Israel's Unfaithfulness Punished
And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. Hos. 2:12
I will destroy... Before, God had threatened to take away the fruits in their seasons; now He says that he will take away all hope for the future; not the fruit only, but the trees which bare it.
It was the plague, which God in former times laid upon those, out of the midst of whom He took them to be His people (Psm. 105:33; see Jer.5:17). "He smote their vines also and their fig trees, and brake the trees of their coasts."
lovers have given... Now that they had become like the pagan, He dealt with them as with the pagan.
Of which she said, “These are my rewards”: Literally "my hire." It is the special word, used of the payment to the adulteress, or degraded woman, and so continues the likeness, by which he had set forth the foulness of her desertion of God.
and I will... The vines and fig-trees which had aforetime been their wealth, and full of beauty, should, when neglected, run wild, and become the harbor of the wild beasts Which should prey upon them.
God had given them the vines and fig trees. Since they had abandoned Him, He takes away the blessings He had given them. God will not cause them to be fruitful anymore. All of these things belong to God. He can do with them whatever He wishes.
The themes in Hos. 2:5-9 are repeated in Hos. 2:12-13. In implementing the covenant curses the Lord would destroy the produce (her vines and her fig trees; cf. Deut.28:38-42; Joel 1:7; Amos 4:9), which Israel erroneously regarded as the pay given by her paramours in exchange for her services (cf. Hos. 9:1; Mic. 1:7). The vineyards would be reduced to an overgrown thicket inhabited by wild animals. This would be an effect of the depopulation which would accompany the nation’s military defeat and exile (cf. Psm. 80:12-13; Isa. 5:5-6; 7:23-25; 17:9; 32:9-14; Mic. 3:12).
The themes in Hos. 2:5-9 are repeated in Hos. 2:12-13. In implementing the covenant curses the Lord would destroy the produce (her vines and her fig trees; cf. Deut. 28:38-42; Joel 1:7; Amos 4:9), which Israel erroneously regarded as the pay given by her paramours in exchange for her services (cf. Hos. 9:1; Mic. 1:7). The vineyards would be reduced to an overgrown thicket inhabited by wild animals. This would be an effect of the depopulation which would accompany the nation’s military defeat and exile (cf. Psm. 80:12-13; Isa. 5:5-6; 7:23-25; 17:9; 32:9-14; Mic. 3:12).
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