In Hosea 10:4 we read, “They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.”
Hosea condemned the people of Israel. They had said that they were God’s people, but they did not live by their words. They did not live by God’s Word. Instead, they had made false gods and worshipped them. Because of their disobedience, they would be punished. Because of making a covenant and then breaking it, they would be punished.
Later in the chapter, Hosea pictured the Israelites as having plowed their fields and sown their fields with evil. They should have been sowing and plowing righteousness. Because they had sown evil, their judgment would be like hemlock growing in the plowed field. Hemlock is a poison. Anyone eating it dies. Therefore, instead of reaping good, spiritual things, the Israelites had grown spiritual death.
The same thing can happen to us today. In Hebrews 12, we read that we must work to make sure that we stay faithful to God. We must be diligent in obeying God’s Word. In verse 15, we are told that if we do not do this, then roots of ‘bitterness’ will spring up and trouble us.
Do not be like the evil Israelites. Obey God. Do what He wants you to do. Help others to live right. Do not let hemlock grow up in your spiritual garden. If any of this is hard to understand, ask an adult to help you.
