Tyndale Open Study NotesHosea 8

• Put the ram’s horn to your lips!: The ram’s horn trumpet (shofar) called people to worship (Psalm 98:6); it also signaled battle (2 Samuel 20:1). God was sending an enemy, the Assyrians, to carry out his judgment on Israel.

• rebelled against My law: God's law (Hebrew torah) is more than just the individual laws in the Pentateuch. It represents all of God's teachings to his people through his words and actions.

  Loving fulfillment of the Torah was Israel’s part of the covenant. They had broken God's commandments and turned away from their covenant relationship with the Lord.

Jesus says that only God is good (Mark 10:18). God is the source of all good things, but Israel rejected him.

They make princes, but without My approval: They quickly removed one king and chose another if they believed it would save their nation (see Hosea 7:7). They did all of this without consulting their true king, the Lord.

your calf: Jeroboam I was the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel. He ruled from 931 to 910 BC. When he became king, he set up worship places in Dan and Bethel. He did this to prevent people from traveling to the temple in Jerusalem, the capital of the southern kingdom. At each site, he placed a gold calf for the people to worship (1 Kings 12:26–30).

When Hosea announced God's judgment, the punishment fit the crime (see study note on Hosea 4:10). Through their idol worship and political schemes, the Israelites caused their own downfall (see Galatians 6:7).

like a wild donkey: Hosea compared Israel's worship of the Canaanite fertility gods to an animal eager to mate (see Jeremiah 2:23–24).

I will now round them up: God sometimes promises to gather his people to save them (Zechariah 10:8–10), but here the Lord gathers them for judgment (Joel 3:11).

Ephraim multiplied the altars for sin: As Israel increased its worship of other gods, the people also increased their religious activities in an attempt to remove their sin. Instead, these practices only added to their sin.

• they offer sacrifices … the LORD does not accept them: See Hosea 6:6; Isaiah 1:10–17; Amos 5:21–24; Micah 6:6–8.

• They will return to Egypt, the place of slavery (Deuteronomy 28:68). God's actions with Israel did not end with judgment. The purpose of judgment was to restore Israel to their status when they left Egypt, allowing them to start anew (see Hosea 2:14–15).

• Israel has forgotten his Maker: See Hosea 2:13.

• God's judgment often appears as fire sent upon the royal palaces and fortresses (see Amos 1:4, 7).