Hosea 10:1–15

Hosea 10:1–8 is a third-person speech sandwiched between two first-person soliloquies, forming one unit of text (9:17 looks both forward and backward, serving to unite the previous unit with this one). The center of the speech seems to be 10:5–6, which speaks of the golden calf being plundered and taken to Assyria in exile and the people who worshiped it suffering tremendous judgment. This core material is framed by prophecies concerning kings (vv. 3–4, 7), which are likewise enclosed by condemnations of doomed high places and altars (vv. 1b–2, 8a).¹ In the opening line, Israel is productive, but the more prosperous they become, the deeper they pursue false religion (v. 1). Thus in the closing line Israel in despair cries to the mountains to fall on them (v. 8).

After Hosea’s speech, the Lord brings up (again) the sin of Gibeah (recorded in Judges 19) (Hos. 10:9–11). That event is paradigmatic for the nation. They have misbehaved but up to now have been spared the full consequences for their actions. However, the time has now come for Ephraim (and Judah) to be spared no longer; they will be disciplined severely as the nations gather against them in judgment.

The prophet then takes up his burden again and calls upon his kinsmen to turn to Yahweh (vv. 12–15). If they do not begin to live differently, a terrible end is inevitable, including judgment on their children. The house of the golden calf is an ever-present offense before the living God.

1. IV.F. The Calf and the People (10:1–15)
   1. 1. The Calf Will Go (10:1–8)
   2. 2. Because of the Calf, Terrible Things (10:9–11)
   3. 3. They Will Lose Everything (10:12–15)

Consider the insights concerning idolatry revealed in this chapter. This topic has far-reaching spiritual and psychological ramifications, deeply and profoundly applicable to Christians in the twenty-first century. People’s basic motivations and faith commitments have not changed in character over the millennia; the same way of thinking at work in ancient Israel still moves hearts today.

At first, idolatry seems limited to cultic objects: golden calves, altars, and sacred pillars. Of course no Christian, nor most non-Christians, in Western society has ever participated in this sort of religion. But the plethora of self-deceptions goes far beyond mere stone and wood totems. The true test of what a person believes is seen in what he trusts, in what he finds to be his refuge, security, or hope. What is believed to protect the future? What is necessary to be acceptable and at peace? It is here that modern civilization overlaps the ancient world.

Israel’s functional theology is seen in what they trusted. This is not the religion they would have confessed, but it is nevertheless what motivated them. They “trusted” in their “own way” (v. 13). This is reminiscent of the story of Gibeah in Judges 19–21. There, Israel at first did as God instructed in upholding the cause of the victim. But soon they stopped inquiring of God, and as he dropped out of their reckoning their actions went further and further afield, resulting in atrocities even greater than the original offense. A sense of autonomy—of being sufficient in oneself to follow one’s own agenda and live by one’s own rules—is clearly on display in that narrative.

Of course, nothing could be more modern than such an attitude. Autonomy from religion—and thus from God—in one’s calculations is as natural today as it was for the wayward Israelites. But trusting in oneself has grave consequences. To trust in oneself is to behave as if one had the authority of God; hence the crooked, counterfeit “justice” meted out in Judges 20–21, and also the injustice and iniquity characterizing Israel in Hosea 10. The list of atrocities committed in modern times in the name of atheistic and fascist ideologies need hardly be cataloged here. But a sense of autonomy from God’s moral code has led to unbridled iniquity among the citizenry in every nation that embraces secular humanism. This is the motto of trusting in the self: “I can do anything I want; no God will judge me; I am my own law.”

However, trusting oneself proves to be a false hope. Hosea connects this attitude with shame and loss, finally issuing in a previously self-confident people’s crying to the hills to fall on and cover them (10:6, 8). Trusting in oneself leads in the end to despair. The job is too difficult. The task is too great. The sense of being overwhelmed feels like being a twig on the water, helplessly carried into the unknown (v. 7).

The Israelites also placed their trust in military strength. This likewise characterizes the modern age. Their naive hope in strongholds and numbers of warriors would later fail them, resulting in loss, atrocity, and ruin, says Hosea.

Israel had taken the fruit of the land, its overflowing produce, and put it to the service of a strange cult (v. 1). To what do people lend the fruits of their labor today? To know what a person spends much money on is to know what that person worships. An idolater invests in his idol. A nation of idolaters supports with their substance the national idol.

Israel mourned because her national hope had lost its luster (v. 5). Her existence became characterized by fear, shame, hardship, ruin, and separation. Having repudiated Yahweh, Israel substituted for him by making worthless treaties. Utter despair is the natural consequence of losing one’s religion. When one’s object of trust fails, one is left without recourse.

The obvious challenge of Hosea 10 is to consider in what way one’s own inner assumptions and unexamined motivations are out of accord with the faith that one confesses. Jesus said that one cannot serve both God and money (Luke 16:13). What rules our hearts? Greed? The respect or love of others? Trust in our own abilities and competencies? Whatever it is, it is in competition with the gospel of Jesus and will eventually create a spiritual conflict in our lives.

The alternative that Hosea presents is to seek God and sow what is right in his sight. “Break up your fallow ground” (Hos. 10:12), and he will shower us with knowledge of how to live rightly before him. This happens today as we heed the call of Jesus to take his yoke upon us and to learn from him, the one who is gentle and lowly in heart, the one who can give us true rest for our souls (Matt. 11:29) and who fills us with the fruit of righteousness, to the glory and praise of God (Phil. 1:11).