TEXT [Commentary]

black diamond   B.   Further Charges against Israel (8:1–11:11)

1.   Israel is a covenant-breaker (8:1-14)

1 “Sound the alarm!

The enemy descends like an eagle on the people of the LORD,

for they have broken my covenant

and revolted against my law.

2 Now Israel pleads with me,

‘Help us, for you are our God!’

3 But it is too late.

The people of Israel have rejected what is good,

and now their enemies will chase after them.

4 The people have appointed kings without my consent,

and princes without my approval.

By making idols for themselves from their silver and gold,

they have brought about their own destruction.

5 “O Samaria, I reject this calf—

this idol you have made.

My fury burns against you.

How long will you be incapable of innocence?

6 This calf you worship, O Israel,

was crafted by your own hands!

It is not God!

Therefore, it must be smashed to bits.

7 “They have planted the wind

and will harvest the whirlwind.

The stalks of grain wither

and produce nothing to eat.

And even if there is any grain,

foreigners will eat it.

8 The people of Israel have been swallowed up;

they lie among the nations like an old discarded pot.

9 Like a wild donkey looking for a mate,

they have gone up to Assyria.

The people of Israel[*] have sold themselves—

sold themselves to many lovers.

10 But though they have sold themselves to many allies,

I will now gather them together for judgment.

Then they will writhe

under the burden of the great king.

11 “Israel has built many altars to take away sin,

but these very altars became places for sinning!

12 Even though I gave them all my laws,

they act as if those laws don’t apply to them.

13 The people love to offer sacrifices to me,

feasting on the meat,

but I do not accept their sacrifices.

I will hold my people accountable for their sins,

and I will punish them.

They will return to Egypt.

14 Israel has forgotten its Maker and built great palaces,

and Judah has fortified its cities.

Therefore, I will send down fire on their cities

and will burn up their fortresses.”

NOTES

8:1 Sound the alarm! Lit., “A horn to your palate!” The NLT renders according to the sense of the image. The trumpeter is instructed to put the horn to his mouth/lips to sound the alarm in the face of imminent danger. “Palate” is a metonymy for mouth/lips and occurs in parallel with the lip in Prov 5:3 and 8:7. This first subunit (8:1-3) closes with a further note concerning the invader.

The enemy descends like an eagle on the people of the LORD. Lit., “like an eagle/vulture on the house of the LORD.” The sentence is elliptical and beset with difficulties. Since the second half of the verse charges the people with covenant violation, “house” must be viewed as a metaphor for those who inhabit the land, which is threatened with danger. Thus, the land where God and his covenant people dwell is also metaphorically called a “house.” Jeremiah (Jer 2:7) similarly charges Judah with defiling “my land.”

8:3 what is good. The people’s preoccupation with Baal had made them lose intimate contact with the ultimate good, God himself, and his goodness to them. See commentary on 3:1-5.

8:5 O Samaria . . . this calf. Lit., “your calf, O Samaria.” Since no calf is known to have been erected in the city of Samaria, it is best to understand that by saying “Samaria,” Hosea was pointing to the whole northern kingdom (cf. 1 Kgs 13:32). The calves were set up in Dan and Bethel (1 Kgs 12:25-33).

8:6 This calf . . . crafted by your own hands! Lit., “for [it is] from Israel and it a craftsman makes.” The NLT rendering captures the sense. The pronoun “it” stands at the head of its clause in anticipatory emphasis—the objective pronoun with the verb being viewed as resumptive. For such constructions, see Waltke and O’Connor 1990:75-76, 529. I owe the term “anticipatory emphasis” to Gardiner (1957:114-116), who cites numerous examples from ancient Egyptian as well as modern languages. See also the note on v. 8.

8:7 planted the wind . . . harvest the whirlwind. The imagery suggests that what Israel has done will come back on them with overwhelming force (McComiskey 1992:128).

stalks of grain wither . . . even if there is any grain. Such a construction is termed a pseudo-sorites, “in which the speaker says that event A will not happen but even if it did, it would be undone by event B” (Garrett 1997:184).

8:8 like an old discarded pot. Lit., “like a vessel, there is no pleasure in it.” The NLT has rendered the force of the sentence well.

8:9 Like a wild donkey looking for a mate. Similarly, God charged Israel with being unable to keep itself from seeking foreign alliances.

8:10 the great king. Lit., “the king of princes.” Isaiah (Isa 10:8) represents the Assyrian king as boasting that his commanders were all kings in their own right. Assyrian local officials often styled themselves as kings.

8:13 I do not accept their sacrifices. Because Israel’s sinful observances had become mere rituals and were laced with the syncretistic worship of Baal, the sacrifices made to God were contrary to Mosaic law in spirit and form and hence unacceptable to him (cf. Isa 1:11-14).

will return to Egypt. Garrett (1997:188) properly observes, “Reference to ‘Egypt’ here does not mean that all the people would literally return to Egypt (although some did). It is a reversal of the Exodus and implies removal from the land and nullification of covenant promises.” See Deut 28:68.

COMMENTARY [Text]

God first warned his people through Hosea that judgment was imminent—he was already preparing the enemy for invasion. The people deserved judgment because they were proven covenant-breakers. They had failed to uphold the divine standards both in form and in spirit. In their syncretism, they deceived themselves, for they rejected him who is the ultimate good. In so doing, they rejected all the blessings that come from allowing his Spirit to regulate their lives (cf. 4:6-7).

The Lord then went on to note a further area of Israel’s culpability. In their internal political proceedings, they had chosen godless leaders for themselves, neither seeking God’s advice nor gaining his approval. Furthermore, they persisted in the abominable worship of the golden calves at Dan and Bethel. Even Jehu’s purging of Baalism did nothing to eradicate Jeroboam I’s established state religion (2 Kgs 10:28-29). Moreover, after Jehu, devotion to Baal quickly returned in full vigor—if indeed it ever lost its fascination to the bulk of the population. Their worship of a god of their own making, who was no god at all, was both foolish and condemnable (8:4-6).

In a third divine oracle (8:7-10) Israel’s tragic course of conduct is picturesquely presented by means of several figures. Israel’s external political policies are condemned as sheer folly. Its constant maneuvering so as to woo various foreign powers, particularly Assyria, is portrayed as sowing a wind that becomes a tempest of trouble. Those nations whose favor Israel curried will turn out to be its invaders. So complete will the despoiling of the country be that all the produce of their land will be eaten by foreigners. The fate of the nation is also likened to an old discarded pot.

How stupid the Lord’s people had been! Like a lusting wild donkey, Israel had sought the affections of other nations, particularly Assyria (cf. 2 Kgs 17:3-4). The heavy cost to the citizens of the northern kingdom incurred by Menahem’s submission to Tiglath-pileser III during the Assyrian king’s first campaign may be intended here.[13] God informed his people that he was about to gather them for judgment at the hands of the very Assyrians with whom they had cast their lot.

In a final movement (8:11-14), God returned to the matter of Israel’s spiritual infidelity. Whatever worship they engaged in was done at altars polluted with the syncretistic worship of Baal and the immoral practices carried out there. Even the multiplication of altars was expressly forbidden in the law (Deut 12:4-7). Once again (cf. 8:1) Israel was shown to be a covenant-breaker. It is no wonder, then, that God would no longer condone their sacrifices or worship rites (6:4-10; cf. Isa 1:5-15). Nothing short of actual captivity would bring his people to their senses. Nothing could forestall their fate even though they might falsely take pride in their fortified cities and citadels. Rather, the invader’s fire would destroy them all.

This final judgment oracle emphasizes the consequences of disloyalty to God and his word. Where the Lord and the Scriptures are cast aside in the life of the believer or the church, there is a heavy penalty to pay. Halfhearted allegiance to Christ is insufficient, for Jesus himself declared, “All who love me will do what I say” (John 14:23). Where God and the Bible are made the center of one’s life, there can be no other course but that of submission to the Lord both in faith and practice, come what may (see commentary on Hab 3:16-19). All of life becomes permeated by the presence of the indwelling Christ and the high ethical and moral standards of the Word of God. All of one’s life takes on proper perspective so that the believer truly experiences life as God intends.

This chapter also reminds the believer of the folly of making common cause with the purveyors of the unrighteousness so rampant in the secular world. Believers do not solve problems by abandoning God and his standards in order to seek counsel and help from those who would lead them away from God and his word. Individuals and churches must also be cautious in their use of secular methodologies. The apostle Paul declared that he did not use worldly wisdom in his planning and activities (2 Cor 1:12, 17-18; 5:16). How easy it is to compromise a little here and a little there and then pursue a path that, although it seems to lead to instant success and gratification, ends in the fire of God’s judgment.

What is true of individuals and churches is also true of nations (see commentary on 6:4–7:16). For a nation to abandon God and his standards is to court disaster and join the long list of those prosperous and seemingly invincible nations that have risen to fame, held power for a time, and then succumbed. Rather, it remains true that godliness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people (Prov 14:34; cf. Ps 33:12).[14]