Hosea 8
The Eagle of Judgment Approaches 1–3
Rebellion in Kingship and Idolatry 4–6
Sowing the Wind, Reaping the Whirlwind 7–10
The Rejection of God's Law 11–14
Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain
Study Notes for Hosea 8
Verse 1
Set the trumpet to thy mouth — The ‘trumpet’ is the shofar of 5:8. The ‘eagle’ (nesher) is the image of the invader in Deut 28:49, ‘a nation against thee from far… as swift as the eagle flieth’. ‘Transgressed’ is abar, the verb used of the covenant in 6:7, and ‘trespassed’ is pasha, as in 7:13.
Verse 2
we know thee — The ‘cry’ (za’aq) is the verb of 7:14. Israel’s claim to know God stands beside the charge of 4:1, that the land has no ‘knowledge of God’, and 5:4, ‘they have not known the LORD’. Such a profession is described in Titus 1:16, ‘They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him’, and in Matt 7:23, ‘I never knew you’.
Verse 4
They have set up kings, but not by me — Kings had been made and unmade by conspiracy (7:7; 2 Kgs 15:10, 14, 25, 30). ‘Idols’ (atsabbim) are made ‘of their silver and their gold’, as ‘Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands’ (Ps 115:4). The line ends ‘that they may be cut off’ (karat).
Verse 5
Thy calf, O Samaria — The calf (egel) goes back to the ‘two calves of gold’ that the king made (1 Kgs 12:28), set at Bethel and Dan (12:29), and is here named for the capital. ‘Cast thee off’ is zanach, the verb of 8:3, ‘Israel hath cast off the thing that is good’. ‘Innocency’ (niqqayon) is the word of ‘innocency of my hands’ (Gen 20:5).
Verse 6
the workman made it; therefore it is not God — The ‘workman’ (charash) is a craftsman, as in ‘The workman melteth a graven image’ (Isa 40:19). ‘Broken in pieces’ is shevavim, fragments, a word found only here. The verse gives its own reason: what a man’s hands made cannot be God.
Verse 7
they have sown the wind — ‘Wind’ is ruach, the word of 4:19, and 12:1 has ‘Ephraim feedeth on wind’. The sowing and reaping follow ‘He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity’ (Prov 22:8) and ‘whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap’ (Gal 6:7). The ‘whirlwind’ (suphah) is the harvest, and ‘the strangers’ (zur) swallow whatever grain there is.
Verse 8
Israel is swallowed up — ‘Swallowed up’ is bala, the verb of ‘the strangers shall swallow it up’ in v.7. Among ‘the Gentiles’ (goyim) Israel is ‘a vessel wherein is no pleasure’, the phrase used of Coniah (Jer 22:28) and of Moab (Jer 48:38).
Verse 9
a wild ass alone by himself — ‘Wild ass’ (pere) is the word of Ishmael, ‘a wild man’ (Gen 16:12). ‘Hired’ is tanah, a verb found only here and in v.10. The ‘lovers’ recall the mother in 2:5, ‘I will go after my lovers’, and here they are the nations Ephraim pays, with Assyria named first.
Verse 10
the king of princes — The title is like ‘Are not my princes altogether kings?’ (Isa 10:8) and ‘a king of kings’ (Ezek 26:7), and here it is Assyria’s king (v.9). ‘Burden’ is massa, a load laid on. ‘Hired’ is the verb of v.9, so those Ephraim paid for help become the weight he carries.
Verse 11
altars to sin — ‘To sin’ is the verb chata, repeated: altars made ‘to sin’ become altars ‘to sin’. Offering was permitted only ‘in the place which the LORD shall choose’ (Deut 12:13–14), and 10:1 says ‘according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars’.
Verse 12
the great things of my law — ‘Written’ is katav, the verb of the law the LORD himself wrote (Exod 24:12). ‘Great things’ is rubbo, a multitude, the word of ‘ten thousand talents’ (1 Chr 29:7). ‘A strange thing’ is zur, the word of ‘strangers’ in 5:7, 7:9 and 8:7: the law is counted as foreign.
Verse 13
the LORD accepteth them not — ‘Accepteth’ is ratsah, the verb of an offering ‘accepted for him’ (Lev 1:4). The flesh is sacrificed and eaten, but ‘when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them’ (Jer 14:12). ‘remember their iniquity, and visit their sins’ returns in 9:9. ‘Return to Egypt’ is the threat of Deut 28:68.
Verse 14
Israel hath forgotten his Maker — ‘Forgotten’ is shakach, the verb of 4:6, and ‘Maker’ is the participle of asah, to make; compare ‘hast forgotten God that formed thee’ (Deut 32:18). Israel ‘buildeth temples’ and Judah ‘fenced cities’, and the fire falls on those cities. ‘A fire… shall devour the palaces’ is the refrain of Amos, of Judah in Amos 2:5.