Hosea 8:6

For from Israel was it also: the workman made it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces. FOR FROM ISRAEL WAS IT ALSO - namely, the calf originated with them, not from me. "It also," as well as their "kings set up" by them, "but not by me" ()....

The beginning of this verse is not rightly explained, as I think, by those who so connect the pronoun demonstrative הוא, _eva, _as if it had an interposed copulative; and this ought to be noticed, for it gives a great emphasis to the Prophet’s words. _Even this is from Israel _But what does the Prophet mean? He means this, that the calf was from Israel, as they had long before, at the beginning, formed to themselves a calf in the desert. But we do not yet clearly apprehend the mind of the Prophet, unless we perceive that there is here an implied comparison. For he accuses the Israelites of being the first founders of this superstition, and that they had not been, as it were, deceived by others; for they had not borrowed this corruption from the Gentiles, as it had been at times the case; but it was, so to speak, an intrinsic invention. _From Israel, _he says, _it is; _that is, “I find th...

5-10 They promised themselves plenty, peace, and victory, by worshipping idols, but their expectations came to nothing. What they sow has no stalk, no blade, or, if it have, the bud shall yield no fruit, there was nothing in them. The works of darkness are unfruitful; nay, the end of those things is death. The hopes of sinners will deceive them, and their gains will be snares. In times of danger, especially in the day of judgment, all carnal devices will fail. They take a course by themselves, and like a wild ass by himself, they will be the easier and surer prey for the lion. Man is in nothing more like the wild ass's colt, than in seeking for that succour and that satisfaction in the creature, which are to be had in God only. Though men may sorrow a little, yet if it is not after a godly sort, they will be brought to sorrow everlastingly....

Verse Hosea 8:6. _THE WORKMAN MADE IT; THEREFORE IT_ IS _NOT GOD_] As God signifies the supreme eternal Good, the Creator and Upholder of all things, therefore the workman cannot make Him who made all things. This is an overwhelming argument against all idols. Nothing need be added. _The workman has made them; therefore they_ _are not God_....

FOR - This verse may assign the reasons of God’s displeasure, “mine anger is kindled;” or of Israel’s impenitency, “How long will it be?” This indeed is only going a little further back, for Israel’s incorrigibleness was the ground of God’s displeasure. And they were incorrigible; because they had themselves devised it; “for from Israel was it also.” Those are especially incorrigible, who do not fall into error through ignorance, but who through malice devise it out of their own heart. Such persons act and speak, not as seduced by others, but seducing themselves, and condemned by their own judgment. Such were Israel and Jeroboam his king, who were not induced or seduced by others to deem the golden calf to be God, but devised it, of malicious intent, knowing that it was not God. Hence, Israel could be cured of the worship of Baal, for this was brought from without by Jezebel; and “Jehu d...

EXPOSITION This chapter deals with the punishment of apostasy. Once more the sins of the northern kingdom are enumerated and its approaching fall predicted. There is a close connection between the verses in the first section of the chapter. That connection is as follows: The first verse begins with an exclamation containing Jehovah's command to the prophet to act as his herald, putting the trumpet to his mouth and sounding the alarm about coming calamity. In the second clause of the same verse the nature of the calamity is announced. In the third and last clause of it the cause of the calamity is declared. The second verse represents Israel in their extremity crying to God for deliverance; the cry is very earnest, and proceeds from every member of the community, backed also with the assertion of their acquaintance with Jehovah. In the third verse Jehovah rejects their cry and refuses to...

FOR FROM ISRAEL [WAS] IT ALSO,.... That is, the calf was from Israel; it was an invention of theirs, as some say; they did not borrow it from their neighbours, as they did other idols, but it was their own contrivance: but this tines not seem to be fact; for the calf, the making of it indeed, was of themselves, but the worship of it they borrowed from the Egyptians; with this difference, the Egyptians worshipped a living cow or ox, these the golden image of a calf: but rather the sense is, that this calf was made by the advice of Israel, by the advice of Jeroboam their king, and of their princes, they assenting to it, so Aben Ezra; or the gold and silver of which it was made was exacted on them, and collected from them, as the Targum and Jarchi; or workmen were employed by them to make it; and so it was of them also, as any other work that was done by their advice and direction, and at t...

CHAPTER 8:1-9:9 The Apostasy is Followed by Judgment _ 1. The judgment announced (Hosea 8:1) _ 2. The apostasy which resulted in judgment (Hosea 8:8) 3. Warning against self-security (Hosea 9:1) Hosea 8:1. The prophet is commanded to sound the alarm of the impending judgment. The message is that the enemy will come swift as an eagle upon the house of the Lord, which here does not mean the temple (which was in connection with Judah), but Israel as the chosen people was the house, the dwelling-place of the Lord. All their spurious profession, their false claim, “My God, we know Thee, we, Israel”, will go for nothing, because

ISRAEL'S UNSANCTIFIED NATIONAL LIFE. Man-made kings, like man-made gods (the calf of Samaria), are impotent; Israel sows the wind and shall reap the whirlwind; the sources of the national life are withered, and the nation ceases to count (Hosea 8:4). Resort to foreign aid only further diminishes its vital forces (Hosea 8:8). Multiplication of altars only multiplies sin; the rites of an unholy cultus can but hasten the Divine punishment (Hosea 8:11). Probably Hosea 8:14 is an addition, and there may be glosses besides. HOSEA 8:4. Hosea is the first prophet to denounc

FOR FROM ISRAEL, &C. Render: "For from Israel! (i.e. from Israel, of all people) [doth this conduct proceed! and he! (i.e., and that calf, what is it)]?. craftsman made him, so no God is he". BE. become. PIECES. fragments, or splinters. Hebrew. _shebabim._ Occurs only here....