by
Rev. Mark Perkins, Pastor
Denver Bible Church
326 E. Colorado Ave.
Denver, Colorado 80210
To: Hosea
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"Israel is swallowed up; they are now among the nations
like a vessel in which no one delights. For they have gone up
to Assyria, like a wild donkey all alone; Ephraim has hired lovers.
Even though they hire allies among the nations, now I will gather
them up; and king princes will begin little from burden."
1. Verse eight begins with the same verb as verse seven, this
time in the niphal passive perfect NIBHELA`.
A. These two verbs occur back to back in the Hebrew text, and this for reasons of emphasis. The enemies of Israel swallow their grain; and they will swallow Israel.
B. The subject of the verb is Israel; they will receive the action of this niphal passive.
C. This time the verb is in the perfect tense, showing the absolute certainty of their fate. It is set in the future, and in the divine decree; it is set in stone.
D. And again, it is a quick, wolf-like kind of swallow. This is like when we give special treats to our dogs. They are swallowed so fast there is no real appreciation of taste.
E. The swallowing of economic prosperity by the enemy precedes the swallowing of the nation by God. We now stand on the verge of a trade war with Japan, and one which we may not win. If so, then we are in a cycle of discipline, and stand in danger of being swallowed by God.
2. "They are now among the nations like a vessel in which
no one delights." The best way to describe this is by analogy.
Israel is the Christmas fruitcake among the nations. No one likes
them, but they keep showing up anyway. This portrays the solicitous
way in which Israel, from their position of weakness, kept on
attempting to ally with all of the foreign powers. But what can
the weak offer to the strong?
3. "For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild ass going alone."
A. The qal active participle of BADAD signifies here the lonesome nature of Israel. They are all alone, going up through the desert to Assyria in order to contract an alliance. Also an animal which was normally a beast of burden was going alone - without human guidance. In the same way, Israel was going without divine guidance.
B. It is significant that they go alone, for in reality they go without God.
C. The ass was a beast of burden since the earliest times. But a wild ass was totally useless. That is the picture here. A totally useless animal, going up to Assyria for a totally useless reason.
4. "For Ephraim has hired lovers for itself."
A. God says that Ephraim's alliances are the equivalent of prostitution.
B. In the analogy, God is the wife, and Ephraim the husband, while Assyria and Egypt are the prostitutes.
C. When they should be trusting in God for their might, they are instead buying might from their enemies. This is a foreign policy which cannot possibly work.
D. So God, like the Aurora police department, is putting the face of Israel, the solicitor, on the front page of the Samaria Tribune.
E. There is no true satisfaction in fornication or adultery. There is no true satisfaction in any form of illicit sex. But, you must be exceptionally stupid to pay for it. In essence you are paying for something that can never satisfy you.
5. "Even though they hire allies among the nations, now
I will gather them up."
A. Gathering is another way of describing the fifth cycle of discipline. It comes from the piel imperfect verb 'AQABETSEM.
B. This is a harvest word. It means to grasp the heads of grain, and pull them off, and collect them in a basket.
C. It is quite ironic that in essence Israel is hiring human allies to protect themselves from divine discipline. Of course it will not work: God is going to gather them anyway.
D. The verb is in the piel stem, which describes an intensity of action. God is REALLY going to gather them.
E. Since it is the imperfect tense, the action is ongoing - the harvest open-ended.
6. " and king princes will begin little from burden ."
A. The hiphil causative denotes the personal involvement of the king and princes of Israel in this beginning. The verb means that they will gain little from this alliance - that it will be more of a hindrance or burden than a help.
B. The burden must also be considered a result of the king and princes. In essence they are their own burden.
C. The burden itself is the disastrous policy of reliance on alliance instead of God.
"Since Ephraim has multiplied altars for sin, they have
become altars of sinning for him. Though I wrote from him ten
thousand precepts of My law, they are regarded as a strange thing.
As for My sacrificial gifts, they sacrifice the flesh and eat
it, but the Lord has taken no elight in them. Now He will remember
their iniquity, and punish them for their sins; they will return
to Egypt."
1. This is God speaking through Hosea; the Words are His.
2. "Since Ephraim has multiplied altars for sin, they have
become altars of sinning for him"
A. The altars for sin are of course altars for specific idolatry, the direct worship of demons.
B. Every one of those altars that they made resulted in even more sin.
C. What God says is that if you make something for the express purpose of sin, it multiplies sin. You make something that has potential for sin, and you know it, then you will sin.1. Any number of things may be equivalent to this in our own nation.
2. Prostitution and pornography and drug trafficking are all examples of this.
3. "Though I wrote from him ten thousand precepts of
My law, they are regarded as a strange thing."
A. God has communicated His Law clearly and accurately and thoroughly. He has inculcated them with it, so that there could be no mistake about it.
B. Yet, it is a foreign thing to the people of Israel. They consider it with disdain - they think it out of fashion and unpopular.
"For Israel has forgotten his maker and built palaces;
and Judah has multiplied fortified cities, but I will send a
fire on its cities that it may consume its palatial dwellings."
1. This is another prediction of final discipline for both Israel
and Judah.
2. The rationale: they have forgotten their maker, who is the
only one and true God. Do not forget your maker!
3. Israel builds palaces...
A. It is interesting to note that Israel did this at a time of such royal turmoil.
B. When the king is in charge, and he builds a greater palace for himself, it is self-glorification.
C. This is the product of power lust, and utter selfishness. This is the product of one who has no interest in the discharge of public responsibility.
4. Judah has multiplied fortified cities...
A. Having no army, Israel could not do this.
B. But Judah still has her army intact, and her people prepare for the Assyrian invasion.
C. However, a principle: no amount of preparation can stave off divine discipline. Such discipline cannot be averted.
D. You can protect all of your investments and diversify them in a broad manner, but the Lord knows them.
E. You can build your home into a fortress against crime and criminals, but God knows how to penetrate it. 5. So the palaces are consumed, and the threat remains to the fortresses. The death of Israel is a warning to Judah.
Grace Notes
Warren Doud, Editor
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