Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

“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.
Israel cries out to me,
    ‘Our God, we acknowledge you!’
But Israel has rejected what is good;
    an enemy will pursue him.
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.
Samaria, throw out your calf-idol!
    My anger burns against them.
How long will they be incapable of purity?
    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.
“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.
Israel is swallowed up;
    now she is among the nations
    like something no one wants.
For they have gone up to Assyria
    like a wild donkey wandering alone.
    Ephraim has sold herself to lovers.
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.
“Though Ephraim built many altars for sin offerings,
    these have become altars for sinning.
I wrote for them the many things of my law,
    but they regarded them as something foreign.
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.
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.”

• Hosea 8:1-14

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

Hosea 8:1-3 ‘an enemy will come’: “Because Israel placed their trust in the strength of other nations, Hosea tells his countrymen that an enemy will come against them, and there is little point in crying, My God, we know you, when all of Israel’s actions proved the opposite (8:1-2). Israel had rejected what was good, so judgment was coming (8:3).”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Hosea 8:1 ‘like an eagle’: “During Old Testament times, the Hebrews used a trumpet to announce special occasions, sound alarms, or give call for people to gather. Today in certain communities, there arc sirens and warnings of dangers (tornado, fire, etc). Here the sound of the trumpet called to signal an alert because the enemy was coming. …
“We admire eagles and marvel at seeing them in flight. But for much of the animal kingdom, an eagle is a predator. An Assyrian eagle was about to swoop down and destroy Israel because they broke God’s covenant through their idolatry, injustice, and paganism. Israel rebelled against the only one who could help them. They went their own way and manufactured their own gods who offered nothing.”

• Jay McCluskey, A Long Walk with the Minor Prophets

Hosea 8:2 ‘we know You!’: “Israel’s syncretistic worship wherein she practiced idolatry while crying out to God.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Hosea 8:4-10 ‘acted in their own interests’: “They acted in their own interests without seeking God’s guidance. They in-stalled kings and appointed leaders-all without God’s approval. They made idols that would lead to their destruction-not their salvation (8:4). The Lord’s anger burned regarding the idolatry of Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom (8:5-6). Ephraim ran after foreign nations (like Assyria) as an adulteress pursues lovers (8:9-10).
“There’s little difference between people then and people today. Israel put their hopes in earthly things that couldn’t save them. Today; people are tempted to pursue the same poor bargains-trusting in money, power, the government, technology; etc., rather than trusting in the God who inhabits eternity.”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Hosea 8:5-6 ‘God’s anger burned’: “God’s anger burned against his people. The ‘calf of Samaria,’ in all likelihood, was situated and housed in the royal shrine at Bethel. As a symbol of Israel’s embracing forbidden cults, these calves had been fashioned by men to take the place of Yahweh and were an abomination before the Lord (1Ki 12:28). Though the people had rationalized that they were still honoring God, their worship at this shrine was rejected by him.”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Karen H. Jobes, Minor Prophets contributor)

Hosea 8:5-6 ‘Destroying their Idols’: “The spoils of war in the ancient world often included statues and images of the gods of defeated peoples. The prophet Hosea dismisses the golden calves of Samaria (Israel) by prophesying that they are worthless and fated to become Assyrian spoils of war (Hos. 10:5, 6).
“The Neo-Assyrian kings regularly listed the images of gods, as well as gold and silver, as part of the spoils of war taken from conquered temples. In an inscription, Sargon II includes the images of Samaria’s gods among the tally of spoils taken from Samaria in 721 B.C. These were not the golden calves referred to by Hosea, but other idols used by the royal house of Israel.
“Captured idols were most valuable as sources of precious metal and gems. If the conquerors wished to show disdain for the conquered people, they would dismantle the idols and use the gold, silver, and gems as raw material for other projects. The wooden or stone parts of the idol would be burned or broken. Extreme contempt for the images meant that the entire object was totally destroyed. No wonder there would be mourning (Hos. 10:5) when the once-worshiped idol was ‘broken to pieces’ (Hos. 8:6).”

• Timothy B. Cargal, et al., The Chronological Study Bible

Hosea 8:5, 10:5-6 ‘Holy Cows’: “Exactly which god was represented by the calves is not known. The Hebrew word for ‘calves’ in 1 Kin. 12:28 suggests that the animal was a young bull, as was used for sacrifices (Mic. 6:6). A number of small bull images have been found by archaeologists, testifying to the common worship of such images. Calf worship was still prominent among the Israelites of the northern kingdom when Hosea prophesied (Hos. 8:5; 10:5, 6), during the reign of Jeroboam II (793–753 B.C.).”

• Timothy B. Cargal, et al., The Chronological Study Bible

Hosea 8:5 ‘Your calf is rejected’: “Calf worship was the national religion of the northern kingdom (cf. 1 Kin. 12:25–33; Ex. 32).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Hosea 8:6 ‘golden calf’: “I do not know where you would find that golden calf today. The archaeologists certainly have not found any piece of it there. It was probably taken somewhere and broken to pieces, maybe even melted down. God says to these people, ‘You have turned from Me to worship this, but it is not God and it is not able to help you.’”

• J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible, Vol III, Proverbs to Malachi

Hosea 8:7 ‘look before you leap’: “Prudent individuals look before them to see the result of their actions. Their eyes look beyond the present to the future. They look before they leap. Only the foolish person goes blindly on until, at last, he stumbles and has a desperate and probably fatal fall.
“We are all sowing.  We cannot help it. No one goes forth in the morning without a seed-basket.
“As we are all sowing, the great question we have to consider is, ‘What will the harvest be?’ Every wise individual will ask that question. I may have sown little in my small plot, or I may have walked far and scattered the seed over the wider field committed to my charge-but what have I sown and what will I reap? What sheaves will I gather into the harvest-sheaves of fire that will burn into my soul for-ever or sheaves of glory that I will bring with rejoicing in the last great day? If we have believed in Christ and received eternal life by faith in him, and if we are trying to labor for him, we are sowing blessed seed; and if it comes not up today; or tomorrow, yet divine grace ensures a crop that we will gather in one of these days. Therefore, we may be encouraged to labor on. The farmer waits for the precious fruits of the earth through the long and dreary winter, through the checkered days of spring, through March winds and April showers he waits until at last the golden harvest rewards him for all his toil. What we sow, we will also reap. Our Lord has told us so.“

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Hosea 8:7 ‘reaping a whirlwind’: “Through their idolatry and political alliances Israel was trying to ‘sow seeds’ that ·would create a good harvest. But instead, they sowed into nothing and reaped only the ‘whirlwind.’  They threw ‘their seed’ away to sources which could not deliver produce.
“During this time, Israel’s most common false deities were Baal and Asherah. These ‘gods’ were supposed to bring good harvests and fruitfulness. But the stalk brought no harvest. Even if it did yield grain, their enemies would ‘swallow it up.’
“Putting forth a lot of effort without any favorable results is a formula for frustration. No one wants to sacrifice great amounts of work and have empty results. Still, this dynamic was their future. Consider things people try today which deliver very little in return.”

• Jay McCluskey, A Long Walk with the Minor Prophets

Hosea 8:8 ‘swallowed up’: “’Israel is swallowed up.’ Do you know where the ten tribes are today? So many people have the idea that the United States is the tribe of Ephraim—I cannot think of anything more absurd. If you think that is true, read these chapters here about God’s judgment on Ephraim; nothing but judgment is mentioned of Ephraim.
“’Now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure.’ We are not able to locate or identify the tribes of Israel today. I am confident that the people of Israel mixed with the tribe of Judah when they returned to the land after their captivity, and there has been no way to separate them since that time. They are scattered throughout the world today. Actually, there are more Jews in New York City than there are in the whole nation of Israel; there are at least four times as many outside of the land than are in Israel today.”

• J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible, Vol III, Proverbs to Malachi

Hosea 8:9 ‘Thy will be done’: “ Israel was like a dumb animal lost in the wilderness. Having forsaken her God, she was now forsaken by other nations and would face a terrible future on her own. One of life’s hardest and saddest situations is to be and feel ‘alone.’
“Technically they were not without other people. But they isolated themselves away from the Lord. Here was a time when God would say to them, Thy will be done, allowing them to wander their own way.”

• Jay McCluskey, A Long Walk with the Minor Prophets

Hosea 8:11-14 ‘refusing to listen’: “Though I were to write out for him ten thousand points of my instruction, they would be regarded as something strange (8:12). This is just sad. But indeed, the person who refuses to listen to reason is determined to do what he wants no matter what anyone says. And, that’s Ephraim. No matter what God said, they would be set in their ways and consider God’s words ‘strange.’ Israel had forgotten his Maker, but God won’t forget to punish (8:14).”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Hosea 8:12 ‘The Law – a strange thing’: “’But they were counted as a strange thing’—that is, the people did not know anything about God’s law. I say this often because there are so few who are saying it at all. God is saying here, ‘I have given them my written Word, and to them it is a strange thing—they are ignorant of it.’ That was the condemnation of Israel and, my friend, that is the condemnation of our nation today. We try to pass as a civilized, Christian nation, and we are anything but that. The ignorance of the Word of God is to me one of the most amazing things in this land. That is the reason we are committed to teaching the Bible. The most important business the church has is to get out the Word of God. I do not think your pastor is to be a business administrator. I do not think he is called to be a social lion who mixes and mingles with people. The important thing is whether he gives out the Word of God when he stands in that pulpit. If he does, then you should stand behind him. But I do not ask you to support a man who is playing around and riding the fence in liberalism. Across this land there are many men who are teaching the Word of God, and they are the ones who are getting a hearing today. However, their ministries and the ministry of a Bible teaching radio program like ours are just a drop in the bucket—this nation is ignorant of the Word of God.”

• J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible, Vol III, Proverbs to Malachi

Hosea 8:13 ‘shall return to Egypt’: “Recalling the place of Israel’s former bondage, Hosea reminds them that Assyria will be their future ‘Egypt’ (cf. 9:3; 11:5; Deut. 28:68). A few Judean refugees actually did go to Egypt (cf. 2 Kin. 25:26). Isaiah used ‘Sodom’ in a similar representative fashion (Is. 1:9, 10).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Hosea 8:14 ‘Jerusalem … fortified cities’: “Though less idolatrous than Israel, Judah showed lack of trust in God by trusting more in fortifications. Instead of drawing near to God, Judah multiplied human defenses (cf. Is. 22:8; Jer. 5:17).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

My Thoughts

Bells have been used to make announcements.  Sirens are used these days.  In biblical times it was a trumpet, or trumpets.  The trumpets might be blown to announce good times or bad.  It was just an alert for people to gather to hear the news.

This time, Hosea was calling for bad news.

An eagle, known as Assyria, was hovering over them, ready to pounce.  Rev. MacArthur suggests that the Hebrew word might be translated as “vulture,” so maybe Ephraim was already dead and they did not know it.  But I have seen a bald eagle eating carrion along with the vultures.  Deuteronomy 28:49 was not a prophecy from God as much as He was warning them that if they transgressed, this is what would happen.  A nation would be brought up by God to punish His Chosen People.  Now for those people that talk about the Old Testament God being full of wrath, God had put up with the northern tribes since they split away from the house of Judah.  There was not one good king in the north, not one.  Sure, God told Elijah that 7000 had not bent a knee to the Baals (a collective name for all the false gods).  But that was a few generations before the time of Hosea.  And God is Holy.  If He says that He will punish them, He will.  He used evil nations to do it.  He already had their destruction in His sovereign will, but He would use their evil intentions and remove the hedge of protection.  God would not do the naughty things, but He would not come in at the last minute to rescue them.  God’s punishment would be carried out.

So, anyone thinking that the bad things in the book of Revelation won’t happen?  They are kidding themselves.  I see Revelation as a good story.  With a little bump in the road, God will remove sin, death, pain, crying, all with one giant stroke of a double-edged sword.

In Hosea speaking of making people kings and princes without God’s consent, that means that they did not pray about it.  If they prayed, they did not wait on God’s answer.  And if they prayed, they went to the detestable golden calves that were set up by Jeroboam I.  Odd how the theologians cannot figure out who the calf god was.  But since it was widespread, does it matter?  A metalworker made the thing.  A creature, created by God, used materials God created, to make an image of an animal that was created by God, and this image was unable to hear, see, speak…. Yet, the priests and kings of Ephraim worshipped it.

In sowing the wind, they are worshipping a nothing god and ignoring the true God.  They reap the whirlwind.  The only good news coming from a whirlwind is that it did not hit your house.  But the bad news is that it hit the neighbor’s house, knocked out city services (these days being electrical, water supply, phone service, etc.).

But a whirlwind known as Assyria was really bad news.  Your house is destroyed and the neighbor’s house.  And the few poor people that are not relocated will have scorched earth and famine to deal with.  Note: Gen. Sherman’s scorched earth campaign only failed in causing the entirety of the South to starve in that he saw sweet potatoes growing and had no idea what they were, so he did not burn those fields.  And it was Sherman who said “War is Hell.”  Sure, he made it so.  But in studying the Assyrians, Gen. Sherman seemed to be repeating many of their tactics.

What makes things worse is that Ephraim went to Assyria for help.  They sold themselves as vassals of Assyria in exchange for Assyria learning all their weaknesses.  A good “protector” has to know the weaknesses to prevent the Babylonians or the Egyptians from exploiting those weaknesses.  And when Assyria was tired of being the cat playing with the mouse, they ended the game.

And this chapter ends with Hosea telling them that they knew the Law.  They just treated the Law as if it was this strange thing that they simply could not figure out.  Maybe all they needed to do was obey.  In obedience, you start to figure out why God put those laws into place, for the good of the people.

Some Serendipitous Reflections

Hosea 8 1. Despite professions of loyalty to God, are you ‘rejecting what is good’ (vv,2-3) with: (a) Spouse?'(b) Family? (c) Business? (d) Money? (e) ‘Leisure? How might errors in these areas lead to an addiction or idolatry?
“2. As a nation, do we worship ‘calves’ (laws, buildings, weapons, etc.) of our own making? What sacrifices do we give to them? From this passage, what consequences can we expect if we continue?
“3. Consider the ‘sacred objects’ in your life, Are you in danger of worshiping what inspires you (creation, spiritual gifts, etc.) rather than God himself? Have they become altars for sinning? Could they? How?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

Hosea 8 has one set of questions.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

If you like these Thursday morning Bible studies, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Thursday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.