Today's text appears to begin with Hosea asking the Lord a question. Up until now it has been the Lord speaking but the narrative switches in such a way that it seems to be the prophet speaking now. "Give them, Lord---what will you give them? Give them wombs that miscarry and breasts that are dry." (Hosea 9:14) The Lord has already talked about His intention to lessen their fertility rates but He also talked about His intention to destroy crops, allow an enemy to invade, and allow the people to be scattered among the nations. I think perhaps Hosea is asking the Lord to do only one of these things but not all three. Lowering the birth rate seems more merciful to Hosea than war, starvation from famine, the fall of the nation, and deportation to other nations. Some scholars think Hosea is not asking for the Lord to hold back His judgment in any way but that the prophet is saying that a lower birth rate would be desirable under desperate conditions: fewer children born means fewer children will endure the hardships to come.
The narrative switches again and it seems to be the Lord speaking now. "Because of their wickedness in Gilgal, I hated them there. Because of their sinful deeds, I will drive them out of My house." (Hosea 9:15a) At one time Gilgal was an important center of worship. Prior to the building of the temple, there was an altar there for sacrifices and offerings. There was also a school of prophets---true prophets---there during the days of Elijah and Elisha. The Lord previously indicated that a sinful type of worship was going on at Gilgal in Hosea 4:15, for He instructed the people to stop going there and to the idolatrous site at Bethel, which makes me think Gilgal was being used for idolatry as well. Later in Chapter 12 the Lord will say that bulls are being sacrificed in Gilgal, but evidently not to Him or if to Him then in some sort of unlawful way because He rejects these offerings.
"I will no longer love them; all their leaders are rebellious. Ephraim is blighted, their root is withered, they yield no fruit. Even if they bear children, I will slay their cherished offspring." (Hosea 9:15b-16) The type of pagan rituals the people engaged in are not described in detail but the worship of heathen gods involved fertility rites. There are a number of references in the Old Testament about the people "committing adultery" against Him by lying down under every spreading tree. The groves were places where fertility rituals were carried out, with people indulging in sexual immorality underneath the trees. The fruitlessness of worshiping heathen gods will be demonstrated by the fruitlessness of the people; their birth rate will drop significantly and their mortality rate will rise significantly. Only by obeying the Lord can they prosper.
The chapter ends with words I believe are spoken by Hosea. "My God will reject them because they have not obeyed Him; they will be wanderers among the nations." (Hosea 9:17) They rejected Him first, and although His rejection of them will not be forever (just as Hosea's separation from his unfaithful wife was not forever), He is going to follow through with the warning He gave them before He brought them into the promised land. He told them if they forsook Him and followed the gods of the nations, He would uproot them from the land and scatter them among the nations. The Lord doesn't make empty threats. He has delayed judgment but He would be going against His righteous nature if He never judged unrepentant sin.
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