Hosea

Hosea 8: Israel forgot her Maker

Begin in prayer

Before you read how Israel forgot her Maker, ask the LORD to keep us from forgetting Him. Ask Him to show us what we sow and what we will reap.

Is this the way you repay Yahweh, foolish and unwise people? Isn’t he your father who has bought you? He has made you and established you.

Deuteronomy 32:6

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word. Show us that You made us, and show us what happens to a people who forget You. Show us Jesus, whose offering You accept. Make us more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

The LORD calls for the trumpet to be blown, because something like an eagle is over His house. Israel has broken His covenant and rebelled against His law, yet they cry, “My God, we Israel acknowledge you”. They set up kings the LORD did not choose, and they made idols out of their own silver and gold. The calf of Samaria was made by a workman, so it is no god and it will be broken in pieces. They sow the wind and will reap the whirlwind, and strangers will swallow up what grows. They hired lovers among the nations, like a wild donkey wandering to Assyria. The LORD wrote His law for them, yet they treated it as strange, and Israel has forgotten his Maker.

As you read Hosea 8, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

The LORD made Israel, yet Israel forgot Him and broke His covenant, so they will reap what they sow.

Chapter 8 begins with an alarm, because enemies are coming like an eagle over the house of the LORD. The LORD says this is because Israel broke His covenant and rebelled against His law (verse 1). After Jeroboam II died, the kings of the north took the throne by murder again and again (2 Kings 15). The LORD says He did not approve those kings, and the people used their silver and gold to make idols (verse 4). The calf of Samaria went back to the calves that Jeroboam had set up at Bethel and Dan (1 Kings 12). To sow the wind is to work for nothing, and to reap the whirlwind is to harvest ruin (verse 7). Israel paid Assyria and other nations to protect her, and each payment left her weaker (verse 9). God's law was written for them, yet they called it strange, and He does not accept their sacrifices (verses 12 and 13). Christ gave Himself as a sacrifice to God, and His body was offered once for all (Ephesians 5 verse 2, Hebrews 10 verse 10).

How does Hosea 8 show us that the LORD made Israel, yet Israel forgot Him and broke His covenant, so they will reap what they sow?

Israel forgot the LORD, who made her.

They cry, “My God, we Israel acknowledge you”, yet they have broken His covenant (verses 1 and 2). They made kings and idols that He did not approve. Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces (verse 14). The One who made them was left out of their lives.

What Israel sows, Israel will reap.

They sow the wind and will reap the whirlwind (verse 7). A seed of nothing grows into a harvest of ruin. Strangers swallow up what they grow, and they pay other nations for help (verse 9). Israel is swallowed up among the nations like a worthless thing (verse 8).

The LORD does not accept their offerings.

They multiplied altars, but the altars became places for sinning (verse 11). The LORD says He does not accept their sacrifices, and He will remember their iniquity (verse 13). Jesus gave Himself as an offering to God, and God accepts it (Ephesians 5 verse 2).

Memorise

For they sow the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind.

Hosea 8:7

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, have I forgotten the God who made me and gave me everything?

Israel forgot the One who made her, and she built altars and idols. The LORD says that “they sow the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind”. She cried, “My God, we Israel acknowledge you”, but her heart had gone.

What sinners sow they reap, and they cannot undo it. So Jesus came, and on the cross He carried the sin of His people, the whole harvest of it. He gave Himself as an offering that God accepts. He rose on the third day, and by that one offering the whole debt is paid.

So come to Him. Turn from your sin and put your trust in Jesus. Forgiveness belongs to everyone who trusts Him, and Jesus will make them His own.

Parent's note

Tell your children that the LORD made them, and that sin has a cost that only Jesus could pay. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God that He made us, and that Jesus paid for what sinners sow, and bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so let each one say a short prayer if they want to.

Remember these things, Jacob and Israel; for you are my servant. I have formed you. You are my servant. Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.

Isaiah 44:21

Our Maker, thank You that You made us and that You do not forget us. Forgive us for forgetting You. Thank You that Jesus was the offering You accept. Please lead each of us to trust Him and walk with You. Amen.