Israel’s Glory Has Departed From Them – Hosea 10:1-10

It is ironic that Israel’s idolaters were rejecting a king, and evangelicalism’s idolaters are begging for a king.

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.  Their heart is false; now they must bear their guilt.  The LORD will break down their altars and destroy their pillars.

For now they will say:  “We have no king, for we do not fear the LORD; and a king—what could he do for us?”  They utter mere words; with empty oaths they make covenants; so judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.  The inhabitants of Samaria tremble for the calf of Beth-aven.  Its people mourn for it, and so do its idolatrous priests—those who rejoiced over it and over its glory—for it has departed from them.  The thing itself shall be carried to Assyria as tribute to the great king.  Ephraim shall be put to shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his idol.

Samaria’s king shall perish like a twig on the face of the waters.  The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed. Thorn and thistle shall grow up on their altars, and they shall say to the mountains, “Cover us,” and to the hills, “Fall on us.”

From the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, O Israel; there they have continued.  Shall not the war against the unjust overtake them in Gibeah?  When I please, I will discipline them, and nations shall be gathered against them when they are bound up for their double iniquity.  (Hosea 10:1-10 ESV)

God made Israel agriculturally and in population very productive but she attributed her success to other gods or her own abilities.  So God will destroy her prosperity and false altars, remove their kings and leave them mourning for the loss of their idols when the king of Assyria defeats them in battle.  They will beg the mountains to fall on them and deliver them from their misery.

This has been coming since the days of Gibeah, when the failure to provide hospitality and safety to travelers and an unrestrained sinful sexuality (see Judges 19) became a hallmark of their idolatrous practices.  So God will discipline them as He did then.

To whom do we attribute our prosperity?  We must guard against that spirit that says vainly, “We don’t need to pray,” or “We don’t need others’ help,” because this is the arrogance that God will break us of.