Hosea 8:1-14

Judgment has been promised to the nation because of their refusal to submit to the Lord and His Law.  They have been rebellious and are unwilling to honor the Lord as He has called them to do.  In their times of trouble they have forgotten to seek the Lord and preferred to trust in their own might and the godless nations that surround them.  God is now going to call them to account and bring them down to nothing.  God calls all of us to a life of submission to Him and trust in Him.  When we refuse to live in that way, there is always a great price to pay.

ISRAEL WILL BE MADE TO SUFFER FOR THEIR INSUBORDINATION: God is ready to call the people to war.  His judgment is circling like a vulture over the nation and it is about to come in and gather the spoils.  This judgment is due to their transgression against God and refusal to obey the covenant that God had made with the nation.  They wasted God’s blessings and set up their own kings and leaders apart from God’s will.  They have used God’s blessings to make idols.  This idolatry has ignited the wrath of God and still they have refused to repent.  God will break their idols into bits and they will be left without hope.  All idolatry will eventually lead to the wrath of God.  We can pretend that sin does not have consequence but we are only kidding ourselves.  God know all and will call mankind to judgment.


ISRAEL WILL BE FORCED TO SLAVERY FOR THEIR INFIDELITY: The nation of Israel has been putting their trust in the surrounding nations instead of in the Lord.  They have sown the wind and now they will reap the whirlwind.  We always harvest more than we sow.  But even the corps of Israel will fail.  All of the meager crops that they do produce will be consumed by others because God will judge the nation and they will be taken into slavery.  They have tried to hire other nations to come to their defense but these very nations will now come out against them and devour them.  They will be enslaved through high taxes.  They have made a mockery of God and His Law and now He will make them into slaves.  Israel has trusted in their neighbors, Judah has trusted in their strong cities but none of them have trusted in the Lord.  They will both serve other nations because they have refused to serve the Lord.  Sin is a much harder taskmaster than our Lord.  We must learn to love and obey the Lord and turn from the idols that constantly call for our attention. 

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