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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Hosea 8:8 - 8:14
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A Further Threat of Judgment
v. 8. Israel is swallowed up, its judgment being practically accomplished even now, the statement being made as though the prophecy were already fulfilled; now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure, which is discarded as useless. Cf Jer_22:28; Jer_48:38.
v. 9. For they are gone up to Assyria, their object being to gain the friendship of the powerful nation, a wild ass alone by himself; Ephraim hath hired lovers. While the wild ass, an irrational brute, shuns the company of men, in order to maintain his independence, Ephraim seeks unnatural affiliations, such as are not in agreement with his high destiny.
v. 10. Yea, though they have hired among the nations, in the unnatural attempt of buying friendships, now will I gather them, bringing them together among the nations, but in the capacity of captives, and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes, they will be diminished in number by reason of the oppression which they must suffer in exile. Thus all their great plans and hopes turned out in just the opposite way, to their own detriment.
v. 11. Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, in practicing idolatry to such an exceptional degree, altars shall be unto him to sin, the idolatry practiced has made him guilty in the sight of God.
v. 12. I have written to him the great things of My Law, literally, I presented to him a myriad of My Law, the many precepts by which the Israelites might fulfill His will; but they were counted as a strange thing, they simply ignored the commandments,, of the Lord, as though they did not concern them.
v. 13. They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of Mine offerings and eat it, intending it as a burnt offering; the Lord, however, looks upon it as a slaughtered animal, not as a sacrifice in His honor, because the right condition of the heart is missing; but the Lord accepteth them not; now will He remember their iniquity and visit their sins, with the punishment which they so richly deserved. They shall return to Egypt, once more be delivered into bondage.
v. 14. For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, Cf Deu_32:18, and buildeth temples, either palaces or idol-temples; and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities, in a false reliance upon his own strength. But I will send a fire upon his cities, by bringing the invading enemies into the country, and it shall devour the palaces thereof. When men forsake and deny the Lord, relying upon their own ability and power instead, the Lord destroys the fortresses of such a false confidence; for He is a jealous God and will not tolerate any one but Himself to be acknowledged as the supreme Being in heaven and earth.