Death of a Nation

INTRO Text

Last week we looked at Hosea 4 where God began to spell out the charges He was bringing against Israel. For nearly 200 years Israel’s kings and priests led the people away from faithfulness to God. They exchanged worship and devotion of the one true God for the false gods of the neighboring nations. This led to a pattern of sinfulness through rejection of the Lord’s commands. Israel became violent toward each other, they committed adultery, murder, deception, theft, and much more.

When God called Israel out of Egypt to become an independent nation, He did so by entering into a covenant with them. Covenants are not like contracts. Covenants were very serious agreements. In ancient times, covenants were ratified by sacrificing an animal, splitting it in two, and the two parties would walk between the animal pieces as a way of signing their name to the covenant. We see an example of this in Genesis 15 when God enters into a covenant with Abraham. It is a graphic picture of the seriousness of such an arrangement, but the intent is for each party to express to God and one another, “Let it be done to me what has been done to this animal if I break this covenant.” Every covenant God has made with His people has been ratified through blood. This is to demonstrate the importance of the covenant. There was a high price for its ratification and a high price for breaking it.

In Hosea chapter eight we see the fall of Israel, whom God has been patient with for so long.

Hosea 8:1–14 NASB95

Put the trumpet to your lips! Like an eagle the enemy comes against the house of the Lord, Because they have transgressed My covenant And rebelled against My law. They cry out to Me, “My God, we of Israel know You!” Israel has rejected the good; The enemy will pursue him. They have set up kings, but not by Me; They have appointed princes, but I did not know it. With their silver and gold they have made idols for themselves, That they might be cut off. He has rejected your calf, O Samaria, saying, “My anger burns against them!” How long will they be incapable of innocence? For from Israel is even this! A craftsman made it, so it is not God; Surely the calf of Samaria will be broken to pieces. For they sow the wind And they reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; It yields no grain. Should it yield, strangers would swallow it up. Israel is swallowed up; They are now among the nations Like a vessel in which no one delights. For they have gone up to Assyria, Like a wild donkey all alone; Ephraim has hired lovers. Even though they hire allies among the nations, Now I will gather them up; And they will begin to diminish Because of the burden of the king of princes. Since Ephraim has multiplied altars for sin, They have become altars of sinning for him. Though I wrote for him ten thousand precepts of My law, They are regarded as a strange thing. As for My sacrificial gifts, They sacrifice the flesh and eat it, But the Lord has taken no delight in them. Now He will remember their iniquity, And punish them for their sins; They will return to Egypt. For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; And Judah has multiplied fortified cities, But I will send a fire on its cities that it may consume its palatial dwellings.

The enemy approaches (v. 1-3)

The chapter begins with a call to sound the alarm. The enemy is coming against the house of the Lord, which is Israel. Some translations compare the enemy to an eagle while others compare them to a vulture. Both can be legitimate translations. The understanding here is that the enemy is coming against Israel like a bird of prey. Assyria is the predator. Israel is her prey.

We are reminded again that the enemy comes as a result of Israel’s rebellion against God. They have been violating His commands for generation after generation, yet now in their time of distress they call out to Him like they know Him. But like we saw in chapter four, God has said enough is enough. God’s patience has run out. The enemy will come.

There is a cause and effect relationship here. Because Israel has rejected God, they are pursued by their enemy. The enemy is coming.

The people are cut off (v. 4-6)

Among the charges is the fact that Israel set up king but this was not done by God. They set up princes but He did not know it. How is that possible if God is all-knowing? This is one of those times where a word in Hebrew can be difficult to interpret. The word translated as know typically means exactly that, but it can also have very nuanced meaning as well. This word which is typically translated “know,” as in to have knowledge of something or someone, can also mean to choose or select something. We see this same Hebrew word translated this way in Gen 18:19 when God says He chose Abraham and in Amos 3:2 when God says He chose Israel. Applying that same understanding here, we see Israel did not do something God had no knowledge of, but rather did not choose Himself.

God was the anointer of kings in Israel. He chose Saul, then David, then Solomon, and on down through Israel’s history. The last king God anointed over Israel was Jehu, who we talked about in chapter one. God promised Jehu would see a descendant on the throne to the fourth generation, so we could say God had anointed those kings as well. God kept his promise, but that ended with Zechariah, the son of Jeroboam II. Zechariah only reigned six months before he was assassinated by Shallum, who only reigned one month before being assassinated by Menahem. He made it ten years, passed away, and his son took his place. But he was assassinated by Pekah, who was assassinated by Hoshea, the last king to rule over Israel.

Israel had degraded to the point that they were unrecognizable as the people of God. They made idols for themselves, which the Lord rejected. These idols were man made, meaning they were not God. Israel’s continued rejection of God has led to God’s rejection of them. The Lord has cut them off.

The enemy’s assault (v. 7-10)

We see in verse seven an exercise in futility. They sow the wind, so they reap a whirlwind. This seems to speak of Israel’s attempts to save themselves. The land is desolate, and even if it did produce, the enemy has come. They would take it before Israel could. By verse eight, Israel has been taken captive. You can read the story of their downfall in 2 Kings 17. Here is what is interesting. If you read this account carefully, you will see that Israel tried to save themselves by purchasing friends from neighboring nations. But this plan didn’t work. They paid out tributes to too many people. Assyria found out they were paying Egypt, so Assyria came in and took them captive. While Israel was collapsing morally, socially, and economically, their neighbors bled them dry. Israel had become so weak that it was no problem for Assyria to overtake them.

The death of the nation (v. 11-14)

Israel made altars to foreign gods, breaking the covenant they made with God. The consequences for such actions are spelled out in Deut. 28. God will withhold His blessings and foreign invaders will take them captive. This is exactly what happened.

In Israel, culture was elevated above God’s laws to the point where the people no longer recognized God’s laws. The worship of God became foreign. Their actions have led to their own demise. Notice that Israel was destroyed from within which left them vulnerable to outside attack. It began with abandoning God’s law, which resulted in moral degradation, which crippled the nation’s economy and infrastructure, which left them open to enemy attack. The nation was lost before Assyria came in.

There is an interesting statement here in verse 13. God says they will return to Egypt. Rather than being a literal return, though some ended up there, what we are looking at is a complete reversal of the exodus. The Israelites are driven out of their own land.

Last week I told you America has lost its way. We need to keep in mind that the nation is not the covenant people of God. Christians are. But the founders of this country used covenantal language to frame our founding documents and it is clear that they set out to build a nation whose God is the Lord. While the covenantal language of Deut. 28 is not directly applicable to America as a nation, we can see that certain principles apply when it comes to a nation honoring the God of the Bible. Numerous civilizations of ancient times no longer exist because of their sins against God. Edom, Assyria, Babylon, Sodom, the Moabites, Hittites, and Philistines are all gone. Babylon fell to the Medes and Persians, the Persians fell to the Greeks, the Greeks to the Romans, etc.

The death of a nation always begins with an erosion of its moral fabric. From abortion to same sex marriage to telling children they can change their gender, we are on the path of self-destruction. Our leadership sells out its own people in the name of buying favors from countries that hate us. Our government is wrapped up in self-interest. The concept of the nuclear family is eroding, we have redefined morality, and it is destroying us from the inside out. We have degraded to the point where we don’t know what a woman is. All the while society tries to make God say what it wants Him to say, which is making God into our image, which is impossible. Those of us who are paying attention know the nation is beginning to crumble right in front of us and no politician, no political party, or any other human agency is capable of saving us.

There is only one option: We must seek the Lord.

Hosea 10:12 NASB95

Sow with a view to righteousness, Reap in accordance with kindness; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord Until He comes to rain righteousness on you.

Again, an agricultural figure of speech is at play here. If we sow righteousness, behaviors and attitudes aligned with God’s laws, the reaping will be his lovingkindness. Remember this is a prophecy to Israel. If they want to experience God’s steadfast love, they must return to covenantal faithfulness. The only way to reverse the curse is to return to the Lord.

The second half of verse twelve says it is time to seek the Lord until He comes to rain righteousness. Notice that even the faithful suffer the consequences. Even so, the responsibility of the individual is to continue in faithfulness regardless of what the rest do.

God is our maker and sustainer. Therefore, we must abandon all idols and return to exclusive fidelity.

Who knows what direction the country will go? It could take a turn back or it could continue to worsen. But remember this: As a Christian, you are already a citizen of a kingdom that is imperishable. Regardless of what comes, for better or worse, the kingdom of Christ is coming and is already here and when He comes, he will rule righteously. We are citizens of His kingdom before we are citizens of an earthly nation. Our allegiance is to Him before any other. So we must cast off our idols.