Hosea 2:8
For she does not acknowledge that it was I who gave her grain, new wine, and oil, who lavished on her silver and gold--which they crafted for Baal.
For she does not acknowledge
The Hebrew word for "acknowledge" is "יָדַע" (yada), which means to know or recognize. In the context of Hosea, this lack of acknowledgment signifies Israel's failure to recognize God's provision and blessings. Historically, Israel often turned to other gods, forgetting the true source of their prosperity. This phrase highlights the spiritual blindness and ingratitude that can occur when people turn away from God.

that it was I who gave her
The emphasis here is on God's personal involvement and provision. The use of "I" underscores God's role as the ultimate provider. In the historical context of ancient Israel, the people often attributed their success to other deities, particularly Baal, who was associated with fertility and agriculture. This phrase serves as a reminder that all blessings come from the Lord, not from idols or false gods.

the grain, the new wine, and the oil
These three items—grain, wine, and oil—were staples of ancient Near Eastern agriculture and economy. They symbolize sustenance, joy, and anointing, respectively. In the Hebrew context, these were seen as direct blessings from God, essential for life and worship. The mention of these items highlights the tangible ways God provided for Israel, contrasting with the emptiness of idol worship.

I lavished on her silver and gold
The word "lavished" suggests abundance and generosity. In Hebrew, the root word "רָבַב" (ravav) implies multiplying or increasing. God's provision was not just sufficient but abundant. Silver and gold were symbols of wealth and prosperity. This phrase indicates that God not only met Israel's needs but also blessed them with wealth, which they misused.

which they crafted for Baal
Baal was a Canaanite deity often associated with fertility and weather. The Israelites' crafting of silver and gold for Baal represents their idolatry and spiritual adultery. This phrase highlights the tragic irony of using God's blessings to honor false gods. It serves as a warning against the misuse of God's gifts and the dangers of idolatry, reminding believers to remain faithful to the true source of all blessings.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Hosea
A prophet in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, called by God to deliver messages of judgment and redemption.

2. Israel
The Northern Kingdom, often depicted as an unfaithful wife in Hosea's prophecies, symbolizing the nation's spiritual adultery.

3. Baal
A Canaanite deity, representing idolatry and false worship, which Israel pursued instead of remaining faithful to God.

4. Grain, New Wine, and Oil
Symbols of God's provision and blessings, which Israel attributed to false gods.

5. Silver and Gold
Wealth and resources given by God, misused by Israel to create idols.
Teaching Points
Acknowledging God's Provision
Recognize that all blessings and resources come from God, not from our own efforts or false idols.

Avoiding Idolatry
Be vigilant against modern forms of idolatry, such as materialism or placing anything above God in our lives.

Gratitude and Stewardship
Cultivate a heart of gratitude for God's gifts and use them wisely for His glory, not for selfish or idolatrous purposes.

Faithfulness to God
Stay faithful to God, understanding that spiritual adultery leads to separation from His blessings.

Repentance and Restoration
Embrace repentance as a path to restoration, acknowledging our failures and returning to God with a sincere heart.
Bible Study Questions
1. How can we ensure that we acknowledge God as the source of our blessings in our daily lives?

2. What are some modern-day "idols" that might tempt us to divert our gratitude and worship away from God?

3. In what ways can we practice good stewardship of the resources God has given us?

4. How does the account of Israel's unfaithfulness in Hosea challenge us to examine our own faithfulness to God?

5. What steps can we take to repent and restore our relationship with God when we recognize areas of spiritual adultery in our lives?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Deuteronomy 8:18
Reminds Israel that it is God who gives the ability to produce wealth, emphasizing reliance on God rather than idols.

Jeremiah 2:13
Describes Israel's forsaking of God, the "spring of living water," for broken cisterns, symbolizing their pursuit of false gods.

James 1:17
Affirms that every good and perfect gift is from above, reinforcing the idea that all blessings come from God.
Mercies AbusedJ.R. Thomson Hosea 2:8
The Unknown Giver and the Misused GiftsCharles Haddon Spurgeon Hosea 2:8
The Philosophy of the Divine ChastisementsJ. Orr Hosea 2:5-9
AgnosticismJoseph Parker, D. D.Hosea 2:8-9
All is of GodHosea 2:8-9
Everything from GodH. G. Salter.Hosea 2:8-9
God AcknowledgedT. De Witt Talmage.Hosea 2:8-9
God OverlookedJ. Marrat.Hosea 2:8-9
God the Source of BlessingsHosea 2:8-9
God's Hand to be Acknowledged in His Good GiftsC. A. Hewitley, B. D.Hosea 2:8-9
Misusing GiltsHosea 2:8-9
Political and Social UngodlinessA. Mackennal, D. D.Hosea 2:8-9
Success Rightly AscribedHosea 2:8-9
The Blindness of IngratitudeHosea 2:8-9
The Misimprovement of Providential LayoutsC. M. Merry.Hosea 2:8-9
The Worship of FortuneHosea 2:8-9
Prosperity Abased and BlightedC. Jerdan Hosea 2:8-13
People
Hosea, Ishi, Jezreel, Zephaniah
Places
Egypt, Jezreel, Valley of Achor
Topics
Baal, Ba'al, Corn, Employed, Gold, Grain, Increasing, Lavished, Multiplied, Multiply, Oil, Prepared, Silver, Wine, Yea
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Hosea 2:8

     4363   silver
     4488   oil
     5476   property
     5503   rich, the
     5889   ingratitude
     8780   materialism, and sin

Hosea 2:1-10

     6189   immorality, examples

Hosea 2:2-13

     5721   mothers, a symbol
     7312   Baal
     8764   forgetting God

Hosea 2:7-8

     8771   idolatry, objections

Library
The Valley of Achor
'I will give her ... the valley of Achor for a door of hope.'--HOSEA II. 15. The Prophet Hosea is remarkable for the frequent use which he makes of events in the former history of his people. Their past seems to him a mirror in which they may read their future. He believes that 'which is to be hath already been,' the great principles of the divine government living on through all the ages, and issuing in similar acts when the circumstances are similar. So he foretells that there will yet be once
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Unknown Giver and the Misused Gifts
"For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax."--Hosea 2:8-9. In reading any of the records concerning the people of Israel and the people of Judah, one stands amazed at two things, and scarcely knows which to wonder at most. The first thing which causes astonishment is the great
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 38: 1892

27TH DAY. Everlasting Espousals.
"He is Faithful that Promised." "And I will betroth thee unto Me for ever."--HOSEA ii. 19. Everlasting Espousals. How wondrous and varied are the figures which Jesus employs to express the tenderness of His covenant love! My soul! thy Saviour-God hath "married thee!" Wouldst thou know the hour of thy betrothment? Go back into the depths of a by-past eternity, before the world was; then and there, thine espousals were contracted: "I have loved thee with an everlasting love." Soon shall the bridal-hour
John Ross Macduff—The Faithful Promiser

"I Know, O Lord, that Thy Judgments are Right, and that Thou in Faithfulness Hast Afflicted Me. " -- Psalm 119:75.
"I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she shall sing there." -- Hosea 2:14,15. "I know, O Lord, that Thy judgments are right, and that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me." -- Psalm 119:75. I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength -- Thee shall my rescued heart embrace; Thy love, in all its breadth and length, Shall be my peaceful dwelling place. Whom have
Miss A. L. Waring—Hymns and Meditations

The Secret of his Pavilion
Gerhard Ter Steegen Hos. ii. 14 Allured into the desert, with God alone, apart, There spirit meeteth spirit, there speaketh heart to heart. Far, far on that untrodden shore, God's secret place I find, Alone I pass the golden door, the dearest left behind. There God and I--none other; oh far from men to be! Nay, midst the crowd and tumult, still, Lord, alone with Thee. Still folded close upon Thy breast, in field, and mart, and street, Untroubled in that perfect rest, that isolation sweet. O God,
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

And After. (xxx, xxxi, xxxix-Xliv. )
There are two separated accounts of what befel Jeremiah when the city was taken. Ch. XXXIX. 3, 14 tells us that he was fetched from the guard-court by Babylonian officers,(609) and given to Gedaliah, the son of his old befriender Ahikam, to be taken home.(610) At last!--but for only a brief interval in the life of this homeless and harried man. When a few months later Nebusaradan arrived on his mission to burn the city and deport the inhabitants Jeremiah is said by Ch. XL to have been carried off
George Adam Smith—Jeremiah

And that this Race was to Become an Holy People was Declared in the Twelve...
And that this race was to become an holy people was declared in the Twelve Prophets [283] by Hosea, thus: I will call that which was not (my) people, my people; and her that was not beloved, beloved. It shall come to pass that in the place where it was called not my people, there shall they be called sons of the Living God. (Hos. ii. 23, i. 10) This also is that which was said by John the Baptist: That God is able of these stones to raise up sons to Abraham. For our hearts being withdrawn and taken
Irenæus—The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching

Entire Sanctification in Prophecy.
The Major Prophets are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. The twelve prophetic books in the Old Testament following the book of Daniel are called the Minor Prophets. In the writings of both classes we find many allusions and predictions as to the entire sanctification of believers in the gospel dispensation and under the reign of Messiah or Christ. The sixth chapter of Isaiah is usually regarded as his call to the prophetic office. Whether this be so or not, it records a very wonderful experience
Dougan Clark—The Theology of Holiness

The Prophecy of Obadiah.
We need not enter into details regarding the question as to the time when the prophet wrote. By a thorough argumentation, Caspari has proved, that he occupies his right position in the Canon, and hence belongs to the earliest age of written prophecy, i.e., to the time of Jeroboam II. and Uzziah. As bearing conclusively against those who would assign to him a far later date, viz., the time of the exile, there is not only the indirect testimony borne by the place which this prophecy occupies in
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

The Controversy Concerning Fasting
"And John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting: and they come and say unto Him, Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Thy disciples fast not?" MARK 2:18 (R.V.) THE Pharisees had just complained to the disciples that Jesus ate and drank in questionable company. Now they join with the followers of the ascetic Baptist in complaining to Jesus that His disciples eat and drink at improper seasons, when others fast. And as Jesus had then replied, that being a Physician,
G. A. Chadwick—The Gospel of St. Mark

'Fruit which is Death'
'Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images. 2. Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: He shall break down their altars, He shall spoil their images. 3. For now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared not the Lord; what then should a king do to us? 4. They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Wilderness State
"Ye now have sorrow: But I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you." John 16:22. 1. After God had wrought a great deliverance for Israel, by bringing them out of the house of bondage, they did not immediately enter into the land which he had promised to their fathers; but "wandered out of the way in the wilderness," and were variously tempted and distressed. In like manner, after God has delivered them that fear him from the bondage of sin and Satan;
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

How the Rude in Sacred Learning, and those who are Learned but not Humble, are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 25.) Differently to be admonished are those who do not understand aright the words of the sacred Law, and those who understand them indeed aright, but speak them not humbly. For those who understand not aright the words of sacred Law are to be admonished to consider that they turn for themselves a most wholesome drought of wine into a cup of poison, and with a medicinal knife inflict on themselves a mortal wound, when they destroy in themselves what was sound by that whereby they ought,
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Of Inward Silence
Of Inward Silence "The Lord is in His Holy Temple, let all the earth keep silence before him" (Hab. ii. 20). Inward silence is absolutely indispensable, because the Word is essential and eternal, and necessarily requires dispositions in the soul in some degree correspondent to His nature, as a capacity for the reception of Himself. Hearing is a sense formed to receive sounds, and is rather passive than active, admitting, but not communicating sensation; and if we would hear, we must lend the ear
Madame Guyon—A Short and Easy Method of Prayer

"Thou Shalt Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother. "
From this Commandment we learn that after the excellent works of the first three Commandments there are no better works than to obey and serve all those who are set over us as superiors. For this reason also disobedience is a greater sin than murder, unchastity, theft and dishonesty, and all that these may include. For we can in no better way learn how to distinguish between greater and lesser sins than by noting the order of the Commandments of God, although there are distinctions also within the
Dr. Martin Luther—A Treatise on Good Works

Nature of Covenanting.
A covenant is a mutual voluntary compact between two parties on given terms or conditions. It may be made between superiors and inferiors, or between equals. The sentiment that a covenant can be made only between parties respectively independent of one another is inconsistent with the testimony of Scripture. Parties to covenants in a great variety of relative circumstances, are there introduced. There, covenant relations among men are represented as obtaining not merely between nation and nation,
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Of Rest in the Presence of God --Its Fruits --Inward Silence --God Commands it --Outward Silence.
The soul, being brought to this place, needs no other preparation than that of repose: for the presence of God during the day, which is the great result of prayer, or rather prayer itself, begins to be intuitive and almost continual. The soul is conscious of a deep inward happiness, and feels that God is in it more truly than it is in itself. It has only one thing to do in order to find God, which is to retire within itself. As soon as the eyes are closed, it finds itself in prayer. It is astonished
Jeanne Marie Bouvières—A Short Method Of Prayer And Spiritual Torrents

The Beginning of Justification. In what Sense Progressive.
1. Men either idolatrous, profane, hypocritical, or regenerate. 1. Idolaters void of righteousness, full of unrighteousness, and hence in the sight of God altogether wretched and undone. 2. Still a great difference in the characters of men. This difference manifested. 1. In the gifts of God. 2. In the distinction between honorable and base. 3. In the blessings of he present life. 3. All human virtue, how praiseworthy soever it may appear, is corrupted. 1. By impurity of heart. 2. By the absence of
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Covenanting According to the Purposes of God.
Since every revealed purpose of God, implying that obedience to his law will be given, is a demand of that obedience, the announcement of his Covenant, as in his sovereignty decreed, claims, not less effectively than an explicit law, the fulfilment of its duties. A representation of a system of things pre-determined in order that the obligations of the Covenant might be discharged; various exhibitions of the Covenant as ordained; and a description of the children of the Covenant as predestinated
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

The Gospel Feast
"When Jesus then lifted up His eyes, and saw a great company come unto Him, He saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?"--John vi. 5. After these words the Evangelist adds, "And this He said to prove him, for He Himself knew what He would do." Thus, you see, our Lord had secret meanings when He spoke, and did not bring forth openly all His divine sense at once. He knew what He was about to do from the first, but He wished to lead forward His disciples, and to arrest and
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII

The Worst Things Work for Good to the Godly
DO not mistake me, I do not say that of their own nature the worst things are good, for they are a fruit of the curse; but though they are naturally evil, yet the wise overruling hand of God disposing and sanctifying them, they are morally good. As the elements, though of contrary qualities, yet God has so tempered them, that they all work in a harmonious manner for the good of the universe. Or as in a watch, the wheels seem to move contrary one to another, but all carry on the motions of the watch:
Thomas Watson—A Divine Cordial

The Prophet Hosea.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. That the kingdom of Israel was the object of the prophet's ministry is so evident, that upon this point all are, and cannot but be, agreed. But there is a difference of opinion as to whether the prophet was a fellow-countryman of those to whom he preached, or was called by God out of the kingdom of Judah. The latter has been asserted with great confidence by Maurer, among others, in his Observ. in Hos., in the Commentat. Theol. ii. i. p. 293. But the arguments
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

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