Let me sing for my beloved
my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and he looked for it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
What more was there to do for my vineyard,
that I have not done in it?
When I looked for it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?
And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and briers and thorns shall grow up;
I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.
For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are his pleasant planting;
and he looked for justice,
but behold, bloodshed;
for righteousness,
but behold, an outcry!(Isaiah 5:1-7)
Our lives will yield fruit of some kind. They must. We each sow with our actions, and so we must also reap of the harvest. The only question is what kind of fruit will we produce: grapes or wild grapes, good or bad fruit?
So it was with Israel as well. Hosea 6-9 addressed their false repentance, false worship, and false joy. Here, in Hosea 10, Yahweh rebukes the bad fruit that Israel has produced through their false prosperity and false security.
We can divide this oracle into two sections, organized around a metaphor for Israel. First, in verses 1-10, Israel is compared to a luxuriant vine. Second, in verses 11-15, Israel is called a trained calf. Both images appear to be positive at first but are ultimately a rebuke.
FALSE PROSPERITY: A LUXURIANT VINE // VERSES 1-10
Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit. The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built; as his country improved, he improved his pillars.
This initially sounds positive. Israel is a fruitful and luxuriant vine. How wonderful! Indeed, remember that during Hosea’s day Israel was experiencing a time of great prosperity, and in their prosperity, they continued to increase their worship by building more and more altars.
Wealthy and religious. What could be better than that? Isn’t that every Conservative’s dream? Besides, isn’t fruitfulness a good thing? Isn’t growth the measure of success?
Not necessarily.
Richard Phillips notes that the word luxuriant could also be translated as destructive. The idea is of a vine that is consuming everything in its growth. It is an invasive species, taking over the garden and killing the other plants. We might call this cancerous growth.
Such was Israel’s prosperity. It brought death rather than life, multiplying their worship of false gods and false worship of Yahweh.
Interestingly, Jesus warned that riches were like thorns that could choke out the word and prevent us from bearing fruit. Yet riches need not always appear to be thorns. They can also work like a cancerous vine that kills through its worthless overgrowth. Again, Israel thought that they were doing their duty to Yahweh through bringing Him sacrifices, but they were not according to God’s command. Religion was growing but not as the LORD had said. And the same is still true today. A wealth and large church or ministry is not definition of success in God’s kingdom. Of course, neither is an impoverished and small church or ministry. Faithfulness to God’s Word is the only measure of success in God’s kingdom.
Their heart is false… Ah, here is the problem. Phillips notes that the Hebrew is literally that their heart is slippery. Their heart, which represents the very core of a person’s identity, was treacherous and unstable. It was slippery and false.
The opposite, a true heart, is one grounded in the love of God, loving Yahweh with one’s whole being. That love is anchoring and stabilizing. After all, what is firmer than the Maker of heaven and earth? To be detached from the LORD is to be detached from reality. In other words, a heart that is not set upon God is inevitably false and slippery.
Notice how this appeared in Israel. First, their false heart could be seen in their politics. In verse 3, they reject their king. And why not, since they didn’t fear Yahweh as their great king?
Of course, we should remember that these are the kings that they themselves chose without consulting the LORD’s will (see 8:4). They chose their own kings, thinking that they would lead them into a utopia, but when those kings could not deliver, they rejected them.
The key is the question at the end of verse 3: What could he do for us? They are likely saying this as a form of mockery, having already concluded that their kings could not do anything for them. However, the question itself is a window into the heart of those who reject the fear of the LORD. If we fear Yahweh, we should always be asking ourselves what is good and right and true. After all, we are pursuing the will of God in all things. For those who reject God and have no fear of Him, their great question in life is just that: what could he (or she or it) do for us? What is in it for me? How do I benefit here? To apply it specifically to politics, which candidate will give me the most bread and the biggest circuses?
But the false heart also appears in their words. They utter mere words; with empty oaths they make covenants… Mere words and empty oaths. Again, this is the fruit of the failure to fear the LORD. God alone is truth Himself. As Paul says, He cannot lie because His words become reality itself. If I were to say that grass is purple, it would be false because it does not match reality. If God were to say that grass is purple, grass would be purple. That is the significance of God creating the world through His words. His words do not conform to reality; reality conforms to His words.
To reject God is to, in some sense, reject reality. It is to live falsely, and that must inevitably come out in our words. Without God to ground our words and give them substance, they become mere words and oaths become empty. That is certainly the nature of postmodernism, which instead of insisting upon clear and straightforward definitions often switches and changes words to suit whatever goal in the moment.
It also makes oaths empty. This week, I was reading a book about Old English, and the author made a passing comment that placing taking an oath on the Bible is a cultural relic, since we no longer believe that God will invoke a curse upon liars. Yet with the same breath, we are perplexed to find social trust eroding.
Mere words and empty oaths.
There is nothing new under the sun.
While Israel rejected the fear of Yahweh, they did have some sort of reverence for their golden calves. The people of Samaria, which was the capital of Israel, trembled for the calf of Beth-aven. Recall that two calves were made, and one was erected in Bethel, which means House of God. But because of the idolatry, God has been calling it Beth-aven, which means House of Wickedness.
I think we are meant to read the trembling in the first line of verse 5 as being worshipful. They were showing the kind of reverence and awe to the calf that they owed to Yahweh alone.
Therefore, their worship will be turned to mourning: for it has departed from them. In verse 6, we see that the golden calf will become nothing more than tribute to the king of Assyria. Their idol will be entirely taken from them.
Did you notice the tragic irony here? They would mourn and lament their idol being taken into exile, but they do not weep over Yahweh’s pronouncement: Woe to them when I depart from them!
Verses 7-8 describe the coming judgment. They will no longer have a king, which means that they would no longer be a nation of their own. Anarchy never works. Leadership of some kind will always be established. The multitudes of altars, many of which were likely dedicated to the LORD, would be destroyed and covered in thorns. In response to all this, the people will call for rocks and mountains to crush them, which will seem better than facing the destruction all around them. That same idea is picked up in John’s vision in Revelation 6.
Verse 9 notes that Israel has carried this pattern of idolatry from the days of Gibeah. Again, Gibeah was mentioned in 9:9 as being a moment of great wickedness in Israel’s history. The story being referenced is found in Judges 19-20, where they rivaled the people of Sodom in their depravity. The rest of Israel wages war against Gibeah out of shame over their sin. But the wickedness had not departed. Israel was still sinful, so God asks if war is still justified against them?
In verse 10, the first section concludes with God’s promise to discipline them, whenever He pleases. He will bind them up and give them over to the nations that they have imitated because of their double iniquity, which is likely a reference to the two calves. It may also refer to their double-minded attempt to worship both Yahweh and false gods. Either way, notice that it is discipline rather than damnation for the people of Israel. Remember that Hosea 2 is God’s overall plan of Israel. He will not give them over to sin forever. The LORD would prune His luxuriant yet destructive vine. He would discipline her until she learns to bear good fruit.
FALSE SECURITY: A TRAINED CALF // VERSES 11-15
Verse 1 compared Israel to a luxuriant vine that grew so much that it was destructive to the whole land. They bore fruit but only wild grapes as Isaiah’s song notes. Now the metaphor shifts: Ephraim was a trained calf that loved to thresh, and I spared her fair neck.
This likely refers to when an animal, even a calf, was yoked to a device for sifting the grain from the chaff. This was a relatively easy job for the animal. It was much less demanding than tilling a field, and the animal was often permitted to eat freely while it worked. The point, therefore, is that Yahweh made Israel’s burden easy and their yoke light. But did they give thanks for His kindness to them?
Not at all.
Therefore, we read: But I will put Ephraim under the yoke; Judah must plow; Jacob must harrow for himself.
Again, this is discipline. Consider the metaphor. What could Yahweh do instead of putting Israel to the plow? He could put her to the slaughter. Even as judgment is promised, God is not saying that He will utterly cut them off. We too should remember that whenever we encounter difficulties. If the LORD puts us to the plow, it is a mercy not to be put to the slaughter.
Verse 12 is somewhat like 6:1-3. It is a call for genuine repentance. He pleads for them to sow righteousness and to reap steadfast love. Seek Yahweh, the Righteous One who is abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
But would they do so?
No. You have plowed iniquity; you have reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies. In other words, they were doing the exact opposite of what Yahweh expected of them. They were walking in active disobedience, and the appropriate fruit would follow. They would surely reap what they had sown.
The chapter began by rebuking the false sense of prosperity. It now ends by rebuking their false sense of security: because you have trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your warriors. This was one of the errors that even David and Solomon fell into. David commanded a forbidden census of his people in order to know the might of his army. Likewise, Solomon purchased horses from Egypt and made marriage alliances to secure the safety of Israel. And trusting our own ways is a perpetual danger for God’s people.
Of course, there is prudence in taking proper precautions. For instance, locking your door is probably not a failure to trust in the LORD. Nor is having a security team at church. However, safety is a secular virtue and can receive improper importance. Wisdom is required to discern the balance between prudence and taking our security into our own hands.
Israel was clearly doing the latter. They trusted in their own strength. But it would fail them, as verse 14 promises. Shalman is most likely Shalmaneser, who was king of Assyria from 727-722 BC. He laid siege to Samaria, but history does not record any further information on his destruction of Beth-arbel. Wherever Beth-arbel was, the desolation was clearly significant enough to be used as a warning to the rest of Israel. Indeed, as the final line of verse 14 notes, the Assyrians did not merely slaughter the men; rather, mothers and their children were dashed to pieces.
Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel, because of your great evil. At dawn the king shall be utterly cut off. The chapter concludes with the LORD’s promise to destroy their false worship of Him in Bethel and to cut off their king. Again, both were symbols of their national identity. Their worship of Yahweh, even though done through the golden calf, made them distinct from the other nations. And their king marked their own sovereignty. Yahweh was cutting off both. He made them like the nations that they already followed and imitated.
And that is still how worldliness works today. If we continuously seek to look like the world, eventually God may give us exactly what we desire. We must always remind ourselves that God’s grace is often best displayed whenever He does not give us what we want. Indeed, having our will done is very often a great judgment from the hand of God.
COME TO ME
That is the oracle before us. Israel was a luxuriant vine, whose prosperity led into destructive growth. Worthless fruit was choking out any good fruit that might have grown otherwise. Israel was also a trained calf that Yahweh had protected and treated gently, yet they trusted in their own security and in their own strength. The consequence of both is to have the king and their calf taken away.
How then does this oracle profit us, equipping us for every good work in Christ?
Jesus gave us a similar warning about fruit in Matthew 7:15-20. Even today, there are both false teacher and believers within the church. And like a luxuriant vine, we should not mistake their growth and prosperity as signs of God’s favor. They may still be bearing bad fruit. Indeed, there are many who profess the name of Christ, yet their heart is false and slippery. Like the Israelites, their only concern is: what can they do for me? They do not choose a church based upon where God is rightly worshiped but upon wherever they feel best. They claim to follow Christ, but He is not a visible part of their lives beyond a couple of hours on Sunday. Their confession is nothing more than mere words and an empty oath.
May that not be us! May we not grow complacent and prideful in whatever prosperity that the LORD graces us with, saying, “Who is the LORD” (Proverbs 30:9)? Our Lord calls it ‘the deceitfulness of riches’ for good reason. Prosperity can so easily convince us that we do not need God. Blessed are the poor in spirit,” for they always seen their need of Christ and, therefore, always seek Him.
Also, like Israel, it is all too easy for us to place our confidence in our own security. Christ alone is our salvation, yet how easy is it for us to trust in our own good works? Intellectually, we may know that we cannot save ourselves, but practically, we frequently treat our status before God around how obedient we have been. We put trust our goodness rather than in the goodness of Christ.
It is a great, though painful, grace whenever the Lord removes the kings and calves that we have erected within our own hearts. But we do not need to wait (nor presume!) upon the severe discipline of the Lord. There is a better way.
The LORD called Israel to sow righteousness, reap steadfast love, and break up the fallow ground of their hearts. But how do we do that? Verse 12 gives us the answer. Seek the LORD, and He will rain righteousness upon you. Righteousness is a gift from His hand, applied to our account through Christ. We each have no righteousness in ourselves to sow. It is all from Christ. Rightly, then, did our Lord say, “I am the vine. You are the branches. Apart from me, you can do nothing.”
Of course, how can we read verse 11 and not also think of Christ’s invitation in Matthew 11:28? “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Israel had enjoyed an easy yoke and had despised the Lord’s kindness. Jesus, by contrast, invites weary sinners to take His yoke upon themselves, promising that He is gentle and lowly in heart, and that in Him they will find rest for their souls.
So let us not be deceived by the fruitfulness of our lives, our churches, or our ministries. Let us not mistake outward prosperity for inward faithfulness, or prudence and preparation for the source of our security. Instead, let us examine the fruit we bear, confess where we have trusted in ourselves, and seek the Lord while He may be found.
As we come to the Table of our King, let us confess that our hope is not that we have been sufficiently fruitful, sufficiently wise, or sufficiently secure. Our hope is Jesus Christ, who bore the judgment our sins deserved and brings us to God. In Him, we need not fear the loss of earthly prosperity or place our confidence in earthly strength. Our true and everlasting prosperity and security are both found only in Christ our King, who holds His people fast. Through the bread and cup before, let us taste and see the goodness of the gospel of Christ, our Treasure and Life everlasting.
