Hosea 10:1

Hosea 10:1 says, 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.  Though the people of Israel might have been prosperous, the prosperity was empty since it was based on their own strength and not God's power and protection.  The people of Israel had built many altars, but they weren't built to worship the one true God.  In our prosperity today we may build up many altars that we worship at, but unless they are built for glorifying God, they are empty altars.  Verse two adds, Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: he shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images.  The heart of the people of God was divided.  This speaks of the nation as a whole. Their hearts no longer belonged to God alone, but they were attempting to make Him no more than just another God.  We today cannot serve God effectively if our heart is divided between God and the world. If we are to be a Christian nation, then we must put God first in all things.  Verse three continues, For now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared not the LORD; what then should a king do to us? The people of Israel seemed to know that their problems came from not fearing God.  Again, this does not mean that they should have been trembling because of what God might arbitrarily do to them, but that they should have had an awesome respect for Him.  There was a time when Israel demanded an earthly king, someone that other nations could see, but now they were questioning what good it did to have a king.  If we begin to put our faith in earthly rulers and forget about God, we will soon be asking the same question.  Verse four states, They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.  Israel still claimed to be in a covenant relationship with God, but their words were empty or meaningless.  Unless we as followers of Christ are lead by the Holy Spirit in all that we do, we too are guilty of not living up to our covenant relationship with God.  If we are out of God's will then what we do will be like poison to our relationship with God.  Verse five adds, The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Bethaven: for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it.  Israel was to mourn, not over breaking their covenant relationship with God, but over the failure of their idols to protect them.  Verse six continues, It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to king Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.  The idols that they built and worshipped were going to be given to the king of Assyria as a present.  Anything that we allow to become an idol in our lives will ultimately go to someone else.  Anything we put more faith in than what we put in God will never last.  It would be best if we tear down these idols, but if we don't, we can be sure that they will ultimately be torn down.  Verse seven concludes, As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the water.  The earthly kings that Israel put their faith in were no more than foam on the water and would ultimately be destroyed as well. All that oppose God will ultimately be destroyed.