7/12/2022 Wednesday
Hosea
Israel’s revolt from God
Chapter 8
OUTLINE OF HOSEA The Ryrie Study Bible
1. The Prodigal Wife, 1:1-3:5
A. Her Unfaithfulness, 1:1-11
B. Her Punishment, 2:1-13
C. Her Restoration and Israel’s, 2:14-23
D. Her Redemption, 3:1-5
2. The Prodigal People, 4:1-14:9
A. The Message of Judgment, 4:1-10:15
1. The indictment, 4:1-19
2. The verdict, 5:1-15
3. The plea of Israel, 6:1-3
4. The reply of the Lord, 6:4-11
5. The crimes of Israel, 7:1-16
6. The prophecy of judgment, 8:1-10:15
B. The Message of Restoration, 11:1-14:9
1. God’s love for the prodigal people, 11:1-11
2. God’s chastisement of the prodigal people, 11:12-13:16
3. God’s restoration of the prodigal people, 14:1-9
Blow the warning trumpet, Hosea 8:1-6
• Hosea 8:1-4, Hosea shouted out his warning to blow the warning trumpet. Trouble was approaching. Why?
• They had transgressed and trespassed God’s law
• Israel falsely claimed to know God (v.2). They deceived themselves (cf., Matthew 7:21-23; 15:19).
• Israel cast off the good – that is God (v.3)
• They set up ungodly kings, princes and idols (v.4).
• Hosea 8:5-6, The idol calf of Samaria, the capital, kindled God’s anger against them. God longed for them
to be innocent or pure.
• The golden calf was manmade (v.6). It was not God.
• God would break it in pieces
• God still loved His wayward people and desired restoration.
Troubles will increase, Hosea 8:7-10
• Hosea 8:7, They will not escape the law of sowing and reaping.
• They sow wind (not grain) and will reap a whirlwind (destruction).
• There will be great shortage of food.
• Hosea 8:8-10, Trouble would swallow them up. Even among their Gentile enemies, they would be like a
cracked pot that no one wants (v.8).
• They went to Assyria for friendship, but were like a stubborn, rebellious wild ass (v.9).
• They hired pagan lovers, that is, help from the heathen (v.9).
• Though they did this, God would gather them for judgment (v.10). The king of princes is the king of Assyria.
Their religious deception, Hosea 8:11-14
• Hosea 8:11, Israel had built many altars, but God only had ONE. Their altars were sinful.
• Hosea 8:12, God wrote great (numerous) things in the law, but they rejected God’s Word. Like Israel, our
problem is not a lack of information, but a lack of application.
• Hosea 8:13-14, They offered God sacrifices, but He would not accept them because they were insincere.
God knows our hearts.
• For this, God would send them back into an Egypt-like slavery.
• Israel had forgotten his Maker and built temples or palaces.
• Judah was depending on her fortified cities rather than on God.
• God would destroy their palaces or fortresses. Human defence is vain.
Note similes and metaphors in this chapter
• As an eagle (v.1) – from on high, with speed, with power
• Samaria represented Ephraim or Israel (v.5)
• They sowed the wind and reaped the whirlwind (v.7) – sins’ greater consequences
• As a vessel wherein is no pleasure (v.8) – worthless, cracked
• Israel is a wild ass (v.9) – this word is found 10x in OT
• Hired lovers (v.9) – political allies
• As a strange thing (v.12) – foreign
Applications for Us Today
• We must not revolt against God as did Israel. The Scriptures are God’s trumpet to warn us when we go
astray.
• God knows if our heart is not sincere. We cannot deceive Him. On Judgment Day, He will judge rightly.
• If we put things ahead of God in our lives, they become idols no better than Israel’s calves.
• God has given us the great (numerous) things of His Word to reveal His will for our lives. We must accept
them as genuine.
• Through this entire chapter, we sense the love of God for His people.