Sowing the Wind, Reaping the Whirlwind (Hosea 8)

Scripture reading – Hosea 8; Hosea 9; Hosea 10

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Hosea 8 – The Wickedness of Israel Invited God’s Judgment

Hosea 8 presented a denouncement of Israel’s sins and a progression of God’s judgment against the nation. Sounding the alarm, Hosea was commanded to “set the trumpet to thy mouth” (Hosea 8:1). Israel was warned her enemy was coming as an “eagle against the house of the LORD” (Hosea 8:1). So, the people’s transgressions were numbered.

The Sins of Israel (Hosea 8:1-4)

Israel’s sinful hypocrisy was portrayed, for they cried to the LORD, “My God, we know thee” (Hosea 8:2). Yet, the nation was guilty of rejecting that which was “good” and acceptable in the eyes of the LORD (Hosea 8:3). Under Jeroboam’s leadership, Israel rebelled against David’s lineage made themselves kings and princes the LORD declared, “I knew it not” (Hosea 8:4).

Judged and Condemned (Hosea 8:5-14)

Jeroboam, the first king of northern Israel, had made idols for the people to worship and provoked the LORD to anger (Hosea 8:5). Therefore, the LORD declared that they and their idols would be destroyed (Hosea 8:5-6). Israel, in the words of the prophet, had “sown the wind, and they [would] reap the whirlwind” (8:7a; note Hosea 10:12-13). They had sown nothing and would reap nothing (Hosea 8:7). They had sown “strangers” [foreign, non-Hebrew people] who would devour their future (Hosea 8:7).  

Hosea declared the people of Israel would be “swallowed up…[by] the Gentiles as a vessel” (Hosea 8:8). So it became, for the ten tribes of northern Israel were assimilated by the Gentile nations and never returned to their homeland. Their enemies devoured the people and the nation’s resources (Hosea 8:9-13). The prophet’s lamentations over Israel concluded with the declaration:

“Israel hath forgotten [and forsaken] his Maker, and buildeth temples; And Judah hath multiplied fenced cities: But I will send a fire upon his cities, And it shall devour the palaces thereof” (Hosea 8:14).

Closing thoughts for Hosea 8 –

Indeed, the description of Israel’s sins and their consequences should awaken us to the effects of personal, family, and national sins. In the words of Hosea, the people would reap as they had sown (Hosea 8:7), and wickedness would bring the nation to nothing (Hosea 8:7a). The people were silly and foolish, and their strength and resources were devoured by strangers (Hosea 7:8-10). Indeed, the death toll of that nation was when its people were “swallowed up” by “the Gentiles” (Hosea 8:8-9).

Warning: God is sovereign, and history reveals a cyclical pattern in the rise and fall of nations. When the people of a nation set their hearts to worship and serve the LORD, He blesses the nation with His grace and preserves it. However, when a nation turns from the LORD and rejects His Word, Law, and Commandments, the people follow a path of moral depravity and self-destruction.

Sound familiar?

Copyright © 2023 – Travis D. Smith 

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