For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Hosea 8:1-6

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.
2 Israel cries out to me,
    ‘Our God, we acknowledge you!’
3 But Israel has rejected what is good;
    an enemy will pursue him.
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.
5 Samaria, throw out your calf-idol!
    My anger burns against them.
How long will they be incapable of purity?
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.

A. Find Out:

1. What is the state of the nation? v.1
2. Yet what do they cry out? v.2
3. What had Israel done and what will happen? v.3
4. What 2 complaints has the Lord against them? v.4
5. What does he instruct them to do? v.5
6. What will happen to it? v.6

B. Think:

1. How is there hypocrisy in Israel,  according to these verses?
2. So what does the Lord say about that?
3. How does Matt 6:24a fit this situation?

C. Comment:

We have here a similar pattern to what we saw in the beginning of chapter 6. Israel cries out to the Lord, “We acknowledge you”, yet the reality of that is very different. Because of their anguish, because of the state of the land, they were crying out to God, but that was a self-centred cry. In these verses the prophet reveals the folly of it.

First he is told to draw everyone’s attention to what is happening, for a bird of prey is hovering, keeping watch over the house of the Lord to see the truth of what is happening.

And the truth? Israel have

• broken their covenant with God (see Exo 19:4-6) and rejected His Law (v.1),
• rejected the goodness of the way of life (v.3) He ordained for them,
• chosen their own rulers without any reference to God (v.4a), thus  showing their own self-determination,
• made idols to worship (v.4b) showing their wrong heart, and
• still had the original calf (v.5) that had been set up when they separated  from Judah.

All of these things show that their cry to God is meaningless, for they have not sought to restore the covenant by repentance, they have not destroyed their idols. In other words, apart from speaking words they have done nothing to show they really wanted to come back to God. John the Baptist would have words for them – see Matt 3:8.

D. Application:

1. Mere words are not enough. Real repentance comes with actions.
2. The Lord can see past our words to our hearts. Beware false words.

Passage: Hosea 8:7-14

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.
8 Israel is swallowed up;
    now she is among the nations
    like something no one wants.
9 For they have gone up to Assyria
    like a wild donkey wandering alone.
    Ephraim has sold herself to lovers.
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.

11 “Though Ephraim built many altars for sin offerings,
    these have become altars for sinning.
12 I wrote for them the many things of my law,
    but they regarded them as something foreign.
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.
14 Israel has forgotten their Maker
    and built palaces;
    Judah has fortified many towns.
But I will send fire on their cities
    that will consume their fortresses.”

A. Find Out:

1. What do Israel sow and what do they reap? v.7a
2. With what effect in the picture and in reality? v.7b,8
3. What have they done? v.9,10a
4. What also have they done? v.11,12
5. How have they shown self reliance? v.14a
6. So what will happen because of all this? v.10b,13b,14b 

B. Think:

1. What similarities are with the first six verses of this chapter?
2. But what differences are there?
3. So what is the Lord’s main objection?

C. Comment:

In the first part of this chapter the indictment was more general: Israel had rejected the Lord, relied on their own abilities and worshipped other gods. Now the focus is on their relationship with other nations again (as it was in 7:8-16).

They sow fickleness (the wind), says the prophet, and they will reap destruction (whirlwind). They should be likened to corn or wheat which produces a fruitful crop but instead they have nothing. Israel has become worthless among the nations. Why? Because they went to the nations for their help, instead of to the Lord, and they lost their distinctiveness, they lost their strength and their power and they are nothing now.    

In addition, the indictment of earlier in the chapter is repeated: they have turned away from the Lord and worshipped idols (v.11,12) and they have relied on their own abilities (v.14).  The result?  The Lord will deal with them: He will let them be gradually taken away by invading kings, their cities and refuges will be destroyed and they will be carried off into captivity. As they went to nations for help so it will be nations that destroy them. 

D. Application:

1. Israel were to be a light to the nations and distinct from them.
2. Failure to be this meant destruction by those other nations as the protection of the Lord was removed from them.