Tuesday, November 3
Read Hosea 8
Think About It:
For the second time, Hosea calls for the trumpet to be blown. This call was a trumpet of alarm; the enemy was coming, and God was giving His people opportunity to repent. Hosea again used a number of familiar images to show the people what God would do to them because of their sin.
- The eagle (8:1-6) The Assyrian eagle was about to swoop down and destroy God’s house because the nation was given over to idolatry, and the leaders were not seeking God’s will in their decisions. They made Kings and removed Kings to satisfy their own desires, and they manufactured their own gods (especially the golden calves at Bethel and Dan) that could not help them.
- Selling and reaping (8:7) In their idolatry and political alliances, the Israelites were trying to sow seeds that would produce a good harvest, but they were only sowing the wind – vanity, nothing – and would reap the whirlwind. The rulers of Israel thought their worship of Baal and their and alliances would produce a good crop of peace and prosperity; but when the time came for the harvest, there was nothing to reap. It was the enemy that reaped their harvest, and Israel gained nothing.
- Worthless pottery (8:8) Their compromise had so cheapened them that Israel was of no value to the community of nations. Nobody feared them, nobody courted them, nobody wanted them.
- A stupid donkey (8:9a) She was like a dumb animal that had lost its way in the wilderness. Israel had forsaken her God, and she had been forsaken by her allies, so she was abandoned and forced to face a terrible future alone.
- A prostitute (8:9b-10) In negotiating with Gentile nations for protection, Ephraim (Israel ) acted like a common prostitute selling herself for money. Israel’s Kings paid tribute to the king of Assyria and also distant Egypt. Instead of being faithful to her husband, Jehovah God, Israel prostituted herself to the gentile nations and lost everything.
- Egyptian bondage (8:11-9:9) Hosea mentions Egypt several times in this book. His references fall Into three distinct categories: the past – The exodus of the Jews from Egypt; the present – Israel’s unholy alliances with Egypt; and the future – Egypt as a symbol of their impending bondage to Assyria. When the Jews left Egypt, they had not yet received the Law nor did they have the Tabernacle and its system of sacrifices. But now the Jews had heard the Law for centuries, and the temple had been standing since Solomon’s time. Yet they ignored the Law, and the priesthood had become corrupt. Though Ephraim built many altars for sin offerings, these same alters have now become altars for sinning.
Today is our Nation’s election day. Thomas Jefferson wrote: “Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.”
It is hard to imagine the current state of our Nation, how far we have come from its inception. Most have walked away from our loving and just God. We should not put our faith in Rulers – but the LORD will work through rulers on this earth to accomplish His purposes. The LORD hates corruption. My prayer for today is that we seek the LORD’s will and those who the LORD wants in position will be placed there. We have just completed the Fast for ourselves, the LORD’s Church, and this Nation. Sound your trumpet and choose life, truth, and justice. America was created to be one nation under God. Please help keep it that way.
Family Time:
- What did God write for the people of Israel? (verse 12)
- Who had rebelled against God’s law?
