Hosea 8: 1 – 14
Rejecting the good
1 “Set the trumpet to your mouth! He shall come like an eagle against the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My law. 2 Israel will cry to Me, ‘My God, we know You!’ 3 Israel has rejected the good; The enemy will pursue him. 4 “They set up kings, but not by Me; They made princes, but I did not acknowledge them. From their silver and gold they made idols for themselves—That they might be cut off. 5 Your calf is rejected, O Samaria! My anger is aroused against them—How long until they attain to innocence? 6 For from Israel is even this: A workman made it, and it is not God; But the calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces. 7 “They sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no bud; It shall never produce meal. If it should produce, Aliens would swallow it up. 8 Israel is swallowed up; Now they are among the Gentiles like a vessel in which is no pleasure. 9 For they have gone up to Assyria, like a wild donkey alone by itself; Ephraim has hired lovers. 10 Yes, though they have hired among the nations, now I will gather them; And they shall sorrow a little, because of the burden of the king of princes. 11 “Because Ephraim has made many altars for sin, they have become for him altars for sinning. 12 I have written for him the great things of My law, but they were considered a strange thing. 13 For the sacrifices of My offerings they sacrifice flesh and eat it, but the LORD does not accept them. Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins. They shall return to Egypt. 14 “For Israel has forgotten his Maker and has built temples; Judah also has multiplied fortified cities; But I will send fire upon his cities, and it shall devour his palaces.”
The prophet Hosea lived in the tragic final days of the northern kingdom of Israel, during which six kings (following Jeroboam II) reigned within 25 years. Four of those kings were murdered by their successors while in office; one king, Hoshea, was captured in battle. Only one king: Menahem, was succeeded on the throne by his son. These kings floated away "like a twig on the surface of the waters" (Hosea 10:7). Bloodshed followed bloodshed, and threats from the Assyrian enemies grew more and more violent.
But for our learning is if the political and physical condition of the northern kingdom was in poor condition, the spiritual condition of God's people was far worse! Hosea saw, as the word of the Lord had declared, that Israel's basic problem was their failure to acknowledge God.
God's relation to Israel was that of love. The intimacy of the covenant relationship between God and Israel; illustrated in the first part of this book by the husband-wife relationship, is later amplified by the father-child relationship. Yet with all the love that God had displayed to His people, they grew disloyal and wound up committing spiritual adultery.
As we single out our key verse as Hosea said, "Israel had "rejected the good" (verse 3). In this text, the Hebrew word for "good" has reference to the influence of God in the lives of His people. It has reference to the idea of God's will over them; the idea that God would be directing and guiding them.
Israel had cast off this goodness because they refused to have a true knowledge of God in their mind any more. Earlier in his book, as Hosea was speaking concerning why it is that the people of God were going to be destroyed, he wrote, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children" (Hosea 4:6).
How does Hosea's world compare to our world? Unfortunately, the people of today continue to "cast off the good." Just like Israel, many will reject the influence of God; they don't want to know God.
In the Roman letter, the apostle Paul often speaks about His obligation to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And there is a very important reason why Paul has this obligation. It is because the Gospel of Christ is the only power that can save anyone. It is the only way that anyone can now come to know God – that is, through the good news of His son. The Scriptures make it abundantly clear: there is not any way to save a man, except by teaching him the truth. Jesus said, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). Make you free from what? If you study the context of that passage, Jesus is saying that His truth will set you free from serving sin. His truth provides the way to save your soul!
We hear Paul saying in Romans 1:17, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes." Paul said, "I am not ashamed of the gospel," Why? What was the reason why he was not ashamed of it? As he declared, because "it is God's power to save everyone who believes it." It is the power of God to save, because, in the gospel, God's way is made known for making men just, holy, and righteous. The intent and purpose – the very purpose of it being revealed – is to produce saving faith in the heart of the individual! In John 20:31, John said, "These things are written, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, you might have life through his name."
Do people begin to sow the wind today by rejecting the knowledge of God? Do they cast off the good by rejecting His word; what He has revealed about Himself and Man? The answer is sadly yes they have! People continually reject the true knowledge of God!
The questions we all must ask ourselves are: "Do I cast off the good? Am I rejecting God's influence? Am I ashamed of the gospel of Christ?"
A serious truth we must all understand is that if you have not obeyed His gospel, and if you are not abiding in His word, then you have "rejected the good." You are "sowing the wind," and if you do not turn to God in obedience to His will, you will "reap the whirlwind." (Hosea 8:7)
"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life." -Galatians 6:7-8
The present hopelessness of Israel’s current situation comes out strongly here in today’s chapter. The enemy are coming against them like an eagle descending on its prey (Deuteronomy 28.49), and this because they have broken the covenant and disobeyed His Law. So desperate will the situation be that Israel will appeal to YHWH claiming He Is their God and known to them. But it will do them no good because they have ‘cast off what is good’, that is have rejected Him, His covenant and His ways. Therefore, all that remains is for them to be effectively pursued by their enemy (Deuteronomy 28.22, 45;
1 “Set the trumpet to your mouth! He shall come like an eagle against the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My law.
The prophet is to sound the alarm because in vision the eagle has been sighted , and it is coming against ‘the house of YHWH’. This does not refer to the Jerusalem Temple for that Temple is nowhere under consideration by Hosea, nor does it refer to the Temple at Bethel (or even in Samaria) which were never described as houses of YHWH. Rather ‘YHWH’s house’ is either the land of Israel or the people of Israel.
The picture of the eagle swiftly descending on its prey (which is ‘the silly dove’ - 7.11) is taken from Deuteronomy 28.49. It is a part of the Deuteronomic curses on those who ‘do not observe His commandments or His statutes’ (Deuteronomy 28.15). Here it comes on those who ‘have transgressed My covenant and trespasses against My Law’. It was because Israel were neglecting God’s requirements as laid down by the covenant of Sinai that they would now be snatched away from their land.
2 Israel will cry to Me, ‘My God, we know You!’ 3 Israel has rejected the good; The enemy will pursue him.
In its extremity Israel will then call out, ‘O God of Israel we know you’. They would assume that because God was their God, the God of Israel, He must listen to them in their need and respond to their call because they ‘knew His Name’. This would include the idea that they knew how to manipulate Him through their rituals and could thus persuade Him to do what they wanted. And they would make this claim even though Hosea and YHWH had both made clear that that was far from the truth for had they truly known Him they would have known that they could not manipulate Him and would have obeyed His commandments. Their failure had lain precisely in the fact that they had seen Him as just another nature god, and not as the living God Who required obedience. In other words, they had not had a true knowledge of YHWH.
And because they did not know YHWH they had ‘cast off what was good’, that is the covenant and the Law and true worship and social justice. Thus, the consequence was that ‘the enemy would pursue them’. Pursuit by the enemy was one essential aspect of the curses in Deuteronomy 28.22, 45. Thus the Levitical/Deuteronomic curses are being being fulfilled on faithless Israel.
Having appointed kings and princes without regard to YHWH, and having used their God-given wealth in order to make idols for themselves, Israel is subject to the anger of YHWH. He will therefore destroy the calf of Samaria and break it in pieces, and will make their fields barren, while anything that is produced will be swallowed up by foreigners.
4 “They set up kings, but not by Me; They made princes, but I did not acknowledge them. From their silver and gold they made idols for themselves—That they might be cut off.
YHWH’s first complaint was that Israel had set up kings and made princes without consulting Him, and this appears to have been so from the beginning, for while prophetic voices certainly were raised in support of Jeroboam I and Jehu, these were in private messages and not publicly proclaimed. There is no suggestion anywhere that the people attempted to discover YHWH’s will as to who should reign over them, or who should be their princes, something which very much indicated that YHWH’s will was not very important to them. In Israel the king was supposed to be YHWH’s representative who acted in the Name of YHWH, but this made it quite clear that the people of Israel did not care about that one iota. And both Jeroboam and Jehu then proceeded to sin grievously, so that both were subsequently condemned by YHWH. Furthermore, at this time when Hosea was speaking kings were being replaced by means of assassination with none seemingly objecting that YHWH’s representative had been removed. YHWH’s Will was being treated as irrelevant.
YHWH Father God’s second complaint was that instead of bringing their treasures to Him they were using them to make idols for themselves. This would certainly include the golden calves set up by Jeroboam (2 Kings 12.28-29) but would almost certainly also include smaller images of Baal and Asherah and other gods made in both silver and gold. And this was the guarantee that Israel would be ‘cut off’.
It was because of the appointment of inept kings and princes without YHWH’s agreement that the golden idols were being set up which were mainly responsible for the downfall of Israel, and that strangers would be able to come in and seize their crops (verse 7). It is the former which will be dealt with first.
5 Your calf is rejected, O Samaria! My anger is aroused against them—How long until they attain to innocence? 6 For from Israel is even this: A workman made it, and it is not God; But the calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces.
YHWH has especially determined that ‘the calf of Samaria’ will be cast off in His disgust, and will be broken in pieces, and it is spoken of prophetically as something already accomplished. The use of ‘cast off, be disgusted at’ here contrasts with its use in verse 3. In verse 3 Israel had cast off, and been disgusted at, that which was good. Here YHWH Is disgusted at their golden calf. That this refers to the calf at Bethel can hardly be doubted for there is no suggestion anywhere else of the making of ‘calves’ other than at Bethel and Dan. But the one at Dan had probably by this time been melted down or taken as ‘hostage’ by invaders (Dan, being on the northern border was very vulnerable). Thus, the one at Bethel was probably called ‘the calf of Samaria’. This may have been
(a) because ‘Samaria’ as their leading city was seen as standing for the people of Israel
(b) because the golden calf of Bethel had itself been taken to Samaria
(c) because it was the center point of the worship of the people of Samaria..
It was both their casual attitude as to who should reign over them, and their willingness to worship before the golden calves, that had made YHWH angry with them, and caused Him to despair as to when they would return to a state of purity. For by this they were both disregarding His rule and debasing His Name. The calves may well have been seen by them as the base on which the invisible YHWH stood, in the same way as the god Hadad stood on the back of a bull, but this made them no more acceptable to YHWH, for it meant that they were still involving graven images in their worship contrary to His commandment, and YHWH knew, even if they did not, that that inevitably led to idolatry. It is significant in this regard that the graven image was not seen as acceptable even though the sophisticated among them no doubt argued that they did not worship it, for God knew their hearts and recognized that, whether they themselves recognized it or not, a great deal of their worship was being directed at the calf itself (Baal was worshipped in the form of a bull). The same applies today when people argue that they are only ‘venerating’ images and using them as a means of worshipping God. The sad truth is that there is often little difference in many of these cases between veneration and worship, and it is not long before worship begins to be directed at the images.
The debased condition of Israel was further revealed by the fact that ‘this’ (we can sense the contempt behind the word), which was a graven image made by the hands of a workman, was being worshipped even though it was ‘no God’. And the total folly of worshipping it was revealed by the fact that men would later ‘break it in pieces. So, they worshipped a god that could be broken in pieces? What kind of a god was that?
7 “They sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no bud; It shall never produce meal. If it should produce, Aliens would swallow it up.
By their actions, YHWH pointed out, they were ‘sowing the wind’, and the consequence could only be that they would reap the whirlwind. It was a principle built into creation that whatever a man sows that he also reaps. The picture is vivid. They thought that they were only making a small incident by their activities, but it would turn into a fearsome storm that would carry them away.
The ‘he’ refers to Israel. Israel will have no standing grain, all will be flattened, their blades of corn will yield no meal, and any that they do yield will simply be swallowed up by strangers. The picture is one of total devastation and famine, and complete defenselessness (so much for their nature gods, and their kings and princes).
The argument now swings to consider Israel’s attitude towards other nations. YHWH had delivered Israel from Egypt in order that they might look to Him and to Him alone. But far from doing this Israel were hiring lovers and looking to Assyria. Well, they would soon discover that that was costly. Being under ‘the king of the princes’ did not come cheap. And meanwhile they are multiplying altars at which they can sin, despite YHWH having provided them with abundant instruction.
In consequence YHWH will take note of their sin and ‘return them to Egypt’, that is, bring them once more into slavery and subjection. And this because by their actions they have forgotten their Maker and put their trust in fortified cities which can easily be put to the flame.
8 Israel is swallowed up; Now they are among the Gentiles like a vessel in which is no pleasure. 9 For they have gone up to Assyria, like a wild donkey alone by itself; Ephraim has hired lovers.
Not only will Israel’s crops be swallowed up (verse 7), but the same will happen to Israel themselves. For they are now to be found courting the nations, although turning out to be a sad deserted figure (like a wild ass alone in the desert lands) welcomed finally only by Assyria. They had sought many allies against the Assyrians, but they had all deserted her for one reason or another (they had not delighted in her), driving her into the arms of the Assyrians. But now that Israel are a part of the Assyrian empire they have many hired lovers, including the Assyrian gods, for all the good it does them.
We can see in this a picture of the last decades of Israel prior to 722 BC, when they first sought alliances against Assyria (instead of looking to YHWH), and then finally, deserted by those allies, had to look to Assyria itself.
10 Yes, though they have hired among the nations, now I will gather them; And they shall sorrow a little, because of the burden of the king of princes.
YHWH therefore intends to ‘gather’ them for judgment and slowly squeeze them dry by reason of the financial demands of the king of Assyria, ‘the king of princes’. This began with Menahem’s payment of tribute, extracted from the rich in the land (2 Kings 15.19-20), and continued through the years as greater and greater tribute was demanded because of their continuing rebellions.
11 “Because Ephraim has made many altars for sin, they have become for him altars for sinning.
Meanwhile they have also continued to multiply altars at which they could sin (or ‘offer a sin offering’), establishing their altars ‘on every high hill and under every green tree’. Indeed, all that their altars had done for them was to make them sin even more deeply. And this was true whether they were syncretistic altars at which both YHWH and Baal were worshipped, or altars merely for the Baalim.
12 I have written for him the great things of My law, but they were considered a strange thing.
It was not that Israel did not know better. God had written for them ‘the ten thousand things of my Law’, in other words many instructions. But they had counted them as a strange thing, something that was to be avoided.
13 For the sacrifices of My offerings they sacrifice flesh and eat it, but the LORD does not accept them. Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins. They shall return to Egypt.
Even when their sacrifices were ‘offered to YHWH’ and they sacrificed flesh and ate it before Him in a ceremonial meal, YHWH did not accept their sacrifices because they continued sinning without restraint and were treating Him as the equivalent of a nature god. Therefore, He would remember their iniquity and visit their sins on them, causing them to ‘return to Egypt’. We must not forget that Egypt would in fact offer a safe haven for refugees from Assyria, so that we need not doubt that many Israelites fled there, only to find themselves ‘enslaved’, or in trying circumstances, once more (Deuteronomy 28.68).
14 “For Israel has forgotten his Maker and has built temples; Judah also has multiplied fortified cities; But I will send fire upon his cities, and it shall devour his palaces.”
All this was because Israel had forgotten its Maker (Deuteronomy 32.15, 18) and were therefore, along with Judah, busy making themselves substitutes, this included multiplied fortified cities, palaces and castles, and multiplied altars. But once the one living God had been dispensed with, replacing Him would prove impossible. However, all these would be destroyed by fire, just as their false sacrifices had been.
The mention of Judah makes Judah’s inclusion in Hosea’s indictments clearer. They are not now simply seen as involved in the cult, but it is indirectly confirmed that they were in danger of being in wholesale rebellion against YHWH. His knowledge concerning the fortification of their cities brings home how familiar he was with what was going on in Judah.
We may summarize the situation of Israel as follows:
1). They had usurped Yahweh's sovereign authority over the nation (verse 4).
2). They were blatantly worshipping idols (verses 4-6).
3). They were depending on foreign treaties rather than on God (verses 9-10).
4). They had adopted and perpetuated a corrupt system of worship (verses 5-6, 11, 13).
5). They had arrogantly disregarded YHWH's Law (verses 1-3, 5, 12, 14).
6). They had forgotten their Maker (verse 14).
It was no wonder that our Holy God purposed final judgment upon them until they could in the distant future be brought back to repentance.
