Covenant breaking consequences

13 “I will punish her for the days of the Baals When she used to offer sacrifices to them And adorn herself with her earrings and jewelry, And follow her lovers, so that she forgot Me,” declares the Lord.

(Transition) God’s redeeming love has kinda been the theme as we have looked at Hosea and love corrects doesn’t it. Love punishes when warranted, doesn’t it? This morning we are looking at the judgment against the covenant breakers Israel, a mention of Judah and an example for us to learn from.

Here is how we are going to break it down this morning

Overall is God’s punishment for Israel.

Warning of the coming judgment (8:1-14)

Captivity foretold (9:1-14)

Captivity reiterated (10:1-15)

Some key passages from this section; finally a conclusion

Warning of coming judgment

The scripture is going to describe the reason for the coming judgment, the biggest one is trust in self and not in God.

Judgment coming because they transgressed / broken the covenant with God (Hos8:1-6)

Hosea 8:1–2 NASB95

1 Put the trumpet to your lips! Like an eagle the enemy comes against the house of the Lord, Because they have transgressed My covenant And rebelled against My law. 2 They cry out to Me, “My God, we of Israel know You!”

Hosea 8:3–4 NASB95

3 Israel has rejected the good; The enemy will pursue him. 4 They have set up kings, but not by Me; They have appointed princes, but I did not know it. With their silver and gold they have made idols for themselves, That they might be cut off.

Hosea 8:5–6 NASB95

5 He has rejected your calf, O Samaria, saying, “My anger burns against them!” How long will they be incapable of innocence? 6 For from Israel is even this! A craftsman made it, so it is not God; Surely the calf of Samaria will be broken to pieces.

Put the trumpet to your lips, sound the warning alarm. Trouble is coming and it is coming quickly. (v.1)

Israel claims they know God, but their actions say they reject God (vv.2-3)

God tells them how, set up kings , princes, relied on their silver and gold, made idols (vv.4-6)

God’s anger burns (v.5) They cannot claim innocence

Have you ever done something not thinking of possible consequences and then claimed ignorance or innocence? Many do that today they reject the gospel, or worse yet claim the gospel but live as if there were no God. God knows, God knows the heart of man, and you cannot claim innocence or ignorance for God has made Himself known (thinking of Rom1:18-21)

Judgment is coming because they made alliances with man (Assyria is named) (Hos8:7-10)

Hosea 8:7–8 NASB95

7 For they sow the wind And they reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; It yields no grain. Should it yield, strangers would swallow it up. 8 Israel is swallowed up; They are now among the nations Like a vessel in which no one delights.

Hosea 8:9–10 NASB95

9 For they have gone up to Assyria, Like a wild donkey all alone; Ephraim has hired lovers. 10 Even though they hire allies among the nations, Now I will gather them up; And they will begin to diminish Because of the burden of the king of princes.

Israel turned to Assyria for help against the coming trouble, hired them, and in reality it is Assyria this is God’s tool of judgment.

They were trying things under their own power and not the power of God and they were going to be swallowed up (taken into captivity) because of it.

They were going to reap the whirlwind. It comes in in hard, strong, fast and is gone just as quick, leaving a path of destruction along the way.

Have you ever trusted in yourself and your ways only for it to fail and have to then surrender to God and do it His way? But you had to suffer some consequences for trying to do it your way first before you learned.

Judgment is coming because of made up religion and altars of sin - because of such, punishment is coming (Hos8:11-13)

Hosea 8:11–12 NASB95

11 Since Ephraim has multiplied altars for sin, They have become altars of sinning for him. 12 Though I wrote for him ten thousand precepts of My law, They are regarded as a strange thing.

Hosea 8:13 NASB95

13 As for My sacrificial gifts, They sacrifice the flesh and eat it, But the Lord has taken no delight in them. Now He will remember their iniquity, And punish them for their sins; They will return to Egypt.

They have made false altars in ways and places God did not instruct them to do it and in doing such it made it easy for them to sin against God.

God had given them His precepts (His Word, His Law) but still they did other things (strange things) that did not please him and they were going to be punished and taken into captivity (Hosea uses Egypt as a picture of captivity; the captivity for them was going to be Assyria).

Judgment is coming because Israel has forgotten his Maker, God ( Hos8:14) - oh Judah is a part of this too.

Hosea 8:14 NASB95

14 For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; And Judah has multiplied fortified cities, But I will send a fire on its cities that it may consume its palatial dwellings.

Israel had forgotten, but even Judah is putting more faith and trust in the fortified cities than in God . Judgment is going to come on both.

Captivity Foretold

The unfaithful covenant breakers had been warned. Illustrations given to try to get them to repent, to no avail. Now more warning of the coming, inescapable captivity.

Because they played the harlot (Hos9:1-2)

Hosea 9:1–2 NASB95

1 Do not rejoice, O Israel, with exultation like the nations! For you have played the harlot, forsaking your God. You have loved harlots’ earnings on every threshing floor. 2 Threshing floor and wine press will not feed them, And the new wine will fail them.

Israel had played the harlot, practiced whoredom as we had discussed several times. They broken covenant. They relied on their actions and loved their earnings more than God’s provision. They were not going to find any satisfaction.

They shall return to captivity (Hos9:3-9)

Hosea 9:3–4 NASB95

3 They will not remain in the Lord’s land, But Ephraim will return to Egypt, And in Assyria they will eat unclean food. 4 They will not pour out drink offerings of wine to the Lord, Their sacrifices will not please Him. Their bread will be like mourners’ bread; All who eat of it will be defiled, For their bread will be for themselves alone; It will not enter the house of the Lord.

Hosea 9:5–6 NASB95

5 What will you do on the day of the appointed festival And on the day of the feast of the Lord? 6 For behold, they will go because of destruction; Egypt will gather them up, Memphis will bury them. Weeds will take over their treasures of silver; Thorns will be in their tents.

Hosea 9:7–8 NASB95

7 The days of punishment have come, The days of retribution have come; Let Israel know this! The prophet is a fool, The inspired man is demented, Because of the grossness of your iniquity, And because your hostility is so great. 8 Ephraim was a watchman with my God, a prophet; Yet the snare of a bird catcher is in all his ways, And there is only hostility in the house of his God.

Hosea 9:9 NASB95

9 They have gone deep in depravity As in the days of Gibeah; He will remember their iniquity, He will punish their sins.

In (v.3) you see they were not going to stay in Israel, they would return to Egypt (a type of captivity).

They will not be able to celebrate their feasts and offer their sacrifices (vv.4-5)

They are going to be punished for their sins (v.9)

They will see the fleeting glory of Israel (Hos9:10-17)

Hosea 9:10–11 NASB95

10 I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your forefathers as the earliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season. But they came to Baal-peor and devoted themselves to shame, And they became as detestable as that which they loved. 11 As for Ephraim, their glory will fly away like a bird— No birth, no pregnancy and no conception!

Hosea 9:12–13 NASB95

12 Though they bring up their children, Yet I will bereave them until not a man is left. Yes, woe to them indeed when I depart from them! 13 Ephraim, as I have seen, Is planted in a pleasant meadow like Tyre; But Ephraim will bring out his children for slaughter.

Hosea 9:14–15 NASB95

14 Give them, O Lord—what will You give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. 15 All their evil is at Gilgal; Indeed, I came to hate them there! Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of My house! I will love them no more; All their princes are rebels.

Hosea 9:16–17 NASB95

16 Ephraim is stricken, their root is dried up, They will bear no fruit. Even though they bear children, I will slay the precious ones of their womb. 17 My God will cast them away Because they have not listened to Him; And they will be wanderers among the nations.

They were as first fruits (v.10) but traded that for shame idol worship.

The glory of Israel (recipients of the covenant, the promises, the word, the prophets) was going to flee away (v.11)

It will be like they are childless (and that is a shame at the time) (vv.11-12)

For all the wickedness they are going to be cast out (vv.13-17)

(Transition) - sin is grievous; sin is serious; sin has consequences; sin is offered here as an example to us so to warn, and to give us hope according to (1Cor10:11) - - - God through His prophet (vs. the false prophets) still has more to say.

Captivity reiterated

Have you ever had to be told something over and over again. Sometimes in correction, sometimes in protection here Through the prophet God is reiterating sin and the consequences of sin to Israel.

Israel’s guilt and the pending captivity (Hos10:1-8)

Hosea 10:1–2 NASB95

1 Israel is a luxuriant vine; He produces fruit for himself. The more his fruit, The more altars he made; The richer his land, The better he made the sacred pillars. 2 Their heart is faithless; Now they must bear their guilt. The Lord will break down their altars And destroy their sacred pillars.

Hosea 10:3–4 NASB95

3 Surely now they will say, “We have no king, For we do not revere the Lord. As for the king, what can he do for us?” 4 They speak mere words, With worthless oaths they make covenants; And judgment sprouts like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.

Hosea 10:5–6 NASB95

5 The inhabitants of Samaria will fear For the calf of Beth-aven. Indeed, its people will mourn for it, And its idolatrous priests will cry out over it, Over its glory, since it has departed from it. 6 The thing itself will be carried to Assyria As tribute to King Jareb; Ephraim will be seized with shame And Israel will be ashamed of its own counsel.

Hosea 10:7–8 NASB95

7 Samaria will be cut off with her king Like a stick on the surface of the water. 8 Also the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed; Thorn and thistle will grow on their altars; Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” And to the hills, “Fall on us!”

Israel looks out for self, relies on self and not God, they are not relying on faith, except in themselves (v.1)

They are faithless and are going to suffer the consequences of it (v.2).

Again, they are told they are going to be carried off into captivity, Assyria is noted and it will bring them much shame (v.7-8) They will cry for relief, “mountains fall on us” (v.8) - - -

Have you ever felt shameful that you wish you would just die?

Israel’s sin and the consequences of her sin (Hos10:9-15)

Our last section has sin’s remembrance with a mix of what they should be doing, not a lot of hope seen here, but there will be next week. This judgment is sure, it is inescapable, for sin is not without consequence.

Hosea 10:9–10 NASB95

9 From the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel; There they stand! Will not the battle against the sons of iniquity overtake them in Gibeah? 10 When it is My desire, I will chastise them; And the peoples will be gathered against them When they are bound for their double guilt.

Hosea 10:11–12 NASB95

11 Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh, But I will come over her fair neck with a yoke; I will harness Ephraim, Judah will plow, Jacob will harrow for himself. 12 Sow with a view to righteousness, Reap in accordance with kindness; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord Until He comes to rain righteousness on you.

Hosea 10:13–14 NASB95

13 You have plowed wickedness, you have reaped injustice, You have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your way, in your numerous warriors, 14 Therefore a tumult will arise among your people, And all your fortresses will be destroyed, As Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle, When mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.

Hosea 10:15 NASB95

15 Thus it will be done to you at Bethel because of your great wickedness. At dawn the king of Israel will be completely cut off.

Look at (v.12) what are the instructions they should be following?

Sow, reap, breakup, seek, hope/expect

(Transition) So, this ends our passage our look for today, a few verses before closing out.

Key Passages

A few thoughts and passage

Great things have turned to strange things (Hos8:12)

God had given Israel, everything they needed. He gave the promises, the prophets, the law and they turned that into strange things

Hosea 8:12 NKJV

12 I have written for him the great things of My law, But they were considered a strange thing.

Think about our country founded on Christian principles, blessed beyond measure and now the thing that blessed us has become strange and people trying to remove it. People have the truth (God’s word) and they are perverting it (God’s word) and making it a strange thing.

Do good, reap good (Hos10:12)

They had been given the promises, do this get this, do good, get good, do bad, get bad.

Do bad, and you will reap bad (Hos10:13)

I think I will give you both verses here.

Hosea 10:12–13 NLT

12 I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.’ 13 “But you have cultivated wickedness and harvested a thriving crop of sins. You have eaten the fruit of lies— trusting in your military might, believing that great armies could make your nation safe.

Let us continue to learn from the examples of history like here so not to make the same mistakes as Paul told the Corinthians and the Romans.