Hosea 8:1

CHAPTER VIII

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," 1.

And why? For their hypocrisy, 2;

iniquity, 3;

treason (see 2 Kings 15:13; 2 Kings 15:17) and idolatry, 4;

particularly the worshipping of the calves of Dan and Bethel, 5, 6.

The folly and unprofitableness of pursuing evil courses is then

set forth in brief but very emphatic terms. The labour 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 shall devour it, 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, 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, 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.

NOTES ON CHAP. VIII

Verse Hosea 8:1. Set the trumpet to thy mouth] Sound another alarm. Let them know that an enemy is fast approaching.

As an eagle against the house of the Lord] of this be a prophecy against Judah, as some have supposed, then by the eagle Nebuchadnezzar is meant, who is often compared to this king of birds. See Ezekiel 17:3; Jeremiah 48:40; Jeremiah 49:22; Daniel 7:4.

But if the prophecy be against Israel, which is the most likely, then Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, is intended, who, for his rapidity, avarice, rapacity, and strength, is fitly compared to this royal bird. He is represented here as hovering over the house of God, as the eagle does over the prey which he has just espied, and on which he is immediately to pounce.