Hosea 14
English Standard Version

A Plea to Return to the LORD
14 Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God,
    for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
2 Take with you words
    and return to the LORD;
say to him,
    “Take away all iniquity;
accept what is good,
    and we will pay with bulls
    the vows of our lips.
3 Assyria shall not save us;
    we will not ride on horses;
and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’
    to the work of our hands.
In you the orphan finds mercy.”

4 I will heal their apostasy;
    I will love them freely,
    for my anger has turned from them.
5 I will be like the dew to Israel;
    he shall blossom like the lily;
    he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon;
6 his shoots shall spread out;
    his beauty shall be like the olive,
    and his fragrance like Lebanon.
7 They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow;
    they shall flourish like the grain;
they shall blossom like the vine;
    their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

8 O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?
    It is I who answer and look after you.
I am like an evergreen cypress;
    from me comes your fruit.

9 Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
    whoever is discerning, let him know them;
for the ways of the LORD are right,
    and the upright walk in them,
    but transgressors stumble in them.

The book of Hosea calls for the people of the LORD to repent.  Iniquity is high-handed sins of rebellion.  Remember that there is no sacrifice in the sacrificial system for this save the scapegoat of the Day of Atonement.  Other than that, we see the writers of the Old Testament cry out for mercy and ask the LORD not to remember their iniquities and to not count them against them.  Essentially, these authors are asking the LORD to write off their bad debt.  Debt does not just disappear though, when it is written off, it must be taken on by the one to whom the debt is owed (in this case, the LORD)--He takes the debt upon Himself and pays our penalty for us.  That is exactly what Jesus did and part of the meaning of His words from the cross, "It is finished."  It partially means, "The debt is paid in full."

The people still imagine that there is something good about themselves that the LORD could accept, but there is nothing good about us.  That is where the gospel starts.  No, God loves us despite our having nothing lovely to draw Him unto us.  This brings Him even more glory when He loves those who are unlovely.  The people vow to make sacrifices to the LORD again if He will forgive them once more and just forget everything they have done wrong, but the LORD knows their hearts and knows these words are fals--they will not stop this rebellion unless they go into exile.

They promise to no longer look to Assyria for salvation (they had better not look for salvation from them, because that is where death and destruction are coming from).  They will stop looking to Egypt for horses and chariots (military might) and they will trust the LORD for their protection.  They promise to stop worshiping idols like the Golden Calf and calling them Our God (they called the golden calf The LORD, even though the LORD told them He was the invisible God and they could not make any image of Him).  Only Jesus would make the invisible God visible to us.

The LORD calls them apostates because they once believed and turned away from that truth to follow idols.  He will hate their sin of apostasy, but will continue to love them.  He will turn from His fierce anger and will once again give them the blessings of the covenant (symbolized by the dew of heaven).  Beauty and strength will return (like the lily and the cedars of Lebanon).  They will be like a vibrant olive tree (along with the vineyard/vine, this is one of the symbols of Israel still used to this day to represent the nation).  They will rest and take shelter under his wings like chicks that find safety and warmth under the wings of a mother hen.  They fear nothing because they are close to their mother.  They will blossom and flourish because He will cause them to do so.

Why should the people wait for their return from exile to get rid of their idols?  They should repent and get rid of them right now (but they will not).  The southern kingdom of Judah will go through much of the northern kingdom and destroy their idols for them.  They must learn that the LORD is right in all of His ways and all of His words--even if everyone else speaks the opposite, they are all wrong.  The righteous man hears and obeys, but the wicked man will not hear and stumbles in the darkness of heart and mind that he lives in.  How can those who stumble in darkness be a light to the nations as they were called to be? God's Light will have to be revealed in some other way--something better.  This is where the gospels pick up, with light bursting forth from the darkness and God showing up Himself to save His people from their sins.  We feel like we are left hanging, waiting for redemption and restoration, and that is finally fulfilled by the birth, life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

Hosea 13
English Standard Version

The LORD's Relentless Judgment on Israel
13 When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling;
    he was exalted in Israel,
    but he incurred guilt through Baal and died.
2 And now they sin more and more,
    and make for themselves metal images,
idols skillfully made of their silver,
    all of them the work of craftsmen.
It is said of them,
    “Those who offer human sacrifice kiss calves!”
3 Therefore they shall be like the morning mist
    or like the dew that goes early away,
like the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor
    or like smoke from a window.

4 But I am the LORD your God
    from the land of Egypt;
you know no God but me,
    and besides me there is no savior.
5 It was I who knew you in the wilderness,
    in the land of drought;
6 but when they had grazed, they became full,
    they were filled, and their heart was lifted up;
    therefore they forgot me.
7 So I am to them like a lion;
    like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.
8 I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs;
    I will tear open their breast,
and there I will devour them like a lion,
    as a wild beast would rip them open.

9 He destroys you, O Israel,
    for you are against me, against your helper.
10 Where now is your king, to save you in all your cities?
    Where are all your rulers--
those of whom you said,
    “Give me a king and princes”?
11 I gave you a king in my anger,
    and I took him away in my wrath.

12 The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;
    his sin is kept in store.
13 The pangs of childbirth come for him,
    but he is an unwise son,
for at the right time he does not present himself
    at the opening of the womb.

14 I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol;
    I shall redeem them from Death.
O Death, where are your plagues?
    O Sheol, where is your sting?
    Compassion is hidden from my eyes.

15 Though he may flourish among his brothers,
    the east wind, the wind of the LORD, shall come,
    rising from the wilderness,
and his fountain shall dry up;
    his spring shall be parched;
it shall strip his treasury
    of every precious thing.
16 Samaria shall bear her guilt,
    because she has rebelled against her God;
they shall fall by the sword;
    their little ones shall be dashed in pieces,
    and their pregnant women ripped open.

The people of Israel grew more and more like the Canaanites, eventually turning to human and child sacrifice to "worship" their idols that they made of of all different kids of metals.  It took the work of many men to harvest the ore, refine it, and craft it into an idol.  We see in the New Testament that when the gospel changed people so they no longer worshiped idols and they burned their books of sorcery and magic, there were literal riots started by the guildsmen who profited off of these abominations.

The LORD reminds them that He is the one who redeemed and saved them from Egypt.  He made them a people and He bought them with a price.  He proved that day that He is God alone and there is no god other than Him.  Therefore, they are to have no other gods besides Him and they are not to make for themselves any graven images, nor worship the creature/creation rather than the Creator God.  He led them through the wilderness to the Land that He had prepared for them and gave them everything they needed as their Provider and Defender.  He caused fear to rise up in the heart of their enemies so that they would run away from battle.  He gave the Israelites fields and orchards where they did not plant, and cities with walls that they did not build.  He gave them a good and spacious land flowing with milk and honey.  He did all this--they just had to follow His lead and obey His command.

Now the same terror that was in the hearts of the Canaanites should be rising up within the hearts of the Israelites.  They should have a fear of the LORD based off of His swift and complete judgement that will one day come upon the wicked and destroy them.  The LORD will protect the righteous from the enemy without and the enemy within.  The LORD knows how to preserve the righteous while punishing the wicked.  For the sake of His Name and His covenant, He will not completely destroy His people.  To tie back into yesterday's lesson, Jacob was a deceitful trickster and he spent most of his life making dumb decisions and poor choices.  This affected his kids too and trickled all the way down to these generations hundreds of years later.  The LORD will use whatever means are necessary to turn His people into what He wants them to become, but there is too much at stake for Him to let them become like the world and destroy the very culture necessary for the gospel to go forth to the entire world.  The Jews were to fulfill their role as being a light unto the Gentiles.

They are now in slavery not to Egypt, but to sin and death, and the LORD will once again redeem them--this time at the cost of His one and only Son.  It will not be the blood of any lamb, but the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  The LORD will snatch those who belong to Him from the pit whether they deserve it or not, and He will do this for the sake of His Name and covenant and for His good pleasure.  Though the Jews may be saved, Ephraim's days of being a prince among her people are done.  They will never again rebel against the king that is to come from Judah.  The city of Samaria will never again be a capital city for the northern kingdom and there will no longer be a Northern and a Southern kingdom, but once again, there will be a united kingdom under the headship of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

The Lord will lead His people, His sheep through the wilderness to springs of cool, living water.  Like the water that came from the Rock in the time of the Exodus.  No longer will they be like a dry and barren wilderness, but there will be miraculous life that comes forth from what appeared to be nothing more than a valley of dry bones, and all this will be done to the praise and glory of the LORD.  The judgments of the LORD are just and He does so to preserve the righteous and punish the wicked.  This too brings Him much glory.

Hosea 12
English Standard Version

12 Ephraim feeds on the wind
    and pursues the east wind all day long;
they multiply falsehood and violence;
    they make a covenant with Assyria,
    and oil is carried to Egypt.

The LORD's Indictment of Israel and Judah
2 The LORD has an indictment against Judah
    and will punish Jacob according to his ways;
    he will repay him according to his deeds.
3 In the womb he took his brother by the heel,
    and in his manhood he strove with God.
4 He strove with the angel and prevailed;
    he wept and sought his favor.
He met God at Bethel,
    and there God spoke with us--
5 the LORD , the God of hosts,
    the LORD is his memorial name:
6 “So you, by the help of your God, return,
    hold fast to love and justice,
    and wait continually for your God.”

7 A merchant, in whose hands are false balances,
    he loves to oppress.
8 Ephraim has said, “Ah, but I am rich;
    I have found wealth for myself;
in all my labors they cannot find in me iniquity or sin.”
9 I am the LORD your God
    from the land of Egypt;
I will again make you dwell in tents,
    as in the days of the appointed feast.

10 I spoke to the prophets;
    it was I who multiplied visions,
    and through the prophets gave parables.
11 If there is iniquity in Gilead,
    they shall surely come to nothing:
in Gilgal they sacrifice bulls;
    their altars also are like stone heaps
    on the furrows of the field.
12 Jacob fled to the land of Aram;
    there Israel served for a wife,
    and for a wife he guarded sheep.
13 By a prophet the LORD brought Israel up from Egypt,
    and by a prophet he was guarded.
14 Ephraim has given bitter provocation;
    so his LORD will leave his bloodguilt on him
    and will repay him for his disgraceful deeds.

The northern kingdom of Ephraim continues to seek to make treaties  with Assyria and Egypt.  Egypt will take their resources and fail to defend them and Assyria will take their resources and will end up attacking them and taking them into exile.  Be careful about seeking alliances with godless people and nations in personal relationships, business relationships, and on a national scale if your influence reaches that far.  "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers."  Also watch out for people that only want to take and never intend to give anything back in return.

Now the LORD switches His attention to Judah.  Though He has spent most of his time indicting the northern kingdom (called Israel, Samaria, or Ephraim), the LORD is going to speak to the southern kingdom.  It starts with a retelling of the history of their father Jacob (and an implication that they are not that different from him--they too need an encounter with God that changes their identity).

The things the LORD told them were abominations are the very things they do--false balances (weights and measures) used to steal from those who go tot he market place to make purchases.  Riches will not bring peace, rest or satisfaction, especially when those riches are obtained through evil means.  There will always be concern that someone will find you out and want to get even with you.  You will be concerned that others will treat you the same way you have treated them.  History is going to repeat itself and the people of God will once again be sojourners like they were at the time of the Exodus from Egypt.

The LORD gave many visions to many prophets to warn His people, but they ignored them all.  We are back to comparing the descendants of Jacob to Jacob and how he fled to his uncle for safety from his brother, despising the promise that was made to him and looking for safety and security in those that he should have left behind.  His trust was in men and not the LORD.  The kingdoms of Israel and Judah are in a very similar place, but they too will be taken advantage of by those they look to for refuge.  Laban tried his best to trick the trickster by promising Rachel as Jacob's wife and instead giving him Leah, and making him work another seven years for Rachel.  Laban also changed Jacob's wages many times during the process, trying to take advantage of him and get the best deal for himself.  However, the LORD miraculously intervened to continue to bless Jacob, despite his wickedness, and the LORD forced Him to go back to the Land at just the right time before his family got completely caught up in the pagan culture of the people of Aram.  The people of Israel and Judah are repeating history, not learning from it.  The LORD wants to warn them to learn from their history so they don't have to repeat it.  If they do, He will have to repay them for their disgraceful deeds.

Hosea 11
English Standard Version

The LORD's Love for Israel
11 When Israel was a child, I loved him,
    and out of Egypt I called my son.
2 The more they were called,
    the more they went away;
they kept sacrificing to the Baals
    and burning offerings to idols.

3 Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk;
    I took them up by their arms,
    but they did not know that I healed them.
4 I led them with cords of kindness,
    with the bands of love,
and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws,
    and I bent down to them and fed them.

5 They shall not return to the land of Egypt,
    but Assyria shall be their king,
    because they have refused to return to me.
6 The sword shall rage against their cities,
    consume the bars of their gates,
    and devour them because of their own counsels.
7 My people are bent on turning away from me,
    and though they call out to the Most High,
    he shall not raise them up at all.

8 How can I give you up, O Ephraim?
    How can I hand you over, O Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
    How can I treat you like Zeboiim?
My heart recoils within me;
    my compassion grows warm and tender.
9 I will not execute my burning anger;
    I will not again destroy Ephraim;
for I am God and not a man,
    the Holy One in your midst,
    and I will not come in wrath.

10 They shall go after the LORD;
    he will roar like a lion;
when he roars,
    his children shall come trembling from the west;
11 they shall come trembling like birds from Egypt,
    and like doves from the land of Assyria,
    and I will return them to their homes, declares the LORD.
12 Ephraim has surrounded me with lies,
    and the house of Israel with deceit,
but Judah still walks with God
    and is faithful to the Holy One.

Here is the exact passage the New Testament sites to say that Jesus would be called out of Egypt.  Israel was like a son to the LORD, but Jesus was the Son of God.  Jesus fulfilled the covenant where Israel broke the covenant.  Though the LORD continued to call out to his children through the prophets, they continued to rebel and worship false gods.

The LORD took care of the northern ten tribes (called Ephraim here, because that tribe was their leader), but they did not recognize the hand of the LORD in their birth, guidance, or protection.  Now they are willing to go back the way they came and return to slavery in Egypt if it would protect them from the Assyrians, but the LORD will not let them go back to Egypt.  He redeemed them from their slavery there and once they crossed the Red Sea they were never to go back to Egypt for refuge or protection again, because to do so would mean they would once again become enslaved.

Egypt is finally going to be judged more completely from what it did to Israel.  It's been a long time coming, but the LORD will use other nations to carry out His judgment against the enemies of His people.  Though Israel is bent on turning away from the LORD, He will not let them be completely destroyed.  He will preserve them because He continues to love them, even if they do not love Him in return.  They will be judged, but not destroyed.

One day, He will call them back from all the places they have scattered to and they will once again be one people gathered together in the Land, and the LORD will once again be their King.  In that day, Egypt and Assyria will be their allies, not their enemies.  They will all three worship the LORD together.

Hosea 10
English Standard Version

10 Israel is a luxuriant vine
    that yields its fruit.
The more his fruit increased,
    the more altars he built;
as his country improved,
    he improved his pillars.
2 Their heart is false;
    now they must bear their guilt.
The LORD will break down their altars
    and destroy their pillars.

3 For now they will say:
    “We have no king,
for we do not fear the LORD;
    and a king—what could he do for us?”
4 They utter mere words;
    with empty oaths they make covenants;
so judgment springs up like poisonous weeds
    in the furrows of the field.
5 The inhabitants of Samaria tremble
    for the calf of Beth-aven.
Its people mourn for it, and so do its idolatrous priests--
    those who rejoiced over it and over its glory--
    for it has departed from them.
6 The thing itself shall be carried to Assyria
    as tribute to the great king.
Ephraim shall be put to shame,
    and Israel shall be ashamed of his idol.

7 Samaria's king shall perish
    like a twig on the face of the waters.
8 The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel,
    shall be destroyed.
Thorn and thistle shall grow up
    on their altars,
and they shall say to the mountains, “Cover us,”
    and to the hills, “Fall on us.”

9 From the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, O Israel;
    there they have continued.
    Shall not the war against the unjust overtake them in Gibeah?
10 When I please, I will discipline them,
    and nations shall be gathered against them
    when they are bound up for their double iniquity.

11 Ephraim was a trained calf
    that loved to thresh,
    and I spared her fair neck;
but I will put Ephraim to the yoke;
    Judah must plow;
    Jacob must harrow for himself.
12 Sow for yourselves righteousness;
    reap steadfast love;
    break up your fallow ground,
for it is the time to seek the LORD,
    that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.

13 You have plowed iniquity;
    you have reaped injustice;
    you have eaten the fruit of lies.
Because you have trusted in your own way
    and in the multitude of your warriors,
14 therefore the tumult of war shall arise among your people,
    and all your fortresses shall be destroyed,
as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle;
    mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.
15 Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel,
    because of your great evil.
At dawn the king of Israel
    shall be utterly cut off.

The more Israel prospered, the  more idolatrous and rebellious it became.  Not the symbolism of Israel being characterized by a vine in the Old Testament and this is never a good thing, but Jesus calls Himself the True Vine that is the True Israel and is successful everywhere where Israel has failed.  There is not just an issue with their fruit, but with their root.  The text says their hearts are false.

They boldly proclaim, "We have no king because we do not fear the LORD."   They openly flaunt their rebellion and wickedness.  The show their lack of faith by asking, "What can He do for us?"  They say they do not believe in God but it seems they blame Him for doing nothing to help them escape their problems they got themselves into. Does that not sound familiar (like the modern-day atheist)?

They make empty promises that they intend to break.  No oath, promise, vow, or covenant they make has any meaning nor can it be trusted.  Since they have not tended to the vineyard of their hearts, poisonous weeds will spring up to choke out the good vine.  The people that once found comfort and security in the image of the golden calf that they worshiped in place of the LORD now tremble in fear as it is being shown powerless to save them.  They will be put to shame along with their idols, false prophets, and false priests and priestesses.

Though they had a system of "might makes right" to choose their king, even their mighty kings will perish.  God will not save the king.  Thorns and thistles, a symbol of the Curse from Genesis 3, will cover all the altars these kings and their subjects made to the various false gods they worshiped.  All of them will be broken down and become nothing but ruble and dust by the time the 70 years of exile are over.

From the day of the northern kingdom's birth as a separate nation, they have been sinful.  You could say they were born in sin because their first acts were acts of rebellion against the LORD.  They refused His covenant and worshiped idols in His place violating the first and second commandments.  The LORD calls their sin up sin a double-iniquity (iniquity is high-handed sins of rebellion, they are not accidently sinning, they are doing it willfully.  They know the rules and are choosing to deliberately disobey them).

Ephraim used to be a trained calf that needed no yoke to make it do what it was supposed to do.  It would thresh the grain without needing any kind of restraint, but now the LORD will put a heavy yoke upon it.  Judah will be in charge as the farmer plows the field using it's teams of livestock.  Though Ephraim was allowed to rule the northern ten tribes for a while, the tribes will unite once again under the leadership of the tribe of Judah whom the LORD chose to be the tribe that the King would come from.  All of True Israel will submit to His authority.  Though, He promises that His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

​We then start to see the Law of the Sower again--"You reap what you sow."  The LORD cautions Israel to be careful about what they sow.  They have a choice to sow righteousness and reap steadfast love, or they can continue to reap the fruits of the iniquities they have sown.  The LORD seems to be offering them one last chance to repent and He will forgive them, though He knows they will not do this.  They will refuse to do the work of weeding the garden, breaking up the fallow ground, and cultivating the hearts and minds of the people to be receptive to the Word of God once again.

Therefore, judgment, destruction, and tumult will come upon the people of God.  Mothers and children will be dashed to pieces--no one will will be spared.  Even the city known as the "house of God" will not be spared.  Yes, even their wicked king will be cut off from the land of the living.

Hosea 9
English Standard Version

The LORD Will Punish Israel
9 Rejoice not, O Israel!
    Exult not like the peoples;
for you have played the whore, forsaking your God.
    You have loved a prostitute's wages
    on all threshing floors.
2 Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them,
    and the new wine shall fail them.
3 They shall not remain in the land of the LORD,
    but Ephraim shall return to Egypt,
    and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria.

4 They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the LORD,
    and their sacrifices shall not please him.
It shall be like mourners' bread to them;
    all who eat of it shall be defiled;
for their bread shall be for their hunger only;
    it shall not come to the house of the LORD.

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 are going away from destruction;
    but Egypt shall gather them;
    Memphis shall bury them.
Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver;
    thorns shall be in their tents.

7 The days of punishment have come;
    the days of recompense have come;
    Israel shall know it.
The prophet is a fool;
    the man of the spirit is mad,
because of your great iniquity
    and great hatred.
8 The prophet is the watchman of Ephraim with my God;
yet a fowler's snare is on all his ways,
    and hatred in the house of his God.
9 They have deeply corrupted themselves
    as in the days of Gibeah:
he will remember their iniquity;
    he will punish their sins.

10 Like grapes in the wilderness,
    I found Israel.
Like the first fruit on the fig tree
    in its first season,
    I saw your fathers.
But they came to Baal-peor
    and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame,
    and became detestable like the thing they loved.
11 Ephraim's glory shall fly away like a bird--
    no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!
12 Even if they bring up children,
    I will bereave them till none is left.
Woe to them
    when I depart from them!
13 Ephraim, as I have seen, was like a young palm planted in a meadow;
    but Ephraim must lead his children out to slaughter.
14 Give them, O LORD--
    what will you give?
Give them a miscarrying womb
    and dry breasts.

15 Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal;
    there I began to hate them.
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.

16 Ephraim is stricken;
    their root is dried up;
    they shall bear no fruit.
Even though they give birth,
    I will put their beloved children to death.
17 My God will reject them
    because they have not listened to him;
    they shall be wanderers among the nations.

The LORD has been judging many of the other nations already and been telling the Prophets to tell His people that they should not rejoice over the downfall of these nations, because the LORD is using them as an example of what He should do to Israel.  They are just as wicked and deserve to be destroyed, but the LORD will preserve them for the sake of His covenant and His holy name and for the sake of the gospel.  However, they still should not gloat, because judgment is coming upon them.  They have acted like a whore and they will now be treated like one (they have been unfaithful to their covenant with the LORD like an unfaithful woman who doesn't care about her marital vows).  They will be exiled from the Land, be forced to eat unclean food by the people that take them into exile, and they will not be permitted to make sacrifices to the LORD.

They will have only enough food and drink to feed themselves, they won't have anything extra to give as food or drink offerings to the LORD.  They will not celebrate the feasts or festivals that remind them of who they are, and of the gospel message that would give them expectation and hope.  Many of them would and up in Egypt once again, but they would die there (a sign of returning to slavery to sin and dying in their sins, because the LORD had set them free from their slavery in Egypt which was symbolic to them of their slavery to sin, though many of them missed the symbolism).

The believe the prophets of the LORD who have the Spirit of the LORD to be fools and madmen.  The LORD is getting ready to punish them again like He did at Gibeah and Baal-peor (where they engaged in idolatry and sexual immorality with the Midianite and the last of the rebellious generation were slain in the wilderness before the next generation was ready to inherit the Promised Land).  What Baalam was not able to do to them with a curse, the people did to themselves when they engaged in idolatry and sexual sin, and they have failed to learn those lessons of the past and are repeating the same mistakes again that will lead to similar judgment.

The LORD will drive them out of the Land and will no longer pour out the blessings of His covenant on them, making people believe that He no longer loves them.  They are like spoiled children whose only definition of "love" is how much stuff that their parents give to them and they start believing they deserve and are entitled to all of it though they are rude, disobedient and act as a snob.  Have you ever met a "trust fund kid" who thought they were above the law or wrecked their nice sports car and said, "It's okay, mom and dad will just buy me another one."?  Israel is acting much like this and the LORD is cutting them off.  He's going to give them some tough love and let them feel the consequences of their bad choices.  He's no longer going to protect or insulate them.

No longer will they be fruitful and numerous on the earth.  Those who have children will see their children die before them.  They will return to those times of being like the wilderness--physical and spiritual hunger, thirst, and barrenness.  Those who were once mighty and strong will be brought down to nothing.  They will be taken to the brink of destruction.  Because they have rejected the LORD and His Word, He has rejected them to make them wanderers and sojourners among the nations--a people without a home and being tempted at all times to give up whatever remained of their identity as His people to become just like all the other nations (which is what they said they wanted, and the LORD finally is giving them what they asked for).

Hosea 8
English Standard Version

Israel Will Reap the Whirlwind
8 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.
2 To me they cry,
    “My God, we—Israel—know you.”
3 Israel has spurned the good;
    the enemy shall pursue him.

4 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.
5 I have spurned your calf, O Samaria.
    My anger burns against them.
How long will they be incapable of innocence?
6 For it is from Israel;
a craftsman made it;
    it is not God.
The calf of Samaria
    shall be broken to pieces.

7 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.
8 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.
10 Though they hire allies among the nations,
    I will soon gather them up.
And the king and princes shall soon writhe
    because of the tribute.

11 Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning,
    they have become to him altars for sinning.
12 Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands,
    they would be regarded as a strange thing.
13 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.

The LORD now speaks to the unidentified armies that will be conquering His people.  He tells them to prepare for war and to be ready to be like vultures that feast on the dead bodies of war.  Why does the LORD allow this to happen?  Because His people have transgressed His covenant.  They will claim that God should save them because they know (of) God, but they do not "know" Him in a relational way.  If they did, they would love Him, and if they loved Him, they would obey Him.  Because they love themselves and their sin, it is evident that they do not love or know God as they claim.

They chose wicked men to lead them.  They did not inquire of the LORD as to who should be their king because they rejected the LORD as their King.  The used the wealth that the LORD has blessed them with to make idols and make sacrifices to those idols.  They attributed the salvation and blessing that God provided to these idols of wood, gold, silver and stone.  These images came from the hands and minds of men, not of God, for He had commanded them to not worship any created thing and to never make for themselves any graven images (idols) of any created thing.

You may know this next verse from people using it out of context, especially politicians.  Israel has "sown the wind" and will "reap the whirlwind."  This goes to the Law of the Sower that you will will reap what you sow, in more abundance than what you sow (in this case in more severity) and later than you sow.  Israel is getting the natural consequences of their poor choices and they have no one to blame but themselves.  God will cause the Land to stop producing a fruitful harvest for them.  They will have stalks of grain with no heads.  Any grain which is produced will be stolen by foreigners.  Israel will be swallowed up by the other nations so that its people will be dispersed among the nations of the world.

The LORD now names who He will use to accomplish this judgment He's been speaking of.  He says that the northern kingdom of Israel will be taken into Assyria.  They will be like the wild donkeys that wander in the wilderness.  The image is like that of the people wandering in the wilderness before God gave them a place to call home, but now the LORD has removed them from that place and they are sojourners and wanderers once again.  This time feels very different though because they are not following the Pillar of Cloud and Pillar of Fire and there is no Tabernacle in their midst.  They are not fighting to defeat their enemies--the LORD is with their enemies who are fighting and defeating them.

Israel will try to hire mercenaries from among the other nations to help them fight off the Assyrians, but the LORD will cause Assyria to be successful and all of the people of Israel (the northern kingdom) will eventually be rounded up and dispersed into the lands of Assyria.  Assyria would bring people from other lands to repopulate the land of Israel and some of Israel's neighbors imagined that this was their time to seize the LORD's inheritance for His people for themselves.  They even imagined that by taking they Land they might become the LORD's people and receive the blessings that belonged to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The northern kingdom had altars and idols everywhere, and the LORD sees these as altars to sin.  The people made gods that called their evil good and not only condoned their wickedness and perversion, but demanded it, and called it worship.  The LORD said that if He again wrote the Law for them like He had done for Moses on Mount Sinai, it would be a strange thing to them, because most of them have never seen or heard His commandments (is that not the same today?).  They have separated themselves from the Temple, the Levitical priesthood, and the sacrificial system that comes with it.  They are trying to let everyone act as his or her own priest and make up their own version of god they want to worship in their won way and pretending that God will have to be happy with whatever form of worship they offer to Him, even though He has prescribed very particular worship for them that points them towards the gospel and the coming of Jesus and He said that He would accept nothing else other than this.  He had a reason for making them a peculiar people because He had given them a special place among the nations and in history.  He had chosen them to be a light to the Gentiles and to be the ones to take His Word to the nations and the ones from whom salvation was to come, not just for the children of Israel, but for the whole world.  Yet, they did not understand and they rejected Him and His good plan for them.  Jesus came to be and do all the things that they could not and would not be and do.

There is another hidden prophecy here that "they will return to Egypt," but the nation as a whole did not return to Egypt.  Instead, Jesus, as a substitute for His people was called out of Egypt.  Remember that after the wise men visited Mary and Joseph, Mary and Joseph were told to take the Christ Child and flee to Egypt because Herod was seeking to kill Him.  The LORD is going to destroy everything that they have put their trust in instead of Him and remove every blessing of His covenant form them except for the promise that He will be with them wherever they go, because He will go into Exile with them.  The nations will tear down and devour their strongholds, take all the natural resources of the Land and the Land that was the Beautiful Land will become barren and desolate.  People will wonder how this could be "The Land Flowing with Milk and Honey" that the LORD spoke of.  The Land reflects that condition of His people and because their hearts are spiritually dead, barren and fruitless, that is what the Land will show the nations.  Only when the LORD causes His people to come back to life again spiritually will the Land also respond and start coming alive and producing fruit and a good harvest again.  Until then, the people will need to learn that salvation is found in no one and nothing else other than the LORD, their Rock, Redeemer, Savior, and Defender.