Hatred in the House of His God – Hosea 9:1-9

“By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another,” John 13:35.  Hatred is the hallmark of heathenism, love the hallmark of Jesus Christ and his followers.  Which is consuming you?

Rejoice not, O Israel!  Exult not like the peoples; for you have played the whore, forsaking your God.  You have loved a prostitute’s wages on all threshing floors.  Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail them.  They shall not remain in the land of the LORD, but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria.

They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the LORD, and their sacrifices shall not please him.  It shall be like mourners’ bread to them; all who eat of it shall be defiled; for their bread shall be for their hunger only; it shall not come to the house of the LORD.

What will you do on the day of the appointed festival, and on the day of the feast of the LORD?  For behold, they are going away from destruction; but Egypt shall gather them; Memphis shall bury them.  Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver; thorns shall be in their tents.

The days of punishment have come; the days of recompense have come; Israel shall know it.  The prophet is a fool; the man of the spirit is mad, because of your great iniquity and great hatred.  The prophet is the watchman of Ephraim with my God; yet a fowler’s snare is on all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God.  They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah:  he will remember their iniquity; he will punish their sins.  (Hosea 9:1-9 ESV)

Israel holds their festivals as if there is something to rejoice about but their worship is disloyalty to Yahweh and the fruits of their labor and their false gods will come to nothing.  The two nations they have tried to ally with will conquer them and make them captives.  Yahweh rejects worship that is in name only.

Israel must face her punishment from God, meted out by Egypt and Assyria.  Her leaders have failed to lead her aright and have ensnared them in madness.  Just as God punished Gibeah in the days of the judges so He will punish Israel.