Book of Hosea Chapter 9 Vs. 10

 The Lord Will Punish Israel

I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baalpeor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved. Hos. 9:10

I found Israel... Finding grapes in the wilderness and first fruits on the fig tree symbolizes God’s joy in establishing His covenant with Israel in the days of Moses.

Sadly, Israel quickly turned away from God and went to Baal-peor, where they worshiped other gods (Num. 25:1-5).

like grapes in... Two comparisons of Israel:

1. God found Israel and was blessed in His plans for her, like a man being blessed who finds grapes in the wilderness.

2. God saw them as a firstripe fig, which would also be very refreshing; but Israel went into sin and shame.

went to Baalpeor... This was the name of the most filthy and foul god of the heathen, from the standpoint of immoral practices which accompanied the worship (Num. 25:1-18). Thus, we have another of many references in this book concerning the immorality of Israel.

When God heard the cry of the family of Jacob in Egypt and rescued them, they were like this wild grape. They were untamed. They lived as captives in a strange land. They had not received God's law at that time. The fig tree symbolizes Israel. God was pleased with them in the beginning. He had chosen them as His family. They did not stay faithful to God but wandered away.

unto that shame... Long before their sin in Gibeah, they sinned against God at Baal-peor. They chose to worship this false god, instead of the One True God. This Baal was a Moabite false god. It seemed the sins connected with this worship were sensual sex sins.

THE CORRUPTION THAT IS THROUGH LUST

Those who at the present time are enforcing among us the revival of a paganism-without the pagan conscience-and exalting licentiousness to the level of an art, forget how frequently the human race has attempted their experiment, with far more sincerity than they themselves can put into it, and how invariably the result has been recorded by history to be weariness, decay, and death. On this occasion we have the story told to us by one who to the experience of the statesman adds the vision of the poet. The generation to which Hosea belonged practiced a periodical unchastity under the alleged sanctions of nature and religion. And, although their prophet told them that-like our own apostates from Christianity-they could never do so with the abandon of the pagans, for they carried within them the conscience and the memory of a higher faith, it appears that even the fathers of Israel resorted openly and without shame to the licentious rites of the sanctuaries. In an earlier passage of his book Hosea insists that all this must impair the people’s intellect. Harlotry takes away the brains. (Hos. 4:12) He has shown also how it confuses the family and has exposed the old delusion that men may be impure and keep their womankind chaste. (Hos. 4:13-14) But now he diagnoses another of the inevitable results of this sin. After tracing the sin and the theory of life which permitted it, to their historical beginnings at the entry of the people into Canaan, he describes how the long practice of it, no matter how pretentious its sanctions, inevitably leads not only to exterminating strifes, but to the decay of the vigor of the nation, to barrenness and a diminishing population. So had the lusty nation appeared to God in its youth; in that dry wilderness all the sap and promise of spring were in its eyes, because it was still pure. But they came to Ba’al-Peor the first of the shrines of Canaan which they touched and dedicated themselves to the shame and became as abominable as the object of their love.

Israel’s idolatry punished.

This section begins with a reference to Israel’s origins, when the Lord found extreme delight in the nation (cf. Hos. 2:15). Grapes in the desert would be an unexpected source of surprise and delight. The delicious early fruit on the fig tree was irresistible (cf. Son. 2:13; Isa. 28:4; Jer. 24:2; Mic. 7:1).

However, the Lord’s attitude toward His people soon changed. When they arrived at Peor they engaged in sexual immorality with Moabite and Midianite women as part of the fertility rites associated with the worship of Baal Peor (cf. Num. 25:1-18). This deity, which God called that shameful idol, may have been a local manifestation of the Canaanite fertility god Baal. This event in Moses’ day was mentioned here because it set the pattern for Israel’s subsequent history, characterized by unfaithfulness. In Hosea’s day Israel had also defiled herself by making Baal her lover. Like the generation at Peor, they too had engaged in fertility rites (cf. Hos. 4:13-14).