Hosea 10:1-8

The calves and the kings.

The "burden" is still the same—Israel's guilt and punishment. But in the verses before us these are dealt with mainly in their external and national aspects. The most prominent thought of the passage centers in the calves and the kings.

I. THE NATIONAL SIN . Although the prophet handles his theme in this strophe for the most part on its external side, yet in one or two expressions he refers to the root of the evil in the hearts of the people. "We feared not the Lord" ( Hosea 10:3 ); i.e. the men of Israel had forsaken the service of Jehovah, and rejected him as their Portion. "Their heart is divided" ( Hosea 10:2 ), or " smooth, " i.e. insincere. They did not devote themselves to the love and worship of God, and yet they could not make up their minds to part altogether either with him or with their idols. Such was the root of the national sinfulness. But Hosea here calls attention rather to:

1. Its forms in the national life . These were principally two.

2. Its manifestations in the national character . The people's sin incorporated itself with them, and they lapsed further and further into moral degradation. There was:

II. THE NATIONAL PUNISHMENT . Israel is about to lose all the false defenses in which he gloried, and his heart shall have fear and shame for its melancholy heritage. The punishment is in these verses contemplated from a twofold point of view, viz.:

1. Its forms in the national life .

2. Its moral results upon the people . It would produce:

LESSONS.

1. The spiritual dangers which accompany material prosperity. "Jeshu-run waxed fat, and kicked" ( Deuteronomy 32:15 ). It is difficult to carry the full cup steadily (verse 1).

2. The necessity, in order to a man's spiritual well-being, that he "keep his heart with all diligence" (verse 2).

3. The sadness which comes from learning the truth too late, and the horrors of a too-late repentance (verse 3).

4. The diffusive and self-disseminating power of evil (verse 4).

5. The mourning of the wicked is for their losses rather than for their sins (verses 5, 6).

6. The one true security and strength of a nation consists in the fear of God (verses 3, 7).

7. The judgment denounced here upon the ten tribes, like that of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, is a type of the final general judgment (verse 8; Luke 23:30 ; Revelation 6:16 ).—C.J.