Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself. Hosea 10:1 The abuse of worldly prosperity Homilist. Our version is faulty here. Elzas renders, "Israel is a luxurious vine, whose fruit is very abundant." So our subject is the abuse of prosperity. Some men are very prosperous. Every branch of their life clusters with fruit. Sonic nations are very prosperous. When is prosperity abused? I. When it is used with an exclusive REGARD TO OUR OWN SELFISH ENDS. As — 1. For self-indulgence. 2. For self-aggrandisement.The right which property gives is the right to lay it out for the benefit of our fellow-men. II. WHEN IT IS USED WITHOUT A SUPREME REGARD TO THE CLAIMS OF GOD. Unless we employ our property according to the directions of the Great Proprietor we abuse the trust. How does God require us to employ our property? 1. For the amelioration of human woes. 2. For the dispersion of human ignorance. 3. For the elevation of the human soul.To raise it to the knowledge, the image, the fellowship, and the enjoyment of God. How are we, as a nation, using our enormous prosperity? ( Homilist. ) The figure of the vine W. Henry Green, D. D. , LL. D. Israel is a luxuriant vine. Not as in the A.V. "an empty vine," nor as in the margin A.V. "a vine emptying the fruit which it giveth," but a vine which pours itself forth, spreads out its branches. It denotes the outward prosperity and abundance which they had enjoyed. The vineyard had been planted with the choicest vine, and diligently cultivated, but it bore wretched fruit, significant of sins against God. ( W. Henry Green, D. D. , LL. D. ) The Church compared to a vine Jeremiah Burroughs. 1. No plant has a more unpromising outside than the vine. 2. The vine is the most fruitful plant that grows out of the earth. 3. No plant requires so great care as the vine. 4. The vine is the most depending plant in the world, unable to underprop itself, it must have props more than any other plant, and therefore nature has given it tendrils by which it catches hold of anything near it. 5. If it be not fruitful, it is the most unprofitable thing in the world. 6. A vine is the most spreading of plants. It spreads larger than other plants, and fills a great deal of room with its branches. 7. The vine is the softest and most tender of plants, the emblem of peace. But Israel is an empty, or emptying, vine; he makes himself empty.(1) Emptiness in those who profess themselves to be God's people is a very great evil. It is unnatural. It is a dishonour to the root. It frustrates the Lord of all the care, and cost, and charge He expends. There is no blessing upon thy soul if thou art "an empty vine." If there be grace, it cannot but bear fruit. Common gifts shall be taken away, if the vine proves empty. The evil of emptiness is great according to the greatness of opportunities.(2) Sin will empty a land of all the blessings God has bestowed. Sin is an emptying thing; it empties lands, families, and persons of all their outward comforts.(3) It is all one, to be an empty Christian, and to bring forth fruit to oneself. Men think that which they bring forth to themselves is clear gain; but this is an infinite mistake, for that which is for thyself is lost, and that which is for God is gained. ( Jeremiah Burroughs. ) Israel as a robbed vine The prophet means, that Israel was like a vine which is robbed after the ingathering is come: for the word bekok means properly to pillage, or to plunder. The prophet compares the gathering of the grapes to robbing; and this view best suits the place. Israel is like a robbed vine, for it was stripped of its fruit; and then he adds, "he will make fruit for himself." I understand by the words that Israel would lay up fruit for himself after the robbing, and sacred history confirms this view; for this people, we know, had been in various ways chastised: so, however, that they gathered new strength. For the Lord intended only to admonish them gently, that they might be healed; but nothing was effected by God's moderation. The case, however, was so, that Israel produced new fruit, as a vine, after having been robbed one year, brings forth a new vintage; for one ingathering does not kill the vine. Thus also Israel did lay up fruit for himself; that is, after the Lord had collected there His vintage, He again favoured the people with His blessing, and, as it were, restored them anew; as vines in the spring throw out their branches, and then produce fruit. God, in the next clause, complains that Israel, after having been once gathered, went on in his own wickedness. This is a useful doctrine. We see how the Lord forbears in inflicting punishments — He does not execute them with the utmost rigour. But how do they act who are thus moderately chastised? As soon as they can recruit their spirits they are carried away by a more head strong inclination, and grow insolent against God. ( John Calvin . ) Israel as a vine E. B. Pusey, D. D. A luxuriant vine; one which poureth out, poureth itself out into leaves, abundant in switches (as most old versions explain it), luxuriant in leaves, emptying itself in them, and empty of fruit; like the fig-tree which our Lord cursed. For the more a fruit tree putteth out its strength in leaves and branches, the less and worse fruit it beareth. "The juices which it ought to transmute into wine it disperseth in the ambitious idle shew of leaves and branches." The sap in the vine is an emblem of His Holy Spirit, through whom alone we can bear fruit. "His grace which was in me," says St. Paul, "was not in vain." It is in vain to us, when we waste the stirrings of God's Spirit in feelings, aspirations, longings, transports, "which bloom their hour and fade." Like the leaves, these feelings aid in maturing fruit; when there are leaves only, the tree is barren, and "nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned." "It bringeth forth fruit for itself," lit. "setteth fruit to, or on, itself." Luxuriant in leaves, its fruit becomes worthless, and is from itself to itself. It is uncultured (for Israel refused culture), pouring itself out, as it willed, in what it willed. It had a rich shew of leaves, a shew also of fruit, but not for the Lord of the vineyard, since they came to no size or ripeness. Yet to the superficial glance, Israel, at this time, was rich, prosperous, healthy, abundant in all things. ( E. B. Pusey, D. D. ) Self-aggrandisement, and its secret Joseph Parker, D. D. "He bringeth forth fruit unto himself"; and yet, literally, he brings forth no fruit at all, only long stem and tendril, and leaves innumerable; his fruit is all foliage. The figure is very Hebraic and grand. Israel is a vine, and a growing vine, but Israel misses the purpose of the vine by never growing any wine; growing nothing but weedy leaves, and so disappointing men when they come to find fruit thereon, and discover none. The Church is an empty vine. Theology is an empty vine. All religious controversy that is conducted for its own sake — that is to say, with the single view of winning a victory in words — is an empty vine, — luxuriant enough, but it is the luxuriance of ashes. "According to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land, they have made goodly images." They have gone pari passu with the Almighty — He, the living Father, doing the good, and they, the rebellious men, doing proportionate evil. When the harvest has been plentiful, the idolatry has been large, increasing in urgency and importance; when the vine has brought forth abundantly, another image has been set up. That is the teaching of the prophet; yea, that is the impeachment of God. God may be represented as saying, Your wickedness has been in proportion to My goodness; the more I have given you, the less I have received from you; the larger the prosperity with which I have crowned you, the more zealous have you been in your idolatry; the more lovingly I have revealed Myself to you, the greater your wantonness, selfishness, and rebellion. That is not only Hebrew, it is English; that is not only ancient history, it is the tragedy, the blasphemy of to-day. What is the explanation? Where is the point at which we can stand and say: This is the beginning of the mischief? The answer is in the second verse, "Their heart is divided." That has always been the difficulty of God; He has so seldom been able to get a consenting heart. God says: These people want to do two irreconcilable things — they want to serve God and Mammon; they want to courteously recognise the existence of Jehovah, and then run to kiss the lips of Baal. Their heart does not all go one way; they cannot wholly throw off the true religion; it has indeed become to them little better than a superstition, but men do not like to gather up all the traditions of the past, and cast them in one bundle into the flowing river, in the hope that it may he carried away and lost for ever. So they come to the altar sometimes; now and again they look in at the church door; intermittently they listen to the old Psalm and the half-remembered hymn; but in the soul of them they are drunk with idolatry. There are persons very anxious to maintain orthodoxy who are the most notorious thieves in society; there are those who would subscribe to any society to defend Sunday, if they might do on Monday just what they liked; they are zealous about the Sabbath, and especially zealous that other people should keep it, but on Monday you would never imagine that there was a Sunday. "Their heart is divided." ( Joseph Parker, D. D. ) The self-shoot the wrong one to cultivate H. F. Wetherby. A little while ago an inexperienced hand had trained a rose-tree over a porch, The leaves of the tree were green, and the growth was strong, but not a flower was there. "Why is this?" inquired the master of a skilled gardener. The answer was given by an act, not by words, for, taking out his pruning knife, the gardener in one moment levelled the rampant growth to the ground. "What have you done?" cried the master. "Don't you see, sir," was the reply; "your man has been cultivating the wrong shoot!" and, at the same time, the gardener pointed out the grafted rose, which had barely struggled two inches above the ground, and which the wild shoot had completely overwhelmed. In a few months the graft, set free from the encumbering growth of the wrong shoot, sent out in vigorous life its beautiful branches, and covered the porch with its luxuriance; and there it lives, a parable of heavenly things. Not all the cultivation or training in the world could have made that wrong shoot become a beautiful and flowering tree, neither will the efforts of a whole life succeed in making our "old man" like Christ, or fruitful towards God. God has condemned our nature in the Cross of Christ: He has judicially cut it down; and no fruit fit for God shall grow upon it for ever. The practical word, then, to those Christians who are seeking to produce out of self-fruit acceptable to God is, Do not cultivate the wrong shoot. ( H. F. Wetherby. ) Sin the product of man's free will E. M. Taylor. This is the oldest illustration of cause and effect known to our race. The Old Testament, with its system of conscience education, is a profound commentary on the subject, its moral law creating a knowledge of sin, its sacrificial system deepening the sense of the guilt of sin, and its prophetic ministry denouncing sin, and bringing the sorrow and suffering following sin home to the hearts of the kings and the people with unflinching courage and precision. None the less striking is this truth when read from the pages of classic heathenism. It is Helen's crime and that of Paris which brings on sorrow in the downfall of Troy. A Eschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides are pagan preachers enunciating the terrible judgments following in the train of wrong-doing. Dante, Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton build their poems and construct their dramas upon this foundation. Sin is the product of man's free will. "Israel bringeth forth fruit unto himself." In appropriating the gifts of God to self-gratification the Creator has been ignored. Sin is man's own product. It is the child of our own self-will. While it is true that in every human being there is a persistent tendency to take the wrong direction in moral development, yet no man is ever otherwise than a wilful sinner. The election by the individual will to act counter to the requirements of God is the source of all sin. Again, we see the insidious manner in which sin makes its home in the human heart. Self-interest is pressed into the service of sin, but sin, once getting a foothold, transforms a healthy serf-interest into gross selfishness. Growth and prosperity are turned to sinful uses. In the satiety of self-indulgence, in the greed of self-aggrandisement, in the divided heart, we witness the wreck of God's purposes as they are related to human life. Into this terrible state of antagonism to the will of God the prophet Hosea declares Israel has come. When the Almighty created man with free will, He, in a sense, "set bounds to His own omnipotence." From that hour man has held in his will the awful power of resisting God. Sorrow, then, and suffering, are the inevitable results of persistent wilful sin. The moment sin is committed judgment begins with the steady developments of growth. But in the distressing picture of sin and its consequences now before us there is relief afforded. Sad, indeed, would be the lot of man if he were irrevocably doomed to endure the conditions of his terrible fortune. There is promised the overthrow of the dominion of sin by repentance and service in the cause of righteousness. ( E. M. Taylor. ) Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty. Hosea 10:2 A divided heart It is one grievous fault with the Church of Christ at the present day, that it is not merely divided somewhat in its creed, and somewhat also in the practice of its ordinances, but, alas! it is also somewhat divided in heart. When our doctrinal divisions grow to so great a head that we cease to co-operate, when our opinions upon mere ordinances become so acid towards each other that we can no longer extend the right hand of fellowship to those who differ from us, then indeed is the Church of God found faulty. Even Beelzebub, with all his craft, cannot stand when once his hosts are divided. The smallest church in the world is potent for good when it hath but one heart and one soul; when pastor, elders, deacons, and members are bound together by a threefold cord which cannot be broken. Union is strength. By union we live, and by disunion we expire. Apply the text to our individual condition. I. A FEARFUL DISEASE. "Their heart is divided." 1. The seat of the disease. It affects a vital part, a part so vital that it affects the whole man. There is no power, no passion, no motive, no principle which does not become vitiated when once the heart is diseased. 2. The disease touches this vital part after a most serious fashion. The heart is cleft in twain. Nothing can go right when that which should be one organ becomes two; when the one motive power begins to send forth its life-floods into two diverse channels, and so creates intestine strife and war. 3. It is a division in itself peculiarly loathsome. Men who are possessed of it do not feel themselves unclean; they will venture into the church, they will propose to receive her communion, and they will afterwards go and mingle with the world; and they do not feel that they have become dishonest. Take the glass and look into that man's heart, and you will discern that it is loathsome, because Satan and sin reign there. All the while that he is living in sin he is pretending that he is a child of God. Stand out in thy true colours. If thou art a worldling, be a worldling. 4. It is a disease always difficult to cure, because it is chronic. It is not an acute disease, which brings pain and suffering and sorrow with it. But it is chronic, it has got into the very nature of the man. What physician can join together a divided heart? 5. This disease is a very difficult one to deal with, because, it is a flattering disease. The most cunning of all flatterers is a man's own heart. A man's own heart will flatter him, even about his sins. He is contented and self-satisfied. II. THE USUAL SYMPTOMS OF THE DISEASE. 1. Formality in religious worship. These men have no faith; they have only a creed. They have no life within, and they supply its place with outward ceremony. What wonder, therefore, that we fiercely defend that! 2. Inconsistency. You must not see him always if you would have a good opinion of him. You must be guarded as to the days on which you call upon him. You must have a divided heart if you live an inconsistent life. 3. Variableness in object. There are men who run first in one direction then in another. Their religion is all spasmodic. They are taken with it as men are taken with the ague. They take up with religion, and then they lay it down again. 4. Frivolity in religion is often a token of a divided heart. It is perhaps too common a sin with young persons to treat religion with a light and frivolous air. There is a seriousness which is well-becoming, especially in youthful Christians. III. THE SAD EFFECTS OF A DIVIDED HEART. When a man's heart is divided he is at once everything that is bad. 1. With regard to himself, he is an unhappy man. Men who are neither this nor that, neither one thing nor another, are always uneasy and miserable. 2. He is useless in the Church. Of what good is such a man to us? We cannot put him in a pulpit or make him a deacon. We cannot commit to his charge spiritual matters, because we discern that he is not spiritual himself. We know that no man who is not united in his heart vitally and entirely to Christ can ever be of the slightest service to the Church of God. 3. He is dangerous to the world. He is like a leper going abroad in the midst of healthy people; he spreads the disease. Though outwardly whitewashed like a sepulchre, he is more dangerous to the world than the most vicious of men. 4. He is contemptible to everybody. When he is found out nobody receives him; scarcely will the world own him, and the Church will have nothing to administer to him but censure. 5. He is reprobate in the sight of God. To the eye of infinite purity he is one of the most obnoxious and detestable of beings. The holy God both hates his sin and the lies with which he endeavours to cover it. IV. THE FUTURE PUNISHMENT OF THE MAN WHOSE HEART IS DIVIDED. Unless he is rescued by a great salvation. Let me describe the terrible condition of the hypocrite when God shall come to judge the world. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) The divided heart A. Maclaren, D. D. The root of the evil in Israel was, as always, a heart divided, — that is, between God and Baal, — or, perhaps, "smooth," that is, dissimulating and insincere. In reality, Baal alone possesses the heart which its owner would share between him and Jehovah. "All in all, or not at all" is the law. Whether Baals or calves were set beside God, He was equally deposed. Then with a swift turn Hosea proclaims the impending judgment, setting himself and the people as if down in the future. He hears the first peal of the storm, and echoes it in that abrupt "now." The first burst of the judgment scatters dreams of innocence, and the cowering wretches see their sin by the lurid light. That discovery awaits every man whose heart has been "divided." To the gazers and to himself masks drop, and the true character stands out with appalling clearness. What will that light show us to be? The ruin of their projects teaches godless men at last that they have been fools to take their own way; for all defences, resources, and protectors, chosen in defiance of God, prove powerless when the strain comes. It is a dismal thing to have to bear the brunt of chastisement for what we see to have been a blunder as well as a crime. ( A. Maclaren, D. D. ) Antagonistic principles Christian Herald. Solomon wanted to live a life of self-indulgence while posing as a servant of God. His offering costly sacrifices, and building a magnificent temple, and making a beautiful prayer, could not rectify the inconsistency. The two could not exist together in one person. It was like the ice palace built for an empress of Russia, which was beautiful as a dream, with elaborate architecture, and glistening like a jewel in the sun. But it was intensely cold, and the empress ordered a fire to be built in it. The architect had to explain to her that the fire would destroy the building. She could not have an ice palace and warmth at the same time. Neither can any one have a heart of icy selfishness along with the warmth of God's love. ( Christian Herald. ) A divided heart A. J. Gordon. You know there is what is called "changeable silk," which looks now green and now brown, just as the light chances to strike it. It is neither brown nor green, as a matter of fact, but a commingling and compromise of the two: therefore you can get whichever colour you like, according as you present it to the sun. And I am sorry to say that it is so with a good many Christians. You can get a worldly shade or a heavenly shade on their piety, just according to the company they are in. ( A. J. Gordon. ) Divided hearts W. L. Watkinson. We are told that some of our scientists have recently been trying a very doubtful experiment. They take a section of one creature and fasten it upon another creature of an altogether different type. This is done by a delicate surgery when the creature is immature, and when it comes to perfection you have a strange monster. For instance, it is said that they fasten a section of a spider on the butterfly, and by and by you get an alarming and tragical organism. You may imagine what becomes of those antagonistic impulses and instincts. The creature has a feeling for the light and a passion for the darkness; it has a taste for blood, and loves the scent of roses; is afraid of itself and worries itself. Now, when you have seen the spider and the butterfly blended into one organism, you have seen a pale reflection of your own personality. One part of us sympathises with the low and another part with the lofty; one part of us looks into the firmament and another part cleaves to the dust. ( W. L. Watkinson. ) A divided heart In every age and country there are some found with divided hearts on the subject of religion. Such was Hiram, King of Tyre, who, while he blessed the Lord that Solomon was king, and gladly traded with him for some of the materials for building a temple to Jehovah, also contributed one hundred and twenty talents of gold towards its erection. And yet, in his own country, he dedicated a golden pillar to Jupiter, built the temples of Hercules and Astarte, the Ashtaroth of the Zidonians, and enriched the shrines of the god and goddess with valuable gifts. So Redwald, the King of East Anglia, when converted to Christianity, is said to have kept two altars, the one to the God of the Christians, the other to Woden, a Saxon idol, being afraid of the imaginary god whom he had so long worshipped. So there are some now, who appear very religious at times, and yet their hearts go after covetousness, and they are quite at home in the circles of the gay and in the indulgence of sinful pleasure. Judgment on the divided heart George Hutcheson. 1. As the heart is a vital part, which cannot be divided without death, so men can have no life of God, nor acknowledgment of Him, when they are not solely and wholly for Him and His way. 2. When men do fall from God's way, it is just with Him to give them up to start and multiply divisions without end in their own way. 3. Civil dissensions and commotions are the just fruits of men's divisions in the matter of God and His worship. ( George Hutcheson. ) They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus Judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of a field. Hosea 10:4 Social sins and their result Homilist. I. SOCIAL SINS. 1. Vain speech. "They utter empty speeches." Not only are words of falsehood, blasphemy, and unchastity sinful, but empty words. How much idle language is there current in society! 2. False swearing. In judicial courts, in homes, in shops, in fields. 3. Unrighteous treaties. There is no harm in making covenants. Making a bad covenant is implied. The primal reference is to certain treaties Israel had formed with foreign nations. Untruthful as well as unrighteous bargains, are being struck every hour. II. RESULTS OF SOCIAL SINS. "Judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field." Out of these social sins certain results appear. How do they come? 1. They come as a growth. Every sin is a seed from which a pestiferous plant must spring. 2. They come as a poison. Hemlock, or poppy, or darnel; poisonous productions. 3. They come in abundance. Very prolific is sin. See its plants growing in the ridges and furrows of life; in sick chambers, hospitals, workhouses, in prisons, in battlefields. ( Homilist. ) Sin disturbing human relations A. Maclaren, D. D. The sin of Israel is now contemplated in its effects on human relations. Before, it was regarded in relation to God. But men who are wrong with Him cannot be right with one another. Morality is rooted in religion, and, if we lie to God, we shall not be true to our brother. Hence, passing over all other sins for the present, Hosea fixes upon one, the prevalence of which strikes at the very foundation of society. What can be done with a community in which lying has become a national characteristic, and that even in formal agreements? Honeycombed with falsehood, it is only fit for burning. Sin is bound by an iron link to penalty. "Therefore," says Hosea, God's judgment springs up, like a bitter plant (the precise name of which is unknown) in the furrows, where the farmer did not know that its seeds lay. They little dreamed what they were sowing when they scattered abroad their lives, but this is the fruit of that. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap"; and whatever other crop we may hope to gather from our sins, we shall gather that bitter one, which we did not expect. The inevitable connection of sin and judgment, the bitterness of its results, the unexpectedness of them, are all here, and to be laid to heart by us. ( A. Maclaren, D. D. ) Sin the cause of sorrow T. D. Anderson. There is a connection between sin and sorrow, between wickedness and calamity, between moral transgression and physical, social, political disaster. We may define sin negatively is impiety, iniquity, unspirituality; but Hosea speaks of it as a positive aggressive force, inflicting injury on the heart of the individual transgressor, and infecting also the external condition of the people. In emphasising the influence of sin on external conditions, the prophet teaches a profound truth, but not the whole truth. Jesus teaches that sin works disaster, even when the external condition is prosperous, and all that appears is respectable. Moral transgression is always followed by moral punishment. The connection between moral transgression and physical disaster is not constant and necessary. The prophet begins with a reference to Israel's condition as blessed by God. "Israel is a luxuriant vine." But he is found guilty. Here is the prophet's charge against Israel on account of their sin. 1. It perverts prosperity. Prosperity itself is not sinful. It is far from the thought of the Hebrew prophet that misery is the normal condition of the servant of Jehovah. But sin perverts prosperity. It allows the material to eclipse the spiritual. It fails to use prosperity for the noblest ends. It fails to take account of the latent force of prosperity; it does not appreciate its value. Prosperity is to be valued as a condition of life, as a means of ministering to life more abundant. 2. It destroys religion, and takes away its inspiration. Sin does not at once do away with religion. It would fashion religion to its liking; but in this transformation the essence of religion evaporates. So it was at least in Israel. In perfunctory religion there is nothing to take hold of and mould the man. 3. It invalidates government. The deepest conditions of national prosperity are not of man's creation, not determined by human legislatures. The political intercourse of men is conditioned on eternal principles of right, and nations as well as men must act in truth. 4. It emasculates society. It is a pitiable picture which Amos and Hosea paint of society in Samaria. Appetite reigns, drunkenness abounds, licentiousness and cruelty follow in their train. The very indulgence which sin practises defeats its own object. The fibre of the muscle is relaxed, the vigour of the mind is gone, patience, courage, hope have fled with faith, and the people lie supine, weak, inert. The prophet has disclosed the disastrous consequences of sin, but his purpose is to establish righteousness. God's aim is not to curse, but to bless. But alas! the prophet, like all spiritual teachers, speaks to heavy ears. The people have but little leisure for righteousness. They would none of Hosea's counsel, they despised all his reproof. ( T. D. Anderson. ) The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Beth-aven. Hosea 10:5, 6 The degrading influence of false worship George Hutcheson. Doctrine — I. Idolatry is matter of ignominy to any place or interest that owns it; for it turns Beth-el into Beth-aven. 2. It proves the vanity of idols that their worshippers cannot trust in them, but must be solicitous and anxious about them in straits; for so were they about the calves of Beth-aven. This solicitude differs far from the fear of God's people about His worship and ordinances in times of danger, which does not flow from their diffidence in God, but from the sense of their guilt. 3. Anything that men place their confidence in beside God will prove matter of fear and terror. For so did the calves prove to Samaria in the time of their siege. 4. Albeit corrupt worship and religion may seem strange at first to them who have been bred up in the truth, yet in process of time, and being attended with success, it may take with them who are not well rooted. 5. Such as are eminently employed in and great gainers by corrupt worship have a sad day abiding them, therefore it is added in special that mourning is abiding the priests. 6. The glory of idolatry and of a false religion (being but borrowed, and having nothing to commend it but novelty and success) will at last vanish and depart. God will bring about this by judgments, when no other means will effectuate it. "The glory thereof is departed from it." This will be the lot of all false ways; whereas truth, however men loathe it for awhile, will still at last be found to be lovely, and to have a native unstained beauty. ( George Hutcheson. ) The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed. Hosea 10:8 Redeeming qualities gone Joseph Parker, D. D. Beth-el means the "house of God," and by iniquity, manifold and black, Beth-el was turned into Beth-aven, which means the "house of vanity." This is an instance of deterioration, and more than mere deterioration; it is an instance of transformation from good to bad, from the heights of heaven to the depths of the world of fire. Such miracles can be accomplished in the individual character, and such miracles have been found possible in ecclesiastical relationship. But the case is worse. We now read of "the high places also of Aven"; the "Beth" is left out: once it was Beth-aven, the house of vanity; now nothing is left but the vanity itself. That is the process of unchecked, untaught, unsanctified nature. We say of a man, he has still one or two redeeming qualities; but the time comes when every redeeming feature is lost. Then men say of the abandoned one, Aven, vanity, all vanity and vexation of spirit. ( Joseph Parker, D. D. ) Degeneration When men degenerate from the pure teaching of God, they in vain cover their profanations with empty names. God loudly proclaims respecting Beth-el that it is Beth-aven, and the reason is well known; it is because Jeroboam erected temples and appointed new sacrifices without God's command. The Lord approves of nothing but what He Himself commands. Hence the high places of Aven shall perish. ( John Calvin . ) O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah. Hosea 10:9-11 Sin and punishment A. Maclaren, D. D. "The days of Gibeah" recall the hideous story of lust and crime, which was the low-water mark

Benson Commentary Hosea 10:1 Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images. Hosea 10:1 . Israel is an empty vine — The Hebrew, ??? ???? , may either signify, an empty, or emptying vine. If we take it in the former sense, the meaning is, Israel is a vine which has no fruit on it; that is, that they brought forth no fruit to God, had no true worshippers of him among them, none that truly served and glorified him; for it is said in the following words that he brought forth fruit unto himself. If the expression be understood in the other sense, and be rendered an emptying vine, the sense of the clause is, Israel is a vine which casteth its grapes, that is, does not bring them forth to perfection. And by the next words, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself, may be understood, not only that they used the blessings which God had given them according to their pleasure, and to the gratification of their lusts, but that their apparent good works proceeded from selfish motives, and not from a regard to the glory and will of God. The LXX. give the expression yet another sense, ??????? ???????????? , a vine well furnished with branches: with which accords the Vulgate, vitis frondosa. Thus interpreted, the words may be considered as indicative of their national prosperity, increasing population, and military strength. According to the multitude of his fruit — By the fruit here spoken of we are not to understand good works, but their abundant crops, numerous flocks and herds, and public opulence; he hath increased the altars — When their land yielded a most plentiful harvest, and their flocks, and herds, and wealth increased, this plenty was employed on multiplying their idols. Their idolatrous altars were as numerous as their national prosperity was great, and were increased in proportion thereto. And according to the goodness, &c., they have made goodly images — Imagining that the goodness of their land was a blessing from their idols. Bishop Horsley reads here, Like the beauty of his land he made the beauty of his images, interpreting the meaning to be, “That the exquisite workmanship of his images was as remarkable as the natural beauty of his country.” Hosea 10:2 Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: he shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images. Hosea 10:2-3 . Their heart is divided — Between God and their idols, or between God and the world. Now shall they be found faulty — As this was their sin, so it is here threatened, that the effects thereof should prove, and be an open manifestation of their guilt. The Hebrew ??? ?????? , may be rendered, now shall they be punished, or, treated as guilty. So the Vulgate, nunc interibunt, now, that is, forthwith, shall they perish. He shall break down their altars, &c. — That is, God shall cause their idolatrous altars to be broken down, namely, by the Assyrians. For now they shall say — They shall see and feel, and be compelled to own; We have no king — Absolutely none, or no such king as we need and expected. This is thought by some commentators to relate to the time of anarchy, or the interregnum which continued for eight or nine years between the murder of Pekah and the settlement of Hoshea on the throne; because we feared not the Lord — They shall be sensible that their forsaking the Lord for idols, and their casting off his fear, is the true cause of all their calamities; and particularly of their being deprived of the blessing of a wise, just, and good civil government. What then — Or rather, But what should a king do for us? A king could not save us without the help of God. The verse, however, seems rather to refer to the time of their captivity, and the sense probably is, “After Israel shall be carried captive into the country of their enemies, and shall have no king over their nation, they shall then acknowledge that this misfortune has happened to them through their own fault, and because they have not feared the Lord. And they shall acknowledge that it would profit them nothing to have kings, without having also the protection of God.” — Calmet. Hosea 10:3 For now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared not the LORD; what then should a king do to us? Hosea 10:4 They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field. Hosea 10:4 . They have spoken words — Mere empty words; swearing falsely in making a covenant — This may be spoken either of their breaking their solemn covenant with God, (see Hosea 5:7 ,) or of their treachery toward their kings, against whom they had formed several conspiracies: see 2 Kings 15:10 ; 2 Kings 15:14 ; 2 Kings 15:25 ; 2 Kings 15:30 . Thus judgment — Divine vengeance; springeth up as hemlock, &c. — Destructive calamities, inflicted by the righteous judgment of God, will necessarily abound, as hemlock does in the furrows of a field. Bishop Horsley renders the verse, Negotiate, (or, talk words, ) swear false oaths, ratify a treaty; nevertheless judgment shall sprout up, like hemlock over the ridges of the field. Which version he paraphrases thus: “Negotiate alliances with one power after another; make a treaty with the Assyrians; bind yourselves to it with an oath; break your oath, and make a new alliance with the Egyptian. In spite of all measures of crooked policy, all acquisitions of foreign aid and support, judgment is springing up.” Hosea 10:5 The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Bethaven: for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it. Hosea 10:5 . The inhabitants of Samaria — That is, the kingdom of Israel; shall fear — “Be in a consternation.” — Horsley. Because of the calves of Beth-aven — The Jewish writers have a tradition, that the golden calf at Dan was taken away by Tiglath-pileser, when he subdued Galilee, 2 Kings 15:29 ; and the other at Beth-el, (here called Beth-aven: see note on chap. Hosea 4:15 ,) by order of Shalmaneser, of which probably this is a prophecy. For the people thereof shall mourn over it — Hebrew, ??? ???? , shall grieve for him; and the priests thereof that rejoiced in it — Being fed, clothed, and enriched by it, shall now sorrow over it; for the glory thereof — The riches of its temple; because it is departed — The Assyrians either broke it, or carried it away into Assyria. Both priests and people shall mourn and be distressed when they see it disgraced. Hosea 10:6 It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to king Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel. Hosea 10:6-8 . It — The golden calf; shall be carried into Assyria — It was the custom of the eastern people, and also of the Romans, to carry away the gods of the conquered countries. For a present to King Jareb — See note on Hosea 5:13 . The king of Assyria is meant, whose dependant and tributary the king of Israel now was. Ephraim shall receive shame — They shall be ashamed to find that the idol in which they trusted could not defend them or itself from being disgraced and taken away. Bishop Horsley’s version here is, Ephraim shall be overtaken in sound sleep, namely, in a dream of security, when nothing will be less in his thoughts than danger; and Israel shall be disgraced by his own politics; that is, the politics of the treaties of alliance, mentioned Hosea 10:4 . An impolitic alliance with the king of Egypt was the immediate occasion of Shalmaneser’s rupture with Hoshea, which ended in the captivity of the ten tribes. As for Samaria, her king is cut off — Or, more literally, according to the Hebrew, Samaria is cut off, (or destroyed,) with her king; or, by a small alteration of the pointing, Her king is as the foam upon the water — Namely, as a bubble, which no sooner swells than it bursts: as if he had said, Many of her kings have rapidly passed away by assassination: and Hoshea shall soon be cut off by the king of Assyria. The high places also — The temples and altars dedicated to idolatrous worship, and usually placed on hills and mountains; of Aven — Or, Beth-aven; the sin of Israel — That is, the temples and altars, in and by which Israel has so greatly sinned, shall be destroyed, shall be entirely demolished; so that the thorn and the thistle shall come upon their altars — That is, their altar shall become such heaps of ruins, and the places around them be made so desolate, that thorns and thistles shall overrun and cover them. And they shall say to the mountains, Cover us — These words express the confusion and despair to which the Israelites should be reduced by the destruction of their country. Our Lord has made use of the same words, to denote the extremity of the Jews in the last siege of Jerusalem; and St. John, in the Revelation, to set forth the terror of the wicked in the day of judgment. They express also the great consternation of the wicked when any of God’s singular judgments overtake them, whose guilt prompts them to endeavour to hide themselves, and they even run into the darkest caves and holes of rocks to secure themselves. Hosea 10:7 As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the water. Hosea 10:8 The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us. Hosea 10:9 O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah: there they stood: the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them. Hosea 10:9 . O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah — This is not the first of thy sinning, O Israel, for long ago there was the greatest corruption of manners, and the most flagrant wickedness in Gibeah; and thou hast continued to be wicked ever since that time: see Judges 19. Some render the words, Thou hast sinned more than in the days of Gibeah. Thou hast been guilty of more atrocious crimes than that committed in that place. There — That is, upon that occasion, namely, the quarrel with the tribe of Benjamin, on account of the outrage of the men of Gibeah. They stood — Israel stood there in array, prepared for the attack. This relates to the war which the rest of the Israelites made against the Benjamites, because they would not deliver up the men of Gibeah, who had so shamefully and cruelly abused the Levite’s concubine: see Judges 20. The battle in Gibeah, &c., did not overtake them — By them here is meant not the children of iniquity, but the Israelites who warred against the Benjamites, because they would not deliver up these sinners; and the sense of the expression, the battle did not overtake them, is, that they were not overcome in this their attempt to inflict a just punishment on the perpetrators of a flagrant iniquity; for, though they were overcome in two battles, yet at last they gained an entire victory, and cut off all the Benjamites but six hundred: see notes on Judges 20. Hosea 10:10 It is in my desire that I should chastise them; and the people shall be gathered against them, when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows. Hosea 10:10 . It is my desire that I should chastise them — Then I protected and gave them success, but now it is my desire that they should suffer due punishment; and I will bring punishment upon them. And the people shall be gathered against them — Either the Assyrians, whose alliance they formerly sought after; or those people whose idolatry they had complied with. When they shall bind themselves in their two furrows — The LXX. give a much plainer and easier sense of the words, who follow the marginal reading of the Hebrew, and render it, When I shall chastise them for their two iniquities; namely, the calves of Dan and Beth-el. Bishop Horsley, however, understands the passage in a sense somewhat similar to that given in our translation. His version of it is, When they are tethered down to their two furrows, which he explains as follows: “When they are tied to their two faults; that is, when they are reduced to a situation of such difficulty and danger, as to have no hope of deliverance by any measures of human policy, in which alone they place their confidence, but by choosing one or other of two alliances, the Egyptian or the Assyrian; in the forming of either of which they are criminal, having been repeatedly warned against all foreign alliances.” Hosea 10:11 And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn ; but I passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods. Hosea 10:11 . Ephraim is a heifer that is taught — Or, that is teachable; and loveth to tread out the corn — In opposition to ploughing; that is, loves the booty not gained by its own labour; or to tread out, and freely eat of the corn which is not its own. The mouth of the ox which trod out the corn was not muzzled. But I passed over — Or caused a yoke to pass over; her fair neck — Laid a light yoke upon her. Ephraim being here compared to a heifer, every thing that is said about him is therefore expressed in the same way as if a heifer were really spoken of. The meaning, laying aside the figurative expression, is, that God imposed a law upon Ephraim, or the Israelites, to direct and govern them. Will make Ephraim to ride — It seems this should rather be rendered, I will ride upon Ephraim, that is, I will be his ruler or director: those who had the management of oxen or heifers in those countries, used often to ride upon them. Thus Bishop Horsley: “This and the following clause give the image of a husbandman mounting his bullock to direct it over the corn.” Judah shall plough, and Jacob shall break his clods — By Jacob here is meant Israel, or the ten tribes, as separated from the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin; and the clause seems to signify that the kingdom of Judah should be superior to that of Israel. Or, the general sense of the verse may be, that the descendants of Jacob should be employed in servile offices by their enemies. Bishop Horsley interprets this difficult passage differently, thus: “The first three clauses of this verse express what had been done for the instruction of Ephraim by the Mosaic institution. The last two predict the final conversion of the Ephraimites, with the rest of the people, and their restoration to a condition of national splendour and prosperity. As if he had said, Notwithstanding the judgments that are to fall upon Ephraim, he was long under the training of my holy law; and the effect of that early discipline shall not be ultimately lost. I will, in the end, bring Ephraim to obedience. Judah shall be diligent in the works I prepare for him; and the whole race of Jacob shall take part in the same labours of the spiritual field, with profit and advantage to themselves.” Hosea 10:12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you. Hosea 10:12 . Sow to yourselves in righteousness. — Exercise yourselves in the works of righteousness and holiness, in the performance of all duties due both to God and man. Reap in mercy — And then God, of his grace and mercy, will, in due time, bestow an abundant reward upon you. Break up your fallow ground — Your hearts are as ground overrun with weeds, which have need to be ploughed and broken up by conviction, humiliation, and godly sorrow for sin, that good seed may be sown in them. For it is time — High time, if you mean to do it at all, and a fit season for it, 2 Corinthians 6:2 , now that troubles are near; to seek the Lord — To seek reconciliation and peace with him, to seek his favour, and a conformity to his will. Seek him, with earnest desire and persevering diligence, in the use of all the means which he hath appointed. Till he come and rain righteousness upon you — That is, pour down his grace and blessings upon you, according to what he has promised. Hosea 10:13 Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men. Hosea 10:13-15 . Ye have ploughed wickedness — Instead of working righteousness, ( Hosea 10:12 ,) you have taken a great deal of pains in the service of sin, to compass your wicked designs. Ye have reaped iniquity — Ye have, in return, received the fruit of iniquity, namely, punishment, or calamity. Ye have eaten the fruit of lies — Fed yourselves with vain hopes, which have deceived and will deceive you. Or, you have trusted to that which has been only specious, not really satisfying or profitable. Because thou didst trust in thy way — Thy own carnal projects and sinful contrivances, particularly the idolatry at Dan and Beth-el. In the multitude of thy mighty men — The next lie, or false ground of their confidence, was the wisdom and valour of their great men. Therefore shall a tumult arise — A terrible outcry, as of men affrighted at the news of the enemies’ approach. And all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, &c. — This seems to be a prophecy of the taking of Samaria by Shalmaneser, which put a final period to the kingdom of Israel, 2 Kings 17:6 . It held out a siege of three years, which probably provoked Shalmaneser to treat it with the severity which he used, when he made himself master of it. The only difficulty in this verse is, what place or person is alluded to by the words, as Shalman spoiled Beth-arbel in the day of battle. It is supposed that by Shalman is meant Shalmaneser; and that Beth-arbel was a place in Armenia which he took and spoiled, putting the inhabitants to the sword without any distinction either of age or sex. But it cannot be said with certainty, that this supposition is founded on fact. Some other conquest, by some other person, might possibly be meant. But it is not material to know this. It was some place which had been treated with great severity by the conqueror, and such treatment the prophet denounces Samaria should meet with. It is worthy of remark, however, that the Vulgate, St. Jerome, and the LXX. (see the Alexandrine MS.) suppose that the history alluded to is Gideon’s destruction of Zalmunna. So shall Beth-el do unto you — “This is the fruit of your worshipping the golden calves at Beth-el and Dan. As it happened to the city above mentioned, so shall it happen to you, because of your iniquities.” In a morning — That is, suddenly, quickly, and unexpectedly; or after a night of adversity, when they thought the morning of prosperity was come; shall the king of Israel be cut off — And the whole state and government of Israel be put an end to along with him. This seems to be spoken of Hoshea, the last king of Israel, who, in the sixth year of his reign, was shut up in prison by the king of Assyria, who, in three years more, made himself master of the whole kingdom of Israel, and carried the inhabitants of it into captivity. The Vulgate, (which, with the LXX. and the Syriac, carries this clause to the next chapter,) instead of ????? , in the morning, seems to have read ????? , as the morning, rendering the clause, sicut mane transit, pertransit rex Israel: “As the morning passes away, so passes away the king of Israel.” This reading Bishop Horsley adopts, and translates to nearly the same sense, thus: As the morning is brought to nothing, to nothing shall the king of Israel be brought: observing, “The sudden and total destruction of the monarchy of the ten tribes is compared to the sudden and total extinction of the beauties of the dawn in the sky, by the instantaneous diffusion of the solar light: by which the ruddy streaks in the east, the glow of orange-coloured light upon the horizon, are at once obliterated, absorbed, and lost in the colourless light of day. The change is sudden even in these climates; it must be more sudden in the tropical; and in all it is one of the most complete that nature presents.” Hosea 10:14 Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Betharbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children. Hosea 10:15 So shall Bethel do unto you because of your great wickedness: in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Hosea 10:1 Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images. 5. ONCE MORE: PUPPET-KINGS AND PUPPET-GODS Hosea 10:1-15 For another section, the tenth chapter, the prophet returns to the twin targets of his scorn: the idols and the puppet-kings. But few notes are needed. Observe the reiterated connection between the fertility of the land and the idolatry of the people. "A wanton vine is Israel; he lavishes his fruit; the more his fruit, the more he made his altars; the goodlier his land, the more goodly he made his macceboth, or sacred pillars. False is the heart of them: now must they atone for it. He shall break the neck of their altars; He shall ruin their pillars. For already they are saying, No king have we, for we have not feared Jehovah, and the king-what could he do for us? Speaking of words, swearing of false oaths, making of bargains-till law breaks out like weeds in the furrows of the field." "For the Calf of Beth-Aven the inhabitants of Samaria shall be anxious: yea, mourn for him shall his people, and his priestlings shall writhe for him - for his glory that it is banished from him." In these days of heavy tribute shall the gold of the golden calf be safe? "Yea, himself shall they pack to Assyria; he shall be offered as tribute to King Pick-Quarrel. Ephraim shall take disgrace, and Israel be ashamed because of his counsel. Undone Samaria! Her king like chip on the face of the waters!" This may refer to one of the revolutions in which the king was murdered. But it seems more appropriate to the final catastrophe of 724-21: the fall of the kingdom, and the king’s banishment to Assyria. If the latter, the verse has been inserted; but the following verse would lead us to take these disasters as still future. "And the high places of idolatry shall be destroyed, the sin of Israel; thorn and thistle shall come up on their altars. And they shall say to the mountains, Cover us, and to the hills, Fall on us." It cannot be too often repeated: these handmade gods, these chips of kings, shall be swept away together. Once more the prophet returns to the ancient origins of Israel’s present sins, and once more to their shirking of the discipline necessary for spiritual results, but only that he may lead up as before to the inevitable doom. "From the days of Gibeah thou hast sinned, O Israel. There have they remained"-never progressed beyond their position there-"and this without war overtaking them in Gibeah against the dastards. As soon as I please, I can chastise them, and peoples shall be gathered against them in chastisement for their double sin." This can scarcely be, as some suggest, the two calves at Bethel and Dan. More probably it is still the idols and the man-made kings. Now he returns to the ambition of the people for spiritual results without a spiritual discipline. "And Ephraim is a broken-in heifer, that loveth to thresh. But I have come on her fair neck. I will yoke Ephraim; Judah must plough; Jacob must harrow for himself. It is all very well for the unmuzzled beast," { Deuteronomy 25:4 ; 1 Corinthians 9:9 ; 1 Timothy 5:18 } to love the threshing, but harder and unrewarded labors of ploughing and harrowing have to come before the floor be heaped with sheaves. Israel must not expect religious festival without religious discipline. "Sow for yourselves righteousness; then shall ye reap the fruit of God’s leal love. Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek Jehovah, till He come and shower salvation upon you. Ye have ploughed wickedness; disaster have ye reaped: ye have eaten the fruit of falsehood; for thou didst trust in thy chariots, in the multitude of thy warriors. For the tumult of war shall arise among thy tribes, and all thy fenced cities shall be ruined, as Salman beat to ruin Beth-Arbel in the day of war: the mother shall be broken on the children"-presumably the land shall fall with the falling of her cities. "Thus shall I do to you, O house of Israel, because of the evil of your evil: soon shall the king of Israel be undone-undone." The political decay of Israel, then, so deeply figured in all these chapters, must end in utter collapse. Let us sum up the gradual features of this decay: the substance of the people scattered abroad; the national spirit dissipated; the national prestige humbled; the kings mere puppets; the prophets corrupted; the national vigor sapped by impurity; the idolatry conscious of its impotence. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.