←Hosea 9→BSB
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Commentary
Hosea 9:1
Do not rejoice: This likely refers to the Feast of Tabernacles, when Israel celebrated the year's final harvest. God ordained this festival (Deuteronomy 16:13–15), but the Israelites turned it into a wild pagan celebration, acting like other nations.
you have played the harlot (literally you have loved a prostitute’s pay): The Israelites mistakenly believed their grain and wine were rewards for worshiping the Canaanite fertility god.
Commentary
Hosea 9:2
As punishment for their prostitution, the Lord would so reduce the Israelites’ harvests that they would go hungry (cp. Hag 1:3–11).
Commentary
Hosea 9:3
God would exile the Israelites to Assyria in 722 BC. There, in an unclean land, they would eat ceremonially unclean food, further separating themselves from their covenant with the Lord.
Commentary
Hosea 9:4
In exile, the Israelites could not offer legitimate sacrifices because any sacrifice in a foreign land was unclean and defiled.
Commentary
Hosea 9:6
Even if some Israelites were to escape Assyrian exile by fleeing to Egypt, God’s relentless judgment would reach them there.
Commentary
Hosea 9:7
Apostate Israelites refused to believe God’s words of judgment as delivered by the prophets and mockingly cried that the prophets were crazy.
Commentary
Hosea 9:8
The watchman stood guard on the wall of the city to warn of any threat (e.g., 1 Sam 14:16). In the same way, a prophet was God’s watchman, stationed to warn Israel of her sin and of the judgment that sin would inevitably bring (see Jer 6:17; Ezek 3:17). Despite his service to the people, all the prophet received was hostility.
Commentary
Hosea 9:9
what they did in Gibeah long ago: See Judg 19–21.
Commentary
Hosea 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.
Commentary
Hosea 9:11
Israel worshiped the baals to ensure that they would have many children, but God would punish them by preventing birth, pregnancy, and even conception.
Commentary
Hosea 9:13
for slaughter: Rather than gaining them more children, the Israelites’ idolatry would backfire, resulting in their children’s deaths.
Commentary
Hosea 9:15
- All their wickedness began at Gilgal: Gilgal was the base camp for Joshua’s army (Josh 5:10; 10:6, 43) and the place where Saul was made king (1 Sam 11:15). Saul also disobeyed God and was rejected as king at Gilgal (1 Sam 13:8–15; 15:10–23). Israel’s leaders, including its first king, had led the nation away from their true king, the Lord.
- I will love them no more: Although a different Hebrew word is used here, the prophetic judgment reflects the name of Hosea’s daughter (Hos 1:6).
Commentary
Hosea 9:17
wanderers: God’s judgment on the Israelites would cut them off from the land, leaving them with no home.