In this chapter, I. God threatens to deprive this degenerate seed of Israel of all their worldly enjoyments, because by sin they had forfeited their title to them; so that they should have no comfort either in receiving them themselves or in offering them to God, Hos. 9:1–5. II.

Here, I. The people of Israel are charged with spiritual adultery: O Israel! thou hast gone a whoring from thy God, Hos. 9:1. Their covenant with God was a marriage-covenant, by which they were joined to him as their God, renouncing all others.

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 : The days of visitation have come, and there shall be no more delay; the days of…

In the foregoing verses we saw the sin of Israel derived from their fathers; here we see the punishment of Israel derived to their children; for, as death entered by sin at first, so it is still entailed with it. We may observe, in these verses, I. The sin of Ephraim.