Ephraim is a well-trained heifer that loves to thresh; but I will place a yoke on her fair neck. I will harness Ephraim, Judah will plow, and Jacob will break the hard ground. Ephraim is a well-trained heifer that loves to thresh;Ephraim, representing the northern kingdom of Israel, is likened to a heifer, a young cow, which is well-trained and enjoys the task of threshing. Threshing was a relatively easy and rewarding task for cattle, as it allowed them to eat while they worked. This imagery suggests that Ephraim had been in a position of comfort and privilege, enjoying the benefits of their labor without much hardship. Historically, Ephraim was one of the most prominent tribes in Israel, often leading in prosperity and influence. The metaphor indicates a period of ease and abundance, but also hints at complacency and self-indulgence. but I will place a yoke on her fair neck.
The yoke symbolizes subjugation and hard labor. God declares that He will impose discipline on Ephraim, transitioning them from a state of ease to one of servitude and difficulty. This reflects the impending judgment and captivity that would come upon Israel due to their disobedience and idolatry. The "fair neck" suggests beauty and strength, indicating that Ephraim's current state is one of grace and potential, yet it will be subjected to control and restraint. This is a prophetic warning of the Assyrian conquest, where Israel would lose its autonomy and freedom. I will harness Ephraim,
The act of harnessing implies control and direction. God intends to redirect Ephraim's path, moving them from their self-directed ways to a path of divine correction. This reflects the broader biblical theme of God’s sovereignty and His ability to guide nations according to His purposes. The harnessing also suggests a transformation from a life of ease to one of labor and submission, aligning with the consequences of their covenant unfaithfulness. Judah will plow,
Judah, representing the southern kingdom, is depicted as plowing, a task that involves preparation and hard work. This indicates that Judah, unlike Ephraim, will be engaged in a more laborious and foundational role. Historically, Judah remained more faithful to God compared to the northern kingdom, though they too would eventually face judgment. The plowing metaphor suggests a role in preparing the ground, possibly for future restoration and blessing, aligning with prophecies of a remnant and the coming of the Messiah from the line of Judah. and Jacob will break the hard ground.
Jacob, representing the entire nation of Israel, is tasked with breaking the hard ground, a metaphor for repentance and renewal. This imagery suggests a call to spiritual renewal and the breaking up of hardened hearts. The hard ground symbolizes the stubbornness and sinfulness of the people, which must be addressed for true restoration to occur. This phrase connects to the broader biblical narrative of repentance and the need for a contrite heart, as seen in passages like Jeremiah 4:3 and Hosea 10:12, which call for breaking up fallow ground and seeking the Lord. Persons / Places / Events 1. EphraimRepresents the northern kingdom of Israel, often used as a symbol for the entire nation due to its prominence. 2. JudahThe southern kingdom, representing the remaining tribes of Israel after the division. 3. JacobRefers to the patriarch Jacob, but here symbolizes the entire nation of Israel. 4. ThreshingAn agricultural process of separating grain from chaff, symbolizing ease and abundance. 5. YokeA wooden beam used between a pair of oxen to enable them to pull together on a load, symbolizing subjugation and labor. Teaching Points Symbolism of the HeiferEphraim is likened to a well-trained heifer, indicating initial obedience and prosperity. However, this prosperity led to complacency and sin. We must guard against allowing blessings to lead us away from God. The Yoke of DisciplineGod's placing of a yoke on Ephraim signifies discipline and correction. In our lives, God's discipline is a sign of His love and desire to bring us back to righteousness. Role of Judah and JacobThe roles of Judah and Jacob in plowing and breaking ground symbolize preparation and hard work. Spiritual growth often requires effort and breaking up the hard ground of our hearts. Consequences of SinThe imagery of the yoke and labor serves as a reminder of the consequences of turning away from God. Sin leads to bondage, but repentance brings freedom. Hope in RestorationDespite the judgment, there is hope for restoration. God's ultimate goal is to bring His people back to Himself, offering a future of hope and renewal. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the imagery of a well-trained heifer relate to our spiritual walk with God? 2. In what ways can prosperity lead to spiritual complacency, and how can we guard against it? 3. How does God's discipline manifest in our lives, and what is its purpose according to Scripture? 4. What does the process of plowing and breaking ground teach us about spiritual growth and preparation? 5. How can we find hope and assurance in God's promise of restoration despite the consequences of sin? Connections to Other Scriptures Deuteronomy 25:4Discusses not muzzling an ox while it treads out the grain, which connects to the imagery of Ephraim as a heifer that loves to thresh. Jeremiah 28:14Speaks of the yoke of servitude, paralleling the yoke placed on Ephraim. Matthew 11:29-30Jesus speaks of His yoke being easy, contrasting the burdensome yoke of sin and rebellion. Isaiah 28:24-26Discusses the process of plowing and breaking up the ground, similar to the tasks assigned to Judah and Jacob. People Hosea, Jacob, Jareb, ShalmanPlaces Assyria, Aven, Beth-arbel, Beth-aven, Bethel, Gibeah, Gilgal, SamariaTopics Beautiful, Break, Broken, Cause, Clods, Corn, Cow, Crushing, Draw, Drive, Ephraim, E'phraim, Fair, Goodness, Grain, Ground, Harness, Harrow, Heifer, Horseman, Jacob, Judah, Loved, Loves, Loveth, Loving, Neck, Passed, Pleasure, Plough, Plow, Ride, Rider, Spared, Taking, Taught, Thresh, Trained, Tread, Turning, Working, YokeDictionary of Bible Themes Hosea 10:11 4522 threshing
4696 yoke Hosea 10:11-12 4498 ploughing Library 'Fruit which is Death'
'Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images. 2. Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: He shall break down their altars, He shall spoil their images. 3. For now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared not the Lord; what then should a king do to us? 4. They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy ScriptureA Divided Heart
I intend, however, to take the text this morning specially with reference to our individual condition. We shall look at the separate individual heart of each man. If divisions in the great main body--if separation among the distinct classes of that body should each promote disasters, how much more disastrous must be a division in that better kingdom--the heart of man. If there be civil tumult in the town of Mansoul, even when no enemy attacks its walls, it will be in a sufficiently dangerous position. …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859 How to Promote a Revival.
Text.--Break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.--Hosea x. 12. THE Jews were a nation of farmers, and it is therefore a common thing in the Scriptures to refer for illustrations to their occupation, and to the scenes with which farmers and shepherds are familiar. The prophet Hosea addresses them as a nation of backsliders, and reproves them for their idolatry, and threatens them with the judgments of God. I have showed you in my first …
Charles Grandison Finney—Lectures on Revivals of Religion The Books of the Old Testament as a Whole. 1 the Province of Particular Introduction is to Consider the Books of the Bible Separately...
CHAPTER XVIII. THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT AS A WHOLE. 1. The province of Particular Introduction is to consider the books of the Bible separately, in respect to their authorship, date, contents, and the place which each of them holds in the system of divine truth. Here it is above all things important that we begin with the idea of the unity of divine revelation--that all the parts of the Bible constitute a gloriously perfect whole, of which God and not man is the author. No amount of study devoted …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible Arbel. Shezor. Tarnegola the Upper.
"Arbel a city of Galilee."--There is mention of it in Hosea 10:14. But there are authors which do very differently interpret that place, viz. the Chaldee paraphrast, R. Solomon, Kimchi: consult them. It was between Zippor and Tiberias. Hence Nittai the Arbelite, who was president with Josua Ben Perahiah. The valley of Arbel is mentioned by the Talmudists. So also "The Arbelite Bushel." "Near Zephath in Upper Galilee was a town named Shezor, whence was R. Simeon Shezori: there he was buried. There …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica Letter Xli to Thomas of St. Omer, after He had Broken his Promise of Adopting a Change of Life.
To Thomas of St. Omer, After He Had Broken His Promise of Adopting a Change of Life. He urges him to leave his studies and enter religion, and sets before him the miserable end of Thomas of Beverley. To his dearly beloved son, Thomas, Brother Bernard, called Abbot of Clairvaux, that he may walk in the fear of the Lord. 1. You do well in acknowledging the debt of your promise, and in not denying your guilt in deferring its performance. But I beg you not to think simply of what you promised, but to …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux Of Love to God
I proceed to the second general branch of the text. The persons interested in this privilege. They are lovers of God. "All things work together for good, to them that love God." Despisers and haters of God have no lot or part in this privilege. It is children's bread, it belongs only to them that love God. Because love is the very heart and spirit of religion, I shall the more fully treat upon this; and for the further discussion of it, let us notice these five things concerning love to God. 1. The …
Thomas Watson—A Divine Cordial The Prophet Hosea.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. That the kingdom of Israel was the object of the prophet's ministry is so evident, that upon this point all are, and cannot but be, agreed. But there is a difference of opinion as to whether the prophet was a fellow-countryman of those to whom he preached, or was called by God out of the kingdom of Judah. The latter has been asserted with great confidence by Maurer, among others, in his Observ. in Hos., in the Commentat. Theol. ii. i. p. 293. But the arguments …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament The Worst Things Work for Good to the Godly
DO not mistake me, I do not say that of their own nature the worst things are good, for they are a fruit of the curse; but though they are naturally evil, yet the wise overruling hand of God disposing and sanctifying them, they are morally good. As the elements, though of contrary qualities, yet God has so tempered them, that they all work in a harmonious manner for the good of the universe. Or as in a watch, the wheels seem to move contrary one to another, but all carry on the motions of the watch: …
Thomas Watson—A Divine Cordial How Christ is the Way in General, "I am the Way. "
We come now to speak more particularly to the words; and, first, Of his being a way. Our design being to point at the way of use-making of Christ in all our necessities, straits, and difficulties which are in our way to heaven; and particularly to point out the way how believers should make use of Christ in all their particular exigencies; and so live by faith in him, walk in him, grow up in him, advance and march forward toward glory in him. It will not be amiss to speak of this fulness of Christ …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life The Barren Fig-Tree;
OR, THE DOOM AND DOWNFALL OF THE FRUITLESS PROFESSOR: SHOWING, THAT THE DAY OF GRACE MAY BE PAST WITH HIM LONG BEFORE HIS LIFE IS ENDED; THE SIGNS ALSO BY WHICH SUCH MISERABLE MORTALS MAY BE KNOWN. BY JOHN BUNYAN 'Who being dead, yet speaketh.'--Hebrews 11:4 London: Printed for J. Robinson, at the Golden Lion, in St. Paul's Churchyard, 1688. This Title has a broad Black Border. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. This solemn, searching, awful treatise, was published by Bunyan in 1682; but does not appear …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3 Directions to Awakened Sinners.
Acts ix. 6. Acts ix. 6. And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do. THESE are the words of Saul, who also is called Paul, (Acts xiii. 9,) when he was stricken to the ground as he was going to Damascus; and any one who had looked upon him in his present circumstances and knew nothing more of him than that view, in comparison with his past life, could have given, would have imagined him one of the most miserable creatures that ever lived upon earth, and would have expected …
Philip Doddridge—Practical Discourses on Regeneration "There is Therefore Now no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who Walk not after the Flesh, but after the Spirit. "
Rom. viii. 1.--"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." There are three things which concur to make man miserable,--sin, condemnation, and affliction. Every one may observe that "man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward," that his days here are few and evil. He possesses "months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed" for him. Job v. 6, 7, vii. 3. He "is of few days and full of trouble," Job xiv. …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning Hosea
The book of Hosea divides naturally into two parts: i.-iii. and iv.-xiv., the former relatively clear and connected, the latter unusually disjointed and obscure. The difference is so unmistakable that i.-iii. have usually been assigned to the period before the death of Jeroboam II, and iv.-xiv. to the anarchic period which succeeded. Certainly Hosea's prophetic career began before the end of Jeroboam's reign, as he predicts the fall of the reigning dynasty, i. 4, which practically ended with Jeroboam's …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Hosea 10:11 NIVHosea 10:11 NLTHosea 10:11 ESVHosea 10:11 NASBHosea 10:11 KJV
Hosea 10:11 Commentaries
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