HOSEA 9–10

HOSEA 9–10

HOSEA 9–10

The name Ephraim means “twice fruitful,” and Hosea used that fact as the basis for his message in these chapters. There would be no fruitfulness in the harvest (9:1–9) because poverty was coming and God would judge the land (Deut. 28:38–42). That would be the end of harvest joy (9:1). Ephraim would no longer be known as the fruitful land.

There would also be no more fruitfulness in the home (9:10–17). Why allow them to bear children who would only worship idols and then be murdered by the Assyrian invaders? The fruitful womb was always a blessing to the Jewish people (Pss. 127:3–5; 128:3–4), but now the miscarrying womb would be a blessing.

What was wrong with Israel? They tried to serve two masters (10:1–2), they lied to God (10:4), they worshiped idols (10:5–6), and their hearts were hard and needed plowing up (10:12). They sowed the wrong seed in the wrong kind of soil and yet expected to reap the right harvest!

Have you pondered Galatians 6:7–8 lately?

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