Israel Cast Away for Continuous Disobedience

Hosea 9:1-17 

1 Do not rejoice, O Israel, with joy like other peoples,
For you have played the harlot against your God.
You have made love for hire on every threshing floor.
2 The threshing floor and the winepress
Shall not feed them,
And the new wine shall fail in her.

3 They shall not dwell in the LORD's land,
But Ephraim shall return to Egypt,
And shall eat unclean things in Assyria.

4 They shall not offer wine offerings to the LORD,
Nor shall their sacrifices be pleasing to Him.
It shall be like bread of mourners to them;
All who eat it shall be defiled.
For their bread shall be for their own life;
It shall not come into the house of the LORD.

5 What will you do in the appointed day,
And in the day of the feast of the LORD?

6 For indeed they are gone because of destruction.
Egypt shall gather them up;
Memphis shall bury them.
Nettles shall possess their valuables of silver;
Thorns shall be in their tents.

7 The days of punishment have come;
The days of recompense have come.
Israel knows!
The prophet is a fool,
The spiritual man is insane,
Because of the greatness of your iniquity and great enmity.

8 The watchman of Ephraim is with my God;
But the prophet is a fowler's snare in all his ways—
Enmity in the house of his God.
9 They are deeply corrupted,
As in the days of Gibeah.
He will remember their iniquity;
He will punish their sins.

10 "I found Israel
Like grapes in the wilderness;
I saw your fathers
As the firstfruits on the fig tree in its first season.
But they went to Baal Peor,
And separated themselves to that shame;
They became an abomination like the thing they loved.

11 As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird—
No birth, no pregnancy, and no conception!
12 Though they bring up their children,
Yet I will bereave them to the last man.
Yes, woe to them when I depart from them!
13 Just as I saw Ephraim like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place,
So Ephraim will bring out his children to the murderer."

14 Give them, O LORD—
What will You give?
Give them a miscarrying womb
And dry breasts!

15 "All their wickedness is in Gilgal,
For there I hated them.
Because of the evil of their deeds
I will drive them from My house;
I will love them no more.
All their princes are rebellious.

16 Ephraim is stricken,
Their root is dried up;
They shall bear no fruit.
Yes, were they to bear children,
I would kill the darlings of their womb."

17 My God will cast them away,
Because they did not obey Him;
And they shall be wanderers among the nations.

Because of Israel’s continuous disobedience their sin caused them to be cast away from the LORD.  They committed spiritual adultery with dead metal, wood, and stone god made by  man’s hands on every threshing floor instead of providing food to eat for nourishment as if prostitutes of intimacy with those lifeless things, paid for their covetousness with suffering and judgment instead of expected blessings of health and wealth.  Some still do this today, substituting these for the living God (Romans 1:23, 25) with the same disastrous results.  Their sacrifices therefore no longer pleased the LORD, their bread became for mourners at their death and was no longer allowed into the tabernacle for offering of sacrifices to God. What they had sowed was now reaped with accountability of just punishment for breaking the covenant which the Almighty had made with them.  They knew these things as their prophets became fools and the once spiritually minded became as mad men, having left the truth of and adherence to God’s word which was law and life to them.  That was how great their sin and hatred of God had become.   The spiritual corruption went so deep and wide that God had to punish their unrepentant sin at last.  God had chosen them as a nation as His own precious people to cultivate, but they spoiled the fields and served abominations instead for a supposed quick gain and no accountability in following all the laws they couldn’t keep.  This is why the grace of salvation in Christ was needed because it is impossible to keep the law (James 2:10) to the letter; only the perfect Man and God Jesus the Christ (Matthew 5:17-18) could and did that.  Galatians 3:23 reminds us of this.  Our works are as hopelessly soiled rags which are impossible to be cleansed by our efforts as was apparent in these mentioned here by Hosea.  Their evil deeds from corrupt hearts led to fruitlessness and judgment.  God cast them away for their disobedience.  Had they repented and trusted His forgiveness and grace instead of continuing  in willful sin, they would have seen the righteousness in the promised Messiah to come as other did instead (Hebrews 11:13, 25, 39-40).  These things were not only a record of the failure of God’s people, but are for our learning so we do not repeat the same mistakes (1 Corinthians 10:11) but live according to every word of God (2 Timothy 3:16-17) in faith and willing obedience to work out our free gift of salvation with fear and trembling (Psalm 2:11-12, Philippians 2:12-13) at what would have been but for the grace we received in Christ.  We are not cast away for continuous disobedience (Isaiah 43:13, Hebrews 10:35, 39, John 10:28-29).  We therefore are thankful and secure in the anchor of our souls as we work out our established salvation in our continuing sanctification by His strength to make us willing and able followers of Jesus Christ our Lord.