SCRIPTURE: HOSEA 10
SINS OF ISRAELITES
- As fruits increased, they built more altars and adorned sacred stones. (v. 1)
- They made many promises and agreements, took false oaths. Therefore lawsuits sprang up. (v. 4)
- They had planted wickedness and eaten the fruit of deception. (v. 13a)
- They had depended on their own strength and warriors. (v. 13b)
JUDGMENT OF ISRAEL:
- The Lord will demolish their altars and destroy their sacred stones. (v. 2)
- Ephraim will be disgraced; Israel will be ashamed of its wooden idols. (v. 6)
- Samaria and its king will float away like a twig on the surface of the water. (v. 7)
- The high places of wickedness will be destroyed. (v. 8a)
- Thorns and thistles will grow up and cover their altars. (v. 8b)
- Nations will be gathered against them to put them in bonds for their double sin. (v. 10)
- God will put a yoke on Ephraim’s neck. and drive her. Judah must plow and Jacob must break up the ground. (v. 11)
- The roar of battle will rise against them and devastated their fortresses. (v. 14a)
- Their mothers and children were dashed to the ground. (v. 14b)
- The king of Israel will be completely destroyed. (v. 15)
THOUGHTS:
Israel put its confidence in military might rather than in God. So, they would be destroyed by military power. The Israel’s king who led the people into idol worship was first to fall. They reaped what they sowed.