Hosea 4:8

They eat up the sin of My people.

Feeding on sin

Dr. Henderson renders these words, “They devour the sin-offering of My people.” The priests lived upon the sacrificial meat (Leviticus 6:26), and the more they had of this the more they were pleased. But this increased with the increase of the sins of the people. The more the people sinned, the more sin-offerings, and the more sin-offerings, the more priestly banquets. So in truth, without a figure, they “feed upon the sin of the people.” Such men can be found now--

I. In the ecclesiastical world.

II. In the commercial world.

1. Men who have vested interest in the sin of intemperance.

2. Men who have vested interest in the sin of war.

III. In the professional world. What could lawyers do without chicaneries, breach of contracts, and all kinds of social immoralities and crimes? What would popular journalists do were there no scandals, no tragedies, no crimes, no fraudulent advertisements? What would become of the sensational novelist, if there were no sinful love in the people for the horrible and the prurient? Herein is the great obstruction to moral reformations. Destroy a popular sin, and you destroy the livelihood of hundreds, and the pomp and splendour of many. (Homilist.)