TRV
Translation
King James Version
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.
KJV (with Strong's)
I found H4672 Israel H3478 like grapes H6025 in the wilderness H4057; I saw H7200 your fathers H1 as the firstripe H1063 in the fig tree H8384 at her first time H7225: but they went H935 to Baalpeor H1187, and separated H5144 themselves unto that shame H1322; and their abominations H8251 were according as they loved H157.
Complete Jewish Bible
"When I found Isra'el, it was like finding grapes in the desert; when I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing a fig tree's first figs in its first season. But as soon as they came to Ba'al-P'or, they dedicated themselves to something shameful; they became as loathsome as the thing they loved.
Berean Standard Bible
I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the firstfruits of the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal-peor, and consecrated themselves to Shame; so they became as detestable as the thing they loved.
American Standard Version
I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the first-ripe in the fig-tree at its first season: but they came to Baal-peor, and consecrated themselves unto the shameful thing, and became abominable like that which they loved.
World English Bible Messianic
I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree at its first season; but they came to Baal Peor, and consecrated themselves to the shameful thing, and became abominable like that which they loved.
Geneva Bible (1599)
I found Israel like grapes in the wildernes: I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the figge tree at her first time: but they went to Baal-Peor, and separated themselues vnto that shame, and their abominations were according to their louers.
Young's Literal Translation
As grapes in a wilderness I found Israel, As the first-fruit in a fig-tree, at its beginning, I have seen your fathers, They--they have gone in to Baal-Peor, And are separated to a shameful thing, And are become abominable like their love.
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In the KJVVerse 22,219 of 31,102
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Commentary on Hosea 9 verses 7–10
7 ¶ The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred.
8 The watchman of Ephraim was with my God: but the prophet is a snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God.
9 They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: therefore he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.
10 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.
For their further awakening, it is here threatened,
I. That the destruction spoken of shall come speedily. They shall have no reason to hope for a long reprieve, for the judgment slumbers not; it is at the door (Hos 9:7): The days of visitation have come, and there shall be no more delay; the days of recompence have come, which they have been so often warned to expect; their prophets have told them that destruction would come, and now it has come, and the time of the divine patience has expired. Note, 1. The day of God's judgments is both a day of visitation, in which men's sins are enquired into and brought to light, and a day of recompence, in which men's doom will be passed, and a reward given to every man according to his work; the strict visitation is in order to a just retribution. 2. This day of visitation and recompence is hastening on apace. It is sure; it is near; as if it had already come.
II. That hereby they shall be made ashamed of their sentiments concerning their prophets. When the day of visitation comes Israel shall know it, shall be made to know that by sad experience which they would not know by instruction. Israel shall know then what an evil and bitter thing it is to depart from God, and what a fearful thing it is to fall into his hands. When thy hand is lifted up they will not see, but they shall see. Israel shall know the difference between true prophets and false. 1. They shall know then that the pretenders to prophecy, who flattered them in their sins, and rocked them asleep in their security, and told them that they should have peace though they went on, however they pretended to be spiritual men (as Ahab's prophets did, Kg1 22:24) were fools and madmen, and not true prophets; they deceived themselves and those to whom they prophesied. But why would God suffer his people Israel to be imposed upon by those false prophets? He answers, "It is for the multitude of thy iniquity which, in contempt of the divine law, thou hast persisted in, and, for the great hatred of the true prophets, that reproved thee, in God's name, for it." Note, Because men receive not the love of the truth, but conceive a hatred of it, and by the multitude of their iniquities bid defiance to it, therefore God shall send them strong delusions, to believe a lie, so strong that they shall not be undeceived till the day of visitation and recompence comes, which will convince them of the folly and madness of those that seduced them and of their own folly and madness in suffering themselves to be seduced by them. 2. They shall know then whether the true prophets, that were really spiritual men, guided by the Spirit of God, were such as they called and counted them, fools and madmen; and they shall be convinced that they were so far from being so that they were the wise men of their times, and God's faithful ambassadors to them. When Israel saw that none of Samuel's words fell to the ground they knew he was established to be a prophet (Sa1 3:20); and so here, when God fulfils the word of his messengers, by bringing the days of recompence they foretold, then those that despised and ridiculed them, and thought Bedlam the fittest place for them, will be ashamed of the multitude of their iniquities of that kind, and of their great hatred, for which God brings upon them this swift destruction. Mocking the messengers of the Lord was the sin they were punished for, and so made ashamed of.
III. That hereby the wickedness of the false prophets themselves shall be manifested to their shame (Hos 9:8): "The watchman of Ephraim was with my God; he had been formerly. They had a set of worthy good ministers, that kept close to God and maintained communion with him; but now they have a race of corrupt, malignant, persecuting prophets, that are the ring-leaders of all mischief." Or, "The watchman of Ephraim now pretends to have been with my God, and prefaces his lies with, Thus saith the Lord; but he is a snare of a fowler in all his ways, and is cunning to draw the simple into sin and the upright into trouble; and he is so full of hatred and enmity to goodness and good men that he has become hatred itself in the house of his God, or against the house of his God." Note, Wicked prophets are the worst of men; their sins against God are most heinous, and their plots against religion most dangerous. They may boast that they are watchmen, speculators, and, as far as speculation goes, they may be right, and with my God, may have their heads full of good notions; but look into their lives, and they are the snare of a fowler in all their ways, catching for themselves and making a prey of others; look into their hearts, and they are hatred in the house of my God, very malicious and spiteful against good ministers and good people. Woe unto thee, O land! unto thee, O church! that hast such watchmen, such prophets, that are seers, but not doers! Corruptio optimi est pessima - The best things, when corrupted, become the worst.
IV. That God will now reckon with them for the sins of their fathers, which they have trod in the steps of, Hos 9:9, Hos 9:10. 1. They were as bad as their fathers: They have deeply corrupted themselves; they are rooted and riveted in sin; they are far gone in the depths of Satan (Isa 31:6), so that it is next to impossible that they should be recovered; the stain of their corruption is deep, not to be got out; it is as scarlet and crimson, or as the spots of the leopard: and it is their own fault; they have corrupted themselves, have polluted and hardened their own hearts, as in the days of Gibeah, when the Levite's concubine was abused to death by the men of Gibeah and the whole tribe of Benjamin patronised the villany; that was a time of deep corruption indeed, and such were the present days. Lewdness and wickedness were as impudent and daring now as in the days of Gibeah; and therefore what can be expected but such a vengeance as was then taken on Gibeah? Every tribe is now as bad as the tribe of Benjamin then was, and therefore may expect to be brought as low as that tribe then was. 2. They shall therefore be reckoned with for their fathers' sins: He will remember their iniquity and visit their sins, the iniquity they have by kind and by entail, the sin that runs in the blood; the sin of the father shall now be visited upon the children. Hence God takes occasion to upbraid them with the degeneracy and apostasy of their ancestors, their perfidiousness and base ingratitude, Hos 9:10. Here observe, (1.) The great honour God put upon Israel when he first formed them into a people: I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. He took as much delight and pleasure in them as a poor traveller would do if he found grapes in a wilderness, where he most needed them and least expected them. Or when they were in the wilderness he found them as grapes, not precious in themselves, but precious to him, and pleasant as the first-ripe grapes to the lord of the vineyard. They were precious in his sight, and honourable (Isa 43:4); he planted them a choice vine, a right seed (Jer 2:21), and found them no better than he himself made them, good grapes at first. I saw them with pleasure, as the first-ripe in the fig-tree at the first time. Good people are compared to the good things that are first ripe, Jer 24:2. One then is worth more than many afterwards. This intimates the delight God took in them and in doing them good, not for their sakes, but because he loved their fathers. He preserved them carefully, as a man does the first and choicest fruits of his vineyard. Now when he put all this honour upon them, and they stood so fair for preferment, one would think they should have maintained their excellency; but, (2.) See the great disgrace they put upon themselves. God set them apart for himself as a peculiar people, but they went to Baal-peor, joined with the Moabites in sacrificing to that dirty dunghill deity (Num 25:2, Num 25:3), and they separated themselves unto that shame, that shameful idol, so Baal-peor was in a particular manner, if (as should seem) the whoredom which the people committed with the daughters of Moab was a part of the service done to Baal-peor. Note, Whatever those separate themselves to that forsake God it will certainly be a shame to them, first or last. Their abominations are here said to be as they loved; their practices which were an abomination to God were as the best-beloved of their souls. Or when they had once forsaken God they multiplied their abominations, their idols and abominable idolatries, at their pleasure. This was the way of their fathers; God had done well for them, but they had acted ungratefully towards him, and in the same manner had the present generation deeply corrupted themselves.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 7–10. Public domain.
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JeromeAD 420
Commentary on Hosea 9:10-11
"As I found grapes in the desert, I saw Israel, as the first figs of the fig tree in the top thereof: but they went in to Beelphegor, and alienated themselves to that confusion, and became abominable, as those things were which they loved." LXX: "As I found Israel in the desert like a grape, and as I saw their fathers like a fig tree's temporary figs, but they entered Baal Peor and became alienated in confusion and became abominable like their love." For in other examples, we read: "and they became beloved, as if abominable," which is more consistent with the truth. When the whole world was deserted and did not have knowledge of God, I found, he says, the people of Israel like a grape in the wilderness, and how he found them, he says: "As the first fruits of the fig tree, in the top of it I saw their fathers. Therefore, the people were found in Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And note the property, the parents are seen, the people are found, and in both there is a vineyard and fig tree, under which those who trust in the Lord are said to rest. But they, having been led out of Egypt, fornicated with the Midianite women, and went into Beelphegor, the idol of the Moabites, which we can call Priapus. Finally, "Beelphegor" is interpreted as an idol of tentacles, having "skin" on its top, i.e., on its summit, to show the obscenity of the male member. And because they entered into Beelphegor, they thus alienated themselves from God, to their own confusion, that is, they worshipped idols. As it is written, "For by whom a man is overcome, for him he is become also the slave" (2 Peter 2:19), and as those who serve their appetites, calling their belly their god (Philippians 3), so those who serve their lust have Beelphegor as their god. "And they became," he says, "abominable, like those whom they loved," according to what is written in the Psalms: "Let those who make them become like them, and all who trust in them" (Ps. 134:18) so that not only are idolaters, but also the idols named. But the Lord said in his passion: "I trod the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me" (Isaiah 63:3). And in the Psalm: "Save me, O Lord, for the godly one is gone; for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man" (Psalm 12:1). When the whole world was held in sin, and the nations knew not God, and Israel had cast away Him whom they had formerly known, first in the apostles, and the men of the apostles, did the Lord find the Christian people of Israel, and seeing with understanding God was satisfied with their sweet fruits of grapes and figs which, if found in the desert and before their proper season, would be of greater grace. They, however, that is, Israel, who assume the Christian name for themselves (for it is not to be understood of the parents), entered into the idol Beelphegor, which has the skin in its mouth. For whatever a heretic speaks, it is deadly, and is separated from the living Word of God. Whether they have entered into lust: for it is difficult to find a heretic who loves chastity, not because they do not cease to prefer it on their lips, but because they do not keep it in their conscience, speaking one thing and doing another; hence, they are alienated from God and have glory in their confusion, and have become abominable, who previously were loved among the fathers. But if we wish to read "they became abominable as those whom they loved," which still is not in the Hebrew, we shall say that the Gentiles have become abominable even as the heretics who formerly were beloved in the fathers, that is to say, so that both the former and the latter are alike vicious.
Caesarius of ArlesAD 542
SERMON 106
Similarly, the law of the Old Testament, which we said the image of the fig tree represented, threw away the first Jewish people who were useless, that is, sinful and wicked. When these sycophants, to use the Greek word, had been rejected, that is, the conceited and worthless Israelites, there created for Christ through grace as its mother, the rich and fruitful Christian people who were further brought to perfect knowledge of the gospel. Although there is a genus of fig trees that brings its first fruits to maturity, called double bearing, it may signify those of whom it is said, “The Lord loved those figs as his precursors.” The patriarchs are the precursors.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
Hosea 9:10 powerfully juxtaposes God's initial joyous discovery of Israel with their subsequent, devastating betrayal through idolatry. The verse opens with tender imagery, likening Israel in their nascent stages to rare grapes found in a parched wilderness and the eagerly anticipated firstripe figs, symbolizing God's delight and high hopes for His chosen people. This idyllic past, however, is sharply contrasted with their deliberate turning to Baal-peor, an act of spiritual adultery and profound disgrace that led to detestable practices, revealing that their abominations were a direct consequence of their misplaced affections.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Hosea 9:10 is rich in Metaphor and Symbolism. The initial description of Israel as "grapes in the wilderness" and "the firstripe in the fig tree" employs vivid natural imagery to symbolize God's tender affection, delight, and high hopes for His newly formed nation. Grapes and firstripe figs are symbols of blessing, fruitfulness, and joyous discovery, contrasting sharply with the barrenness of the wilderness. This sets up a profound Contrast with the subsequent narrative of Israel's betrayal. The shift from a beautiful, cherished beginning to the act of going "to Baalpeor" represents a dramatic fall from grace. Symbolism is also evident in "Baalpeor" itself, which stands as a symbol of spiritual adultery and covenant infidelity, and "that shame," which prophetically renames the false god to highlight the ignominy and disgrace of Israel's worship. The entire verse functions as a powerful Juxtaposition, highlighting the tragic disparity between God's gracious initiation of the relationship and Israel's rebellious response, underscoring the depth of their sin and God's consequent sorrow.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Hosea 9:10 profoundly illustrates the covenant relationship between God and Israel, emphasizing God's initiating love and Israel's tragic failure to reciprocate. It reveals that God's election of Israel was not based on their merit but on His sovereign grace, finding them in a desolate state and cherishing them like precious firstfruits. However, the verse also underscores the devastating consequences of spiritual idolatry, portraying it as a deliberate act of "separation" from the true God unto "shame." This act of unfaithfulness, driven by misplaced affections, violated the very essence of the covenant and led to practices detestable in God's eyes. The theological message is clear: true worship demands exclusive devotion, and any affection given to false gods or practices constitutes spiritual adultery, inevitably leading to defilement and judgment.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Hosea 9:10 serves as a poignant mirror for believers today, challenging us to examine the true objects of our affection and devotion. Just as God delighted in Israel in their nascent stages, He delights in those who come to Him in faith, seeing them as precious and promising. However, the verse issues a stern warning against spiritual drift and misplaced loves. If our hearts turn away from God and become enthralled by anything that takes His rightful place—whether it be worldly success, material possessions, fleeting pleasures, or even self-righteousness—we risk committing modern-day idolatry. The phrase "their abominations were according as they loved" is a profound spiritual principle, reminding us that what we truly love will inevitably shape our actions, character, and ultimately, our destiny. This verse calls us to a vigilant guarding of our hearts, to continually return to our "first love," and to cultivate an undivided devotion to God, ensuring that our affections are aligned with His will and that our lives reflect His glory, not the "shame" of misplaced worship.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What is the significance of "Baalpeor" in Hosea 9:10, and why is it called "that shame"?
Answer: Baal-peor refers to a specific Moabite deity worshipped through licentious rites, as detailed in Numbers 25. The incident at Baal-peor represents a foundational moment of Israel's covenant unfaithfulness, where they engaged in sexual immorality and idolatry. Hosea calls it "that shame" (Hebrew: bosheth) for two primary reasons. First, it is a prophetic wordplay, deliberately substituting the respectful "Baal" (lord) with a derogatory term meaning "shame" or "disgrace," thereby expressing God's utter contempt for the false god and the ignominy of Israel's worship. Second, it highlights the actual outcome and nature of their idolatry—it brought profound shame, defilement, and judgment upon Israel, directly contrasting with the glory and honor that come from worshipping the one true God.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Hosea 9:10, with its tragic narrative of Israel's fall from God's initial delight to the shame of Baal-peor, finds its ultimate fulfillment and reversal in Jesus Christ. Israel, chosen as God's "firstripe" and "grapes in the wilderness," failed to maintain their covenant fidelity, turning their affections to detestable idols. This recurring pattern of unfaithfulness underscored humanity's inability to perfectly love and obey God. Jesus, however, is the true and faithful Israel, the perfect Son who never turned aside to "shame." He perfectly embodies the "firstfruits" of God's new creation, not as a fleeting delight but as an eternal reality, as seen in 1 Corinthians 15:20. While Israel's "abominations were according as they loved" false gods, Christ's entire life was defined by His perfect love for the Father, leading to perfect obedience, even unto death on the cross (Philippians 2:8). He did not "separate Himself unto shame" but rather bore the shame of humanity's sin, becoming an "abomination" for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Through His atoning sacrifice, Christ redeems those who, like Israel, have turned to their own "shameful" loves, offering a new covenant where hearts are transformed by the Holy Spirit to genuinely love God above all else (Romans 5:5). He is the one in whom God finds eternal delight, and through Him, believers are restored to a relationship of pure devotion, no longer defined by misplaced affections but by a steadfast love for the Father.