Bible Commentaries
Hosea 8

Verse 1

Hos 8:1. The pronouns in this verse represent three different nouns; they are the people of Israel, the Assyrians and the Lord. A trumpet was used as an alarm of war (Num 10:9). and the statement is used figuratively as a prediction. He shall come means the Assyrian army shall come against the land. This will be according to the decree of the Lord to punish Israel because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my (the Lord's) law.

Verse 2

Hos 8:2. This short verse predicts the distress of Israel when he realizes the results of disobeying the Lord.

Verse 3

Hos 8:3. The thing that Israel had cast off was the covenant of the Lord. The enemy will be the Assyrian, and the prediction was fulfilled in 2 Kings 17.

Verse 4

Hos 8:4. This verse has special reference to the events of 1 Kings 12, The nation of the Jews divided because of the unwise actions and announcements of Rehoboam, Ten tribes revolted and set up a line of kings, starting with Jeroboam, that was in opposition to the God of Israel. It Is true that Rehoboam tried to interfere with the division, and that God rebuked him for it, saying this thing is from me. But that was because the conditions were such that He saw the need for the revolution to chastise the natiom But originally such an arrangement of the kings was not by me, saith the Lord. Princes, and I knew it not means that the Lord did not approve of the appointment of princes that, was made by Jeroboam, The word prince meana any leading person in a community, official or unofficial. After the division of the tribes, Jeroboam made priests of the lowest of the people (1Ki 12:31). Made them idols is recorded in 1 Kings 12: 2832.

Verse 5

Hos 8:5. Samaria is named because that city became the permanent capital of the 10-tribe kingdom (1Ki 16:24). Thy calf means the idols that are referred to in the preceding verse. Hath cast thee off is a prediction with a twofold meaning. The idolatry of the nation was to bring upon It the wrath of God, and when that came, the idols were to be powerless to save it or prevent the invasion by the enemy.

Verse 6

Hos 8:6. The idol came from Israel, originated there, because their workman made it. The true God is the maker of all things and is the only One who should be worshiped. But these people of Israel were worshiping a god that was the work of their own hands. Calf of Samaria shall be broken predicts that idolatry was to be uprooted and excluded from the practices of the nation. The fulfillment of this is shown in the quotation from history at Isa 1:25, volume 3 of this COMMENTARY.

Verse 7

Hos 8:7. Sown wind . . . reap whirlwind agrees perfectly with Gal 6:7. The only difference in principle between a wind and a whirlwind is in degree or quantity, lor both are wind. A whirlwind ia a greater and stronger thing than a wind but ia in the same class as a substance. It is likewise In the case of sowing and reaping. If a man sows wheat he expects to reap wheat; but he should get more wheat at the harvest than he sowed. A whirlwind would destroy all the other growth virtually, and if any remained standing after the storm passed by, strangers would get it.

Verse 8

Hos 8:8. This is a figurative prediction Of the overthrow of the kingdom of Israel. Gentiles is a word for the heathen natione, Israel was destined to live in the midst of such people, but that was not to be regarded by these heathens as any great advantage; they would look upon this captured group as a nesseJ of no pleasure.

Verse 9

Hos 8:9. Are pone up is present tense in form, but it is a prediction of the captivity of the 10-tribe kingdom by the Assyrian Empire. Ephraim hath hired lovers. Idolatry is likened to adultery in the Bible, and the practice of that abomination by the people of God is compared to the unfaithfulness of a wife in her marriage relationship. An ordinary lewd woman practices adultery for the money she receives for it, but Israel was worse than such a woman. She is compared to an unfaithful wife who pays men to come in to her; and she pays them with money that her faithful husband had given her. (See Ezekiel 16; 17, 3131.)

Verse 10

Hos 8:10. Sorrow a little means that the nation was to be exiled for a little while (comparatively speaking), during which time it would not engage in appointing unworthy kings and princes, such as the accusation in verse 4. Gather usually has a meaning opposite of scatter, yet this verse predicts the exile of Israel into a foreign land. The idea is that God would scatter his people from their own land, but they would be gathered into the net of the heathen country. The original for gather is defined in Strong’s lexicon, “to grasp, i. e., collect."

Verse 11

Hos 8:11. Another wording of this verse would be to say that Ephraim (the 10-tribe kingdom) had sinned by making many idols or altars for the false worship. Therefore, the nation was destined to continue that abominable practice while suffering the punishment of exile in the country from which the abomination was learned.

Verse 12

Hos 8:12. Israel was not to be excused on the ground of ignorance, for God had written to him, the great tiling/; of my law. However, that law was ignored and treated as if it were something from the outside.

Verse 13

Hos 8:13. The corruptions of the nation as a whole became so great that God would not accept the things they did that would have been approved otherwise. Return to Egypt could refer to the frequent Instances when the people of fsraei looked to Egypt for help in time of their trouble with Assyria and Babylonia. The phrase has also a figurative application, referring to their enslavement under the Assyrians that was as distressing as the original bondage in Egypt.

Verse 14

Hos 8:14. In a summing up of the Lord’s complaint against Israel, the kingdom of Judah received a notice because that kingdom also was becoming corrupt. Both houses of Jews were destined to be overthrown by the foreign forces to be brought against them.