THE WITHERING VINE God has often likened His people to a vine (Isaiah 5; Matthew 21: 33), seeking from it grapes to the account of His kingdom, as a fruit of His labor and care for it. However, despite its enjoyment of a multitude of gifts and of very divine possibilities, it did not provide the owner of the vine with its fruits, but gave them to the devil, the enemy of the Lord. That is why He issues on Israel a verdict of dryness and barrenness, so that it seeks a basic change in its being from Him, once it realizes its weakness and the corruption of its nature 1. Diversion of the vine 1 – 8. 2. Inner corruption 9 – 11. 3. The need for a new plantation 12 – 15. 1. DIVERSION OF THE VINE: In order to reveal the extent of the people’s corruption when they divert from God, or the extent of corruption of the human soul through its apostasy from its savior, God used several analogies in the book of Hosea. For instance: “A woman loved by another man, an adulteress” (3: 1), “wild as a heifer” (4: 16), “lambs in a broad meadow” (4: 16), “men who move their neighbor’s boundary” (5: 10), “hot as an oven over the fire” (7: 4), “a cake half-baked” (7: 8). Also “a silly senseless pigeon” (7: 11), “a wild ass that has left the herd” (8: 9), “a bird: no childbirth, no fruitful womb, no conceiving” (9: 11), “lion-cubs emerge only to be hunted” (9: 13); “a shepherd whose flock is but wind, a hunter chasing the east wind all day” (12: 1)… Here He likens them to “A vine”, which He provided with all the possibilities of abundant fruition, so it fruited, not to His account, but to that of sin and abominations: “Israel is like a rank vine ripening its fruit” (Hosea 10: 1). It is a vine that has no excuse, because God created it with a good nature and provided it with the strength of growth, so that it can have an abundance of branches that carry its fruits, however, it brought forth fruits for itself and according to its self-mind, and not in submission to its true Vine-Dresser. It is astonishing that we use our possibilities and energies, which were actually granted to us by God, to fulfill the lusts of our evil body and according to our own mind, instead of using them for the glory of His name. “His fruit grows more and more, and more and more his altars; the fairer his land becomes, the fairer he makes his sacred pillars (idols).” (Hosea 10: 1) Denial is the way, how one pays back the generosity of God. “They are crazy now, they are mad” (Hosea 10: 2). Some of them diverted to a certain god, while others diverted to another, or may be their hearts were divided between their love for lusts that were connected to the worship of Baal, and their desire for giving comfort to their conscience by practicing the worship of the living God, yet spiritless and only in a formal way. Because they faltered between both ways, and their hearts were not upright, they cried out to God, yet not with their whole hearts and so, they did not find Him, as a divided heart could never encounter the Holy One or recognize Him. The division of the inner heart causes it to lose the fear of the Lord, which has consequences in the life of the congregation as a whole, as well as in that of everyone of its members in particular. Concerning the congregation, they would lose their submission to temporal authority and would have no leader to ordain their interests, if they lost the 82 fear of the Lord: “We have no king, for we do not fear the Lord; and what can the king do for us?” (Hosea 10: 3). As to the individual member, losing the fear of the Lord through the divisions of his heart, he would lose his true, holy will, which was symbolized by the king. Moreover, he would walk as though with no will, live in humiliation to every lust, and in submission to every evil habit. Therefore, he would be unable to take a spiritual decision or to free himself of the bondage of the devil… He would walk as though he was with no king. On the contrary, the real believer would have an undivided, pure heart and carry authority like a spiritual king. He would have the power to allow this thought to come in, so it does, and to that thought to go out, so it does. By the Lord, he would have a strong authority on his thoughts, looks, feelings, and emotions. When a person loses his spiritual authority, as well as his royal (heavenly) nature, he turns from an active man of God to one of vain words: “There is nothing but talk, imposing of oaths and making of treaties, all to no purpose; and litigation spreads like a poisonous weed along the furrows of the fields.” (Hosea 10: 4). Such people turn to men of mere words without action. As they feel their weakness, they confirm their words with empty oaths that they cannot fulfill, and make covenants that they would soon break. The litigation becomes like a plowed field that brings forth poisonous, bitter weeds. Therefore, when they assemble in courts of justice, everyone makes false oaths, and covenants they cannot fulfill. The place of security would turn into a bitterness of soul. That will be the case of the spreading vine, to which God provided a multitude of abilities for fruition, if it shuts itself up around itself, to bring forth fruits to the account of the ‘ego’ and the Baal; refusing to produce fruits for the true Vine-Dresser. It loses the fear of the Lord, enters into a division of the heart, which ends up in a deprivation of the king (the holy will) and in taking away every authority. It would not stop at this point, but its life would turn up to wailing and terror, when it loses its inner glory and watches the gods that it had chosen for herself, falling before her eyes. The prophet says: “The inhabitants of Samaria tremble for the calf-god of Beth-Aven; the people mourn over it and its priestlings howl, distressed for their image, their glory, which is carried away into exile” (Hosea 10: 5). What is meant by this phrase? The inhabitants of Samaria (the capital) watch how the calf of Beth-Aven (the house of vanity) has lost its glory and how it has been helpless in saving the people from the affliction, under which they have fallen. The inhabitants of Samaria would fear, lest what dwelt upon Beth-Aven would also dwell upon them, and the priests would become terrified, lest they lose their dignity and the offerings. After having lost their hope in the Baal, the inhabitants of Samaria went to the king of Assyria, offering him gifts to gain his satisfaction, instead of returning to God by repentance and confessing their sins. “It shall be carried to Assyria as tribute to the Great King” (Hosea 10: 6). What would be the end of this diverted vine? “Disgrace shall overtake Ephraim and Israel shall feel the shame of their disobedience. Samaria and her king are swept away like flotsam on the water; the hill-shrines of Aven are wiped out, the shrines where Israel sinned; thorns and thistles grow over her altars. So they will say to the mountains, ‘Cover us’, and to the hills, ‘Fall on us’.” (Hosea 10: 6). In short, we say that its end will be as follows: 83 a. “Disgrace shall overtake Ephraim”. The tribe that took the lead in adopting the movement of idol-worship will be ashamed before all the other tribes, because its gods appear weak facing the enemy. b. “Israel shall feel the shame of their disobedience”. Israel suggested paying tributes to the king of Assyria. Now it should feel ashamed, because Assyria humiliated and despised it. c.“Samaria and her king are swept away like flotsam on the water”. The kings of Samaria, who dissented from the house of David arrogantly, became like a twig on the surface of the water. Their kingdom ended up in captivation by Assyria. One would eventually end up like a twig floating on the surface of the water as a cause of every dissension, no matter the honors that he gets at the beginning. d. “The hill-shrines of Aven are wiped out, the shrines where Israel sinned”. The places that were high and unapproachable will be destroyed, and the glory of the golden calves of Beth-Aven will collapse. There will be desolation instead of the banquets. e. The people will fall under curse: “Thorns and thistles grow over her altars”. On the great day of the Lord, “they will say to the mountains, ‘Cover us’, and to the hills, ‘Fall on us’”, because “it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrew 10: 31). Besides, it came in the book of Revelation: “And they called out to the mountains and the crags, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One who sits on the throne and from the vengeance of the Lamb” (Revelation 6: 16). 2. INNER CORRUPTION: God confirms that Israel’s corruption was not only regarding the outer appearances, but it is also regarding its inner life. Therefore, the treatment should go into the depth of its nature: “Since the day of Gibeah Israel has sinned” (Hosea 10: 9). It is a long period – about six centuries – of war between the tribes, one against the other, which means that danger was not from an outer enemy, but from an inner corruption. We have seen how the men of Benjamin did evil with a daughter of Israel (Judges 19, 20). Therefore, if God chastens them by an affliction on the outside, they should not concentrate their eyes on the affliction itself, but on the inner corruption, in order to be sanctified by the Lord, who would save them from the affliction. “I have come against the rebels to chastise them, and the peoples shall mass against them in hordes for their two deeds of shame” (Hosea 10: 10). Finally, He shows how Israel has submitted itself to the inner humiliation, bowed its head under the yoke of sin and became like a trained heifer that loves to thresh grain and feed on what it threshes (Hosea 10: 11). 3. THE NEED FOR A NEW PLANTATION: If the vine has become barren because of its inner corruption, the need is urgent for a new plantation by the Lord Himself to grant it the fruit of knowledge and righteousness: “Sow for yourselves in justice, and you will reap what loyalty deserves. Break up your fallow; for it is time to seek the Lord, seeking him till he comes and gives you just measure of rain” (Hosea 10: 12). If the Lord Christ is our ‘righteousness’, then it is time for a new plantation, as the Lord Christ dwells in us, as though He would be planted inside us to renew our nature, which will make us bear the fruit of life and will open our eyes by His Holy Spirit to enlighten our insight. Thus, He confirms, “seeking 84 him till he comes and gives you just measure of rain”, as the righteousness we get is not of our own, but it is the work of the Lord in us. Yet, God does not work in the lazy and the slothful, which is why He says “sow”, “reap”, “break up your fallow”, “seek”. This confirms our positive role to gain the work in us. Commenting on the phrase “Enlighten yourselves with the light of knowledge”, Father Nestor says, “You are committed to strive diligently to read, which I see you are doing, together with seeking seriously to gain the practical knowledge by actual experience; namely the knowledge by behavior, without which no theoretical purity could be acquired1”. Let us seek the Lord Himself, who would grant us the fruit of His righteousness, and let us not lean upon ourselves or upon our human abilities, lest we hear the words of reproach. “You have ploughed wickedness into your soil, and the crop is mischief; you have eaten the fruit of treachery, because you have trusted in your chariots, in the number of your warriors.” (Hosea 10: 13) Whoever leans upon his own way or upon the multitude of his mighty men, would plow wickedness, reap iniquity and eat the fruit of lies. Israel leaned upon its own counsel without returning to God, and so caused the people to face tumult and disturbance and lose their fortresses. Moreover, women and children fell under the cruelty of Shalmannezzar, the king of Assyria: “The tumult of war shall arise against your people, and all your fortresses shall be razed as Shalman (Shalmannezzar) razed Beth-Arbel in the day of battle, dashing the mother to the ground with her babes.” (Hosea 10: 14). Whoever leans upon himself would have a life turned into a tumult, lose his spiritual fortresses and become a victim of the devil, who would captivate him, as Shalmannezzar did to many. Then He ends His talk by saying: “So it shall be done to you, Bethel, because of your evil scheming; as sure as day dawns, the king of Israel shall be swept away.” (Hosea 10: 15). As though He says, that what dwells upon them is not by the king of Assyria, but actually by Bethel, which became a snare for you to catch and deliver you to the pagan abominations. Do not lean upon the king of Israel, as he shall be cut off in the morning; namely, shall be defeated at the beginning of the battle. He would fall and never rise again! 1 CASSIAN: Cont 4: 9.
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