Hos 10.1-15 carries on with the same theme as the previous chapters where the sins of Israel are brought out and God’s judgment is coming if they do not repent from their rebellion against Yehovah and his Torah.
v 1…Israel is a luxuriant vine (Isa 5.1; Psa 80.8-11); he produces fruit for himself (is prosperous). The more his fruit, the more altars (for idolatry) he made; the richer his land, the better he made the pillars (the “mazavot” or sacred pillars).
v 2…Their heart is faithless (divided because they worshiped Yehovah and Baal-1 Kings 18.21); now they must bear their guilt. The Lord will break down their altars (break off the horns, behead their altars) and destroy their (sacred) pillars (God will through the king of Assyria).
v 3…Surely now they will say, “We have no king, for we do not revere the Lord (they do not have a king because they did not fear Yehovah). As for the king, what he can do for us (he is useless, cannot help or defend them).
v 4…They speak mere words (with no integrity), with worthless oaths they make covenants (contracts and promises); and judgment sprouts like poisonous weeds (unjust decisions) in the furrows of the field (all parts of the kingdom).
v 5…The inhabitants of Samaria will fear for the calf at Beth-aven (same as Bethel-these calves were helpless and unable to deliver themselves or those who worshiped them). Indeed, its people will mourn for it (for the loss of it), and its idolatrous priests will cry over it, over its glory (veneration of it), since it has departed from it.
v 6…The thing itself will be carried away to Assyria as tribute to King Jareb (the Assyrian king meaning, “he will contend and increase”), Ephraim will be seized with shame (for worshiping a useless idol), and Israel will be ashamed of its own counsel (humiliated for giving in to these idolatrous practices and nonsense against Yehovah’s explicit commands).
v 7…Samaria will be cut off with her king (Hoshea was the last king), like a stick (debris) on the surface of the water (light and easily destroyed).
v 8…Also the high places (bamot ) of Even (Bethel), the sin of Israel, will be destroyed, thorn and thistle will grow on their altars (overgrown and in ruins), then they will say to the mountains (where their idolatry was done), “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us (virtually the same thing Yeshua said on his way to be crucified-Luke 23.30; see also Rev 6.16. There was no place to hide)!
v 9…From the days of Gibeah (the atrocity in Judges 19.22-30) you sinned, O Israel; there they stand (with the same immoral behavior); the war against the sons of iniquity did not overtake them at Gibeah (since Gibeah they persisted in the same sin without being destroyed by any war, but that is going to change).
v 10…When it is my desire (made up his mind), I will chastise them; and the peoples (Assyrians with their many allies) will be gathered against them (to take them) when they are bound to their two furrows (double guilt which was apostasy from Yehovah and the royal house of David).
v 11…And Ephraim is a trained heifer (in the Torah) that lives to thresh (allowed to eat, but they became fat and strong by Yehovah’s blessings), but I will come over her fair neck (with a yoke; Yehovah rushed in on them, drove them, harnessed them to plow in hard field work, meaning bondage and exile); I will harness Ephraim, Judah (also) will plow (being equally guilty), Jacob (Ephraim) will harrow (break up clods in the field) for himself (punishment against Ephraim and Judah).
v 12…Sow with a view of righteousness (sowing and reaping allude to spiritual conduct), reap in accordance to mercy (chesed); break up your fallow ground (repent, turn new soil), for it is time to seek the Lord until he comes (Messiah) to rain (literally “teach” because rain is a type for teaching-Deut 18.15-19, 32.2; Joel 2.23) righteousness (as defined by the Torah) on you (Hos 6.3; James 5.7-8).
v 13…You have plowed (contrived) wickedness, you have reaped injustice (the natural result), you have eaten the fruit of lies (idols). Because you have trusted in your own way (believed the Canaanite lie about the excellence of Baal, etc), in your numerous warriors (their military strength, armies, generals, skill, foreign alliances).
v 14…Therefore, a tumult will arise among your people (Assyrian army), and all your fortresses will be destroyed (which they put their faith in, not Yehovah) as Shalman (Shalmaneser of Assyria) destroyed Beth-arbel (in northern Galilee between Sephoris and Tiberius) in the day of battle, when mothers were dashed in pieces with their children (no mercy on them; Josephus fortified the caves and villages of the Arbel as a storehouse in 66 AD against Rome).
v 15…Thus it will be done to you at Bethel because of your great wickedness (utterly destroy it). At dawn (“as sure as dawn”) the king of Israel (Hoshea) will be completely cut off (the monarchy is totally destroyed-Hos 3.4).
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