This chapter may be the first that hints at a time frame. “Then they will say, ‘We deserted the Lord and He took away our king. But what’s the difference? We don’t need one anyway’!” This seems to indicate that Hoshea had already been taken by the Assyrians and the people didn’t think much of him “anyway”.
In both chapters 9 and 10, God drew attention to the town of Gibeah. The reference is to Judges 19-20 where the men of the town raped a woman over and over one night, and she dies as a result. Israel knew this was a violation of God’s law, and they sent an army of 450,000 troops to destroy those men. They sent messengers to the leaders of the tribe of Benjamin because the incident was in their territory asking that those who violated the woman be turned over for execution. Instead, 26,000 troops from Benjamin came to defend the guilty and most of them were slaughtered in battle.
God now makes a comparison of the present day and Gibeah. “O Israel, ever since that awful night in Gibeah, there has been only sin, sin, sin! You have made no progress whatever. . .I will come against you for your disobedience; I will gather the armies of the nations against you to punish you for your heaped-up sins.”
Throughout Hosea’s prophecies, God had said it was too late and He ended this chapter in verses 13-15 reiterating that prediction. But in verse12, God said, “Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will reap a crop of My love; plow the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that He may come and shower salvation upon you.” For the Israelites the consequences could have been lessened: not so much death and destruction. Isn’t God saying to the world, “It is never to late to find salvation before you die”? The blood of Christ does not lose its power until we have crossed the threshold into eternity.