Bible Commentaries
Hosea 9

Verses 1-17

Hosea 9:10 I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baalpeor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved.

Hosea 9:10 “I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time” - Comments - This phrase refers to the fact that a fig tree produces fruit twice a year, the first harvest being the most desirable, as noted in Micah 7:1.

Micah 7:1, “Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit .”.

The ISBE says, “ In Palestine and other warm climates the fig yields two crops annually--an earlier one, ripe about June, growing from the “old wood,” i.e. from the midsummer sprouts of the previous year, and a second, more important one, ripe about August, which grows upon the “new wood,” i.e. upon the spring shoots.” [16]

[16] E. W. G. Masterman, “Fig, Fig-tree,” in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, ed. James Orr (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., c1915, 1939), in The Sword Project, v. 1.5.11 [CD-ROM] (Temple, AZ: CrossWire Bible Society, 1990-2008).

Note:

Jeremiah 24:2, “One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe : and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.”

Hosea 9:10 Word Study on “they went to” The Hebrew word ( בּוֹא ) (H935) is one of the most common Hebrew verbs used in the Old Testament, being used over 2,000 times in the Old Testament. John Calvin says of the use of this word, “ For the Hebrews say, ‘they went in,’ to express in a delicate way the intercourse between husbands and wives. The Prophet does not, without reason, compare the sacrifices which the people offered to Baal-peor to adultery, as being like the intercourse which an adulterer has with an harlot.” [17] Therefore, note this use of the word in Genesis 6:4.

[17] John Calvin, Hosea, in Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets, vol. 1, trans. John Owen (Edinburgh: The Calvin Translation Society, 1847), 334.

Genesis 6:4, “There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.”