Hosea 8:13

Hosea 8:13. They sacrifice flesh, &c., and eat it, but the Lord accepteth them not They offer sacrifices indeed, but their sacrifices are not acceptable to God, not being offered with a pious and devout mind. Dr. Wheeler translates the clause, They have sacrificed the choicest sacrifices, and have eaten flesh: Jehovah taketh not delight therein. Now will he remember their iniquity, &c. God supported the Jews, that they might support the true religion; which as they had now neglected to do, there was no reason why God should support and defend them against their enemies. They shall return to Egypt Going into Egypt seems to have been a proverbial expression for extreme misery; and may here denote, that they should go into a state of captivity and bondage as bad as that which their forefathers had suffered in Egypt. Or else, taken literally, it might be intended to signify, that they should seek the alliance and friendship of Egypt, contrary to the faith they had given to the Assyrians, which would bring on their destruction. This proved to be the case, as the reader will see by consulting 2 Kings 17:4-5, “The king of Israel sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and brought no presents to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year; therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison. Then the king of Assyria came up throughout the land, took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria.”