Have you ever started to pray, then paused, because you weren’t sure what you should ask God to do? Hosea 9 contains such a prayer. Although the prophet earnestly wants to pray for the people of Israel, he has to break off his prayer after the first phrase. “Give them, O LORD—what will You give?” He knows that God’s judgment is coming upon the nation, so the only thing he can think to ask is that God would cause them to stop having children. He asks for “wombs that don't give birth and breasts that give no milk” (NLT), because he wants their miseries on the day of judgment to be as limited as possible. Hosea knows that a righteous God must punish sin. But he loves the people, and their spiritual condition causes him great anguish (v 14). Since Israel has forsaken God, God has forsaken them. At chapter’s beginning, the language of prostitution continues. Both politically and religiously, Israel has been flirting—with foreign powers and with alien gods. Soon she will be forced to abandon “the land of the LORD,” driven into exile. The Jews loved their religious ceremonies and harvest feasts, but all the blessings these symbolized will soon dry up. The punishments are tied to the sins (v 1-6). Hosea had clearly and passionately warned them about the coming invasion. He sincerely wanted them to repent and return to God. At first, people merely ignored him or laughed at him. They called him a fool and thought he was a madman. But when he kept preaching, they began to despise God’s messenger; there was “hatred in the house of his God.” But it was the LORD Himself whom they actually hated. The reason they could not tolerate the prophecies of Hosea was because of their “great iniquity.” When separated from God by our sin, we become cynical and spiritually deaf. God’s Word seems foolish, and we mock those who faithfully proclaim it (v 7-9). The incident of “Baal-peor” seems especially relevant in Hosea’s thinking, for it combines both physical and spiritual adultery. The Moabite women seduced the men of Israel, and their Moabite god (Baal) attracted their worship. No doubt, sex is still a form of idolatry in our own culture; and the result for us will be what it was for them: the people “became detestable like the thing they loved.” What we worship we soon resemble. We identify with it, and defend it, until we ourselves become an abomination to God (v 10). So our “glory” flies away, the divine presence is noticeably missing in our lives, and we become spiritual drifters, bearing no fruit that pleases God (v 11-17). For further meditation: