December 12th
Hosea, 9
1: 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. 2: The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her. 3: They shall not dwell in the LORD's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria. 4: 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. 5: What will ye do in the solemn day, and in the day of the feast of the LORD? 6: 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. 7: 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. 8: 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. 9: They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: therefore he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins. 10: 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 Baal-peor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved. 11: As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception. 12: 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! 13: Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, is planted in a pleasant place: but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer. 14: Give them, O LORD: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. 15: 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. 16: 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. 17: My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.
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. 2: Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: he shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images. 3: For now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared not the LORD; what then should a king do to us? 4: They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field. 5: The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Beth-aven: 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. 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. 7: As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the water. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 14: Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Beth-arbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children. 15: So shall Bethel do unto you because of your great wickedness: in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.
In these chapters the Lord explains that the discipline of God will continue on Israel. The Lord says don’t rejoice because you have sought payment for ever sinful act of adultery. The Lord will take away joy from the children of Israel. The weeds will invade their tents - thistles and nettles. The Lord will deal hard with Israel they will have children to only to give them to murderers. The Lord will give miscarriages to the women and dry breasts to the mothers. The Lord will not love them anymore because they rebel against the Lord. The Lord will destroy their children. Israel is a vine that bears no fruit for the Lord. The Lord will leave them without a king because they forsook the Lord. Thorns and thistles will grow on their altars as their religion fades away. They will seek to die under the rocks of the mountain because misery will fill their hearts. The Lord pleads with Israel to plough deep the ground that has been left uncultivated and to sow righteous deeds so that they will reap mercy from the Lord. It is time for Israel to seek the Lord. Because Israel trusted in themselves and in their own strength the Lord will send a disturbance into the people and all their strong points will be broken up. Because of their great wickedness the king will be killed in the morning.
Steve
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