Hosea 8

Again there is a call to sound the alarm (v1).  God’s chastening judgment is coming upon Israel.  There is no avoiding it, like an eagle that has the whole picture as it soars over the earth.  Perhaps it is this certainty that leads Hosea to specify the charges against Israel.  He does not simply say there is no knowledge of God or you have a spirit of harlotry.  Note Israel’s sins and the connection of one to the next.

·        8:1-3: Israel transgressed the covenant.  They claimed to know God but they rejected the good by rejecting the law of God in the Mosaic Covenant.  But what does that mean, specifically?

·        8:4a: Israel chose bad kings, bad leaders, without God’s approval.  Israel had rejected the Davidic king in the time after Solomon and God was actually at work in that.  But in the generations since she had gone from bad to worse in those they chose as one short-lived dynasty was followed by another.  But this is the result of rejecting God’s law.  

·        8:4b-6: Israel worshiped another God.  This was, in fact, the result of the previous choice of bad kings.  It was Jeroboam who had established the golden calves for worship in Israel.  And it was the people who followed him in that decision long after he died and his dynasty was ended.  Every bad choice of a king ended with keeping the same false worship.  

·        8:7-10: Israel looked to another helper (Assyria).  Israel sowed the wind and reaped the whirlwind.  In other words, one bad decision led to another bad result.  Having rejected God’s law and chosen bad leaders it is no surprise she made a bad decision about who could help them get out of their predicament.  It is an amazing thought: Israel has become, not the special treasure God had in mind, but rather just another ordinary vessel like any of the other nations.

·        8:11-13:  Israel set up altars to other gods.  And this is the result of seeking help from another nation.  If you are going to be friends with the Assyrians or Egyptians you will have to accommodate their gods.  But God makes it clear: these are not altars that please Him; He has rejected them all.

Thus the conclusion (v14) is that Israel has forgotten her maker (i.e. there is no knowledge of God; she has a spirit of harlotry).  And not only Israel but Judah, who is fortifying her cities but following Israel down the same path.  The conclusion is that God will bring punishment on them for very real, specific sins.

Remember how your mother used to say, be sure that your sins will find you out?  My mother said that to me often.  The point being that you may hide it from me, son, but it will be found out.  That was not something she thought up: it’s in the Bible (Num. 32:23).  It is God’s principle.  Israel tried to hide her sin but the Great Physician has properly diagnosed the problem.  He will do the same for us.