Hosea 8: Israel will reap the whirlwind of judgment

[Preliminary Comment: So the condemnation of Israel continues, a people who had altars and idols, who sounded spiritual but in reality were far from God, deciding on their own rulers, doing their own thing. What they have sowed will come back on them like a hurricane bringing destruction. When they turn to Assyria for help, they will find they take them into captivity and it will be left to the Lord to bring them back in the years to come. It’s a clear and straight forward prophesy.]

v.1 Should a warning, an invader is about to bring judgment for my people’s rebellion

v.1 ‘Put the trumpet to your lips!
    An eagle is over the house of the Lord
because the people have broken my covenant
    and rebelled against my law.

v.2 Israel sound spiritual….

v.2 Israel cries out to me,
    “Our God, we acknowledge you!”

v.3  ….  but in reality they have rejected me and an enemy will come for them

v.3 But Israel has rejected what is good;
    an enemy will pursue him.

v.4 They don’t refer to me when they need an new ruler, and also turn to idols

v.4 They set up kings without my consent;
    they choose princes without my approval.
With their silver and gold
    they make idols for themselves
    to their own destruction.

v.5,6 You’ve had your calf idols from the beginning [1 Kings 12:28-30], now destruction

v.5 Throw out your calf-idol, Samaria!
    My anger burns against them.
How long will they be incapable of purity?
v.6     They are from Israel!
This calf – a metalworker has made it;
    it is not God.
It will be broken in pieces,
    that calf of Samaria.

v.7 If you sow wrongly, you’ll get it back in abundance, you’ll no real harvest

v.7 ‘They sow the wind
    and reap the whirlwind.
The stalk has no head;
    it will produce no flour.
Were it to yield grain,
    foreigners would swallow it up.

v.8 Israel will soon be in exile in the nations

v.8 Israel is swallowed up;
    now she is among the nations
    like something no one wants.

v.9 Having turned to Assyria, like an aimless wild beast, taken into exile….

v.9 For they have gone up to Assyria
    like a wild donkey wandering alone.
    Ephraim has sold herself to lovers.

v.10 …. I will yet recover you even as you appear to die at the hands of the enemy

v.10 Although they have sold themselves among the nations,
    I will now gather them together.
They will begin to waste away
    under the oppression of the mighty king.

v.11 You built many altars but used them wrongly

v.11 ‘Though Ephraim built many altars for sin offerings,
    these have become altars for sinning.

v.12 You had the Law, but ignored it

v.12 I wrote for them the many things of my law,
    but they regarded them as something foreign.

v.13 Offering sacrifices without repentance will just reap punishment

v.13 Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to me,
    and though they eat the meat,
    the Lord is not pleased with them.
Now he will remember their wickedness
    and punish their sins:
    they will return to Egypt.

v.14 Build as much as you both like, but I will destroy it all

v.14 Israel has forgotten his Maker
    and built palaces;
    Judah has fortified many towns.
But I will send fire on their cities
    that will consume their fortresses.’

For those who may wish to make a study of this chapter, to perhaps think some more about what you have been reading, use the link below: