Hosea 8

 

Hosea 8

This is another hard chapter, speaking mostly of sin and judgment. Why so many chapters devoted almost entirely to Israel’s sin and God’s judgment? Off the top of my head I can think of three reasons. First, according to 1:1 Hosea’s prophetic ministry lasted maybe 70 years. You can preach a lot of sermons, in many different places in 70 years. Second, when folks have turned away from the Lord and then utterly devoted themselves to idolatry and immorality, as had the Israelites, they are slow to respond, if they ever do. Third, we all know that people living in sin tend to think they are immune to God’s judgment upon them, or what may be worse, believe they are beyond help; sometimes freely admitting that they are going to hell, but who still will not turn to the Lord. Hosea is warning them, pleading with them, to return to the LORD their God.

8:1  Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He shall come as an eagle against the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law.

Who is it who will come against the house of the LORD? First, the king of Assyria. He came against Israel, the ten northern tribes, and carried them away captive in 722 BC. He came against Judah, but the LORD delivered them from him (see 2 Kings 17-19). Then Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and carried Judah away in 597 BC.

8:2 Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee.
8:3 Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him.
8:4 They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.
8:5 Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocency?
8:6 For from Israel was it also: the workman made it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.

Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee – How can this be happening to us?? we are your people! My people draw nigh unto me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

They set up kings, but not by me – they had rejected the house of David and set up a whole bunch of kings for themselves. Pure rebellion.

Thy calf, O Samaria – this is the real kicker; Jeroboam I had two calves made of gold and declared:

28 It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.  29 And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan.  30 And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.  31 And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.  32 And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.  33 So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense. (1 Kings 12:28-33)

This was the sin of Israel; it continued the entire time of their existence. They had a substitute for everything Judah had, a pitifully poor and empty substitute.

8:7  For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.

This has always been a principle in dealing with God, we reap what we sow. They have sown the wind, they shall reap the whirlwind. There are three things to know about sowing and reaping:

(1) You reap what you sow.
(2) You reap more than you sow.
(3) You reap later than you sow.

Paul explains this in Galatians 6

7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. 10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

8:8 Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure.
8:9 For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.
8:10 Yea, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes.
8:11 Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin.

Israel…now shall they be among the Gentiles – Assyria’s policy was to remove a people from their homeland, scatter them throughout their empire, then bring in another nation to live in their land.

8:12 I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.
8:13 They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it; but the LORD accepteth them not; now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins: they shall return to Egypt.
8:14 For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples; and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.

Israel’s sin:

v 12 they rejected the law, God’s word and covenant

v 13 they invented their own sacrifices

v 14 they forgot their Maker, and built temples to other gods

This was sin. It was rebellion. Apostacy. Continued. Unbroken. Every generation. 250 years. They sowed the wind, and they reaped the whirlwind. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap is still true today. O may our God have mercy on us!

Have mercy on us, O God, according to Your great mercy, we pray You, hear us and have mercy.  ~Liturgy of St John Chrysostom