which takes great license in dealing with these subjects, is exercised only by the ambition to expose that ruin and decay which Hosea himself affirms. This is true. Some of the ablest and most popular writers of our time have pictured the facts, which Hosea describes, with so vivid a realism that we cannot but judge them to be inspired to confirm his ancient warnings, and to excite a disgust of vice in a generation which otherwise treats vice so lightly. But if so, their ministry is exceeding narrow, and it is by their side that we best estimate the greatness of the ancient prophet. Their transcript of human life may be true to the facts it selects, but we find in it no trace of facts which are greater and more essential to humanity. They have nothing to tell us of forgiveness and repentance, and yet these are as real as the things they describe. Their pessimism is unrelieved. They see the "corruption that is in the world through lust"; they forget that there is an escape from it. {2 Peter 1} It is Hoseas greatness that, while he felt the vices of his day with all needed thoroughness and realism, he yet never allowed them to be inevitable or ultimate, but preached repentance and pardon, with the possibility of holiness even for his depraved generation. It is the littleness of the art of our day that these great facts are forgotten by her, though once she was their interpreter to men. When she remembers them the greatness of her past will return.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Hos_9:10. Like grapes] with which the traveller delights to…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Hos_9:10. Like grapes] with which the traveller delights to quench his thirst. Grapes and early figs a great delicacy in the East (Isa_28:4; Jer_24:2); so God delighted in Israel at first. He gave them richness and pleasantness, but they corrupted themselves, and no longer answered his good pleasure. Baal-peor] The Moabite idol to whom young females prostituted themselves (Num_25:3). Shame] that foul idol (Jer_11:13).
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HOMILETICS
HONOURED AND DISHONOURED.—Hos_9:10
These words indicate the great honour that God put upon his people, the great worth which they had in his sight when he chose them, and the great care that he took with them in training them up for his purpose and good pleasure. But they despised this dignity, consecrated themselves to Baal-Peor, and became as abomin able as the idol they loved.
I. God’s grace honours a worthless people. What refreshing grapes and the first ripe figs are to the weary traveller, such was Israel at first to God.
1. By nature we are in a helpless condition. Education, wealth, and outward distinctions avail not before God. Israel was found in the wilderness; in a barren, wild, and solitary place.
2. God in love seeks men in their helpless condition. God could not have found Israel, unless he had sought. “I have found him in the wilderness” (Deu_32:10). God goes after men like the shepherd after the lost sheep until he finds them. In love and kindness he restores and exalts them; makes them holy and acceptable in his sight. They are not found until restored. “I can wander, but cannot find my way back,” was the confession of Augustine. “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant.”
3. When God finds men he trains and cultures them for himself. Grapes and figs indicate continual care and kindness. Israel were planted and trained for God. Their “first ripe” buds and future prosperity came from him. He gave them riches and wealth, pleasantness and odour in the sight of others. They were precious in his sight and honourable (Isa_43:4). God honours nations, Churches, and families now, preserves them carefully, and prefers them constantly if they obey him. “The vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant” (Isa_5:1; Isa_5:7). Men are dignified, nations are honoured, not by wealth, fleets, and outward splendour—God’s presence makes them glorious, God’s grace roots them, causes them to blossom, bud, and fill the world with fruit and sweetness (Isa_27:6).
II. A people honoured by God’s grace may dishonour themselves by idolatry. “But they went unto Baal-Peor, and separated themselves unto that shame,”—and that was a most shameful and abominable idol. They joined the Moabites in worshipping, in sacrificing, and eating to a god,” the filthiest and foulest of the heathen gods (Num_25:2-3; Psa_106:28). They separated themselves, as Nazarites, united, devoted themselves to shame. The very people whom God exalted and blessed forsook him, sank below others, and dishonoured their own nature (Jer_2:21). Is England free? are Christian Churches free from idolatry, debasing in its influence and tendencies? We hate cruel rites and bow not to Pagan gods; but do we not dishonour God and blaspheme his name among others by formalism, hypocrisy, and ungodly lives? We clothe our evil imaginations, our depraved affections, with attributes of power and wisdom, “and change the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image like to corruptible man.”
III. The dishonour of a people will be according to the nature of the objects they worship. “Their abominations were according as they loved.” If history proclaims one truth more loudly than another, it is that man becomes assimilated to the moral character of the objects which he worships. The gods and hero-kings, Odin and Thor, of the Scythians were bloodthirsty and cruel—turned “the milk of human kindness” into gall in the bosoms of their votaries, and made them revel in slaughter and scenes of blood. Because heathen deities have destroyed themselves suicide has been recommended, and a natural death thought to exclude from eternal happiness. The more men worship such idols the more they resemble them. Hence the notion that the gods did not like the service, would not accept the sacrifice, of those who were unlike them. Israel became like their loves—shame was the object of their worship, and they had as many abominable idols as they had loves. Their deities corrupted their passions; their passions multiplied their deities, and corrupted their minds and lives. “Man,” says an author, “first makes his god like his own corrupt self, or to some corruption in himself; and then, worshipping this ideal of his own, he becomes the more corrupt through copying that corruption. He makes his god in his own image and likeness, the essence and concentration of his own bad passions, and then conforms himself to the likeness, not of God, but of what was most evil in himself.” Concerning all false gods the Psalmist says, “They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.” Love the world, you become worldly; love God, you become godly. Love has a transforming power which nothing else has. “Nothing else makes good or evil actions,” says Augustine, “but good or evil affections. What a man’s love is, that he is.” “Love the Lord thy God.”
SEPARATED UNTO SHAME.—Hos_9:10
Idolatry is not a harmless mistake, misdirected aim, but a serious evil, the source of all evils. Its consequences are degradation and shame. All sin is shame, and those who separate, devote themselves to sin, separate themselves to shame.
I. This shame is a common experience. Adam and Eve were ashamed, and hid themselves in the garden. Men blush now when caught in the act of sin. They excuse, palliate, and apologize for their guilt. They were ignorant, tempted, and surprised. They are afraid to confess, and seek to cover their shame. If men do not appear to blush, they feel ashamed. They may be light before men, but serious before God—laugh in public, and sigh in secret. There are sad hearts beneath cheerful faces. “The conscious mind is its own awful world.”
II. This shame is a penal suffering. It is the result of wrong-doing, of broken law. The violation of all natural laws brings suffering—sin brings suffering, and this suffering is shame. It is not a shame to labour, to be poor and afflicted; but it is a shame to sin, and sin will expose a man to shame. The wicked are often put to shame before men. They lose respect and honour, get exposed to contempt and danger. They will be cursed by God in his providence. “Then time turns torment, when man turns a fool.” “A wicked man is loathsome, and cometh to shame.”
III. This shame is a threatened punishment. Believers will “have confidence, and not be ashamed” before Christ at his coming. But the wicked will “rise to everlasting shame and contempt.” Once great men of the world seemed wise, and those who denied sinful lusts were fools; but at the judgment day all things will be unmasked and realities seen in their true light. Shame will then be infamous, and disgrace conspicuous to the universe. “The wise shall inherit glory; but shame shall be the promotion of fools.”
IV. This shame is often a penitential feeling. When sin is seen in the light of Divine love, judged by the sufferings of Christ, it is felt to be exceedingly sinful. The penitent regards its pollution, not its punishment, feels ashamed, reproached, and self-condemned. The publican and the Psalmist, Ezra and Nehemiah, Job and Isaiah, all felt ashamed for their iniquities, and cried to God for cleansing and pardon. This is a painful, but hopeful experience. It attracts the notice of God. “He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not; he will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.”
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 9
Hos_9:9-10. Corrupt. “O Lord, abhor me not, though I be most abhorrible,” said the dying Thos. Scott. “My repentance needs to be repented of; my tears want washing, and the very washing of my tears needs still to be washed over again with the blood of my Redeemer” [Bp. Beveridge]. There is no vice that doth so cover a man with shame as to be found false and perfidious [Bacon]. The disposition of a liar is dishonourable, and his shame is ever with him (Sir_20:26).
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain CHAPTER 9:10-11:11 Retrospect, Israel’s Failure and Ruin
CHAPTER 9:10-11:11 Retrospect, Israel’s Failure and Ruin
1. Israel once beloved, now fugitive wanderers (Hos 9:10-17)
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2. Their guilt and punishment (Hos 10:1-11)
3. Exhortation and rebuke (Hos 10:12-15)
4. The mercy of a merciful God (Hos 11:1-11)
Hos 9:10-17. Like a wayfaring man who finds grapes and figs in the desert and delights in them, so the Lord found Israel in the desert and they were His pleasure when He led them out of Egypt. But they requited His love by going after Baal-peor, one of the filthiest gods of heathendom. To this they consecrated themselves and practiced their vile abominations. Therefore the glory which He had given to His people will fly away like a bird and their licentious worship of unnatural vices would avenge itself so that there would be no pregnancy and no birth, the promised increase would stop. It seems Hos 9:14-17 are an outburst of the prophet. How literally the sentence has been fulfilled. “They will be wanderers.”
Hos 10:1-11. Here is another retrospect, Israel once called to be a thriving vine (not empty), called to be fruitful; but Israel did not bring forth the expected fruit. As the nation abounded and prospered they increased their idol altars; as the land yielded its increase in the same measure they made their images. Their heart was smooth, or deceitful, for this they will now have to suffer. “Their heart is smooth; now will they make expiation.” They will have no more king. The smooth or deceitful heart is described in Hos 10:4, while in the verse which follows the judgment upon their calves they worshipped is announced. It, the calf, will be carried to Assyria to be made a present of to the king. The high places will be destroyed and thorns and thistles will overgrow its altars. Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall upon us!” Well, it is to read In connection with this prophetic statement what our Lord said about the judgment of Jerusalem in Luk 23:30 and what is written in connection with the breaking of the sixth seal in Rev 6:16.
Gibeah is mentioned (Hos 10:9). The corruption of Gibeah is also noted in Hos 9:9. The horrible abomination of Gibeah is recorded in Jdg 19:1-30 in consequence of which the tribe of Benjamin was almost wiped out. And the people had become as wicked and guilty as Benjamin at Gibeah. The nations are now to be used to punish Israel. “And the nations will gather themselves against them, when I bind them for their offenses” (Hos 10:10, literal translation) .
Hos 10:12-15. Here is a break in the judgment message. If they would return to the Lord and would sow righteousness, they would reap mercy. But such sowing is impossible unless the fallow ground is broken up, that is, true repentance and a heart return unto the Lord. “For it is time to seek the Lord, until He come and rain righteousness upon you.” In what infinite patience He waited for the repentance of His people! But while He would save them, they would not! Still God’s gifts and calling are without repentance and the day will come when a remnant of Israel will seek the Lord; then He will come and rain righteousness upon them.
How different was their condition! The Lord rebukes them, for they had ploughed wickedness, and reaped iniquity. The noise of war is now heard; Shalman (a contracted form of Shalmanezer, the King of Assyria) is advancing and shall destroy all their fortresses as he destroyed Beth-arbel. (There is no further record of Beth-arbel and its destruction.) And who was responsible for all this havoc and the impending calamity? “Thus has Bethel done to you, for the evil of your great evil. In the early morning the king of Israel shall be utterly cut off.” Bethel was the seat of Israel’s idolatry, it drew God’s wrath and finally ended the monarchy in Israel and their national existence.
Hos 11:1-11. This chapter starts with a beautiful allusion to Israel’s youth, when in sovereign love He called Israel, His firstborn son, out of Egypt, redeeming them by blood and power Exo 4:22-31. But this passage is quoted in the second chapter of the Gospel of Matthew: “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called My Son” Mat 2:15. The blending together of Israel and Christ is very interesting. Christ is the true Israel and goes through the entire history of the nation, without failure and in divine perfection. He was carried as an infant into the land where Israel suffered in the fiery furnace; and finally He died for that nation and in some future day through Him, the true Israel (called such in Isa 49:1-26), Israel’s great future and glory will come to pass.
But while the Son of God, the true Israel, was perfect and holy in all His ways, Israel was unfaithful. This record of Jehovah’s faithfulness and mercy is here unfolded. He sent them prophets who called them, but they turned away from Him and gave themselves over to the Baalim and the idol-gods. How loving He had been to them! He led them, took them into His arms and healed them. He drew them with cords of love and was towards them “as those that would raise the yoke-strap over their jaws, and I reached out to them to eat” (Hos 11:4). It is a beautiful picture of His great gentleness with them. Perhaps some of them were anxious to turn to Egypt and find a home there and thus escape the cruel Assyrian. But the Lord declares that they shall not return to Egypt, but Assyria is to be their king, because they refused to return. The sword of judgment would do its work completely (Hos 11:6-7). Then follows a most wonderful outburst of deepest sorrow over the stubborn nation:
How should I give you up, Ephraim?
How shall I surrender thee, Israel?
How should I make thee like Admah?
Or set thee like Zeboim?
My heart is turned within me;
My repentings are kindled together.
It is the same Lord who speaks here, who centuries later stood before the city and broke out in loud weeping when He beheld the city: “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes” Luk 19:42. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, ye shall not see Me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord” Mat 23:37. How He loves His people! And though He has punished them, He does not forsake them; He will not be angry forever; He is a covenant keeping God, “For I am God and not man” (Hos 11:9). “For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed” Mal 3:6. And so here, this chapter of Jehovah’s mercy ends with the assurance of their future restoration and blessing. “They will follow the Lord.” That will be “when like a lion He roars.” That is the day when He appears again as “The lion of the tribe of Judah.” Then, in that day, like a bird from Egypt they will hasten back and like a dove from Assyria. “Then will I make them dwell in their houses, saith the Lord.” Here is another prophecy of their restoration to their own, God-given home land.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain The Corruption of Israel and its Consequences
The Corruption of Israel and its Consequences
v. 10. I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness, at the time when Jehovah chose them as His people and led them forth from the land of bondage; I saw your fathers as the first-ripe in the fig-tree at her first time, the description being expressive of the high regard in which the Lord held them at that time; but they went to Baal-peor, as related in Numbers 25, and separated themselves unto that shame, being led astray with the greatest ease by the women of the Moabites; and their abominations, both in bodily and spiritual adultery, were according as they loved.
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v. 11. As for Ephraim, their glory, that of which they boast, of which they are proud, shall fly away like a bird, swiftly taken from them, from the birth and from the womb and from the conception, the population being decreased even by the prevention of births, by the Lord’s withholding His blessing of fruitfulness from them.
v. 12. Though they bring up their children, those whom the Lord would still permit them to have, yet will I bereave them, depriving them of their children by death, that there shall not be a man left, Cf Deu 32:25; yea, woe also to them when I depart from them! It is a terrible thing when the Lord departs from a people with the blessings of His goodness and grace.
v. 13. Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus (is) planted in a pleasant place, that is, the Lord had intended for it the growth, wealth, and power of the mighty Phoenician city; but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer, that is, its citizens would be destined for violent deaths.
v. 14. Give them, O Lord; what wilt Thou give? the question interrupting the flow of thought showing the deep indignation of the prophet over the willful corruption of His people. Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts, sterility being considered a disgrace and a reproach, one of the sternest punishments of the Lord.
v. 15. All their wickedness is in Gilgal, which seems to have been one of the chief places of idolatrous worship, so that the wickedness of the nation was there concentrated; for there I hated them. For the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of Mine house, expelling them out of His congregation, I will love them no more; all their princes, the leading men of the nation, are revolters, rebellious and faithless with regard to the Lord’s covenant.
v. 16. Ephraim is smitten, like a plant struck by the too direct rays of the sun, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit; yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb, by permitting their children to be killed.
v. 17. My God will cast them away, rejecting them as His people, because they did not hearken unto Him, their disobedience to His revealed Word being their chief transgression; and they shall be wanderers among the nations, exiles, fugitives, and vagabonds. Cf Deu 28:65.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh is speaking.
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When I found Israel
This refers to when Yahweh first started his relationship with the people of Israel by claiming them as his own special people.
it was like finding grapes in the wilderness. Like the very first fruit of the season on the fig tree
Both of these statements emphasize situations that are pleasing to a person. This means Yahweh was very happy when his relationship with the people of Israel started. (See: Parallelism and Simile)
Baal Peor
This is the name of a mountain in the land of Moab where the false god Baal was worshiped. (See: How to Translate Names)
translationWords
Israel
grape
desert
firstfruits
fig
ancestor
shame
false god
detest
love
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 9:10 when I first found you: Hosea, like Ezekiel…
9:10 when I first found you: Hosea, like Ezekiel (Ezek 16), speaks of the Lord’s finding and adopting chaste, innocent Israel in the desert. But Israel soon deserted God for idols at Baal-peor (Num 25:1-4). Participation in idolatry had made the Israelites vile. This strong word can also be translated “detestable” (Deut 29:17) or “Abominable” (Jer 7:30). They inevitably resembled what they worshiped.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.