Hosea 10:1
Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images. Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images.
Israel is pictured as an empty vine because though it was fruitful, it brought forth fruit unto itself instead of fulfilling God's purpose for it. Its increase was turned to self-interest rather than faithful witness, with its blessings used for self-glory instead of serving God and guiding other peoples to Him. In direct proportion to its prosperity its idolatry grew, for according to the multitude of its fruit it increased altars, and according to the goodness of its land it made goodly, splendid images.
Though planted as a noble vine wholly of sound and right seed, it degenerated into a strange, corrupt vine. Where God looked for grapes in the form of judgment and righteousness, it yielded only wild grapes in the form of oppression and a cry. By this course it failed to keep God's covenant, forgot God, lost sight of its high privilege as His representative, and cut itself off from the life of God so that His blessing could not rest upon it.
As stewards of the vineyard it sought to keep the fruits for itself, thereby robbing God of the service He required and robbing fellow men of religious guidance and a holy example. Its covetousness and greed in thus keeping the fruit made it despised even by the heathen and caused the Gentile world to misinterpret the character of God and the laws of His kingdom. Its professed service was really self-directed work done by its own ideas and efforts for its own benefit, and such self-made righteousness could not make it holy, because depraved human nature is unlike God's character and cannot by itself produce righteousness reflecting His holiness.
The threatened consequence was removal of divine protection and desolation of the vineyard, with its hedge taken away and its wall broken down so that it would be eaten up and trodden down. It would be laid waste, left unpruned and undigged, with briers and thorns coming up, and the clouds commanded to withhold rain from it. When the warning against such unfaithfulness was heeded, rich blessings came upon the nation and through it upon surrounding peoples, but more often the warning was forgotten.