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A SHORT-LIVED JOY

Israel thought that the prosperity it gained would bring them great and lasting joy. The nation was much mistaken!

“Do not rejoice, O Israel, with joy like other peoples,
For you have played the harlot against your God.
You have made love for hire on every threshing floor.
The threshing floor and the winepress
Shall not feed them,
And the new wine shall fail in her.”
Hosea 9:1-2

1. “Do not rejoice, O Israel, with joy like other peoples”

a) There seems to be cause for much joy for Israel.

b) They were in partnership with other nations.

c) These partnerships seem to be lucrative and thus cause for lasting joy.

2. “For you have played the harlot against your God”

a) Israel was likened to a harlot.

b) The nation had abandoned the LORD their God.

c) It had given itself to the worship of idols.

3. “You have made love for hire on every threshing floor”

a) In idolatrous worship there were fertility deities.

b) These sometimes demanded these rites to be performed on threshing floors.

c) Religious fertility rites were performed with religious harlots.

d) These rites were supposed to guarantee a good and bountiful harvest.

4. The sad and grim reality

a) “The threshing floor… shall not feed them”

i) The religious rites were performed in vain.

ii) They incurred the wrath of God.

iii) There would be no bumper crop as promised.

b) “The winepress… shall not feed them”

i) Fertility rites were also performed at winepresses.

ii) Neither would these result in fruitful harvests.

c) “And the new wine shall fail in her”

If God would not bless, no fertility rite would result in a good harvest even if it is new wine!