#1127 Hosea 9 Grapes and Figs

 

Do not rejoice, Israel, with jubilation like the nations!

For you have been unfaithful, abandoning your God.

You have loved the earnings of unfaithfulness on every threshing floor.

2 Threshing floor and wine press will not feed them,

And the new wine will fail them.

3 They will not remain in the Lord’s land,

But Ephraim will return to Egypt,

And in Assyria they will eat unclean food.

4 They will not pour out drink offerings of wine to the Lord,

Nor will their sacrifices please Him.

Their bread will be to them like mourners’ bread;

All who eat it will be defiled,

Because their bread will be for themselves alone;

It will not enter the house of the Lord.

5 What will you do on the day of the appointed festival

And on the day of the feast of the Lord?

6 For behold, they will be gone because of destruction;

Egypt will gather them together, Memphis will bury them.

Weeds will take possession of their treasures of silver;

Thorns will be in their tents.

7 The days of punishment have come,

The days of retribution have come;

Let Israel know this!

The prophet is a fool,

The inspired person is insane,

Because of the grossness of your wrongdoing,

And because your hostility is so great.

8 Ephraim was a watchman with my God, a prophet;

Yet the snare of a bird catcher is in all his ways,

And there is only hostility in the house of his God.

9 They are deeply depraved

As in the days of Gibeah;

He will remember their guilt,

He will punish their sins.

10 I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness;

I saw your forefathers as the earliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season.

But they came to Baal-peor and devoted themselves to shame,

And they became as detestable as that which they loved.

11 As for Ephraim, their glory will fly away like a bird—

No birth, no pregnancy, and no conception!

12 Though they bring up their children,

Yet I will bereave them of their children until not a person is left.

Yes, woe to them indeed when I depart from them!

13 Ephraim, as I have seen,

Is planted in a pasture like Tyre;

But Ephraim is going to bring out his children for slaughter.

14 Give to them, Lord—what will You give?

Give them a miscarrying womb and dried-up breasts.

15 All their evil is at Gilgal;

Indeed, I came to hate them there!

Because of the wickedness of their deeds

I will drive them out of My house!

I will no longer love them;

All their leaders are rebels.

16 Ephraim is stricken, their root is dried up,

They will produce no fruit.

Even though they give birth to children,

I will put to death the precious ones of their womb.

17 My God will reject them

Because they have not listened to Him;

And they will be wanderers among the nations. Hosea 9 NASB

Hosea 9

We now perceive the meaning of the Prophet. Israel, he says, rejoice not thou with exultations like the people; that is, “Whatever prosperity may happen to thee, though God may seem propitious by not afflicting thee, but kindly bearing with thee, — nay, though he may bountifully nourish thee, and may seem to give thee many proofs of paternal favor, yet there is no reason for thee to felicitate thyself, for vain will be this joy, because an unhappy end awaits thee.” Thou hast committed fornication, he says, against thy God This warning was very necessary. This vice, we know, has ever prevailed among men, that they are blind to their sins as long as the Lord spares them; and experience, at the present day, most fully proves, that the same disease still cleaves to our marrow. As it is so, let this passage of the Prophet awaken us, so that we may not rejoice, though great prosperity may smile on us; but let us rather inquire, whether God has a just cause of anger against us. Though he may not openly put forth his hand, though he may not pursue us, we ought yet to anticipate his wrath; for it is the proper office of faith, not only to find out from present punishment that God is angry, but also to fear, on account of any prevailing vices, the punishment that is far distant. Let us then learn to examine ourselves, and to make a severe scrutiny, even when the Lord conceals his displeasure, and visits us not for our sins. If, then, we have committed fornication against God, all our prosperity ought to be suspected by us; for this contempt, in abusing God’s blessings, will have to be dearly bought by us. - John Calvin

1-6 Do not rejoice with jubilation like the nations - We see in the next lines that they have been unfaithful to God and also dishonest in their gain. The scriptures warn us about idolatry, unjust weights and measures, but there is in the use of the word "unfaithful" much direction as to their harlotry. It would seem that they sought, like those that baked cakes, for their harvest and threshing floors to be filled/blessed by other gods, idols. They attribute the things that God made, and the abundance of those, by which processes He also created, as from the benevolence of others. They wanted material things and would accept false doctrines, idolatry and all other forms of compromise to get it. We know this from looking back through Hosea; Israel was unfaithful to the true God, and easily mistook prosperity for sound thinking, like Job's friends associated it with righteousness. 

14 And they do not cry to Me from their heart

When they wail on their beds;

For the sake of grain and new wine they assemble themselves,

They turn against Me. Hosea 7:14

5 For their mother has played the harlot;

She who conceived them has behaved shamefully.

For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,

Who give me my bread and my water,

My wool and my linen,

My oil and my drink.’

6 “Therefore, behold,

I will hedge up your way with thorns,

And wall her in,

So that she cannot find her paths.

7 She will chase her lovers,

But not overtake them;

Yes, she will seek them, but not find them.

Then she will say,

‘I will go and return to my first husband,

For then it was better for me than now.’

8 For she did not know

That I gave her grain, new wine, and oil,

And multiplied her silver and gold—

Which they prepared for Baal. Hosea 2: 5-8

Will not feed them - The present abundance of the threshing floor and wine press is a lie.

Hence he says, The floor and the wine-press shall not feed them, and the new wine shall disappoint them, ( mentietur illis — shall lie to them;) — that is, the vineyards shall not answer their expectation. It is the same as though he said, “As these men regard only their stomach, as they deem nothing of any moment but provision, therefore the floor and the wine-press shall not feed them; I will deprive them of their support, that they may understand that they in vain worship false gods.” Let us take a common similitude: We see some boys so disingenuous as not to be moved either by disgrace or even by stripes; but as they are subject to the cravings of appetite, when the father deprives them of bread, they nearly lose all hope. Stripes do no good, all warnings are slighted; but when the boy who loves excess sees that bread is denied him, he finds out that his father’s displeasure ought to be feared. Thus God corrects men addicted to excessive indulgence; for they are so insensible, that no other remedy can do them any good. - John Calvin

They will not remain in the Lord's land - You are rejoicing like the heathens around you, who cut themselves and dance for rain, but it is God, Who causes His rain to fall on the just and unjust. The lost around you had no covenant, no access to the grace bestowed upon you, except by way of the light that should shine through you. You were not a light, but rather chose their darkness, so you have broken the covenant and shall not remain in the land. 

Like mourner's bread - Those that came into contact with the dead were considered unclean.

…13Then you shall declare in the presence of the LORD your God, “I have removed from my house the sacred portion and have given it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all the commandments You have given me. I have not transgressed or forgotten Your commandments. 14I have not eaten any of the sacred portion while in mourning, or removed any of it while unclean, or offered any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the LORD my God; I have done everything You commanded me. 15Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land You have given us as You swore to our fathers—a land flowing with milk and honey.”… Deuteronomy 26: 13-15

7-9 The days of punishment have come - Wrath has been stored up, like the accumulative winds they had sewn from the last chapter, now it is time to reap the whirlwind. Men think there are no limits to their depravity, no set time for their judgment, yet it is given to men once to die and then the judgment. 

…4Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance? 5But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. 6God “will repay each one according to his deeds.”… Romans 2: 4-6

…15You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a ripe old age. 16In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” 17When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the halves of the carcasses.… Genesis 15: 15-17

The prophet is a fool - Who are you, Hosea? Everyone hears about this rain, this flood that is coming, but they laugh at Noah for 120 years as he builds the ark. Today they look back and say God is unfair, or I won't have such a God, but there is only that one God that created all things, that holds the right to speak into and out of being all things. They called Elijah a troubler of Israel, yet it was always their own sins, the sins of their kings. "Rain, it's sunny outside, there is a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage."

“They said in effect, ‘Who in his right mind would prophesy a judgment like this when we are in the midst of such a bountiful harvest, in itself a proof of God’s blessing?’” (Boice)

As in the days of Gibeah - This is similar to comparisons that others make with Sodom. Gibeah was a city in Benjamin and the whole city had fallen into sexual immorality. The men of the city came to take a man who was a traveler, passing through, a man whose concubine had run off from him but was now returning home with him. The Benjamites wanted to know him in carnal fashion, but he put out his concubine instead, who they raped to death. This lead to a heated war when the tribe of Benjamin would not turn over the guilty murderers, rapists, and the tribe was almost wiped away from the land of Israel. They had become quite hardened in their iniquity, and would neither take correction nor allow those in the wrong to be confronted. Here is a link to the passage and story below.

Gibeah of Benjamin

10-14 Like grapes in the wilderness...earliest fruit on the fig tree - He took that much delight in them, as something sweet and untended in the wilderness, a wonderful discovery. Their fathers were the first fruits, and a fig has two fruiting seasons in the year, and so there was the expectation of more. 

12 The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. 14 Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.

...20 In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. 21 Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!” Mark 11: 12-14 & 20-21

5No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” 6Then Jesus told this parable: “A man had a fig tree that was planted in his vineyard. He went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. 7So he said to the keeper of the vineyard, ‘Look, for the past three years I have come to search for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Therefore cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’…

…8‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone again this year, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9If it bears fruit next year, fine. But if not, you can cut it down.’” Luke 13: 5-9

Is planted in a pasture like Tyre - Tyre was a kingdom on the sea, north of Israel, part of it on the mainland and then some on an island fortress. John Calvin makes a good argument that it is in reference to what pains and difficulties the people of Tyre took in growing various trees upon the island, a place that would need much topsoil brought there to support such growth. If you wanted lush gardens on this barren, rocky soil, pelted by salt air, then it was at great expense. Tyre was also known for her pride, a great city of commerce, wealthy, arrogant, and brought down.

The meaning is, that Ephraim was like tender trees, preserved by men with great care and with much expense; but that they should hereafter bring forth their children for the slaughter. This bringing forth is set in opposition to the house or dwelling. They had been kept without danger from the cold and heat, like a tender tree under cover; but they would be constrained to draw forth their children to the slaughter; that is, there would be no longer any dwelling for them to protect them from the violence of their enemies, but that they would be drawn forth to the light.

We now see that the words harmonise well with the view, that the people of Israel in vain flattered themselves because they had hitherto been subject to no evils, and that God had preserved them free from calamity. There is no reason, the Prophet says, for the people to be proud, because they had been hitherto so indulgently treated; for though they had been like tender trees, they would yet be forced to draw forth their children to be killed. And this comparison, which he amplifies, is what often occurs in Scripture. ‘If Jehoiakim were as a ring on my right hand, saith the Lord, I would pluck him thence.’ (59) Men are wont to abuse even the promises of God. As king Jehoiakim was of the posterity of David, he thought it impossible that hid enemies could ever deprive him of his kingdom; “But it shall not be so; for though he were as a ring on my hand, I would pluck him thence.” So also in this place; “Though the Israelites had been hitherto brought up in my bosom, and though I have kindly given them all kinds of blessings, and though they have been like tender trees, yet their condition hereafter shall be entirely different.” - John Calvin

15-17 Gilgal - The grape and the fig were no more found there, it had turned to apostasy. It is seen in our day when men no longer regard the Word of God as equal to their feelings, their desire, and the Scriptures are handled carelessly by those with only surface interests. False prophets abound.

a. All their wickedness is in Gilgal, for there I hated them: As mentioned before in Hosea 4:15, God despised the city of Gilgal as a center of idolatry in Israel. At one time, Gilgal was a place where prophets were trained under Elijah and Elisha (2 Kings 2:1; 4:38). But in Hosea’s day it had become a center of false worship (Hosea 4:15, 12:11; Amos 4:4, 5:5). - Enduring Word

They will produce no fruit - Fertility was a big deal back then, and it is even now in certain groups among different people. There is still a sense of parent in the natural, a biological clock, though large families are now considered less desirable, but it was huge then, and meant growth, added numbers and strength. This punishment against them, that reclaims the life which belongs to the Creator of life, is fitting to the idolatry they participated in, the sacrifices and debauchery associated with the fertility gods. 

…7to open the eyes of the blind, to bring prisoners out of the dungeon and those sitting in darkness out from the prison house. 8I am the LORD; that is My name! I will not yield My glory to another or My praise to idols. 9Behold, the former things have happened, and now I declare new things. Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you.”… Isaiah 42: 7-9

And they will be wanderers among the nations - For so long.

14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. Deuteronomy 30: 14-18