A Spirit of Prostitution
10 They will eat, and not have enough. They will play the prostitute, and will not increase; because they have abandoned listening to Yahweh. 11 Prostitution, wine, and new wine take away understanding. 12 My people consult with their wooden idol, and answer to a stick of wood. Indeed the spirit of prostitution has led them astray, and they have been unfaithful to their God. 13 They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and burn incense on the hills, under oaks, poplars, and terebinths, because its shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the prostitute, and your brides commit adultery. 14 I will not punish your daughters when they play the prostitute, nor your brides when they commit adultery; because the men consort with prostitutes, and they sacrifice with the shrine prostitutes; so the people without understanding will come to ruin.
Appetite is described as self-defeating rather than merely wrong, and the fathers are held responsible for their daughters.
Verse 10 states the futility rather than the guilt: they will eat, and not have enough. They will play the prostitute, and will not increase. Both appetites fail on their own terms — food that does not satisfy, fertility rites that do not produce children.
The reason given is a withdrawal of attention rather than a punishment: because they have abandoned listening to Yahweh.
Verse 11 is a proverb in three words — prostitution, wine, and new wine take away understanding — and the loss of understanding is the same theme as the loss of knowledge Hosea 4:6.
Verse 12 describes the substitute with deliberate contempt: they consult with their wooden idol, and answer to a stick of wood. And the diagnosis is given a name that will recur: the spirit of prostitution has led them astray Hosea 5:4 — a disposition rather than a series of acts.
Verse 13 places the worship geographically, on hilltops and under trees because its shade is good, and then draws the domestic consequence: therefore your daughters play the prostitute, and your brides commit adultery.
And verse 14 makes the assignment of blame explicit and startling. I will not punish your daughters when they play the prostitute — because the men consort with prostitutes, and they sacrifice with the shrine prostitutes.
The verse declines to punish the women whose behavior the previous verse described, and names the fathers and husbands as the cause. In a society where a daughter's conduct was the family's honor, the book puts the account in the men's name.
settled What this mark means