Hosea 8 [HCSB]
May 29, 2013
Oak Park Baptist Church – Wed Bible Study Series
Hosea Bible Study
A Study of the Minor Prophets Hosea (750-725 BC)
HOSEA to Israel (Northern Kingdom)
What we have learned so far is that the nation of Israel has been rebellious and stubborn about serving/obeying God.
They have rebelled to the point where God is ready to discipline them and thru the prophet Hosea He has proclaimed what His judgment is going to be total destruction of the nation and its inhabitants taken into captivity as well.
God’s desire is NOT judgment, but He seeks repentance and reconciliation from the people… His desire is that they turn FROM the false gods they have come to worship and turn BACK to Him as their God.
He has promised to NOT go thru with the destruction if they would but turn back to Him, but understands that their hearts are NOT focused on turning to Him, but on their own selfish desires!
As we look at ch8 tonight we are going to find that this is yet another divine complaint from God against the people of Israel… God’s focus of blame is on the religious and secular leaders BUT His judgment is prophesied to fall on ALL the people.
Here in ch8 we find God upset that Israel is NOT willing to submit to Him as their God and protector… His complaint is about Israel believing that they were secure in their ownself!
READ VERSES HERE… Reading from NLT
1“Sound the alarm! The enemy descends like an eagle on the people of the Lord, for they have broken my covenant and revolted against my law. 2Now Israel pleads with me, ‘Help us, for you are our God!’ 3But it is too late. The people of Israel have rejected what is good, and now their enemies will chase after them.
These verses describe the same thing as 4:1-3 describe and that is the basic sin that Israel is committing… that sin is rejection of Yahweh as their God and turning to other gods!
In v2 we see Israel crying out… “Hey God you are OUR God… we need You to help us…” This was a nation that still clung to the covenant God established with the nation coming out of Egypt… They believed God was THEIR God and that they were God’s children!
However, as we saw earlier in the prophet’s writing is that God was NOT buying this argument, in fact God had already established that they were NO LONGER His people, based on the choices they had made and their willful rebellion!
In v3 we find God telling them thru Hosea that they were NOT going to be saved or helped by God because they had rejected what is good…
The term ‘good’ here is a generic term for good and should be treated as such. The leaders AND the people had rejected God who is the epitome of goodness, they had rejected living their lives by the Torah which reflected God’s goodness in its teachings… they had rejected a faith in God to deliver them by seeking treaties with other nations which is NOT good!
As we continue to look at v3 we can also see the word ‘enemy’ or ‘enemies’ being used and we can also know that it is also a very general sense of the word. It refers to the opposite of good and to reject that which IS good.
So in other words, to forsake the goodness of God and His covenant… the nation was not facing the pursuit of enemy kingdoms after them!
This includes, but is not limited to, military defeats… but it can also mean that God Himself may hunt them down like an enemy would…
4The people have appointed kings without my consent, and princes without my knowledge. By making idols for themselves from their silver and gold, they have brought about their own destruction. 5“O Samaria, I reject this calf— this idol you have made. My fury burns against you. How long will you be incapable of innocence? 6This calf you worship, O Israel, was crafted by your own hands! It is not God! Therefore, it must be smashed to bits.
In v4 we find at the 1st part of the verse that even in the political processes of the nation that the Israelites had abandoned their faith and trust in the Lord.
God says, “…the people have appointed kings without my consent.” They had taken the process out of God’s hands and had come to believe it was THEIR right to choose a king and NOT God’s prerogative to appoint one.
BECAUSE of this attitude, the people had chosen MANY terrible men to rule and ALL had failed in serving God and leading the nation to be God’s people!
They had led the nation into idol worship… and the last of v4 thru v6 reflect how angry this had made God…
V4b refers to Israel making idols in lieu of worshiping the true God.
V5a refers to God’s rejection of the idol Israel had chosen to represent their ‘god’… the idol they had chosen was a golden calf, like the one formed at the base of Mt Sinai by Aaron when Moses was on top of the mountain for 40 days.
V5b reflects God’s fierce anger burning against the people…
V5c speaks about the people and their guilt for allowing this to happen
V6a reverts back to Israel making idols and how God is not pleased… referring to the fact that these idols were crafted in the minds of the people THEN by the hands of the people and had NO divine powers! Once again taking God out of the process… God desired to be their focus, not some idol of stone or metal…
Finally in v6b we see the calf addressed once again and God promises that the calf would be ‘smashed to bits’… God was NOT going to allow this to carry on and He would do what it took to get the nation’s attention and to canx out the influence of these idolatrous activities.
When we get to v.7 we read:
7“They have planted the wind and will harvest the whirlwind. The stalks of grain wither and produce nothing to eat. And even if there is any grain, foreigners will eat it.
The 1st part/portion of this verse is usually taken as a proverb directed against the people of the nation: saying that “…they [Israel as a nation] has planted the wind and harvest the whirlwind…” meaning that they had tried to harness what was impossible to harness on their part!
The 2nd part of this verse is a rhetorical device where the prophet says that one thing will happen… “the stalks of grain will wither and not produce…” BUT even if they DO produce, tragedy is still on the horizon because they will not escape God’s discipline…
IF there was even a chance of a harvest then foreigners will swoop in and take it from them! So EITHER way, God is going to ensure that they are destitute because of their self-centered and sinful rebellion!
This is a physical representation of God’s wrath that will be poured out on the nation, but it also speaks to the spiritual drought they are going to experience.
What Hosea is saying here is that the false gods they worship will NEVER deliver on their behalf… they will ALWAYS fail them… these cults would NOT ever give them the prosperity they seek, even if things DID seem to be looking up lately.
As we move forward here in v8-10 we can see that it is a very difficult passage to understand:
8The people of Israel have been swallowed up; they lie among the nations like an old discarded pot. 9Like a wild donkey looking for a mate, they have gone up to Assyria. The people of Israel have sold themselves— sold themselves to many lovers. 10But though they have sold themselves to many allies, I will now gather them together for judgment. Then they will writhe under the burden of the great king.
The main thrust of the verses is fairly clear and that is that Israel has looked for help in MANY places, but everywhere they have looked has led to failure and now they were alone and empty of alliances!
Hosea uses 3 particular images here to get across his message that NO MATTER what Israel did to gain favor with the nations… it only resulted in Israel being made helpless in front of the nations!
V8 speaks of an ‘old discarded pot’ painting the picture that to the nations Israel was NOT very attractive when it came to alliances… This left Israel off in the dusty corner of the world, discarded by the other nations because they saw NO value in aligning with Israel.
V9 says that Israel was compared to a wild donkey that is wondering around by himself, seeking a mate, but NEVER finding one.
They had long ‘prostituted’ themselves to other nations and what THEY may have considered an investment in their future actually has become a wasted investment on their part because NONE of the nations they have invested time and $$ in were going to come to their aid…
All the $$ they had given to these nations was coming to NO GOOD and now that they had gotten this $$ out of Israel, they had NO further use or desire FOR Israel…
Instead of accepting God’s protection and NOT having to pay all this money… they had paid thru the nose and now were the laughing stock of the nations and people looked down upon them with disdain!
The comparison with the donkey in the desert can be seen like this… Israel went to Assyria for help but instead of getting an alliance with a great power, they were left helpless and alone wondering in the wilderness…
The point being that Israel had tried to BUY their protection and salvation, but NOTHING they had invested was paying off and EVERYTHING they had invested was wasted… God would meet their needs, but they had refused to turn to Him.
In the next few verses we can see God returning to the religious sins He had focused on beforehand…
11“Israel has built many altars to take away sin, but these very altars became places for sinning! 12Even though I gave them all my laws, they act as if those laws don’t apply to them.
13The people of Israel love their rituals of sacrifice, but to me their sacrifices are all meaningless. I will hold my people accountable for their sins, and I will punish them. They will return to Egypt.
FIRST… the people had built altars to see their sins forgiven, but they were using these places of sacrifice to simply create havens of cheap grace…
In other words sin all you want God will forgive you! OR they were using these places of sacrifice as platforms for worship of a false god and sacrifice to that false god…
Second: The nation was so ignorant to the laws of God and they had been led to accept the principles of Ba’al as the normal… as THEIR Laws and the Laws of God were viewed as some foreign thing… they had been deceived by the religious leaders!
V13 is difficult but essentially what it speaks to is the offering of sacrifices without true repentance… they would go thru the motions believing that the ceremony was what God wanted…
But instead of God accepting their sacrifice it is rejected… and their sin, instead of being forgiven… it is remembered and held against them!
The phrase ‘return to Egypt’ does not refer to them going back to Egypt but it refers to the nation being held captive and enslaved once again… just like in Egypt they would once again be subject to a ruler who did NOT love them but held them against their will and forced them to slave for Him!
In v14 we find God concluding this particular divine complaint against the people/nation.
14Israel has forgotten its Maker and built great palaces, and Judah has fortified its cities. Therefore, I will send down fire on their cities and will burn up their fortresses.”
Here God is mourning over the choices His people have made to reject Him and seek help and deliverance from earthly kings instead.
The phrase used by God here thru Hosea that says, “I will send down fire…” is not a Sodom and Gomorrah type fire, but instead a metaphor for an invading enemy that comes in and consumes EVERYTHING in its path… leaving NOTHING standing!
We know that this is what happened ultimately when Babylon overthrew the nation… Jerusalem was left FLATTENED and in ruins!
But still the language used here by Hosea brings memories of Sodom and Gomorrah and is a powerful word picture that represents ULTIMATE destruction!
Now what we can learn from this is simple. As God’s people we are called to live FOR Him and to seek His plan and purpose for our lives!
We are not saved to call our own shots…
We are not qualified to call our own shots… in fact look where calling your own shots has gotten you in the past!
We are called by God to follow Him and serve Him, NOT to seek another ‘god’ to serve! How often do we put things before God… when we do this we are creating idols that we serve and God will not stand for this!
We must focus on serving God and NOT think or believe that we can do things OUR way! God is a jealous God and will NOT stand for rebellion. His judgment will come to those who are disobedient and to those in rebellion against Him…
But what we also see here is a picture of a loving and gracious God whose desire is NOT judgment and punishment BUT it is repentance and reconciliation! If we repent and come to God with a contrite/repentant heart then He will deal kindly with us…
Let us NEVER forget that our service is TO Him and FOR Him and that we should never believe that we have the right to direct God in any shape form or fashion… PRAY!
