The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calf of Beth-aven; for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the idolatrous priests thereof shall tremble for it, for its glory, because it is departed from it.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Yea, it shall be carried unto Assyria [as] a present for king Jareb Ephraim shall be seized with shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.
Israel's calf idol saves no one here — Assyria carries it off as tribute. So what does it say about a god when its worshippers' enemy carries it off, and why does a nation's own plan end in shame?
The chapter opens by picturing Israel as a vine. Kelly reads the whole scene as outward display with no substance:
In Hosea 10 God judges Israel as an empty vine, in keeping with everything that goes before. Clearly this matches their outward state in the prophet's day. There was plenty of religious show, such as it was — profession, but nothing God could accept. That is the plain contrast to Christ, who alone was the true vine… All the fruit Israel brought forth was to their lusts. They multiplied altars as their fruit multiplied, and made fine statues or images as their land was made good. It is always like this when prosperity goes with an unrenewed mind.
The calf they worshipped is itself handed over. Gaebelein traces the sequence from their inward state to the fate of the calf:
Their heart was smooth, or deceitful, and for this they will now have to suffer… They will have no more king. Verse 4 describes the deceitful heart, and the verse that follows announces the judgment on the calves they worshipped. It, the calf, will be carried to Assyria to be made a present to the king.
Kelly points out who else goes into captivity with it:
Their idol, far from helping, went into captivity along with the foolish people who gave up the LORD for the likeness of a calf that eats hay.
The ESV calls him "the great king." Other translations keep the Hebrew word and read "king Jareb." One dictionary explains it:
Apparently a symbolic name for the king of Assyria. Israel had sent to Assyria for help; but Assyria proved to be no help, but rather a Jareb, or "adversary, enemy."
Commentators differ on the sense of the word:
Jareb is not a proper name. It is a title for the king of Assyria and means "He will contend" or "He will plead the cause."
Gaebelein applies the prophecy to Hoshea, Israel's last king. The record says Hoshea did evil, but not like the kings before him:
This does not mean that he improved. The Assyrian had carried off the golden calves from Bethel and Dan, so Hoshea could no longer sin like Jeroboam the son of Nebat and the other kings of Israel. Hosea had predicted this (Hosea 10:5–8).
The ESV says Israel will be "ashamed of his idol." Other translations read "ashamed of his own counsel" — the plan Israel chose for itself. That plan was to run to Assyria for help. Kelly weighs what it exposed:
It was bad enough to be treacherous to God. It was worse that they had to expose their irreverence and unbelief by turning to a foreign power. It is a distress when the children of God behave badly among themselves. But it is an awful thing when there is no shame in seeking the resources of the world that hates them.
The verse ends in shame, but the book does not. One writer places this prediction inside the larger story of God's dealings with Israel:
In Hosea 10:6 God foretells the glory of Israel being removed to Assyria… God punished His people with deep sorrow, and He would not destroy them. His judgments would bring them to "tremble like a bird out of Egypt, and like a dove out of Assyria." Then He would "place them in their houses" in their own land.
Darby sets the same limit on the judgment:
However great Israel's sin, the heart of their God cannot forsake His people. He will not destroy them. He is God, and not man. In the end He will place the people, now trembling and submissive, once more in their homes.
- Show without fruit. Israel was an empty vine. As the nation prospered it built more altars, but God could accept none of it.
- Carried, not carrying. The calf Samaria trusted could not move itself. Assyria loaded it up and carried it off as a present.
- A helper named "enemy." Jareb is a symbolic title for the Assyrian king. Israel ran to him for help and found an adversary.
- Shame by their own plan. The shame came from a plan they chose themselves: seeking the resources of a world that hated them.
- Removal, then return. History proved the prophecy true: the Assyrian took the calves from Bethel and Dan. Yet God's aim was not destruction but return — His people back in their own land.
As for Samaria her king is cut off as chips upon the face of the waters.
Samaria was the capital of Israel's northern kingdom. Its king was the last protection the ten tribes had left, and Hosea says he will be swept away like a twig on the water.
Commentators tie the words to Hoshea, the last king of Israel. He plotted against Assyria, and Shalmaneser threw him in prison:
So, when Shalmaneser discovered Hoshea's conspiracy, he "shut him up and bound him in prison" (2 Kings 17:4). "As for Samaria her king is cut off," as Hosea prophesied (Hosea 10:7), and we are never told the circumstances of his death.
Commentators differ on how much the verse settles. One reads it as the record of how Hoshea died:
He was imprisoned and we hear nothing whatever of his fate. (Hosea 10:7 tells of his death.)
One writer sets Hoshea's end against the whole line of Israel's kings. His translation reads "foam" where the ESV has "a twig":
Nineteen kings reigned from the great split to the deportation to Assyria. Only seven died natural deaths: Baasha, Omri, Jehu, Jehoahaz, Jehoash, Jeroboam II, and Menahem. Seven were murdered: Nadab, Elah, Joram, Zachariah, Shallum, Pekahiah, and Pekah. One killed himself (Zimri). One died of wounds received in battle (Ahab). One was "struck" by the judgment of God (Jeroboam). One died of injuries from a fall (Ahaziah). And the last one, Hoshea, it seems, was "cut off as foam upon the water."
The chapter opens with a picture of Israel's religion. It grew in step with their income:
In Hosea 10 we have Israel judged as an empty vine, in keeping with all that goes before... There was plenty of religious show, such as it was — profession, but nothing God could accept — the plain contrast to Christ, who alone was the true vine... All the fruit Israel produced went to its own lusts. Israel built more altars as its fruit increased, and made finer statues or images as its land improved. It is always like this where prosperity goes with an unrenewed mind.
Their god went into captivity with them:
Their idol, far from helping, was taken captive with the foolish people who gave up Jehovah for the likeness of a calf that eats hay.
Their heart is what costs them the king:
Their heart was smooth, or deceitful, and for this they will now have to suffer... They will have no more king.
One writer puts the blame on a place:
And who was responsible for all this ruin and the disaster coming on them? "Thus has Bethel done to you, for the evil of your great evil. In the early morning the king of Israel shall be utterly cut off." Bethel was the home of Israel's idolatry. It drew God's wrath, and in the end it brought the monarchy in Israel and their national existence to an end.
Hoshea's name means "deliverer." One commentator reads it as a pointer past the man himself:
What became of Hoshea in the end is not revealed, unless he is the king meant in the prophet's poetic words, "As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the water" (Hosea 10:7). His name means deliverer. That may carry a prophetic meaning. It would be a gracious reminder to the nation, scattered now for so long, of that great "Deliverer" who will "come out of Zion" (God's grace) "and turn away ungodliness from Jacob." And then, and so, "all Israel shall be saved" (Rom. 11:26).
- Cause — Bethel. Bethel was the home of Israel's idolatry. It brought the monarchy and the nation to an end. The throne fell because the altar was false.
- Symptom — prosperity. As the land produced more, Israel built more altars and more images. Growing wealth and an unrenewed heart together produce religious show without fruit.
- Collapse — the king. Hoshea was the nineteenth and last king. He plotted against Assyria and ended in an Assyrian prison. Scripture never records how he died.
- Image — swept away. Most of Israel's nineteen kings died by murder or violence. The last one left no mark at all, like a twig carried off on the water.
- Hope — the Deliverer. Hoshea's name means "deliverer." One commentator sees in it a pointer to the great "Deliverer" who will "come out of Zion," so that "all Israel shall be saved."
And the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed the thorn and the thistle shall come up upon their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us! and to the hills, Fall on us!
Hosea's sentence falls on the places Israel had made holy for itself — shrines built on hills, altars raised in the years when the land was rich. The verse ends with people begging the hills to bury them. Scripture picks up that cry twice more, and commentators trace both the ruin behind it and where it leads.
The place called "Aven" here once had a better name. Hosea refuses to use it.
The name is symbolic: Bethel, "the house of God," had become Aven or Beth-aven, that is, "the house of vanity," because of idolatry.
The new name described a fact. Israel's holiest site had become the headquarters of the worship that ruined them.
Bethel was the seat of Israel's idolatry. It drew God's wrath and finally ended the monarchy in Israel and their national existence.
Why were there so many high places to destroy? Commentators read the whole chapter as the picture of a vine full of leaves and empty of fruit.
In Hosea 10 we have Israel judged as an empty vine, in keeping with everything that comes before. It clearly answers to their outward state in the prophet's day. There was plenty of religious show, such as it was — profession, but nothing God could accept — the plain contrast to Christ, who alone was the true vine. All the fruit Israel brought forth went to their lusts. They multiplied altars as their fruit multiplied, and made fine images as their land was made good. It is always like this where prosperity goes with an unrenewed mind.
The judgment matches the crime. The altars that grew with the harvest end up overgrown, and then comes the cry. One writer sets Hosea's words beside two later passages.
The high places will be destroyed, and thorns and thistles will overgrow its altars. Read this prophetic statement alongside what our Lord said about the judgment of Jerusalem in Luke 23:30, and what Revelation 6:16 says about the breaking of the sixth seal.
Jesus put Hosea's words on the lips of Jerusalem. On the way to the cross, women wept for Him, and He told them to weep for themselves instead.
The women who were there lament with the crowd after Jesus. There was much human feeling in this, though not faith or real love. Why not lament for themselves? For in truth days of sorrow were coming… "Then they will begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. For if they do these things in a green tree, what will be done in the dry?" Jesus was the green tree; and if Jesus was treated so, what would their fate be, set out fully by that dry tree, which was Israel? Israel certainly ought to have been the green tree of promise; but it was only a dry tree waiting for judgment.
Kelly quotes an older translation here. The ESV reads, "For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?"
At the sixth seal every rank of society repeats the same words. Notice what is missing from the cry.
This vast disruption fills all hearts with dismay. Christ's return in judgment had been foretold. The world scoffed at the time. Now this widespread overthrow recalls the prophecy, and a shudder of coming judgment seizes the people. There is no repentance and no cry for mercy. There is only terror of vengeance, and a frantic desire to escape. They show it by calling on the mountains and rocks to fall on them and hide them from the wrath they dread. But their horror comes too early. The judgments before the great day of wrath have begun, but not the day itself. Man is allowed to go on a little longer in his sin, to show that this fear does not change his heart. With him, as with Pharaoh, each judgment, once past, only makes his hardness worse.
- Name. Hosea calls Bethel, "the house of God," by the name Aven, "the house of vanity." A place takes its character from what people worship there, not from the label on the door.
- Growth. Israel built more altars as their harvests grew. Prosperity with an unrenewed mind produces more false religion, not gratitude.
- Ruin. The high places fall and thorns take over the altars. What Israel built its life on becomes waste ground.
- Echo. On the way to the cross, Jesus gives this cry to Jerusalem. If men treat Him, the green tree, like this, what awaits the dry?
- End. At the sixth seal every class repeats the cry. Terror alone brings no repentance and no cry for mercy, only a wish to escape — and the heart stays hard.