The Book of Hosea
The Book of Hosea
By Richard St.James
Bible 1611.Com / Old Paths Baptist Mission © 2023
Hosea, chapter nine:
Verse one:
“Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as
other people: for thou hast gone a whoring
from thy God, thou hast loved a reward upon every
cornfloor.”
The other people
here are of the nations of this world. They
are the unrighteous, the unsaved
people of the world [1 Corinthians 6:9]. When
the unrighteous rejoice for joy, they are
signifying that they are enjoying the
pleasures of sin. This is unlike
what Moses’ chose:
“Choosing rather to
suffer affliction with the people of God, than to
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;”
[Hebrews 11:25].
Israel was separated from
all the other nations to be in a special
relationship [called marriage] with the LORD.
There is a reward to
be had upon every cornfloor.
Rather than be true
to the LORD, she had decided to go a
whoring from her God. She yearned
for the rewards that this old world has to
offer for all those who desire to
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a
season.
Verse two:
“The floor and the winepress shall
not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her.”
There are some who only
learn their lessons from the school of
hard knocks. Israel doggedly
pursued the pleasures this world offers,
doing their own thing, but in the end, they
always came up dry just as the wisest man who
ever lived on this earth concluded by the Holy
Ghost:
“Then I looked on all
the works that my hands had wrought, and on the
labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all
was vanity and vexation of spirit, and
there was no profit under the sun.”
[Ecclesiastes 2:11]
When you are running
from God: Everything that can go wrong will go
wrong. This is known as Murphy’s Law.
Remember, everything in
that list in Deuteronomy twenty-eight was to come to
pass if they chose the way of the curse.
And they did!
Verse three:
“They shall not dwell in the LORD'S
land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they
shall eat unclean things in Assyria.”
They shall not dwell
in the LORD'S land.
We commented
earlier in this commentary [in chapter three,
verse four] about the diaspora.
This is also called the
dispersion. DISPERSION = REMOVAL
FROM THE LAND
As stipulated in
the Fifth book of Moses called Deuteronomy, chapter
twenty-eight, God would scatter them if they
committed harlotry.
“And the LORD shall
scatter thee among all people, from the one end of
the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt
serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers
have known, even wood and stone.”
[Deuteronomy 28:64]
The First Dispersion
First, Israel’s
removal occurred in B.C. 721. This is
recorded for us in 2 Kings 17:23:
“Until the LORD
removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by
all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried
away out of their own land to Assyria unto this
day.”
Second, Judah’s
removal occurred in B.C. 610. This is
recorded for us in 2 Kings 23:27:
“And the LORD said, I
will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have
removed Israel, and will cast off this city
Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of
which I said, My name shall be there.”
The Second Dispersion
The second dispersion
of the Jewish people occurred in [A.D. 70].
This is all come true.
It is now history!
- Ezekiel
12:15: “And they shall know that I am
the LORD, when I shall scatter them among the
nations, and disperse them in the countries.”
- Ezekiel
20:23: “I lifted up mine hand unto them also
in the wilderness, that I would scatter them
among the heathen, and disperse them through the
countries;”
- Ezekiel
22:15: “And I will scatter thee among the
heathen, and disperse thee in the countries, and
will consume thy filthiness out of thee.”
Note: The dispersal
which occurred in A.D. 70 is not the end
of the physical state of
Israel. There is a restoration
of the physical state of Israel also
prophesied.
This prophecy is
located in the Epistle to the Romans in chapter
eleven, verses twenty-five and six:
“For I would not,
brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this
mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own
conceits; that blindness in part is happened to
Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come
in.
And so all Israel
shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come
out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away
ungodliness from Jacob:” [Romans
11:25-26]
In that day!
Israel is coming back to
THE LAND [Zechariah 13:1-2].
“In that day there
shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for
uncleanness.
And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.”
Ever since 1917 they
have been coming back to THE LAND!
The Balfour
Declaration of 1917 stated that the British
government “views with favor the establishment in
Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people
and would use their best endeavors to facilitate the
achievement of this object.”
Amen!
Verse four:
“They shall not offer wine
offerings to the LORD, neither shall they be
pleasing unto him: their sacrifices shall be
unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat
thereof shall be polluted: for their bread for their
soul shall not come into the house of the LORD.”
There was no house of
the LORD.
From A.D. 70, and until,
1917 they were dispersed through all the nations of
the earth. There were no wine offerings. They
ate the unclean things in Assyria. They
were a defiled people, seemingly without
hope, and without a temple to bring their
sacrifices.
Verse five:
“What will ye do in the solemn day,
and in the day of the feast of the LORD?”
A defiled people
are in a locked-down state. They are
paralyzed. They cannot from their heart
sing unto God and worship as instructed by
the word of God.
Now, see what the
Spirit saith for this in Psalm eighty-one,
verses one through three:
“Sing aloud unto God
our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of
Jacob.
Take a psalm, and
bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the
psaltery.
Blow up the trumpet in
the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn
feast day.” [Psalm 81:1-3]
What will ye do?
So, what can one do in
this situation when you are defiled and in
tribulation?
Turn to God,
and then, God will turn to you.
The answer is shown here in Deuteronomy chapter
four, verses thirty and thirty-one:
“When thou art in
tribulation, and all these things are come upon
thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn
to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his
voice;
(For the LORD thy God
is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee,
neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy
fathers which he sware unto them.”
[Deuteronomy 4:30-31]
Verse six:
“For, lo, they are gone because of
destruction: Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis
shall bury them: the pleasant places for
their silver, nettles shall possess them: thorns
shall be in their tabernacles.”
They are gone!
Destruction has opened
her mouth. It consumes you, and you
never get any rest. It is like
going through a meat grinder: No ease, no
rest, and no peace.
It is the worst of everything that can happen to a people.
Verse seven:
“The days of visitation are come,
the days of recompence are come; Israel shall know
it: the prophet is a fool, the
spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of
thine iniquity, and the great hatred.”
It is every day a
cloudy day. It is murky out there.
The time is near:
“For the day is near,
even the day of the LORD is near, a cloudy day; it
shall be the time of the heathen.”
[Ezekiel 30:3]
Nobody
can see for the evil in the day. The
sinner is blind, therefore, he stumbles and
he falls, and seemingly, no one cares.
It is, as Jesus Christ said, in the Gospel of John,
chapter eleven, verse ten:
“But if a man walk in
the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light
in him.” [John 11:10]
The spiritual man is
mad.
In the cloudy evil
day all the counsellers will fail.
Read Job, chapter twelve, verse seventeen:
“He leadeth
counsellers away spoiled, and maketh the judges
fools.” [Job 12:17]
This is all happening before our very eyes.
Verse eight:
“The watchman of Ephraim was
with my God: but the prophet is a
snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred
in the house of his God.”
The prophet is a snare
of a fowler
There is a day when
the prophet will behave as a bull in the
china shop. He will hurt the flock
of sheep rather than nurse them. He
will be reckless in situations that require a
surgical delicacy and care.
A prophet [or a pastor]
who breaks things [the things being
the relationships], or who often
misapplies the word of God, or causes
damage in those situations that require prayerful,
and careful thinking, or behavior is like a bull
in a china shop. He will tend to destroy
more than he will heal, and he literally will
cause hatred
in the house of his God.
Verse nine:
“They have deeply corrupted
themselves, as in the days of Gibeah:
therefore he will remember their iniquity, he
will visit their sins.”
Gibeah is the blackest
spot in Israel’s history. [See for this in
the book of Judges, chapter eighteen and nineteen.
Judges 19:22 “Now
as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the
men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the
house round about, and beat at the door, and
spake to the master of the house, the old man,
saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine
house, that we may know him.”
[Note: This is a
replica of what happened in Lot’s day in the
first book of Moses called Genesis, chapter
nineteen.]
This outcome
always happens to a people whenever the sons of
Belial rise up, and control the government
of a people or a land.
Verse ten:
“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.”
I found Israel like
grapes.
I saw your fathers as
the firstripe in the fig tree.
In the time of youth
is the beginning of life. There is an
innocence. There is a newness.
There is a desire for a pure relationship.
She seeks for the One who loves her.
It is the LORD who has
sought Israel out from all the other nations,
and to seek things for her good in a
beautiful relationship to last forever.
It is a fair and very beautiful story,
and the story is still being told.
This story is told
in a BOOK. This BOOK is the BOOK of the LORD!
And in this BOOK we will find a most worth goal for
Israel in Psalm one-hundred and thirty-two.
We will see here a glimpse of God’s goal concerning
the apple of his eye:
“For the LORD hath
chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his
habitation.
This is my rest
for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.
I will abundantly
bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with
bread.
I will also clothe her
priests with salvation: and her saints shall shout
aloud for joy.
There will I make the
horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp for
mine anointed.
His enemies will I
clothe with shame: but upon himself shall his crown
flourish.” [Psalm 132:13-18]
BUT -
they went to Baalpeor, and separated from God.
But as it is often so
true, they left their first love and became
enamored with the things of this world.
Thus, drawn off –
or enticed – Israel left God.
They deserted God. They divorced
God.
Their abominations
were according as they loved.
Now, the effects of
sin follow a person, or a people for the rest
of their lives. What is tragically left is
the rotten fruit and the smell of
death.
Job 13:28: “And he, as
a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is moth
eaten.”
James 1:15:
“Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth
sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth
death.”
Destruction
and death always follows defilement, [unless
there is a remedy].
Verse eleven:
“As for Ephraim, their glory
shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from
the womb, and from the conception.”
Israel had glory in
the days of her youth. In beautiful
simplicity in the days of David, and of Solomon, his
son, they had a taste of glory.
This glory served
as a precursor of the glory which will
follow in the soon coming glory that will be
had in the reign of Jesus Christ on Mount Zion in
the millennial Kingdom of Heaven.
How could this glory
be soon forgotten?
Jeremiah 2:32: “Can a
maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her
attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without
number.”
Here is an
acknowledgment: We all have short memories; we
all tend to forget.
How can we counter-act
this very tendency within all of us to leave the
God that loves us?
Utilize this formula
to counter-act:
This formula is
spelt out to us by the Spirit of God in Psalm
one-hundred and nineteen, verses nine through
eleven:
“Wherewithal shall a
young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto
according to thy word.
With my whole heart
have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy
commandments.
Thy word have I hid in
mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”
Memorize this for your
health!
Verse twelve:
“Though they bring up their
children, yet will I bereave them, that there
shall not be a man left: yea, woe
also to them when I depart from them!”
The God of Israel’s
intention was for the fathers and
mothers of his people to enjoy their
children’s children, as a reward in fearing the LORD
their God. See this promise in the design
of the family in Psalm one-hundred and
twenty-eight, verse six:
“Yea, thou shalt see
thy children's children, and peace upon
Israel.” Psalm 128:6]
But they feared not
the LORD their God, and cleaved to their
harlotry.
Therefore, they lost
the promise of seeing their children’s children.
So here we are!
Though they bring up
their children to lose them.
They put all the work,
and the sacrifice, and the nurture,
into their children only to lose them.
And lose them they did.
Yet will I bereave
them.
The nation of Israel
would hence forth only know bereavement.
As had the prophet prophesied in the book of
Jeremiah, chapter fifteen, verse seven:
“And I will fan them
with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave
them of children, I will destroy my people, since
they return not from their ways.”
[Jeremiah 15:7]
When God departs
from you, it is curtains for you: [It is the
end, or your death, your demise].
Verse thirteen:
“Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, is
planted in a pleasant place: but Ephraim shall bring
forth his children to the murderer.”
As I saw Tyrus:
Now, consider how Tyrus
boasted over the plight of Jerusalem.
That great city of Tyrus which was on the sea
shore of Lebanon was laid waste and was
scraped down to the bare rock, for which we
can see in the book of Ezekiel, chapter twenty-six:
“Son of man,
because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, Aha,
she is broken that was the gates of the people: she
is turned unto me: I shall be replenished, now she
is laid waste:
And they shall destroy
the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers: I
will also scrape her dust from her, and make her
like the top of a rock.” [Ezekiel
26:2, 4].
A word to the wise,
never gloat over the suffering of the
Jewish people. [Romans 11:18, 20, 25]
Boast not!
But Ephraim shall
bring forth his children to the murderer.
Now, who is the
murderer of children?
Why it is someone who
from the beginning was a murderer. And
this person has been identified by Jesus Christ
[when dealing with the dead religious
Pharisees]. Read in the Gospel of John,
chapter eight, verse forty-four:
“Ye are of your
father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye
will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and
abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in
him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own:
for he is a liar, and the father of it.”
[John 8:44]
The DEVIL is the main
instigator of the murdering of children, and
Israel by playing the harlot had become
the willing party to the murders of her own
children.
Verse fourteen:
“Give them, O LORD: what wilt thou
give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.”
Render to them their
desert
Look around you, and see
the mess, that we are all in, because of our sin,
the sin of our nation, and indeed in all the
nations of the earth. The order of
degeneration is like this, as found in the book
of James:
“Then when lust hath
conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it
is finished, bringeth forth death.”
[James 1:15]
Now, when sin has
run its course, the end fruit is miscarrying
wombs and dry breasts. The word of God
says in the book of Psalms in Psalm twenty-eight,
verse four:
“Give them
according to their deeds, and according to the
wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the
work of their hands; render to them their desert.”
[Psalm 28:4]
We get what we
deserve.
Verse fifteen:
“All their wickedness is in
Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness
of their doings I will drive them out of mine house,
I will love them no more: all their princes are
revolters.”
I hated them: for
the wickedness of their doings:
The favorite place
for the people to sin was where they sacrificed
on their altars at Bethel or at Gilgal.
Oh, how religious they are! Go to the
book of Amos, chapter four, verse four.
They said:
“Come to Bethel, and
transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and
bring your sacrifices every morning, and your
tithes after three years:” [Amos
4:4]
I will drive them out
of mine house
The LORD himself
physically fulfilled this prophecy as we find
recorded in the New Testament Gospels of Jesus
Christ:
Matthew 21:12: “And
Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all
them that sold and bought in the temple, and
overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the
seats of them that sold doves,”
Verse sixteen:
“Ephraim is smitten, 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.”
They shall bear no
fruit.
Everything that can go
wrong will go wrong for Ephraim [or Israel]
after they deserted the LORD their God.
Similarly, everything
that can go wrong will go wrong for us [in the
body of Christ] if we sow to the flesh.
In the Epistle to the
Galatians, chapter six, verses seven and eight, we
will find this basic truth:
“Be not deceived; God
is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that
shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh
shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that
soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life
everlasting.” [Galatians 6:7-8]
Note: The sooner the
believer in Jesus Christ fastens on to this
truth, the better off he, or she, will be in
the now and now, and in all eternity.
Verse seventeen:
“My God will cast them away, because
they did not hearken unto him: and they shall be
wanderers among the nations.”
This casting away
of the nation of Israel was already declared earlier
in the Fifth book of Moses called Deuteronomy,
chapter twenty-nine, verse twenty-eight:
“And the LORD rooted
them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and
in great indignation, and cast them into another
land, as it is this day.”
[Deuteronomy 29:28]
[See also: 2 Kings 17:20,
24:20, Jeremiah 15:1, 52:3]
Israel was cast out
of their land, and scattered among the
nations, but even while they were there,
God’s mercy was there to keep their little flame
alive. See for this nugget of truth in Ezekiel
chapter eleven, verse sixteen:
“Therefore say, Thus
saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them off
among the heathen, and although I have scattered
them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a
little sanctuary in the countries where they shall
come.” [Ezekiel 11:16]
And even as they were
cast out their land, there was this comforting
accompaniment of a promise of mercy to them
while they are in the
land of their enemies:
Remember the book of
Leviticus, in chapter twenty-six? [When we were
Hosea chapter five, verse five.]
Well, look now at verse
forty-four:
“And yet for all that,
when they be in the land of their enemies, I will
not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to
destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with
them: for I am the LORD their God.”
[Leviticus 26:44]
As though it never
happened!
Thus, the casting out
of Israel is not permanent. See the
promise of God bringing them back to THE LAND in the
book of the prophet Zechariah. It is in
chapter ten, verse six:
“And I will strengthen
the house of Judah, and I will save the house of
Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them;
for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as
though I had not cast them off: for I am the
LORD their God, and will hear them.”
[Zechariah 10:6]
The mercies of God are
beyond understanding! Amen!
Now, for chapter ten of the book of Hosea.
Friend
If you
know the Bible Is True,
And you
never received
Jesus
Christ as your personal Lord and Savior...
And you
want to come to Him for Salvation now ... Then:
1. Admit
... To God that you are a Sinner...
Deserving Hell Fire...
2. Believe ... that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God...
Who died on the Cross for
You! ...
3. Repent! ... Ask
Him to Forgive You of Your Sin...
4. Receive Him... By
Asking Him to come into Your Heart...
And You
Will Receive the Gift of Eternal Life!
Born of God! You
Are in The Narrow Way ... To HEAVEN!