Thy Strong Word — Hosea 9: Prosperity is No Protection from God’s Judgement

The Rev. Adam DeGroot, pastor of Calvary Lutheran Church in Rio Rancho, NM, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Hosea 9.

Hosea prophesies a vivid picture of Israel’s impending punishment for their unfaithfulness and idolatry, likening them to bad grapes unfit for consumption. He warns of the approaching judgment and their imminent fall, highlighting their religious infidelity and moral wrongdoing that thrive in their prosperous society.

The book of Hosea is a love story with a twist. It tells how God commanded Hosea, a prophet, to marry Gomer, a wife who would be unfaithful to him. God wanted Hosea to feel firsthand the pain of betrayal as he sent him out to prophesy to the people of Israel how they had been unfaithful to God. Hosea still loved Gomer and pursued her and restored her as his wife. This was a picture of how God pursued Israel despite their sin and rebellion and offered them grace and mercy if they would return to Him.

Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, reveals the light of our salvation in Christ through study of God’s Word, breaking our darkness with His redeeming light. Each weekday, two pastors fix our eyes on Jesus by considering Holy Scripture, verse by verse, in order to be strengthened in the Word and be equipped to faithfully serve in our daily vocations.

Thy Strong Word is graciously underwritten by the Lutheran Heritage Foundation. Through the mission gifts of people like you, LHF translates, publishes, distributes and introduces books that are Bible-based, Christ-centered and Reformation-driven. Learn more at lhfmissions.org.

Hosea 9

The Lord Will Punish Israel

9 Rejoice not, O Israel!
    Exult not like the peoples;
for you have played the whore, forsaking your God.
    You have loved a prostitute’s wages
    on all threshing floors.
²Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them,
    and the new wine shall fail them.
³They shall not remain in the land of the Lord,
    but Ephraim shall return to Egypt,
    and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria.

⁴They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the Lord,
    and their sacrifices shall not please him.
It shall be like mourners’ bread to them;
    all who eat of it shall be defiled;
for their bread shall be for their hunger only;
    it shall not come to the house of the Lord.

⁵What will you do on the day of the appointed festival,
    and on the day of the feast of the Lord?
⁶For behold, they are going away from destruction;
    but Egypt shall gather them;
    Memphis shall bury them.
Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver;
    thorns shall be in their tents.

⁷The days of punishment have come;
    the days of recompense have come;
    Israel shall know it.
The prophet is a fool;
    the man of the spirit is mad,
because of your great iniquity
    and great hatred.
⁸The prophet is the watchman of Ephraim with my God;
yet a fowler’s snare is on all his ways,
    and hatred in the house of his God.
⁹They have deeply corrupted themselves
    as in the days of Gibeah:
he will remember their iniquity;
    he will punish their sins.

¹⁰Like grapes in the wilderness,
    I found Israel.
Like the first fruit on the fig tree
    in its first season,
    I saw your fathers.
But they came to Baal-peor
    and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame,
    and became detestable like the thing they loved.
¹¹Ephraim’s glory shall fly away like a bird—
    no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!
¹²Even if they bring up children,
    I will bereave them till none is left.
Woe to them
    when I depart from them!
¹³Ephraim, as I have seen, was like a young palm^[a] planted in a meadow;
    but Ephraim must lead his children out to slaughter.^[b]
¹⁴Give them, O Lord—
    what will you give?
Give them a miscarrying womb
    and dry breasts.

¹⁵Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal;
    there I began to hate them.
Because of the wickedness of their deeds
    I will drive them out of my house.
I will love them no more;
    all their princes are rebels.

¹⁶Ephraim is stricken;
    their root is dried up;
    they shall bear no fruit.
Even though they give birth,
    I will put their beloved children to death.
¹⁷My God will reject them
    because they have not listened to him;
    they shall be wanderers among the nations.

Footnotes

Hosea 9:13 Or like Tyre
Hosea 9:13 Hebrew to him who slaughters

Rev. Dr. Phil Booe

Native North Carolinian Rev. Dr. Phil Booe serves pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, and host of Thy Strong Word on KFUO Radio. His parishioners probably think he can’t teach Bible study without a mug of coffee in his hand, and he’ll always be happy to eat a plate of sushi. When he’s not shepherding his flock or teaching on the radio, you might find him watching bad movies from the 50s, 60s, and 70s, and especially binging RiffTrax and MST3K episodes. Some day he’d love to travel to the Lutheran homeland in Germany, but for now he spends time in Minnesota with his wife, son, daughter, and cat, and looks forward to Holy Week every year.