Hosea 8

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. Hosea 8:1

The trumpet ( sho-far ) or ram’s horn has several uses in Scripture. In a day before technology, it was the primary means of long-distance communication. It was used in warfare, to call an assembly, for the movement of the tribes, for worship, and for the coronation of kings. In this case, it speaks of coming warfare against Ephraim.

We note that there is an eagle over the house of the Lord. The Hebrew word ne-sher could speak of an eagle or a buzzard, and a few translations have the latter meaning (RSV, ESV, NRS). The predominant translation is “eagle,” and it clearly refers to the Assyrians since this was their state symbol. [1] The eagle is hovering over God’s house. This is not speaking of God’s temple but God’s people who have broken God’s law and covenant. [2]

The people have forgotten God. Boice says, “These verses and others show that the problem involved was not an intellectual forgetting of God but a moral ‘forgetting’ in which a genuine worship of God and a rigorous obedience to his commands are neglected.” [3]

Long before this time, God had said, “Be careful not to forget the covenant of the LORD your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the LORD your God has forbidden” (Deut. 4:23). Unfortunately, Israel had not been careful. Seemingly, they cared less and less about God and his laws. Boice continues: “Five sins resulted from Israel’s forgetting of God: (1) the breaking of his covenant, (2) the choice of kings and other national leaders without his direction or consent, (3) idolatry (4) the formation of alliances with ungodly nations, and (5) the construction of false altars.” [4]

“Israel cries out to me, ‘Our God, we acknowledge you!’ But Israel has rejected what is good; an enemy will pursue him” (8:2-3). This reminds us of Luke 6:46 and the words of our Messiah: “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” Not only did Israel have a problem with obedience, but we have a similar problem today. Jesus says of the end day, “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matt. 7:22-23). Ouch!

“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” (8:4). Jeroboam (I) was a terrible king, but God established him in his office, as we see in 1 Kings 11:35-39. God charged him to keep all the requirements of the law, but Jeroboam had other ideas. Apparently, he was fearful that his people would return to Judah and to the temple. To avoid this, he set up golden calves at Bethel and Dan and charged the people to worship them and make their offerings to them (1 Kgs. 12:28-29). From that point on, God had very little to do with establishing the kings of Ephraim.

“Samaria, throw out your calf-idol! My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of purity?” (8:5). They needed to “clean house” in a religious and spiritual sense. James Luther Mays tells us that there were not just two idols but a multitude of private images that were also worshipped. [5] At this point, good scholarship may help us understand how the people initially looked at the calves. The esteemed Bible scholar William Foxwell Albright tells us that the people were at first not worshipping the golden bull. He says that in all the Syro-Palestinian iconography of the second and early first millennia BC, gods were nearly always represented as standing on the back of an animal or as seated on a throne borne by animals. This was true among Canaanites, Arameans, and Hittites. [6] Nevertheless, it did not take long for the bull to become Baal and for calf worship to be in style.

“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” (8:6). Pett feels that by this time, they might have already broken up and carried away the calf at Dan. He suspects that the golden god was taken hostage by the Assyrian invaders by this time. [7] I would have to agree with him. I have led many tours to the Dan Nature Reserve in the far north of Israel. It is truly a beautiful place with springs bubbling up out of the ground and many nice shade trees. Unfortunately, the site of Dan’s golden calf, which is partially restored today, was only a stone’s throw from the Lebanon border. We can be almost certain that marauding Assyrian soldiers had claimed the prize by this time.

Boice tries to clear the air about whether or not Israel was worshipping the idol itself. He says, “You do not have to say, ‘I am worshiping an idol,’ to be actually worshiping an idol. We can say that we are worshiping God but be worshiping an idol – our money, homes, cars, position, wife, husband, children – even when we associate those things with God or think of them as the gift of God.” [8] Tragically, when people worship idols, they become like the idols they worship (Psa. 115:8).

Sowing To The Wind

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. Hosea 8:7-8

God is showing the foolishness and emptiness of Baal worship. [9] In the natural world and in the spiritual world, foolish and reckless actions lead to catastrophe. Even if the wheat stalk appears, there will be nothing inside it. Should it somehow bear fruit, the enemy would be there to eat it up. Wiersbe says, “There was no grain for Israel to swallow, but she herself would be swallowed up by Assyria.” [10]

“For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey wandering alone. Ephraim has sold herself to lovers” (8:9). Philips fills us in with information on the wild donkey. “The wild donkey of the East is a headstrong, unruly, and obstinate animal that can outrun a horse. It is drawn in all directions by its lust, hunger, and thirst. It usually roams in bands, but sometimes one breaks away from the pack and becomes prey to lions…” [11] We have all surely noticed that many of God’s creatures run in flocks, herds, or droves. There is safety in numbers. When a donkey wanders alone, the lioness licks her chops, and the lion family knows that there will be a great feast real soon.

“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” (8:10). Hosea probably speaks of King Menahem who paid Pul, the King of Assyria, a thousand shekels of silver to spare his land (2 Ki. 15:19). The large amount was collected from the poor people who were already experiencing financial hardship.

The gathering together was likely a gathering for punishment and not a gathering for their deliverance, as we see in other passages.

Altars For Sinning

Though Ephraim built many altars for sin offerings, these have become altars for sinning. Hosea 8:11

God, knowing the weakness of human flesh, forbade the people from having numerous altars. The law of God spoke of one altar to which all the people would come (Deut. 12:26; 14:24-25; 2 Ki. 21:4-5). That altar was to be the temple in Jerusalem. Not only did the people of the northern kingdom establish altars at Bethel and Dan, but it seems that there were numerous other altars, including shrines in individual homes. Very quickly, the altars for sin became altars for sinning.

“I wrote for them the many things of my law, but they regarded them as something foreign” (8:12). Guthrie says, “They were so alienated from God that they could not recognize a single detail of his commandments.” [12] How are we doing today? Are postmodern Christians doing any better, despite the fact that we have more Bibles available to us than at any time in history?

The pastor and evangelist Ray Stedman, who traveled widely in the churches, says, “Everywhere I go, I am saddened and depressed by the biblical ignorance of church members. There is a terrible biblical illiteracy across the face of this apparently Christianized nation. People have only the most superficial knowledge of the Scriptures… One man said, ‘I thought Dan and Beersheba were husband and wife, like Sodom and Gomorrah.’” [13]

“A significant weakness of contemporary Christianity is its lack of knowledge of the Bible…Gallup and Barna have revealed that the level of Bible literacy in America is abysmal. Details of the polls’ findings have been widely reported: Only half of the Christians polled identified correctly Jesus as the person who delivered the Sermon on the Mount; barely three of five could recall the names of the first four books of the New Testament. When asked to quote a Bible verse, the most frequent response was ‘God helps those who help themselves’ – a line written by Benjamin Franklin.” [14]

We read in 1 Corinthians 2:14, “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” We need to pray for a Holy Spirit filling so that we can understand and appreciate the things of God and his word.

“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” (8:13). The sacrificing, meat eating, fornication, and adultery were going on full speed, but God was greatly displeased. Punishment was surely on the way. The return to Egypt spoken of here is mostly a type of bondage remembered from Israel’s ancient history.

In one sense, they had already returned to Egypt by setting up the golden calves, a practice they probably learned in Egypt from worship of the Apis bulls. [15]

“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” (8:14). Boice comments on our tendency to build big things when our faith is weak. He says, “Having forsaken God, who alone was big enough for her need, Israel tried to compensate by the construction of big things without him…If we could put it in a formula, we would probably say: ‘Bigness Equals Blessing,’ meaning that size is proof of God’s presence… for it is often in the smallest things that the greatest blessing is given, and it is in the insignificant things that God is often present.” [16]

Footnotes

1. Coffman, Coffman’s Commentaries on the Bible, Hosea. v. 8:1.

2. Utley, Free Bible Commentary, v. 8:1.

3. Boice, The Minor Prophets, Vol. 1, p. 65.

4. Ibid.

5. James Mays cited in Coffman, Coffman’s Commentaries on the Bible, Hosea. v. 8:4.

6. William Foxwell Albright cited in Boice, The Minor Prophets, Vol. 1, p. 67.

7. Pett, Pett’s Commentary, vs. 8:4-6.

8. Boice, The Minor Prophets, Vol. 1, p. 67.

9. Guthrie, et. al. The New Bible Commentary: Revised, p. 711.

10. Wiersbe, The Wiersbe Bible Commentary, OT, p. 1401.

11. Phillips, Exploring The Minor Prophets, p. 56.

12. Guthrie, et. al. The New Bible Commentary: Revised, p. 712.

13. Ray Stedman, Commentary on 2 Timothy 3:1-9. http://www.raystedman.org/new-testament/timothySted

14. Michael W. Holmes, The NIV Application Commentary 1 And 2 Thessalonians (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998), p. 207.

15. Clarke, Clarke Commentary, Hosea. v. 8:13.

16. Boice, The Minor Prophets, Vol. 1, pp. 69-70.