‘O people of Israel, do not rejoice as other nations do. For you have been unfaithful to your God, hiring yourselves out like prostitutes, worshiping other gods on every threshing floor. So now your harvests will be too small to feed you. There will be no grapes for making new wine. You may no longer stay here in the Lord ’s land. Instead, you will return to Egypt, and in Assyria you will eat food that is ceremonially unclean. There you will make no offerings of wine to the Lord . None of your sacrifices there will please him. They will be unclean, like food touched by a person in mourning. All who present such sacrifices will be defiled. They may eat this food themselves, but they may not offer it to the Lord . What then will you do on festival days? How will you observe the Lord ’s festivals? Even if you escape destruction from Assyria, Egypt will conquer you, and Memphis will bury you. Nettles will take over your treasures of silver; thistles will invade your ruined homes. The time of Israel’s punishment has come; the day of payment is here. Soon Israel will know this all too well. Because of your great sin and hostility, you say, “The prophets are crazy and the inspired men are fools!” The prophet is a watchman over Israel for my God, yet traps are laid for him wherever he goes. He faces hostility even in the house of God. The things my people do are as depraved as what they did in Gibeah long ago. God will not forget. He will surely punish them for their sins. The Lord says, “O Israel, when I first found you, it was like finding fresh grapes in the desert. When I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the first ripe figs of the season. But then they deserted me for Baal-peor, giving themselves to that shameful idol. Soon they became vile, as vile as the god they worshiped. The glory of Israel will fly away like a bird, for your children will not be born or grow in the womb or even be conceived. Even if you do have children who grow up, I will take them from you. It will be a terrible day when I turn away and leave you alone. I have watched Israel become as beautiful as Tyre. But now Israel will bring out her children for slaughter.” O Lord , what should I request for your people? I will ask for wombs that don’t give birth and breasts that give no milk. The Lord says, “All their wickedness began at Gilgal; there I began to hate them. I will drive them from my land because of their evil actions. I will love them no more because all their leaders are rebels. The people of Israel are struck down. Their roots are dried up, and they will bear no more fruit. And if they give birth, I will slaughter their beloved children.” My God will reject the people of Israel because they will not listen or obey. They will be wanderers, homeless among the nations.’ Hosea 9:1-17(NLT)
God’s calls for alarm were revealed to Hosea later on as he predicted the Assyrian invasion of 722 B.C. — the invasion that led to the fall of Samaria. So, as we should expect, God’s judgments against Israel’s sins were much more severe in these prophecies. In the first call for alarm, chapter 5:9 declares that Israel “shall become a desolation.” In verse 11, Israel will be “oppressed, crushed in judgment.” According to verse 13, Israel’s alliance with Assyria “is not able to cure” their problems. And in verse 14, God warned of exile from the Promised Land, saying, “I will carry off, and no one shall rescue.” Now, even as God increased his threats of judgment against Israel, in chapter 7:1 God admitted that, even now, he would heal Israel. But Israel continued to rebel against him. As verse 10 puts it, “they do not return to the Lord their God, nor seek him, for all this.” So, in verse 13, God declared, “Woe to them … Destruction to them.” In this same verse, God reaffirmed, “I would redeem them,” but they continued in their sinful ways. And as a result, verse 16 tells us that “Their princes shall fall by the sword.”
God’s second call for alarm — originally received even closer to the invasion of 722 B.C. — announces in chapter 8:3 that “the enemy shall pursue” Israel. Verses 6 and 7 declare that “the calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces… and Israel shall reap the whirlwind.” Then verse 8 says that “Israel is swallowed up” by Assyria. And verse 10 reveals that the leaders of Israel “shall soon writhe because of the tribute” owed to Assyria. And beyond this, Hosea referred to an upcoming Assyrian exile in verse 13 by saying that Israel “shall return to Egypt.” As God put it in chapter 9: 3, “They shall not remain in the land … Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and … eat unclean food in Assyria.” Israel’s defeat would be so severe that in verse 6 God said, “Egypt shall gather them … and bury them.” And as Hosea prophesied in verse 7, very near the fall of Samaria, “the days of punishment … and recompense have come.”
The Assyrian exile was a punishment from the Lord because of the sins of the people and because they had forsaken the Lord and the Lord’s laws.
In the book of Hosea, we see the prophet giving more explanation concerning the Assyrian exile. In chapter 9 verse 7 the prophet says,
The days of punishment have come; the days of recompense have come; Israel shall know it. The prophet is a fool; the man of the spirit is mad, because of your great iniquity and great hatred.
He asserts here that “the days of punishment” and “the days of recompense” had come, which refers to the Assyrian exile. In the same chapter, chapter 9 verse 15, we read these words,
Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal; there I began to hate them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more; all their princes are rebels.
Because of rebellion, disobedience, and evil, the exile came, or would come, to the people of Israel. Finally, in the same chapter, chapter 9 verse 17, it says,
My God will reject them because they have not listened to him; they shall be wanderers among the nations.
The exile was preceded by several invitations from prophets — Hosea being one of them — who were sent by the Lord to the people to call them to return and repent. But the people did not obey, and as a result, the exile was a punishment from the Lord to the people, because they insisted on their willful rebellion against the Lord. – Rev. Sherif Gendy
from The Prophetic Wisdom Of Hosea