Worship in Truth or Not at All

The picture Hosea 8 paints of the house of Israel is one of a dumb, useless, isolated nation, left to its own devices and struggling for any sense of self. Thus, the picture of what idolatry does to the human heart becomes clear through this ancient picture. 

Hosea 8:1 (ESV) Set the trumpet to your lips! One like a vulture is over the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed my covenant and rebelled against my law.

The trumpet call for Israel was typically for holy occasions, joyful assemblies, or rallying cries for war. Here it is the announcement of judgment. The nation is prey for the vultures of other nations.

Notice the designations of this nation from the prophetic oracle of this chapter:

Hosea 8:4 (ESV) They made kings, but not through me. They set up princes, but I knew it not. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction.

They established leaders whom God did not give, and they set up idols that soon took them over. 

Hosea 8:6 (ESV) For it is from Israel; a craftsman made it; it is not God. The calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces.

Hosea harkens back to the original sin of Jeroboam, who split the nation when Rehoboam foolishly laid heavy burdens on the people. His first act was to establish worship centers with calf idols and false priests. Jeroboam did this to keep Israel from going to Jerusalem to worship; now these idols would be their own downfall.

Notice the irony. Hosea shows them that the very altars they created to take away sin became the seedbeds of sin in their lives. 

Hosea 8:11 (ESV) Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they have become to him altars for sinning.

Then this diagnosis:

Hosea 8:7 (ESV) For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; it shall yield no flour; if it were to yield, strangers would devour it.

Idolatry is "wind", says the Lord. And when you put your heart into it, it only escalates trouble back into your life. Even if the nation saw any sign of prosperity, strangers would take it. 

Hosea 8:8–9 (ESV) Israel is swallowed up; already they are among the nations as a useless vessel. 9 For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild donkey wandering alone; Ephraim has hired lovers.

Hosea exposes this proud nation for what it really is: useless, dumb, and all alone. 

Finally, the chapter ends:

Hosea 8:13–14 (ESV) As for my sacrificial offerings, they sacrifice meat and eat it, but the LORD does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins; they shall return to Egypt. 14 For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces, and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; so I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour her strongholds.

Notice that Israel, despite all these judgments, was ignorant of their actual spiritual condition. They were going through the motions of worship, but God was not involved. They would return to the enslaving country of Egypt. Why? Because, as is now a consistent theme in Hosea, they did not KNOW the Lord. 

The chapter is a warning. What may start out in our lives as a noble pursuit, such as Jeroboam's calves, can become an idolatrous stronghold. Jeroboam wasn't looking to worship false Gods, he was seeking to lead Israel in false worship of the true God. There is no sense in that. For the God who is to be worshipped is to be worshipped as He has set forth - through the person of His Son, who cleanses the sinner and makes them right with God. 

How hard it is for people, even those who regularly attend church, to get a hold of that. The blood of Jesus brings us righteousness so that we might walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. There is no deliverance or power found any where else.