Rejoice not, Israel, exultingly, as the peoples; for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God, thou hast loved harlot's hire upon every corn-floor.
Hosea speaks at a time of national plenty, and his first word is a ban: the harvest songs must stop. The reason is not that joy is wrong. Israel has treated God's harvest as a payment earned from someone else.
The warning lands while the barns are full and the mood is confident.
Under the reign of Jeroboam II Israel enjoyed great prosperity. It seems they had a bountiful harvest; grain and wine were in abundance. They gave themselves over to feasting and rejoicing. It was at such a time that the Lord sent this warning against their own sense of security. He announces their captivity. There they would eat unclean things, and feast days would no longer be possible.
The threshing floor is where farmers gathered the grain. Israel had come to see that grain as a fee earned from her idols. The same charge appears earlier in the book, where God names what He gave and what they did with it.
"For she did not know that I gave her grain, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they made into images of gold." So they turned everything to the service of idols, and credited it to the favour of false gods. "Therefore," He says, "I will take my grain in its time, and my new wine in its season; and I will recover my wool and my flax, meant to cover her nakedness."
The words for unfaithfulness in this book are not exaggeration. They follow from a real bond God had formed with this nation.
The sad truth is that Israel was married to Jehovah, as the prophets remind the people (Isaiah 54; Jeremiah 3). So they brand Israel's unfaithfulness, not as prostitution like the Babylon of the New Testament, but as adultery (so in Hosea 3 and elsewhere). Yet His grace may later deal with Israel, not as a guilty widow, but as a woman forsaken and a wife of her youth.
The ban on rejoicing is not about mood. It opens a judgment that runs through the whole chapter.
Hosea 9 sets out the joyless doom of Israel for their shameless departure from their God. They had taken their grain as a prostitute's payment from their false gods. All such outward mercies would fail, and they would not live in the land of Jehovah… They would not pour out wine to Jehovah, and they would not be pleasing to Him. Their sacrifices would be to them like the bread of mourners. Everyone who ate of it would be unclean. Their bread would be for themselves. None would come into the house of Jehovah (verses 1-4).
The chapter is not all threat. The land is still God's, and the people in it are still the people He chose.
In Hosea 9 we have that touching mixture of affection and judgment which we find again and again in this prophet. Ephraim would not remain in the land which was Jehovah's. God would not give up His rights, whatever the sin of the people might be… God had chosen Israel from among the nations to be His delight. Even so, they had gone after Baal-peor before they ever came into the land. God is patient, but He still takes notice of everything.
Israel's rejoicing is forbidden here, but joy itself is not. Where a person looks for joy decides whether it lasts.
Our poor hearts long for joy, and are always tempted to seek it from human sources. But that joy proves both unsatisfying and short-lived. So the apostle writes, "do not get drunk with wine" (a picture of the joys of earth) … "but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs."
Prosperity carries its own danger:
Israel is warned of the dangers hidden in prosperity. Then would come the temptation to rest in the luxury, forget God's goodness to them, and be drawn away to seek after false gods. That is what happened in their history, as we know. We as Christians have to remind ourselves that days of outward prosperity are times of spiritual danger and defeat for us too.
- Gift. The grain, wine, oil, silver and gold were God's, given by Him — Israel "did not know that I gave her grain."
- Renamed. Israel credited the gift to false gods, and so took the harvest as a prostitute's payment, not as God's provision.
- Silenced. Because Israel renamed the gift, God forbids the harvest song. The rest of the chapter spells out the judgment.
- Removed. God takes back what was misused — the land, the feast days, the wine poured out to Him, and the house of the Lord.
- Restored. Affection still runs under the judgment. God keeps His rights over the land and notices everything. Real joy is still on offer — from Him, not from human sources.
The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail her.
Hosea speaks to a nation in a season of rich harvest and loud feasting. Into that celebration comes a warning that empties both floor and vat — why would God drain the very supplies He had given?
The warning lands at the height of national success, not in a famine. One writer sets the scene under Israel's king Jeroboam II:
Under the reign of Jeroboam II Israel enjoyed great prosperity. It seems they had a rich harvest; grain and wine were plentiful. They gave themselves over to feasting and celebrating. It was at such a time that the Lord sent this warning against their sense of security.
One writer explains the Hebrew word behind "wine vat":
It may be worth noticing that yekev, translated "wine" in Deuteronomy 16:13, means "wine-press" — strictly, the wine vat. … The vat stands for the wine it produced, just as the floor stands for the grain.
So floor and vat stand for what they produce. The food fails at its source.
Why take the harvest away? One writer traces it to the way Israel had taken the harvest in the first place:
Hosea 9 sets out the joyless doom of Israel for their shameless departure from their God. They had taken their grain as a prostitute's wages from their false gods. All such outward mercies would fail, and they would not live in the land of Jehovah. Ephraim would go back to Egypt, and in Assyria they would eat unclean food — some fleeing to Egypt by choice, most carried captive to Assyria. They would not pour out wine to Jehovah, and they would not please Him.
The judgment matches the sin. What they credited to idols is what they lose — and the land and its worship go too.
Earlier in the book God names the real giver of those crops:
"And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold" — which they used for Baal. … "Therefore," He says, "I will take back my grain in its time, and my wine in its season." … Even her natural blessings had to be cut off. Her unbelief had made them an excuse for the idols she set up.
(Older translations read "corn" and "new wine" — the two words in our verse.) Notice the word my. The failing harvest is not bad luck. It is an owner taking back His own.
The chapter is not cold. One writer notes the feeling running under the judgment:
In Hosea 9 we find that touching mixture of affection and judgment which runs through this prophet. Ephraim would not stay in the land, for the land was Jehovah's. God would not give up His rights, however great the people's sin.
The same failure can happen today. One writer connects the missing comfort with idolatry:
This is why, when we turn to God and want to comfort ourselves in Him, we do not find the comfort. Our portion yields us nothing for our cup. Suppose an Israelite came back from worshipping Baal, and Jehovah's altar refused him. Would we be surprised? "Covetousness is idolatry," says the apostle.
- Gift — God gave the grain, the wine and the oil. He still calls them "my grain" and "my wine."
- Misplaced credit — Israel took the harvest as a prostitute's wages from false gods, and gave Baal the credit.
- Withdrawal — The gift became an excuse for idols, so the Giver takes it back. Floor and vat stop feeding them.
- Timing — The warning comes in the middle of plenty. It targets people who feel safe.
- Tone — Judgment comes mixed with affection. God will not give up His rights over His land.
They shall not dwell in Jehovah's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and in Assyria shall they eat that which is unclean.
Hosea speaks to Ephraim — Israel's ten northern tribes — as God announces that they will lose the land He gave them. Exile sends them back to Egypt, the country God rescued them from, and on to Assyria, where even their food will be unclean.
The verse calls it the land of the LORD. One writer begins there:
Ephraim should not remain in the land, for the land was the LORD's. God would not give up His rights, whatever the sin of the people might be. They should go into captivity, and come no more into the house of the LORD.
The judgment answers a specific sin, and it reached the people in two ways:
Hosea 9 sets out the joyless doom of Israel for their shameful departure from their God. They had taken their grain as a prostitute's payment from their false gods, and all such outward mercies should fail... Some fled to Egypt of their own choice, while most were carried captive into Assyria.
Commentators differ on what the return to Egypt means. Another writer sets this verse beside Hosea's other mentions of Egypt:
"Return into the land of Egypt" does not necessarily mean to flee there. It can mean to seek help there. Isaiah 31:1 says the same: "Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help."
Assyria is not a random choice of prison. Israel had already looked to Assyria for safety. The punishment fits the sin:
The ten tribes are before the prophet, and he tells of their coming captivity... Israel relied on Assyria instead of the LORD, so the LORD allowed him to be a captive to the nation on which he had relied.
This is not about a poor diet. One commentator links this verse to Daniel, a young captive in Babylon who refused the king's table:
We believe Daniel did not refuse the king's food and wine because there was anything wrong or dangerous in them in themselves. He refused because pagan kings usually offered them to their idols. For this or similar reasons, he would not share in the provision assigned to him from the king's table.
The loss reaches past the menu. One writer traces Hosea's words here back to the commandments given through Moses:
Hosea, in Hosea 9:3 and following, refers to many of the commandments given through Moses. "They shall eat unclean food in Assyria. They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the LORD, and they shall not please Him... What will you do on the day of the appointed festival, and on the day of the feast of the LORD?"
One writer carries this warning past Israel and into the present:
Leaning on Egypt was especially offensive to God. He had rescued them from that very people by His judgments at the start of their national history. It offends God just as much when a Christian goes back to the world-system. God has delivered the believer from that system and from the judgment coming on it. To go back is to rely on its power or its wisdom, instead of finding his resource in God when emergencies arise.
- The land — the ground they lived on was "the land of the LORD." God would not give up His rights over it, whatever the people's sin.
- The choice — they credited their harvest to false gods, then looked to Egypt for help and Assyria for safety.
- The sentence — they lose the land two ways. Some go to Egypt by choice; most are carried captive into Assyria.
- The irony — God let them become captives of the very nation they had leaned on.
- The table — exile means unclean food and no drink offerings, so the feasts of the LORD stop. The same pull toward the world still costs believers their resource in God.
They shall pour out no [offerings of] wine to Jehovah, neither shall their sacrifices be pleasing unto him they shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be defiled for their bread shall be for themselves; it shall not come into the house of Jehovah.
Hosea speaks to the ten tribes of Israel on the edge of exile. This verse names the cost: no wine poured out to God, no sacrifice He accepts, no place in His house, and bread fit only for mourners.
The chapter opens on a people still enjoying the harvest. Hosea tells them they will lose it all. One writer sums up these opening verses and the two directions the exiles would scatter:
Hosea 9 sets out the joyless doom of Israel for their shameless desertion of their God. They had taken their grain as a prostitute's pay from their false gods. All such outward mercies would fail, and they would no longer live in the land of Jehovah. Ephraim will return to Egypt, and in Assyria they will eat unclean food. Some will flee to Egypt by choice; most will go to Assyria as captives.
The land was not their own property. It belonged to God, and He would not let their sin settle there:
Ephraim would not remain in the land, for the land was Jehovah's. God would not give up His rights, whatever the sin of the people might be. They should go into captivity, and come no more into the house of Jehovah. The prophet and the spiritual man should no longer be a link between them and Jehovah.
The drink offering was wine poured out beside a sacrifice. It never stood on its own, and it meant joy — joy shared between God and the worshipper:
A whole Christ, as it were, must be before the worshipper before a drink offering would be in place. When that was before the eye and the heart, no one was to hold back the drink offering. The wine that cheers God and man could then be poured out. It was a token that in the Lord Jesus Christ, who lived and died, there was something that gave joy to God — and those who offered it could share that joy.
So when God says they will pour out no wine to Him, they are not losing a mere ceremony. They are losing a joy they once shared with Him.
The law already barred a person in mourning from eating holy things. The worshipper bringing his offering had to say so out loud:
"I have not eaten of it in my mourning, nor have I taken any of it away for any unclean use, nor given any of it for the dead." To eat in his mourning was profaning himself.
Calling their sacrifices mourners' bread is therefore a verdict, not a description of their mood. Whatever they brought would be defiling rather than accepted.
The reason mourners' bread was barred goes deeper than ritual. One writer draws out why grief in the sanctuary was treated the same way as an unclean heart:
No one was to eat the bread of mourners in the sanctuary. It would have defiled the presence of God, just as an offering from an unclean heart would have defiled it. For if holiness suits God's house, so do liberty and joy.
Their bread now feeds them and nothing more. None of it reaches God's house. That is the state of a people living where there is no altar:
Israel raised no altar in Egypt. They had to go into the wilderness before they could offer a sacrifice or keep a feast to the Lord. Egypt was the place of the flesh, and of judgment. God could not rightly receive worship from them until He had delivered them out of it. And so in Babylon: Israel raised no altar there. One might open his window and pray towards Jerusalem. Three or four might pray together for mercy and wisdom. In a day of confusion they might all hang their harps on the willows, refusing to sing the songs of Zion there. But they raised no altar in that land of the uncircumcised.
The end of the offerings is not God's last word to Israel. He promises to give back what He cut off:
For a time all the offerings the law required have stopped. They will begin again when God takes up Israel once more as His people on earth. Then sacrifices will go up on the altar afresh, and wine will again be poured out to the Lord (Ezekiel 45:17). And Israel will understand what they mean. They will share with understanding in God's joy in Christ, a joy drawn from His life and from His death.
- Cause. Israel treated God's harvest as pay from false gods. So God took back those mercies and the land itself — some went to Egypt, most to Assyria as captives.
- Claim. The land belonged to Jehovah, and He would not give up His rights. Leaving Him meant leaving the land and His house.
- Wine. Poured-out wine expressed joy shared between God and the worshipper in the sacrifice. Its silence means that joy has stopped.
- Mourners' bread. The law barred a mourner from eating holy things. Grief there defiled the sanctuary like an unclean heart, because holiness and joy both suit God's house.
- Restoration. Israel raised no altar in Egypt or Babylon. Yet the offerings will return, and then Israel will understand what they meant.