Punishment Through Exile

Scripture Reading

Hosea 9:1–9 NIV84

1 Do not rejoice, O Israel; do not be jubilant like the other nations. For you have been unfaithful to your God; you love the wages of a prostitute at every threshing floor. 2 Threshing floors and winepresses will not feed the people; the new wine will fail them. 3 They will not remain in the Lord’s land; Ephraim will return to Egypt and eat unclean food in Assyria. 4 They will not pour out wine offerings to the Lord, nor will their sacrifices please him. Such sacrifices will be to them like the bread of mourners; all who eat them will be unclean. This food will be for themselves; it will not come into the temple of the Lord. 5 What will you do on the day of your appointed feasts, on the festival days of the Lord? 6 Even if they escape from destruction, Egypt will gather them, and Memphis will bury them. Their treasures of silver will be taken over by briers, and thorns will overrun their tents. 7 The days of punishment are coming, the days of reckoning are at hand. Let Israel know this. Because your sins are so many and your hostility so great, the prophet is considered a fool, the inspired man a maniac. 8 The prophet, along with my God, is the watchman over Ephraim, yet snares await him on all his paths, and hostility in the house of his God. 9 They have sunk deep into corruption, as in the days of Gibeah. God will remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins.

Introduction

1. Reflection Required (v.1)

As we begin to read through this chapter, we find God calling Israel to engage in some somber reflection concerning their lives and actions, and the way in which they had abandoned God.

In verse 1 we read...

Hosea 9:1 NIV84

1 Do not rejoice, O Israel; do not be jubilant like the other nations. For you have been unfaithful to your God; you love the wages of a prostitute at every threshing floor.

The verse begins with a call for Israel to cease from celebration. They are not to rejoice. They are not engage in joyful celebrations like the nations around them. Instead they are to cease from these because there is grievous sin that is being perpetuated among them as a people. When the people of God are living in sin, it is not a time for jubilant celebration or joy. Rather, it is a time to pause and to reflect on the dishonour being brought on the name of God.

We must see from this verse that in all likelihood there is a reference to the cultic worship practices that they were engaging in as a nation, as they worshipped the Ba’als of Canaan.

In this case, God reminds them through the prophet Hosea of their unfaithfulness towards God. We’ve considered that they have been unfaithful, and that the image was portrayed to them through Hosea’s marriage to Gomer, who was a prostitute and was unfaithful to her husband. And as Gomer had forsaken Hosea, her husband, so Israel had forsaken God and been unfaithful to Him.

Hosea then makes a reference to loving the wages of a prostitute at every threshing floor.

The reference here would see Israel as the prostitute. They are the ones that had given themselves over to the fertility cult. They were trusting in other gods. They were trusting in the Baals of the surrounding nations. Recall, it was believed by them that these gods were bringing them their grain. And so they loved the wages at the threshing floor. They would celebrate the harvest, thinking that it was these other gods that had brought their income to them, that had brought them their food.

And they would continue to indulge in the pagan practices of the temple prostitutes and debauched acts.

Before we go further, I think it’s helpful to understand that they did not always focus their attention completely on serving Baal. There was actually a syncretism about their worship. In other words, they still claimed to worship Yahweh. They still believed in Yahweh as God, and as the one that had delivered them from Egypt. But as they entered into Canaan, this land flowing with milk and honey, the land where the grapes were huge, they encountered this fertility cult of Baal, where the gods were said to have provided those abundant crops.

And recall that Israel failed to drive out the people of the land as God had commanded them. And this ultimatley became a snare to them, as they mingled with the people of the nation, and they became corrupted in their own practices.

And so when Israel entered into the land, they were seduced into believing that while God had delivered them, and was a powerful God who was able to destroy their enemies, they would need the fertility gods in order to ensure that their crops were brought in. God was fine for delivering them in one context, but in order to gain this abundance in the crops, they would need to engage in these actions of the false worship of Baal.

And so they had descended into a place of allowing the worship of the Baals and the rituals that went along with that, alongside the worship of Yahweh.

What then were they actually doing? They were breaking the first commandment in particular.

Well, God will not allow His people that are called by his name to continue in this fashion and so he speaks about the...

2. Covenant Curses Coming (vv.2-7a)

In verse 2, he begins with these words...

Hosea 9:2 NIV84

2 Threshing floors and winepresses will not feed the people; the new wine will fail them.

The fact is that they had become presumptuous about the food coming in. They had attributed the coming in of the grain to Baal instead of to Yahweh. And so God says to them that according to what had been promised to them through his covenant stipulations, the abundant supply of food would be stopped. The produce would not come forth. Hunger of the people would ensue.

But more than this, and again according to the covenant stipulations, this would be carried out through the destruction of Israel by other nations until they were destroyed. He goes on in verse 3 to say...

Hosea 9:3 NIV84

3 They will not remain in the Lord’s land; Ephraim will return to Egypt and eat unclean food in Assyria.

In these words, God says through Hosea that there is most certainly an exile that is coming. Israel will be taken captive. They will not remain in the Lord’s land that had been given them by promise, but rather, at least for a while, they would taken away into captivity.

Notice here that God specifically refers to this place as His land. “They will not remain in the Lord’s land...”

God is saying through his prophet Hosea, that this is not Baal’s land. This is not a land that is somehow sustained and kept thriving by another god. Rather, this is the Lord’s land. He is the one that keeps the land, nourishes the soil, sends the rain, and brings forth the crops. Israel was being rebuked through these words.

If I could pause at this point and say, that the Lord that we serve is God over all, even in our day. There is no place, there is no land, there is not country or place where our God’s hand does not reign supreme. We would do well to keep this in our minds, and to keep our trust entirely in God. It is not wise men; it is not powerful political leaders; it is not wealth and prosperity that requires our trust. Rather, our trust must always be in the Lord Almighty who is powerful and sovereign over creation.

Israel had abandoned this truth, and thus God says here that Ephraim will return to Egypt. This is not speaking of an actual return to Egypt itself, but rather refers to the same conditions as were found in Egypt. As Israel had been slaves in Egypt, so they will become slaves once more. This time however, Hosea says that it will be in Assyria.

Hosea says here that they will “eat unclean food in Assyria.” They will be taken into a land where they will be subject to other people, and they will be forced to eat the foods that other people give them.

In this striking indictment by God, the people of Israel who had come into the promised land of God, would have the blessed fulfilment of those promises to them taken away, and they would once again head back to slavery. All of this was of course in fulfilment of covenant stipulations. But what a sad situation for them as a people.

In verse 4, Hosea goes on to say...

Hosea 9:4 NIV84

4 They will not pour out wine offerings to the Lord, nor will their sacrifices please him. Such sacrifices will be to them like the bread of mourners; all who eat them will be unclean. This food will be for themselves; it will not come into the temple of the Lord.

Having been taken away from the promised land, and from the place of worship of Yahweh in Jerusalem, the people of Israel would no longer be able to offer sacrifices to God. They would not be able to pour out their wine offerings to the Lord.

What the Lord here says to Israel is that the land is going to be unclen, and the food that they would eat would likewise be unclean.

The bread of mourners here refers to the bread that belonged to those who were mourning the loss of a loved one, and had been in contact with a dead body. Such a person was considered to be unclean under the Mosaic law, and they were not permitted to come into the sanctuary in order to offer up their offerings to God. The bread that they had was only fit for their own consumption. It was not to be brought before God. That’s why Hosea says here, this food will be for themselves, it will not come into the temple of the Lord.

The implication is expressed well by one commentator:

Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 31: Hosea–Jonah Comment

people will be eating the bread of mourners rather than the bread of sacrifices because when Hosea’s inspired words are fulfilled, cultic celebration will have given way to disease and death

The covenantal stipulations which would be brought to fulfilments were those such as found in…

Leviticus 26:16 NIV84

16 then I will do this to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and drain away your life. You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it.

And so too, Hosea says that this wasting disease and fever would come upon them and drain away their life, and they would be unable to bring sacrifices.

It is thus that Hosea poses the question to Israel...

Hosea 9:5 NIV84

5 What will you do on the day of your appointed feasts, on the festival days of the Lord?

The question is now posed directly to Israel. What will you do?! This must link back to verse 1 where God through Hosea had called upon Israel to stop doing what they are doing. Stop your celebrations and your feasts. Stop the jubilation. Think about this. What are you going to do when you are taken into exile and held captive, and you cannot bring any offerings before the Lord?

Hosea goes on in verse 6...

Hosea 9:6 NIV84

6 Even if they escape from destruction, Egypt will gather them, and Memphis will bury them. Their treasures of silver will be taken over by briers, and thorns will overrun their tents.

The reality of the extent of the punishment that will come upon Israel as a result of their sin is laid out here. We see from this verse that genuine punishment is inevitable and unavoidable. They will in no ways get away with their rebellion.

Firstly, we see the reminder that destruction will come, mostly due to disease and wasting away due to the famine that God will bring. The crops will not come forth as they would wish, and it will affect them.

But the punishment goes beyond this. God says here that even if they escape this destruction through the famine and the lack of food, they will not escape punishment because the surrounding nations will gather them in. Egypt will gather them, and Memphis will bury them. It would be futile for them to try and escape the punishment.

The phrase “gather them” is closely linked with bury them in this verse. The idea here is that there will be a mass burial of people as they were overtaken by a greater power. One commentator writes:

Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 31: Hosea–Jonah Comment

God had once gathered his people for deliverance from Egypt; now they will be gathered for destruction by “Egypt.” The great cemetery of Memphis and the ancient pyramid tombs there may have made the allusion all the more forceful in the minds of the listeners.

But additional futility would be to place their hope in treasures of silver. These, says the Lord, would be taken over by briers and thorns. All that they possessed, all that they owned would be of no value.

Similarly, the prophet Jeremiah said...

Jeremiah 48:7 NIV84

7 Since you trust in your deeds and riches, you too will be taken captive, and Chemosh will go into exile, together with his priests and officials.

Jeremiah 49:4 NIV84

4 Why do you boast of your valleys, boast of your valleys so fruitful? O unfaithful daughter, you trust in your riches and say, ‘Who will attack me?’

The Israelites trusted not only in the fertile land and the Baals to bring the crop forth, but they trusted in their riches to deliver them in a time of need. God says very clearly to them that this is a futile hope. The fact that they placed their trust in these things would lead to God’s judgment coming and the riches being destroyed.

Indeed, says the Lord in verse 7a...

The New International Version (1984) Punishment for Israel

The days of punishment are coming,

the days of reckoning are at hand.

Let Israel know this.

But we see that there is a further concern of God that he addresses with Israel, and that is the...

3. Prophets Despised (vv.7b-9)

Not only had Israel forgotten the covenant stipulations of God with them. Not only had Israel walked in their own ways and placed their trust in false gods and in their wealth and riches, but they had also refused to listen to the prophets that had been sent to warn them. They had in fact turned against the prophets, and treated them with contempt.

Notice what Hosea says in verse 7b...

The New International Version (1984) Punishment for Israel

Because your sins are so many

and your hostility so great,

the prophet is considered a fool,

the inspired man a maniac.

The people of Israel had by this time descended so far into their apostasy that they had closed off and hardened their hearts and minds to listening to the prophets of God that were genuinely sent. The prophet was considered a fool and a maniac. They considered these prophets to chattering fools that were saying things that made no sense whatsoever.

So lost in their own foolishness were they that they were unable to discern the error of their ways. And so the rejected the words of the prophets. They held grudges against those who would speak out with regards to what they were doing.

Friends, this is a warning that we must all keep in our hearts and minds. It’s easy to think that what we are doing, the way we are doing things is right and acceptable. It’s easy to become comfortable in our ways, and when someone comes to us and brings Scripture to bear on those practices or habits that are out of line with the way of God, we reject what is said.

A little later I will come to some specific application in the context of many churches in our day. But the fact is, if you confront certain practices and aspects of concern, you are met with disdain and hatred.

I do want to say that htis doesn’t mean we must listen to everything that everyone says. We must also be cautious against thinking that whoever has practices that are more restrictive are by default correct. The Pharisees got thrings wrong because they were overly restrictive. They made more rules than God did.

But there is a sense in which we need to exercise caution, and we need to ensure that we abide by both the letter and the spirit of the Word of God in our day to day lives, and the in worship and practice as a church. We want to be careful to honour the Lord in what we do and the way in which we do things.

The people of Israel failed in this, and they rejected the prophets of God.

In verse 8 Hosea goes on to say...

Hosea 9:8 NIV84

8 The prophet, along with my God, is the watchman over Ephraim, yet snares await him on all his paths, and hostility in the house of his God.

God says here that the prophets, even God himself, were those who were the watchmen over Israel. They were there to protect and keep Israel from error.

And yet as the prophet comes to warn Israel he finds that snares await him on all his paths and hostility is found in the house of God.

We must take our minds forward to the time of Christ himself, as he came also as a prophet and yet was not heard. Even in the house of God, in the Temple in Jerusalem, the religious centre of worship, Christ found snares awaiting him.

He even was put to death at the hands of the people that claimed to worship God.

Hosea 9:9 NIV84

9 They have sunk deep into corruption, as in the days of Gibeah. God will remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins.

Application / Conclusion

A.1. A School Teacher for Us

These passages and the examples of the Israelites serve as a warning to us as Christians.

We must not ignore what they endured, and what happened with them, and think that we will never have any risk of following in those paths. The warnings stand there is a teacher to us.

As Christians today, we must be careful to now allow ourselves to be deceived into all kinds of false teachings and practices that may sound good on the outside, but truly speaking they are veiled means for Satan to lead us astray.

A.2. A Caution for Us

Particularly concerning New Age teachings.

Yoga, Meditation, relaxation techniques for our stressed out lives. Mindfulness.

There is a lady linked to Bethel church who makes of Christian Tarot Cards.

Christians engaging in grave-sucking, where they go to the graves of dead people to try and suck up wisdom and knowledge from these deceased saints.

Lectio Divina, (p. 223) a form of mantra-style meditation that is encouraged and promoted by some Christian leaders.

So much syncretistic worship