Book of Hosea
Chapter 10
Agrarian imagery continues into today’s reading: vines, weeds, sowing, threshing and the like. Chapter 10 opens with the metaphor: “Israel is a spreading vine…” Throughout the Bible, Israel is often compared to vines and vineyards. In today’s text, the metaphor suggested growth and health: the vine (i.e., the Israelites) was spreading and producing lots of fruit (1).
If you recall from the previous chapter, the one part of that rather dismal and gruesome message that offered a glimpse of hopeful love also referred to fruit. We saw God’s perspective on His relationship with the Israelites and how much He loved them: “When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert; when I saw your fathers, it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree. …” (9:10) What did they do with God’s love? Did they treasure it? Or did they take Him for granted? When we return to Chapter 10, we see that they were growing well. Unfortunately, with that robust development, they did not pursue the Lord; instead, they built multiple altars to other gods and pursued idol worship (1).
Today’s reading supports the notion of “you reap what you sow.” In case the people did not understand, God made Himself very clear: “Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers righteousness on you.” (12) Yes, it meant that if they made good choices that good things would happen. Nonetheless, it does not exclude – or, in effect, promise – that life would not be difficult. Breaking unplowed ground was, after all, very hard work.
The Lord simply wanted them to hang on to Him through all of life’s fluid changes. Notice how God was urging them to seek Him “until He comes…” How long is that “until…”? He did not specify, but that waiting, that faith, was part of what it meant to acknowledge Him, to remember Him, to seek Him. He continued to pursue them. Yet, they strayed away from Him, became confident in their own strength (13, 14) and depended on their idols (4). Sadly, much of the chapter expounds on what would happen when Assyria conquered Israel. Leaders, valuables, idols and more would be dragged away and much of it would be destroyed. Although the language of their downfall was strong, and the consequences of their choices were grave, these do not overshadow that, ultimately, no matter what they did, God still loved them immensely.
Key Verse(s):
“Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers righteousness on you.” ~ Hosea 10:12
Questions to ponder:
- What do you think it means “to seek the Lord”?
- What steps can you take to remember God when your life is going well?
- When have you made choices where negative consequences resulted? When have you made choices where good consequences resulted?
