Deeper Commentary
Hos 8:1 Put the trumpet to your lips!- The trumpets were blown to warn of invaders; I suggested on Hos. 5:7 that Hosea's audience had then but a month to repent. The invaders were upon them. There was an urgency in this call to repentance, as there is for us. For "the judge stands before the door", now as never before in human history.
Something like an eagle is over Yahweh’s house- The invasion was imminent, "an eagle" giving the idea of rapidity (Dt. 28:49; Hab. 1:8). They had flown as a dove to Assyria for help, and the Assyrians had returned as an eagle. But there was still chance to repent and change the outcome, so that the eagle didn't swoop; see on :8. We continually get the impression that the invasion was about to happen; the word "now" occurs often, as in :8. God was teetering on the edge of bringing it... throughout Hosea's ministry. Just as Hosea was on the brink of divorcing Gomer, but didn't. Because love won out over necessary judgment and legitimate anger.
Because they have broken My covenant, and rebelled against My law-
The law of Moses was God's marriage covenant with Israel.
As Gomer broke
her marriage covenant with Hosea by adultery, so Israel broke the covenant
they had entered with God at Sinai (Dt. 29:12). But we should not conclude
too easily that breaking the letter of that law was thereby breaking the
covenant. Hosea never condemns Israel for a lack of technical, casuistic
obedience. Even though the ten tribe kingdom clearly were not legally
obedient to the Mosaic law. Instead he repeatedly accuses them of not
being with God in their heart. It is our hearts, the overall direction of
our lives, which is the issue- rather than particular stellar examples of
individual acts of obedience or disobedience. We note the constant
condemnation of Israel for unfaithfulness to the covenant- individual sins
are one thing, but breaking covenant is quite another. Failure within the
covenant is assumed by God, it seems. But breaking the covenant is to walk
away from His love. Hence His demand for our hesed, covenant
love, loyalty, faithfulness to and recognition of the covenant.
Hos 8:2 They cry to Me, ‘My God, how we know You!’- See on 6:6 The knowledge of God.
Hos. 5:4 explains why:
"the spirit of prostitution is within them, and they don’t know Yahweh".
It was finally God's dream that "you shall know no god but Me, for besides
Me there is no saviour" (Hos. 13:4). "Saviour" is 'yasha', from whence
Yahoshua, Yah saves, Jesus. Knowing God involves knowing Him as saviour;
and a husband is to be trusted as a saviour: "the husband is the head of
the wife and Christ is the head of the church- himself being the saviour
of the body" (Eph. 5:23). "Saviour", "king" and even "your God" were terms
which in Hebraic thought were titles for a husband. And yet Israel like
Gomer looked to other gods and nations as their saviour. The New Testament
presents the Lord Jesus as our "only saviour", Yahshua, Yah's salvation.
It is knowing / experiencing Yah's salvation in the Lord Jesus which is to
know Him. But Israel like Gomer, saw their salvation as coming from many
sources- various Baals, Assyria, Egypt, Yahweh etc.
As Gomer claimed to "know" / be in relationship with Hosea, so did Israel
with God. They drew near with their lips, but their heart was far from Him
(Is. 29:13). Israel prayed intensely to God, but not from their heart (see
on Hos. 7:14). Prayer alone is not enough; we can pray, but not from the
heart. Elijah prayed within his prayer- from his heart, beyond the words
(see on James 5:17). And likewise knowing about God is not the
same as knowing God. The very knowledge
about Him of itself can
lead us to assume that therefore we know Him in relationship; but this
crucial difference needs to be realized by us. And the more knowledge we
accrue, the more likely we are to be tempted to assume this is enough. In
this lies the problem of defining fellowship with God on the basis of a
set of theological propositions; fellowship / knowledge / relationship
with God is a moral and not a solely theological issue.
Hos 8:3 Israel has cast off that which is good. The enemy will pursue
him- This is God's answer to their prayer of :2. He says they have
cast Him off, just as the Lord will reply to those who knock on the door
at the last day by saying that He never knew them, i.e. they never 'knew'
Him (Mt. 7:23).The LXX has "they have pursued an enemy"; by going to
Assyria for help (:9), like Gomer chasing after her lovers, they were
chasing after those who would later be their enemy. And by so doing they
were casting off relationship with God who would do them good rather than
evil; for He is "God who is good, and is always doing good" (Ps. 119:68).
There is an ambiguity in the text- they pursued their enemies, and the
enemies pursued them, as threatened in the Mosaic curses for disobedience.
By chasing after the Assyrians for help, they brought about the Assyrians
chasing them.
Hos 8:4 They have set up kings, but not by Me. They have made princes,
and I didn’t approve- Jeroboam became king of the ten tribes after
the revolt against the house of David and Judah. There is an allusion to
his calves in :5. This was not God's will; and yet He also brought the
situation about as judgment upon His people, and it was according to His
word that Jeroboam became king (1 Kings 11:37). Likewise it was not God's
wish that Jerusalem be destroyed; and yet it was His prophetic word which
brought it about. If we will not do God's will, then He propels us further
in that path; there is both an evil and a holy spirit which alike proceed
from the Lord. But His propulsion of evil men in their path does not mean
that He approves their actions. Later God will comment that He
gave them a king in His anger, and took him away in His wrath. But this
was "not by Me". He didn't "approve"; but like the Father to the prodigal,
He gives man what he wants. Because of love... just as Hosea would've done
to Gomer.
Being pursued by enemies is the language of the curses for breaking the covenant (Lev. 26:36). As Gomer had broken the marriage covenant, so Israel had broken the old covenant (see on :1). But they were by grace being offered a new covenant- but even that they, and Gomer, refused. And so it was offered to us.
Of their silver and their gold they have made themselves idols, that they may be cut off- As Gomer used Hosea's wealth to hire lovers and serve idols. They "cast off" relationship with God (:3), and He in turn cut them off. The term for "cut off" is used of cutting / making a covenant; and they had despised God's exclusive covenant and cut covenants with the Assyrians (s.w. Hos. 10:4; 12:1). Those covenants involved agreements to worship the idols of their lovers / helpers. The silver and gold they paid to the Gentile armies required them to make the idols of those peoples (2 Kings 16:17).
Hos 8:5 Let Samaria throw out his calf idol!- The calf idols of
Jeroboam were to be destroyed anyway by the invaders (:6), so they were to
throw them down now. We feel Hosea's personal anger reflecting that of the
God whose Spirit was inspiring him. We too need to throw away our idols
for they shall be destroyed anyway by the Lord's coming. Ahaz had 'thrown
out' the vessels of the temple (2 Chron. 29:19 s.w.); Hosea was calling
for a radical inversion of values. The call of the prophetic word is no
less radical in our day. Again we see an intentional ambiguity in the
Hebrew- it could read (as AV) that Samaria's calf had led to her being
thrown out / cast off by God; but that would not be the case if Samaria
threw out her calf idol.
My anger burns against them! How long will it be until they are capable of purity?- The existence of the calf idols meant that purity was impossible for them. "Purity" has sexual overtones, and we again note that Gomer's impurity was the basis of Israel's idolatry. But even in this we see God's power to restore; sexual impurity can be read as making the offender permanently impure. But God like Hosea could restore her to a former innocence, by the grace of His imputed righteousness and cleansing spirit of forgiveness. And in Christ we likewise can become a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), with the psychological effects of past sins dealt with and cleansed in God's sight. Again we see a juxtaposition- God's anger burnt, and yet at the same time He wished ["How long...?"] for their repentance and restoration. Hosea felt the same about Gomer.
AV "How long will it be ere they attain to innocency?" is not simply Divine frustration, but the expression of His hope- that they will at some point come to the innocency of a young woman totally devoted to her husband. This was what God was willing to do for them psychologically through the gift of His Spirit that would accompany the new covenant. And those who receive it today likewise can return to innocency, despite the most mentally profligate lives and minds. Cleansing is absolutely possible. "Innocency" is s.w. "guiltless". Even the guilt of the past could be removed. But this is only possible through God's Spirit. The Lord Jesus as the guilt offering (Is. 53) can as Paul says, cleanse the conscience from past sins / dead works. This is something which human forgiveness can't do. And perhaps that's why we struggle with it. Israel like Gomer had "the spirit of prostitution", a mind addled with addiction; and that could be cleansed to "innocency". Truly a born again virgin. But this innocency / being guiltless is only attained through confession of sin. And Israel / Gomer refused. Jer. 2:35 uses the same word for "innocent": "Yet you said, ‘I am innocent. Surely His anger has turned away from me’. Behold, I will judge you, because you say, ‘I have not sinned’".
The Divine "how long...?" matches the same words recorded as being the feelings of His faithful throughout history. Here we see the mutuality possible between God and man. God entertained this strong hope for Israel whilst in the previous clause having stated that "My anger burns against them". So often we read these same Hebrew words, "Yahweh's anger was kindled". For all time, we see that God for sure has emotion and passion. Often we read these words of God's anger when His covenant was broken. And Israel like Gomer had broken the covenant. He says that "the anger of Yahweh would be kindled against you and He would destroy you quickly" (Dt. 7:4 and often; over 50 times in the OT we read that Yahweh's anger was kindled). If His anger is kindled, He wants to destroy His people suddenly. "The wrath of Yahweh was kindled against His people so that He hated / abhored His inheritance" (Ps. 106:40). Just as Hosea is saying; "I hated them... will love them no more". But here we read that His anger was kindled, but He desperately longed for the day when they would attain to "innocency". He had those feelings at the very same time as He wanted to destroy them. Just as Hosea understandably oscillated between such feelings for Gomer. And this is how God feels over every single one of us. The on balance position is that indeed God loves us and awaits our repentance and return to innocency. But that position is arrived at through such a painful and tortuous path.
Hos 8:6 For this is even made in Israel! The workman made it, and it
is no God- The true God is not made with hands. The characteristic of
idols is that they are humanly created. God alone is uncreate; but there
is a constant tension within us between wanting to worship human works,
and worshipping God. The desire to worship is coded within our natures;
but it is for us to decide what we worship.
Indeed, the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces- Therefore, they were to destroy it now (:5). One reason why Israel wouldn't destroy the calves was because they were such a long standing symbol of their argument with Judah; it would be rather like spitting upon the flag of one's birth nation. But loyalty to God ought to have been stronger than these cultural, socio-historical loyalties.
Hos 8:7 For they sow the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind-
We would expect to read that they sowed to the flesh, and so of the flesh
would reap a whirlwind of judgment (as in Gal. 6:8). But sowing to the
flesh is sowing the wind. They were wasting their lives, as Gomer did, on
wind, on light things of no eternal moment. And for that, would reap the
whirlwind of judgment. This repeats the great prophetic theme- that what
might appear of little consequence in secular terms will result in eternal
judgment and even now provokes the wrath of God. We live in a world which
as never before sows the wind, glorifying the inane, vapid and
meaningless. Life and human personality is increasingly
superficial, life is no more than a day at the races. Most are no
different to the light hearted, empty headed Gomer who disregarded Hosea's
great love and ran for this or that which offered immediate gratification
and solution. "Wind" and "whirlwind" are related ideas; the "wind" of
lighthearted thinking and living will gather together into a mighty
whirlwind of judgment. Social media, art and entertainment are full of it. We can
spend our hearts and our time on it- and reap the whirlwind. Whatever we
do, we are sowing. All human thought, action and living is a sowing, and
we shall one day reap accordingly. We can take no time out from this
sowing; life, every moment of it and every thought, has eternal
consequence. The things of God's ways are 'heavy' and not wind; the Hebrew
word for "glory" is literally "weight". The things of the eternal weight
of glory are being prepared for us now (2 Cor. 4:17). But Israel sowed the
wind in their lives, and became themselves light, or vain and "worthless"
(:8).
He has no standing grain; the stalk will yield no head of grain. If it does yield, strangers will swallow it up- Israel had sowed, but sowed the wind. No grain would therefore be found upon them. They were as stalks without any head of grain. Their prayers and ritual obediences were but a stalk. The fruit of the Spirit was lacking. Any apparent spiritual fruit they had would be the food of the Gentiles, and not unto God. But 'swallow up' really means 'to destroy'. They would be unable to spiritually cope with their judgment by the Gentiles, and any spirituality they might have developed would be destroyed by it. As Hosea gave Gomer grain (Hos. 2:8), so God had enabled Israel to bear such fruit; but they had given it to the idols of the Gentiles.
Hos 8:8 Israel is swallowed up- Again, the present tenses are
used about future events. The word of judgment had gone forth, it was as
good as done; but in the gap between word and fulfilment, they could
repent and change God's present reality. This is the time gap we too stand
in, as Paul reasons in Romans. This gives intensity to our repentance and
our grateful acceptance of the changed verdict. See on :1 and Hos. 6:5.
Now they are among the nations like a worthless thing- Israel were "worthless" in that they had sowed the wind, they had been "light" rather than "heavy" (:7). The same Hebrew term is used of Coniah in Jer. 22:28.
Hos 8:9 For they have gone up to Assyria, like a wild donkey wandering
alone. Ephraim has hired lovers for himself- Because they had sought
help from Assyria, it was as if Assyria had already attacked and destroyed
them (:8). As Gomer paid men for sex, so Ephraim hired "lovers", the help
of flesh against their invaders.
Menahem and
Pekah paid huge sums of money to get their invaders to turn away from them
(as noted in Hos. 7:11)- instead of turning to Yahweh.
Quietly
trusting in human help was for God- adultery. And this principle comes
down hard upon us in our age, where savings and human security are perhaps
the equivalent. Seeking this help was likened to being "a wild donkey
wandering alone". The allusion may be to a donkey in heat, wandering
around looking for a female to inseminate (as in Jer. 2:24 "a wild donkey
used to the wilderness, that snuffs up the wind in her desire. When she is
in heat, who can turn her away?"). This would
continue the connection between adultery / sexual infatuation and going to
Assyria for help, instead of turning to God. The roaming donkey
literally has wander lust.
Israel weren't going after just one other
god. There were various Baals (note the plural in Hos. 2:17), just as
Gomer had many lovers rather than just one lover with whom she had an
affair. Her sexual addiction therefore represents Israel's psychological
obsession with having many gods. That there is only one true God was
accepted in theory by them- only as much as Gomer claimed to be the wife
of only one man. We see here how hard it was to believe in just one God,
and that difficulty is perhaps reflected to this day in how man wishes to
turn the one true God into a trinity. The judgment upon Israel was to
wander in unfulfilled lust like a single wild ass in the wilderness- and
this is the picture of being so alone in unfulfilment. It is the picture
of the rejected, wandering alone in the darkness with no hand to hold.
Hos 8:10 But although they sold themselves among the nations-
Like Gomer who paid men for sex, so Israel had given money to the nations
around them for salvation (:9). But this was also a selling of herself;
what she was given was apparent material support against her enemies. But
what did Israel sell? What did Gomer sell? What does a prostitute sell?
Her very self. Israel's inner heart was not with God, as Gomer's was not
with Hosea. They gave it away to others. Anything less than a heart
exclusively devoted to God is as prostitution. We therefore need to watch
our heart, our mind, our spirit; for out of it are the issues of life
eternal (Prov. 4:23). We need to ask whether the visual images and sounds
and words we willingly subject ourselves to are going to help us maintain
that heart for God.
I will now gather them; and they begin to waste away because of the oppression of the king of mighty ones- In the LXX there is a juxtaposition of ideas: "Therefore shall they be delivered to the nations: now I will receive them, and they shall cease a little to anoint a king and princes". Repeatedly, God's words of judgment contain within the same sentence or paragraph the promise of restoration. Those judgments were therefore not uttered in the blind anger of an offended deity. Yahweh was not like that. His love and pity are an intrinsic part of His anger with sin; "for the wrath of God is the love of God". The various aspects of our characters tend to manifest themselves at different times; one moment we are angry with someone, and then we cool down and pity them. But God is outside of time as we experience it; His characteristics are more holistically manifested, all articulated at the same time in His every word and action. According to the LXX, God's hope was that after "a little [time]" they would again choose a Messianic king and be received again by God, having been regathered by Him. This was Hosea's hope for Gomer. This is the two or three day period of Hos. 6:2 (see note there). But it didn't work out like that for Hosea with Gomer, neither did it for God at the time of the restoration, when most of His people preferred to remain in exile from Him.
Hos 8:11 Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they became for him altars for sinning- The more possibilities we give ourselves to sin, the more we will. This applies today in terms of what we watch and with whom we mix. This all began with Jeroboam saying that Israel could worship Yahweh at the calf idol altars, rather than going up to the Jerusalem temple. That multiplication of altars, just two to begin with, in turn multiplied, and became "sin" (1 Kings 12:30; 13:34). There was to be but one altar, and this was sternly emphasized (Dt. 12:5,6,13,14). God foresaw what would happen; the tendency would be to serve God as they thought and wanted, rather than as He wanted, and to mix idolatry with worshipping Him. This tendency to worship idols in the name of God is strong to this day- we may seek a better kitchen, a holiday home, a nicer car... supposedly in order to serve God. But after all those things do the Gentiles also seek.
Hos 8:12 I wrote for him the many things of My law- See on Hos.
6:6 The knowledge of God. I noted on :1 that the Mosaic law given
at Sinai was the marriage covenant between God and Israel. As Gomer
despised her marriage covenant with Hosea, so did Israel. "I wrote" is
literally "I write"; the covenant was written in the handwriting of God.
It could not have been a more intimate contract between God and Israel,
and was as it were written for each member of Israel in an ongoing sense.
"Many things" is the same word as "multiplied" in :11. They had many
idols, whereas there were many things written in God's law. Their
obedience to those many things was precluded by their many idols; as if
each Divine commandment had an idol precluding obedience to it. His
commandments are designed to help us not have idols; if we obey them, then
we will not serve idols.
But they were regarded as a strange thing- The Hebrew would be better translated: "They were woven / turned into a foreign / Gentile / adulterous thing". This speaks of how they worshipped idols in the name of Yahweh worship, claiming that their various idolatrous rituals were in fact obedience to God's commandments. Thus the "many things of My law" became parallel with their "many" idols (:11). And again we have to note that this is our tendency- to justify wrong behaviour, be it gossip or materialism, as some kind of service of God.
Hos 8:13 As for the sacrifices of My offerings, they sacrifice flesh
and eat it; but Yahweh doesn’t accept them-
Israel didn't stop
sacrificing to God, just as Gomer never ceased going through the motions
of being married to Hosea. I noted on Hos. 7:14 that Israel prayed to God,
even intensely, but their heart was not with them. Isaiah likewise
condemns Israel for offering sacrifice whilst serving other gods.
The
motions of religious worship, attending meetings, sacrificing money,
prayer to God... all this of itself is not what God seeks. Even fasting
didn't make God "accept them" (Jer. 14:12 s.w.). It is not accepted if our
hearts are not with Him. If we have not the spirit of Christ, we are none
of His. The same word is used of how if the returned exiles rebuilt a
temple according to the specifications in Ez. 40-48, then Yahweh would
"accept" their offerings (Ez. 43:27); in this way He would "accept" the
returned exiles as His people (Ez. 20:40,41 s.w.). Just as Hosea would
have accepted back a repentant Gomer. But they didn't build as required,
and despised the temple they did build, according to Haggai and Malachi.
There is a desire to worship and to sacrifice coded into human beings, a
desire to give to a good cause. But this is not the same as acceptable
sacrifice. He has all material things and needs nothing. What He seeks is
the sacrifice of a broken, humbled and repentant spirit. And that is
rarely offered to Him.
The Hebrew can mean 'Let them slaughter the flesh and eat [it]'. As if to say, 'Why do I need them to bring them? Let them slaughter so that they have flesh to eat and eat them, for I do not desire them'.
Now He will remember their iniquity, and punish their sins- The words of Jer. 14:10. It's not clear who was quoting who, Hosea or Jeremiah; or it could be that God inspired them both with the same words at around the same time. As noted on Hos. 7:2, there is an assumption that if we forget our sins, then God does too. The passage of time and fading of memory thereby works a kind of pseudo atonement for us. But God remembers. And we must ever consider this in our hearts. Just as Hosea never forgot Gomer's betrayals, despite his love for her and desire to rebuild the relationship.
They will return to Egypt-
Hos 8:14 For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; and
Judah has multiplied fortified cities; but I will send a fire on his
cities, and it will devour its fortresses- Israel and Judah were
zealously religious for Yahweh (see on :13). But they forgot their maker
because they trusted in human fortifications for defence rather than God
(Jer. 5:17); their heart was lifted up and therefore they forgot God (Hos.
13:6). Again, it was a question of the heart. They forgot God, their
hearts were not with Him in daily life. Their technical obedience and
religion were of no account compared to that. They kept parts of the
Mosaic law (:13), and yet they "forgot the law of your God" (Hos. 4:6).
External obedience is nothing if the covenant is not in our hearts.
Forgetting God is associated with adultery in Ez. 23:35; Hos. 2:13.
"Palaces" here is also translated "temples", which were the source of
their literal and spiritual adultery. That God is our maker ought to be an
imperative to ever remember Him and not forget Him; our very bodies are
witnesses to Him as we are created in His image (Dt. 32:15,18). This is
where faith in the creation record strengthens our further faith in daily
life; and vice versa.
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