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The Book of Hosea – Part 8, Hos 8:1-14

[Study Aired June 1, 2024]

The Bible is a highly detailed book chronicling fleshy man, the epitome of God’s creation and His spiritual recreation. God, the Father, the “I Am”, is the paragon of purity in everything. His plan is to replicate Himself. In doing so, the order of headship and His sovereignty are designed to be repeatedly challenged by mankind in wave after wave of crushing humiliation for him to come to the point of utter submission to Christ, his head, and the Father’s crowning supremacy over all.

Integral with the chronology of mankind is the identity of two men, beginning with the carnal Adam and the evolving new creation of the spiritual Adam termed the “new man.” That ‘new Adam’ is the recreated consummate image of God. 

Gen 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness [meaning flesh likeness lacking the vital spiritual]: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Gen 1:27  So God created man [“the sum of His word” – is creating man] in his own image, in the image of God created [is creating as an ongoing process for one of the two resurrections] he him; male and female created he them.

Mankind’s passage to becoming God and his individualised experience of a mighty spiritual “earthquake” in his time and order of conversion is subsequently experienced in a cascade of tumultuous fiery trials. Yet, just like the large ‘stumbling block’ rock, Christ is in the middle of the stream of mankind, that initial ‘rock’s’ wave is massive and rebounds in decreasing amplitude as the water continues downstream. Such is the pictorial of mankind’s turbulent course to becoming peacefully one with God.

Following is a very broad scriptural summary of this introduction.

Isa 43:10  Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

Exo 3:14  And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. 

Isa 43:11  I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour. 

Rev 3:14  And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

Rev 21:1  And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 
Rev 21:2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 
Rev 21:3  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

Intrinsic with two men representing mankind are two women representing two sequentially espoused covenants. A woman represents a church or a number of churches. A church is where the inception of the holy spirit begins and develops in the laity. Entirely in keeping with the plan of God in creating Himself with mankind, the first corruptible fleshy pattern is designed to decay and dustily blow away and is represented by the first espoused woman, Israel, to Elohim, meaning Christ of the Old Covenant. The new wife of Christ has nothing spiritually to do with the first woman, only with her historical residual indecency slowly ‘cascading’ out of her in the increasingly peaceful waters of the Lord’s spirit.

However, in the meantime, that ‘new woman’ is known as Christ’s Bride. As is the natural proclivity of those with eyes to see, a beautiful couple in courtship and marriage has all eyes on the Bride, who, most imminently, has her similarly single-eyed focus on her Husband.

Jer 31:20  Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD. 
Jer 31:21  Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities. 
Jer 31:22  How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for the LORD hath [is creating] created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man.
Jer 31:23  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring again their captivity; The LORD bless thee, O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness.

Since a woman represents a church espoused to her Lord, her inherent inability to submit to her espousal agreement, the Old Covenant, lies in lockstep with the Covenant’s designed “fault” of her not having the holy spirit that would have empowered her submission. She is in vowed espousal Covenant agreement, and thus Israel encompasses Christ, the “man”, to his glory. Since the Temple in Jerusalem is central geographically to all Israel, she encompasses her Lord and King, and he covers her in order of headship under Christ.

1Co 11:7  For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.
1Co 11:8  For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.
1Co 11:9  Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man. 
1Co 11:10  For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.

Her inbuilt fleshy ‘fault’ in not having the holy spirit and wavering submission to her Husband results in her reaping a whirlwind, a seemingly endless tempest of trials. The Bride she is to become in the ‘second woman’ historically knows from where she has come and, with the holy spirit, is able, by her Lord’s strength and faith, is symbolically carried aloft in an Ezekiel-like fiery chariot, impervious to its heat and terrible smoke of her former burning.

Heb 8:7  For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. 
Heb 8:8  For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: 
Heb 8:9  Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
Heb 8:10  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
Heb 8:11  And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Gen 50:19  And Joseph [speaking to his fearful brothers, the embryonic Israel] said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? [Nonetheless, Joseph profoundly represents God to eventually save all of mankind] 
Gen 50:20  But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
Gen 50:21  Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.

Since the cross, the second woman, the Bride of Christ, has been comforted by her Lord’s spirit, which she now hears and sees for an increasingly easier passage through the stormy and fiery trials. In the meantime, Israel, except somewhat paradoxically for much later Job, laboriously suffers fiery trials that are frustratingly impossible for the flesh to avoid. Hosea 8:1-14 continues with her “cascade” of trials that we seemingly endlessly mirror spiritually.

Israel Will Reap the Whirlwind

Hos 8:1  Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He shall come as an eagle against the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law.

I have a great passion for raptors of any kind. Any ‘hawker’ or ‘falconer’ knows that he can train, not without risk, his particular raptor to attack prey he’s not accustomed to taking in the wild. It is common in Eurasian countries to train Stepp and Golden Eagles to hunt wolves and larger deer than usual. Even in Australia, our Wedge-tailed Eagle can take down kangaroos by cunningly, with two birds, administering successive blows to the ‘roo’s’ head, rendering it bloody and senseless. Such is Satan ‘trained’ by God specifically as a murderer from the beginning by God to be “an eagle, an “unclean fowl”, against the house of the Lord”.

Job 26:13  By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent. 
Job 26:14  Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand? 

Mat 13:18  Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
Mat 13:19  When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away [like an eagle] that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.

An eagle doesn’t take a ‘dicky-bird’ like pecking at spiritually sown seed; he bodily steals away the entire animal! So it was with Israel, whom the Lord subsequently took captive, and later, Judah, the entire Beast. If we, too, don’t hear the Lord’s trumpet, even a murmuration (massive wheeling flock) of invasive starling-like evil spirits voraciously descend to eat every exposed spiritual seed by a figurative ‘death by a million “terrible and dreadful” cuts.’

Hab 1:6  For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs. 
Hab 1:7  They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity [self-elevation] shall proceed of themselves.
Hab 1:8  Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.

For the past two-thousand years, the joints of Christ’s scattered Bride have been similarly taken away bodily by an eagle to be protected from succumbing to the multiple evil fowl attacks and endure, with growing joy, her chastisements.

Rev 12:13  And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.
Rev 12:14  And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

Just as the Great Whore is made unwittingly “bald” by her haughty disdain for her Lord’s headship, Israel metaphorically, physically, and decreasingly we spiritually, can be plucked bald of Christ’s covering before he picks the flesh from our bones as we cry uselessly to God.

Mic 1:16  Make thee bald, and poll thee for thy delicate children; enlarge thy baldness as the eagle; for they are gone into captivity from thee.

Hos 8:2  Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee.
Hos 8:3  Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him. 

As Israel typifies, when our barns are bulging and life is rich and well-fed, we easily forget our past with the subconsciousness that Christ is pleased with our lives. We blithely dance off to dissipate our lives in wine, women, and song, only to prodigally return with cap in hand to our incredibly patient and gracious Father (Luk 15:11-32).

Hos 8:4  They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.

Of course, the most outstanding “king” is the Beast within, sitting on God’s throne, having stolen the Lord’s gold and silver and claimed the holy wealth of his word as his own spiritual righteousness.

Hag 2:8  The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts.

Isa 60:17  For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness. 

2Th 2:1  Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 
2Th 2:2  That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 
2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way [Hosea 8:4 “… that they may be cut off”].
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed [you and me “in his time”], whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 
2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 
2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Hos 8:5  Thy calf [H5695/H5696], O Samaria, hath cast thee off; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocency?

Calf H5695/H5696 – 1. Round and reminiscent previously, we saw in Jer 31:21: Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities.

Jer 31:22  How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for the LORD hath [is creating] created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man.

Similarly, the woman encompassing another Jesus is us when we surround the golden calf of our idols.

Another signification is the future woman who now is encompassing mankind and enigmatically “black” to understanding, is the Shulamite, the Bride of Christ. She is the antiphrasis of a harlot in the following verses, even as an eagle in the air to positively pluck bald the “adulterous woman” her Babylonian brothers and sisters feigned innocence prior to and in the Resurrection to Judgment.

Pro 30:19  The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid. 
Pro 30:20  Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.

Hos 8:6  For from Israel was it also: the workman made it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria [Israel in the north] shall be broken in pieces. 
Hos 8:7  For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.

If anyone has experienced a powerful thermal urbanely called a “dust devil” or whirlwind while on foot, he would have marvelled at its buffeting strength. We can well imagine trying to sow seed as the ancients did by hand and how the seed would be violently carried aloft and scattered uselessly far and wide. Such are we when we speak great swelling words of carnal intelligence devoid of spiritual understanding carried away to land on stranger’s ears equally dull of hearing. 

Hos 8:8  Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure. 

The contrasting vessel the Gentiles will most fearfully come to know is Christ’s Wife in whom He finds immense pleasure. She was in her flesh the weaker vessel who is given to grow into a stunningly beautiful woman of equal righteousness as her Husband. She is the chosen heavenly vessel administering to the Tabernacle.

1Pe 3:7  Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.

Heb 9:21  Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. 

Hos 8:9  For they [Israel] are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.

A wild Ass is a Donkey not as powerful as a Mule, which is a male Donkey crossed with a female horse. So, Israel is depicted as many scattered and untamed Donkeys bucking and contending with his capture and forcibly made to carry the burdens of his former “lovers”, the Assyrians. 

Hos 8:10  Yea, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes. 

Outwardly today, our Babylonian brothers and sisters, having built a tower of intellectual and religious wisdom, are fattened for the coming slaughter of the Beast turning against the Great Whore. Her coming tribulations and woes are soon coming without the peace of wisdom and understanding of God’s word, and she will find the hour a most harrowing experience. Our individualised chastisements are thankfully understood, and even though grievous for a while, we find joy in their conclusion, knowing that they bring forth Christ’s gold.

Heb 12:8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 
Heb 12:9  Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 
Heb 12:10  For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
Heb 12:11  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

Hos 8:11  Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin.
Hos 8:12  I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.
Hos 8:13  They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it; but the LORD accepteth them not; now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins: they shall return to Egypt. 

Jer 16:13  Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; where I will not shew you favour. 

Isa 30:1  Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin: 
Isa 30:2  That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! 

Hos 8:14  For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples; and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.

Multiple ‘fenced cities’ are our fading obstinate belief in our own righteousness. Heedlessly for the world destined to be ruled with the rod of iron, and upon Satan’s release from prison, fire will likewise descend upon Gog’s and Magog’s cities and her palaces utterly devoured upon them, contesting the camp of the Saints of God.

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. 
Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. 

Luk 21:18  But there shall not an hair of your head perish. 
Luk 21:19  In your patience possess ye your souls. 

However, in the meantime, perilous times are increasing day by day. We, the “weaker vessel” (1Pe 3:7) to our Husband, will not permit suffering beyond our endurance as He continues to strengthen our single-eyed focus on Him. Though we could physically decease, not one hair of His covering of the glory He is giving us will perish if we continue to the end in the paradoxical joyful endurance of chastisement (Heb 12:7, Jas 5:11, Mat 24:13).

Even though some in the world could be shocked literally to death at Christ’s outward coming, and notably maybe those who tasted but scorned the heavenly gift, His spiritual  “brightness” will be minimal since that time is reserved for the Lake of Fire that burns with a fierce brightness. The Father is hastening that day to the point that Christ’s outward coming will surprise even His Bride.

2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

Mat 24:36  But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. 

In the meantime, Christ’s Christs wait patiently for that glorious hour.