Hosea 10

I remember, near my house when I was young, a shrine to some god. One day, I noticed that it had been cleaned up and beautified tremendously. I later found out that a shopkeeper had prayed to it and had won a substantial amount of money in a lottery, thus his gratitude.

It will take a little mathematical calculation but it can be proven that someone will definitely get rich buying the lottery, just that more people will get poor. If more people pray to a shrine, it will be more likely that some will win and the shrine will be beautified and may actually become a temple one day.

Bible Passage: Hosea 10

Thus did the Israelites attribute their good harvests to their idols and altars. They ignored the Giver of all things and worshipped their convenient creations.

1 Israel empties his vine; He brings forth fruit for himself. According to the multitude of his fruit He has increased the altars; According to the bounty of his land, they have embellished his sacred pillars.

Some explanations to help us understand the chapter:

• The calf of Beth-Aven mentioned in verse 5 refer to one of two golden calves that the first king, Jeroboam, made as a means to keep the breakaway Israelites from going to Jerusalem to worship God (I Kings 12:26-29).
• Beth-Aven (House of Stone) seems to be used interchangeably with Bethel (House of God). I surmise that they are the same and the author disparagingly uses the first in place of the other because of the many (stone) idols there.

Teach this chapter to a child and the lesson will be straightforward – we should not worship idols for God abhors both the idol and the worshipper. Yet Israelite adults, from the king down to the common man, made this mistake. I shudder to have seen that adults turn away from the living God to idol-worship men. Let us always pray to God that we remain a child in our innocent faith towards Him:

“Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”            (Luke 18:17)