Reading for July 27th

Read Hosea 10.1-8
The comparison of Israel to a vine begins with images of bountiful fruit (v.1) and
concludes with images of thorns and thistles (v. 8).
In verses 1-8 pillars were common installations in Israelite sanctuaries (Gen 28.18-22).
In verse 3 the people's words, "We have no king," could anticipate the end of Israel and
its kingship; or they could mean that Israel has rejected the rule of God, its divine king (1 Sam 8.4-8), as the following line seems to indicate.
In verse 5 for Hosea's view of Israel's calves, compare 13.2 and 8.5-6 (see comment at 8.5-6).
In verse 8 the  high places of Aven (literally, "worthlessness") are the sites of Israel's
false worship (4.13).
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