Hosea 10

Ephraim is a trained heifer
that loves to thresh;
so I will put a yoke
on her fair neck.
I will drive Ephraim,
Judah must plow,
and Jacob must break up the ground.

The above is from Hosea Chapter 10 verse 11.

When I first saw this verse, there was really nothing much that I thought about it. It was only when I digged deeper did I see the message that God was trying to put across to Israel through the prophet Hosea.

Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh

Ephraim refers to the Northern Kingdom. A heifer is basically a young cow that has not given birth. Threshing is basically a process that is used by farmers to lossen the grain from the kernel before winnowing (separation of the grain from the kernel) takes place.

In ancient Israel, this involved using a cow who would walk on the grain in circles. Sometimes, a threshing sledge was used where the cow would drag a sledge that would help lossen the grain from the kernel even more efficiently.

This was basically easy work as the cow just had to walk around in circles. In addition, the cow was not muzzled so it could eat the grain. What the trained heifer basically does was to actually just walk around in circles eating!

This was the picture that Hosea was trying to paint. Israel was happy and contented being this heifer that just did easy labour and got its rewards. They never progressed further than that.

so I will put a yoke on her fair neck

God himself was now going to put a yoke on Israel. Her neck which has seen no hardship will now have to bear the heavy yoke. God was going to drive her like the farmer drives the oxen when it ploughs the ground.

There was going to be hard work ahead. This was a warning to Israel of the coming exile and the hardships its people would face. This warning went out to both the Northern and the Southern Kingdom.

Lesson for us today

Do not abuse the privileged position we have as God's chosen people. Just like the heifer has an easy job, this position could easily be taken away by God.