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Commentary on the Book of Hosea, Chapter 10: 

The sins that have been recounted over the past couple of chapters are now reviewed, especially those that focus on false worship. The altars, pillars, calf, high places, and Bethel are references to pagan worship that developed as the people became more successful, and which God will now destroy. Using the image of a calf being raised on a farm, God explains He has been lenient on His people, but now they must labor. The work of plowing the field leads to the imagery of needing to sow righteousness in order to receive God’s steadfast love. But instead, the people have labored over iniquity, injustice, and lies. They have trusted human power over God. As a result, the nation will fall.

The Book of Hosea, Chapter 10:

Israel’s Sin and Captivity

1 Israel is a luxuriant vine         
that yields its fruit.
The more his fruit increased the more altars he built;
as his country improved
he improved his pillars.
2 Their heart is false;
now they must bear their guilt.
The Lord will break down their altars,
and destroy their pillars.
3 For now they will say: “We have no king,
for we fear not the Lord,
and a king, what could he do for us?”
4 They utter mere words;
with empty oaths they make covenants;
so judgment springs up like poisonous weeds
in the furrows of the field.
5 The inhabitants of Samaria tremble
for the calf of Beth-aven. Its people shall mourn for it,
and its idolatrous priests shall wail over it,
over its glory which has departed from it.
6 Yes, the thing itself shall be carried to Assyria,
as tribute to the great king. Ephraim shall be put to
shame,
and Israel shall be ashamed of his idol.
7 Samaria’s king shall perish, like a chip on the face of the
waters.
8 The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel,
shall be destroyed.
Thorn and thistle shall grow up on their altars;
and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us,
and to the hills, Fall upon us.
9 From the days of Gibe-ah, you have sinned, O Israel;
there they have continued.
Shall not war overtake them in Gibe-ah?
10 I will comes against the wayward people to chastise them;
and nations shall be gathered against them
when they are chastised for their double iniquity.
11 Ephraim was a trained heifer that loved to thresh,
and I spared her fair neck; but I will put Ephraim to the
yoke,
Judah must plow,
Jacob must harrow for himself.
12 Sow for yourselves righteousness,
reap the fruit of mercy; break up your fallow ground,
for it is the time to seek the
Lord,
that he may come and rain salvation upon you.
13 You have plowed iniquity, you have reaped injustice, you have eaten the fruit of
lies.
Because you have trusted in your chariots 
and in the multitude of your warriors,
14 therefore the tumult of war shall arise among your people,
and all your fortresses shall be destroyed,
as Shalman destroyed Betharbel on the day of battle;
mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.
15 Thus it shall be done to you, O house of Israel,
because of your great wickedness.
In the storm the king of Israel shall be utterly cut off.

*Daily Lectio Divina Question:

"so judgement springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field." (v.4) When a person is injured, the remedy can often be painful and severe. Just so, when we are in the throws of sin or a sinful pattern, the remedy can be perceived as odious and extreme. Israel, by its sin, was sewing an evil garden. God causes judgement to spring up as "poisonous weeds" to kill that evil garden. Are there gardens of sin in my life that might need a remedy that could seem severe?

Biblical Commentary provided by the Catholic Biblical School of Michigan. Join a Catholic Biblical School of Michigan class this September at Holy Family in Grand Blanc, or online.

Revised Standard Version; Second Catholic Edition. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006).
Permission to use the RSV-2CE given for Bishop's Year of the Bible by Ignatius Press. Many thanks to Ignatius for this.
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