Osea 8:7 Commento

This chapter, as that before, divides itself into the sins and punishments of Israel; every verse almost declares both, and all to bring them to repentance. When they saw the malignant nature of their sin, in the descriptions of that, they could not but be convinced now much it was their duty to repent of what was so bad in itself; and when they saw the mischievous consequences of their sin, in the predictions of them, they could not but see how much it was their interest to repent for the preventing of them. I. The sin of Israel is here set forth, 1. In many general expressions (Hos 8:1, Hos 8:3, Hos 8:12, Hos 8:14). 2. In many particular instances; setting up kings without God (Hos 8:4), setting up idols against God (Hos 8:4-6, Hos 8:11), and courting alliances with the neighbouring nations, (Hos 8:8-10). 3. In this aggravation of it, that they still kept up a profession of religion and relation to God (Hos 8:2, Hos 8:13, Hos 8:14). II. The punishment of Israel is here set forth as answering to the sin. God would bring an enemy upon them (Hos 8:1, Hos 8:3). All their projects should be blasted (Hos 8:7). Their confidence both in their idols and in their foreign alliances should disappoint them (Hos 8:6, Hos 8:8, Hos 8:10). Their strength at home should fail them (Hos 8:14). Their sacrifices should have no reckoning made of them, and their sins should have a reckoning made for them (Hos 8:13).

INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 8 This chapter treats of the sins and punishment of Israel for them, as the preceding; it is threatened and proclaimed that an enemy should come swiftly against them, because of their transgression of the covenant and law of God, Hos 8:1; their hypocrisy is exposed, Hos 8:2; they are charged with the rejection of that which is good, and therefore should be pursued by the enemy, Hos 8:3; with setting up kings and princes without consulting the Lord, Hos 8:4; and with making of idols, particularly the golden calves, which would be of no use to them, disappoint them, and at last be broke to pieces, Hos 8:4; their seeking to their neighbours for help, and entering into alliances with them, are represented as vain and fruitless, and issuing in their ruin and destruction, Hos 8:7; their sins of multiplying altars, contrary to the law of God, and in contempt of it, and offering sacrifices to the Lord, are observed; and they with a visitation from him, Hos 8:11; and the chapter is concluded with some notice and Judah, the one building temples, and multiplying fenced cities, which should be by fire, Hos 8:14.

For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind,.... The sense is, the Israelites took a great deal of pains in the idolatrous worship of the calves, and made a great stir, bustle, and noise in it, like the wind; were very vainglorious and ostentatious, made a great show of religion and devotion, and promised themselves great things from it, peace and plenty, wealth and riches, all prosperity and happiness, enjoyed by Heathen nations; but this was lost labour, it was labouring for the wind, or sowing that; they got nothing by it, or what was worse than nothing; it proved not only useless, but hurtful, to them; for, for their idolatry, and continuance in it, the whirlwind of God's wrath would be raised up against them, and the Assyrian army, like a vehement storm of wind, would rush in upon them, and destroy them; so they that sow to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption, Gal 6:8; it hath no stalk; what they sowed did not rise up above ground; or, if it did, it did not spring up in a blade or stalk, which was promising of fruit; no real good, profit, and advantage, sprung from their idolatrous practices: the bud shall yield no meal; yea, though it rise up into a stalk, and this stalk produced ears of corn, yet those so thin, that no meal or flour could be got out of them, and so of no worth and use: and if so be it yield: any meal or flour: the strangers shall swallow it up; the Israelites should not be the better for it; it should till come into the hands of foreigners, the Assyrian army. The meaning is, that if they did prosper and increase in riches, yet they should not long enjoy them themselves, but be pillaged and spoiled of them; as they were by the exactions of Pul, and by the depredations of Shalmaneser, kings of Assyria. So the Targum, "if they got substance, the nations shall spoil them of it.''

For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: standing stalk, there is no grain in it, it shall not make flour: and if it should make any, strangers would devour it. " LXX: "Because they have sown corruption, they shall reap a fall: a handful of corn hath not the beauty of ear; they shall yield no flour; and if it should yield, strangers shall devour it. " She compares the calf of Samaria with a spider's web: therefore she keeps the metaphor in the remaining parts, that what she called spider's webs, she compares with the wind, and the whirlwind, and standing stalks: and if they stand, having no grain; and if they make any flour, she says, it shall be devoured by others. And because the common sense is the same, both in regard to heretics and to those who have made idols in Samaria, it must be jointly discussed. They sow the wind, or seeds corrupted by the wind, which have no kernel, which the Greeks call "enterion," and so they, sowing in emptiness, receive emptiness and vanity. Rather, sowing in the flesh, they reap corruption from the flesh, and are carried away by every wind of doctrine. And when they sow the wind, they will reap hurricanes and storms, and first of all, the stalk, that is, the straw, will not be from these seeds, nor will they be able to have any appearance of a fruitful harvest. But if it happens rarely that the Ecclesiastics seem to have something similar to dogma: the seed itself and the ear of corn do not make flour. In the flour of which, the Gospel woman puts enough yeast (Matthew XIII): so that both the spirit by which we feel, and the soul by which we live, and the body by which we move are reduced to one holy Spirit, according to the Apostle: "In him we live, move, and have our being" (Acts XVII, 18). But if it happens rarely to heretics that they also make flour from their seed, the flour will make a sub-ashen bread, which will not come back, and which aliens will eat. And now he says: "Even if he makes flour, others will eat it." But we must accept those strangers of whom it is written: "Foreign sons have lied to me" (Ps. XVII, 46). And in the eighteenth psalm: "Cleanse me from my hidden sins, O Lord, and spare your servant from strangers." If they have not ruled over a just man, then he will be blameless and shall be cleansed from the greatest sin.

For you pluck no fruit from the idol’s service, but their bundles are like ears of wheat destroyed by the wind, which show full stalks from the outside but which internally have no grain. Such is the nature of idolatry, for on the one hand it can take the image of a man or a woman, or a lion or a different animal from art, but on the other hand it is deprived of any strength or energy.

For it is infinite folly to labour painfully, and pant after the breath of applause, to apply one's self to the heavenly precepts with hard toil, but to aim at the reward of an earthly kind of recompense. For that I may so express myself, he that in return for the good that he practises looks for the applause of his fellowcreatures, is carrying an article of great worth to be sold at a mean price. From that whereby he might have earned the kingdom of heaven, he seeks the coin of passing talk. His practice goes for little, in that he spends a great deal, and gets back but very little. Whereunto then are hypocrites like but to luxuriant and untended vines, which put forth fruit from their fertility, but are never lifted from the earth by tending? All that the rich branches bud forth, stray beasts tread under foot, and the more fruitful they see it is, the more greedily they devour it, thus cast away and laid low, in that the works of hypocrites while they shew fair, come forth as if rich, but whilst they aim at human praises, it is as if they were left forsaken upon the ground. And the beasts of this world, i.e. the evil spirits, devour them, because they turn them to account to the end of perdition, and they seize upon them with greater avidity, in proportion as great things are more clearly known. Hence it is well said by the Prophet, The standing stalk, there is no bud in them, and they shall yield no meal; if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up. For the stalk is without a bud, when the life lacks the merit of virtuous habits. The stalk yieldeth no meal, when he that thrives in this world understands nothing refined, and yields no fruit of good practice.

This chapter begins with threatening some hostile invasion in short and broken sentences, full of rapidity, and expressive of sudden danger and alarm: "The trumpet to thy mouth; he cometh as an eagle," Hos 8:1. And why? For their hypocrisy, Hos 8:2; iniquity, Hos 8:3; treason (see Kg2 15:13, Kg2 15:17) and idolatry, Hos 8:4; particularly the worshipping of the calves of Dan and Bethel, Hos 8:5, Hos 8:6. The folly and unprofitableness of pursuing evil courses is then set forth in brief but very emphatic terms. The labor of the wicked is vain, like sowing of the wind; and the fruit of it destructive as the whirlwind. Like corn blighted in the bud, their toil shall have no recompense; or if it should have a little, their enemies shell devour it, Hos 8:7. They themselves, too, shall suffer the same fate, and shall be treated by the nations of Assyria and Egypt as the vile sherds of a broken vessel, Hos 8:8, Hos 8:9. Their incorrigible idolatry is again declared to be the cause of their approaching captivity under the king of Assyria. And as they delighted in idolatrous altars, there they shall have these in abundance, Hos 8:10-14. The last words contain a prediction of the destruction of the fenced cities of Judah, because the people trusted in these for deliverance, and not in the Lord their God.

They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind - As the husbandman reaps the same kind of grain which he has sown, but in far greater abundance, thirty, sixty, or one hundred fold; so he who sows the wind shall have a whirlwind to reap. The vental seed shall be multiplied into a tempest so they who sow the seed of unrighteousness shall reap a harvest of judgment. This is a fine, bold, and energetic metaphor. It hath no stalk - Nothing that can yield a blossom. If it have a blossom that blossom shall not yield fruit; if there be fruit, the sower shall not enjoy it, for strangers shall eat it. The meaning is, the labors of this people shall be utterly unprofitable and vain.

PROPHECY OF THE IRRUPTION OF THE ASSYRIANS, IN PUNISHMENT FOR ISRAEL'S APOSTASY, IDOLATRY, AND SETTING UP OF KINGS WITHOUT GOD'S SANCTION. (Hos 8:1-14) In Hos 8:14, Judah is said to multiply fenced cities; and in Hos 8:7-9, Israel, to its great hurt, is said to have gone up to Assyria for help. This answers best to the reign of Menahem. For it was then that Uzziah of Judah, his contemporary, built fenced cities (Ch2 26:6, Ch2 26:9-10). Then also Israel turned to Assyria and had to pay for their sinful folly a thousand talents of silver (Kg2 15:19) [MAURER]. Set the trumpet, &c.--to give warning of the approach of the enemy: "To thy palate (that is, 'mouth,' Job 31:30, Margin) the trumpet"; the abruptness of expression indicates the suddenness of the attack. So Hos 5:8. as . . . eagle--the Assyrian (Deu 28:49; Jer 48:40; Hab 1:8). against . . . house of . . . Lord--not the temple, but Israel viewed as the family of God (Hos 9:15; Num 12:7; Zac 9:8; Heb 3:2; Ti1 3:15; Pe1 4:17).

sown . . . reap-- (Pro 22:8; Gal 6:7). "Sow . . . wind," that is, to make the vain show of worship, while faith and obedience are wanting [CALVIN]. Rather, to offer senseless supplications to the calves for good harvests (compare Hos 2:8); the result being that God will make them "reap no stalk," that is, "standing corn." Also, the phraseology proverbially means that all their undertakings shall be profitless (Pro 11:29; Ecc 5:16). the bud--or, "growth." strangers--foreigners (Hos 7:9).

The Judgment Consequent Upon Apostasy - Hosea 8-9:9 The coming judgment, viz., the destruction of the kingdom of the ten tribes, is predicted in three strophes, containing a fresh enumeration of the sins of Israel (1-7), a reference to the fall of the kingdom, which is already about to commence (Hos 8:8-14), and a warning against false security (Hos 9:1-9).

This will Israel reap from its ungodly conduct. Hos 8:7. "For they sow wind, and reap tempest: it has no stalks; shoot brings no fruit; and even if it brought it, foreigners would devour it." With this figure, which is so frequently and so variously used (cf. Hos 10:13; Hos 12:2; Job 4:8; Pro 22:8), the threat is accounted for by a general thought taken from life. The harvest answers to the sowing (cf. Gal 6:7-8). Out of the wind comes tempest. Wind is a figurative representation of human exertions; the tempest, of destruction. Instead of rūăch we have און, עמל, עולה (nothingness, weariness, wickedness) in Hos 10:13; Job 4:8, and Pro 22:8. In the second hemistich the figure is carried out still further. קמה, "seed standing upon the stalk," is not to it (viz., that which has been sowed). Tsemach brings no qemach, - a play upon the words, answering to our shoot and fruit. Qemach: generally meal, here probably the grain-bearing ear, from which the meal is obtained. But even if the shoot, when grown, should yield some meal, strangers, i.e., foreigners, would consume it. In these words not only are the people threatened with failure of the crop; but the failure and worthlessness of all that they do are here predicted. Not only the corn of Israel, but Israel itself, will be swallowed up.