NOTES for Hos 9:1-17

The prophetic discourse continues; the menacing words that foretell the harshest consequences of what people have done do not cease. Amid the many warnings, the prophecy that Ephraim will return to Egypt sounds astonishing and even strange at first. The One who led the people out of Egypt warns that, many centuries later, the unfaithful people may return to their starting point. To imagine such a thing is like supposing that centuries can be erased and that everything that passed between the Lord and His people has melted away. What remains now? To begin everything again, or not even to begin? But then what will remain for those who have turned away from their only Hope except meaningless wandering among more fortunate peoples?

No, He remains faithful to His children even when they are unfaithful to Him. But sometimes, when we very much want to manage without Him, He sort of withdraws—the fashionable filler phrase “sort of” happens to fit here—and gives us the chance to see what it is like without Him. Or, as in this case, through one of the prophets He portrays the consequences of attempts to manage without Him. We are now free to act as we please, but we lose one thing: the ability to claim that “we did not want this.” We were warned!