Charles Spurgeon Commentary Hosea 10

Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself:

Not to his God. It does not matter how much fruit we bear — if it is for self, we are really fruitless. A thing which is good in itself may lose all its goodness because it is stained with a selfish motive. We are to live to God; and we must always be watchful about this; otherwise, we may be doing much, and doing nothing. Israel is an empty vine. He bringeth forth fruit unto himself.

According to the multitude of his fruit he has increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images.

It is a very sad thing when the more men received from God, the more they sin. But just in proportion as the land of Israel was fat and fertile, in that proportion did they set up altars to false gods and provoke the true God, who had given them these mercies. It is a bad thing when men grow rich and offer sacrifice to their own vanity—when men gather learning and only use it to debate against the simple teachings of God—when just as God blesses, men cease to bless him!

Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty:

A half-heart is no heart at all; and when men seem to go after God, and at the same time to go after their idols, they are not going after God. Their religion is vain. The good side is but a pretense; the evil side is the real thing.

He shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images.

Let us take heed then, dear friends, that we make nothing into an idol. The shortest way to lose the dearest object of your affections is to make an idol of him. He shall break down their altars. He shall spoil their images.

Sometimes this is done in great mercy to God's people, for there is no greater evil than for a heart to be happy in idolatry. Sometimes it is done in judgment upon the ungodly. They will not have the true God, and the false god shall be false to them.

He shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images.

Their king was slain, but if he had lived, what good would he be without God? What is the good of any temporal blessing if God is not in it? It is the husk with the kernel gone; and if we are able to enjoy the husk, it looks as if we were swine, and swine are being fattened for the slaughter.

What use is anything we possess to us if God is divorced from it? I put the question again. If you are a true child of God, all the corn and wine in the world cannot feed you. Your bread must come from heaven.

They have spoken words,

What they spoke was not truth. We cannot speak without words, but it is an evil thing when our speech is nothing but words.

Words, words, words! – no heart, no truth. "They have spoken words."

Swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springs up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.

God keep us from untruthfulness, and especially from a want of truth towards Himself. Do you not think that often, both in prayer and praise, it might be said, They have spoken words – nothing more? There has been a falsehood in the most solemn transaction towards God.

Woe to you, dear friends, if that should turn out to be the case.

You may cheat your fellow men if you have a heart for it, but you never will be able to cheat your God. He is not mocked. They have spoken words, He says.

The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Bethaven:

Why, those calves are their trust. They rely upon those images of false gods—those images which they set up in the place of the true God. Pretending by that means to worship him, they trusted in these; and now they shall become their fear. He who has confidence apart from God will find his confidence soured into a fear before long. Your greatest ground of distress will be that which was once the ground of your reliance apart from God.