9:10 In the early days of Israel's history in the wilderness, the Lord took great delight in His people, as one rejoices to find grapes in a desert or the first figs of the season. However, when they came to Baal-Peor, where they worshipped Baal and committed ritual sex with the Moabite and Midianite women (Num. 25), they became as detestable to Yahweh as the idols they loved. This first instance of Baal worship set the pattern of Israel's idolatry that followed in the land and resulted in her present judgment.
9:11 The glory of the Ephraimites, their numerous children, would fly away like a bird, quickly and irretrievably. There would be few births, or even pregnancies, or even conceptions. There is a play on the name "Ephraim"here, which sounds somewhat like the Hebrew word meaning "twice fruitful."The Ephraimites had looked to Baal for the blessing of human fertility, but Yahweh would withhold it in judgment. Ephraim, the doubly fruitful, would become Ephraim, the completely fruitless.
9:12 Most of the children born would die prematurely, and few of them would remain, probably because of the coming invasion (cf. Deut. 32:25). When Yahweh withdrew His protection from His people their doom would be great.
9:13 Yahweh saw that Ephraim had been fertile in the past, comparable to the prosperity of Tyre. Yet in the future Ephraim's sons were destined to become prey to the enemy.
9:14 Hosea called on Yahweh, after reflecting on her punishments, to disappoint Ephraim's hopes concerning descendants and the inability to sustain their children. The combination of "womb"and "breasts"is a pairing that describes human fruitfulness (cf. Gen. 49:25).
