Announcement of Judgment (ch. 8)

Introduction:

As we continue our study of the Old Testament book of Hosea, we were reminded last week about how deceptive sin is, and how easy it is for us harbor unrepentant sin and experience an inconsistent life, blinded by sin, and eventually experiencing the destructive result of our unrepentant sin. In other words, our continued unfaithfulness to God breeds a life that ends in decay, both spiritually and physically.

Many may think like Israel, that somehow they will get away with their sin, that with the passing of time, all will be forgotten, or that God somehow will overlook their humanness and all will be well in the end. However, the scripture says differently, as Israel and Judah were about to find out in God’s Announcement of Judgment, from Chapter 8, that God’s judgment may be slow, but it is certainly sure.

Text: Hosea 8

Hosea 8 ESV

1 Set the trumpet to your lips! One like a vulture is over the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed my covenant and rebelled against my law. 2 To me they cry, “My God, we—Israel—know you.” 3 Israel has spurned the good; the enemy shall pursue him. 4 They made kings, but not through me. They set up princes, but I knew it not. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction. 5 I have spurned your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence? 6 For it is from Israel; a craftsman made it; it is not God. The calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces. 7 For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; it shall yield no flour; if it were to yield, strangers would devour it. 8 Israel is swallowed up; already they are among the nations as a useless vessel. 9 For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild donkey wandering alone; Ephraim has hired lovers. 10 Though they hire allies among the nations, I will soon gather them up. And the king and princes shall soon writhe because of the tribute. 11 Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they have become to him altars for sinning. 12 Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands, they would be regarded as a strange thing. 13 As for my sacrificial offerings, they sacrifice meat and eat it, but the Lord does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins; they shall return to Egypt. 14 For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces, and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; so I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour her strongholds.

Main Idea: Because God is slow to anger and plenteous in steadfast love, we should never assume that his judgment will not fall on unrepentant sin.

I. Announcement of God’s Judgment (1-3)

A. Preparation (1)

(1) Set the trumpet to your lips! One like a vulture is over the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed my covenant and rebelled against my law.

Set the trumpet to your lips! - trumpets were used to send the alarm and rally the people. It’s like saying, “Prepare, Get Ready!”

One like a vulture is over the house of the Lord - The vulture is a symbol of an aggressor, possibly the Assyrian, and is also a symbol of the presence of carnage.. House of the Lord does not refer to the temple, since the temple resided in Jerusalem. It probably refers to the Lord’s land, a phrase peculiar to Hosea.

transgressed (stepping over, or by-passing) my covenant - this transgression of God’s covenant was seen as a rebellion against God’s law. In order to understand this covenant, we must look again at the covenants of the scriptures. The word covenant is the Hebrew word berith, which means an agreement between two parties, but not among equals. Instead, one is superior and the other subordinate. The disposition of the one engaged in berith, is to give to whomever he choses the blessings of his estate. There is one more important component to this Hebrew understanding of berith, and that is the idea of a promise. This divine promise or sanction lies ultimately upon the integrity of God, and on his sovereignty and not on our weakness as covenant partners.

Covenant of Redemption (Eph 1:3-14; Rev 13:8)- in eternity past between the persons of the Trinity and a people that God would redeem. God the Father chose a people for his own, and God the Son would die for their sins and give them His righteousness, and God the Holy Spirit would regenerate them, indwell them, and sanctify them. This is the overarching covenant from which all the other covenants flow. History is the context in which God works out his covenant of redemption.

Adamic or Creation Covenant, or Covenant of Works (Gen 1-3)- Between God and the representative of humanity - Adam. All human beings participate in this covenant, since all are in Adam. This covenant is built into all creation before the fall, so that any law that God instituted during and after creation is still in place. And because creation did not mandate God’s blessing on Adam (mankind), Adam is not automatically entitled to it, but, God gives blessing by his grace to Adam when he lives in obedience to his commands. In other words, when his works show his obedience.

Abrahamic Covenant (Gen 12:1-3)- the unilateral promise of God to bring forth a nation from Abraham from which the messiah would come and from which all the nations of the world would be blessed.

Mosaic Covenant (Ex 20:1-21)- this bilateral agreement was declared by God to his people to show God’s righteous demands in order to be God’s people and for God to be their God. It was to show that God’s judgment would fall on disobedience, and that, since they were unable to perfectly keep God’s commands, there was a need for one to come who would fulfill God’s righteousness. In the meantime, there was the necessity for an innocent animal to be sacrificed for their sins, thus incurring the judgment of God for their sins in that sacrifice.

Davidic Covenant (2 Sam 7:16)- God promised to King David that his kingdom would be eternal because the messiah would be his descendant.

New Covenant (Jer 31:31-34)- showed clearly that the work of redemption was all of God. He would give the new heart, and he would bring his people to the righteousness that the messiah would provide. This I believe was instituted the night before Jesus death when the Passover celebration became the New Testament in Christ’s blood.

So, when we look at these covenants, we might be confused as to which one God is referring to here is Hosea, when he says that Israel has transgressed my covenant. Certainly he is referring to the Mosaic covenant since that covenant was bilateral and was in essence a marriage covenant of which Israel adulterously broke, through their incessant idolatrous affairs with the gods of the Canaanites.

However, the good news in all of this is that God’s Covenant of Redemption is still in place and will be brought to fruition through the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

B. Confusion (2-3)

(2) To me they cry, “My God, we—Israel—know you.” - As they cry for help, the Israelites claim to know God, but their actions belie their words (6:1). For the people of Israel to say they know God is hypocritical (cf. 2:8; 5:4; 11:3). What follows are accusations that expose Israel’s idolatry, politics, and false worship.

(3) Israel has spurned the good; the enemy shall pursue him. - This comprehensive term describes all the blessings under God’s covenant; it may even refer to the “Good One,” God Himself (Amos 5:14, 15; Mic. 6:8).

II. Reasons For God’s Judgment (4-10)

A. Royal Unfaithfulness (4)

(4) They made kings, but not through me. They set up princes, but I knew it not. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction. -

Israel’s independence from God in the political sphere was apparent in their refusal to consult God in their choice of leaders. This led to a series of conspiracies and violent assassinations (7:3–7; 2 Kin. 15:8–30).

The grievance is twofold. The leaders are not the Lord’s choice, and these usurpers are not godly. I knew it not. Hosea and his readers were well aware that God knows everything; the point is not whether God was aware of the princes they had set up, but rather, that the people had never asked him for guidance before choosing these leaders.

B. Unbridled Idolatry (5-6)

(5) I have spurned your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence? (6) For it is from Israel; a craftsman made it; it is not God. The calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces.

calf. A symbol of fertility and strength, the bull was frequently worshiped in the ancient Near East. Yet the golden calf of Samaria was established as an idol representing the Lord by Jeroboam I (1 Kin. 12:26–30; cf. Ex. 32) and is itself here described as the object of worship (10:5 note). It was erected when the kingdom split under Rehoboam so that the people would not be tempted to go back to Jerusalem and worship, and maybe not return to the north.

1 Kings 12:26–30 ESV

26 And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David. 27 If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.” 28 So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” 29 And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. 30 Then this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one.

As the calf-idol in Aaron’s day was pulverized, so this idol shall be broken to pieces (cf. also 2 Kings 23:15).

C. Empty Pursuits (7-10)

(7) For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; it shall yield no flour; if it were to yield, strangers would devour it.

sow the wind … reap the whirlwind. This proverbial saying emphasizes the dire cause-and-effect relationship between sin and punishment (10:13; Job 4:8; Prov. 11:18; 22:8; Gal. 6:7–9), in this case, trusting flimsy alliances (sowing the wind) will exacerbate the situation by reaping the whirlwind (by bringing on a ruthless invader).

Galatians 6:7–9 ESV

7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

(8) Israel is swallowed up; already they are among the nations as a useless vessel. - the great testimony of God’s greatness that brought fear when Israel arrived in Canna under Joshua, has now been reduced to nothingness.

(9) For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild donkey wandering alone; Ephraim has hired lovers.

gone up to Assyria. Probably a reference to Hoshea’s submission to Assyria in his attempt to keep the power that he had seized following his murder of Pekah (7:11; 2 Kin. 15:30; 17:3). See Introduction: Date and Occasion.

wild donkey. Using a wordplay between the Hebrew for “wild donkey” and “Ephraim,” Hosea condemns Ephraim (Israel) for stubbornly rejecting the Lord’s company.

(10) Though they hire allies among the nations, I will soon gather them up. And the king and princes shall soon writhe because of the tribute.

I will soon gather them. This gathering is for judgment, not restoration (Joel 3:2; Zeph. 3:8).

the king and princes. The king of Assyria (Is. 10:8), along with other foreign armies ravaged the land, exacting heavy tribute as they went.

III. Sureness of God’s Judgment (11-14)

A. Israel - No Desire for repentance (11-12)

(11) Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they have become to him altars for sinning.

altars for sinning. Although built to atone for sin, northern altars instead became places to sin.

(12) Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands, they would be regarded as a strange thing. - No amount of revelation from God would change their sinful behavior. God alone is the only one that can apply his word to a heart that has been made rightly inclined toward him.

B. Yahweh - Will remember their sin (13-14)

(13) As for my sacrificial offerings, they sacrifice meat and eat it, but the Lord does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins; they shall return to Egypt. -

Again, Israel has little regard for the sin offerings in which the Priests were allowed to partake.

God in his justice punishes. Since the people have broken his covenant, he reverses the deliverance from Egypt that was an aspect of covenantal redemption. A greater redemption is needed, which is to be found in Christ (Matt. 2:15; Heb. 8:8–13).

return to Egypt. God threatens them with captivity, here symbolized by the land where Israel earlier had been enslaved (9:3; Ex. 1:8–14; Deut. 28:68).

(14) For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces, and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; so I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour her strongholds. -

Shall devour her strongholds refers to the most secure place within each city, its citadel (1 Kings 16:18; 2 Kings 15:25; Ps. 48:3; Isa. 25:4). Ephraim trusted religious shrines for security; Judah her armaments. Both will prove to be futile.

In the final analysis, because Israel has forgotten God, God will remember their sins. This is in direct contrast to what God says regarding the new covenant in Christ (taken from Jer 31:34):

Hebrews 8:12 ESV

12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”

So What?

Are you here this morning with the mindset that somehow you will escape God’s judgment on your sin because you are no worse then the next guy and in fact, you are better then most?

Remember, God is not comparing you with anyone else except himself and his moral law. We will all stand before God alone with the inability to point fingers or lay blame.

The good news is that Christ died for our sins, and he was buried, and that he rose again on the third day, and that through repentance of sin, and complete trust in him alone, we are and will escape God judgment!

Are you here this morning and though you know you have sinned against God but it was long ago and certainly God must have a statute of limitations?

Again remember, God is slow to anger, and plenteous in steadfast love, but he will in no wise clear the guilty, those who refuse to repent and believe.