“Put the trumpet to your lips! An eagle is over the house of the LORD because the people have broken my covenant and rebelled against my law.”
– Hosea 8:1
Hi James and Ellen,
Have you ever ticked off another kid – or a guy or gal? Has another kid – or a guy or gal, ever ticked you off? Have you ever ticked off God? If you have gotten another kid – or a guy or gal, angry with you, what did you do or say to the kid – or to the guy or gal, to have gotten him or her angry with you? If you have gotten angry with another kid – or with a guy or gal, what did the kid – or the guy or gal, say or do to you that got you angry with him or her? If you know that you have gotten God angry with you, what did you say or did not say or what did you do or did not do that got God angry with you? Have you had another kid – or a guy or gal, tell you that another kid – or that a guy or gal, is angry with you because you said or did something to him or her that he or she did not like? If you have had another kid – or a guy or gal, tell you that another kid – or a guy or gal, is angry with you because you said or did something to him or her that he or she did not like, how did you react? Have you had another kid – or a guy or gal, tell you that God is angry with you because you said or did something that the kid – or that the guy or gal, believes that God has established what you said or did as being a sin – that God – because of what you said or did, has found you guilty and that He is going to punish you? If you have had another kid – or guy or gal, think that he or she had to tell you that God is angry with you because you said or did something that the kid – or that the guy or gal, deems that God has determined to be a sin – that God – because of what you said or did, has found you guilty and that He is going to punish you, how did you feel and what did you do? When your grandpaa has a guy, gal or kid tell him that what he said or did could have been said or done differently – which would then make what your grandpaa said or did more palpable to him or to her, your grandpaa – while doing his best to take the ‘high road’ by trying to verbally parse grateful words while keeping an open pleasant demeanor, more often than not would like to succinctly point out to the guy, gal or kid the hypocrisy of him or her telling him that . . . your grandpaa never finds it difficult to find something in the life of another guy, gal or kid that he can easily announce as being offensive to him – which your grandpaa would extrapolate as being offensive to God, too, which . . . your grandpaa has learned though from these confrontational, galling experiences that the best, wisest thing to do is to just say nothing. Your grandmaa has also been a real help to your grandpaa when he is confronted by a situation or by a guy, gal or kid by influencing him to always take the high road – which your grandmaa is naturally very good at doing, in responding to a situation that your grandpaa wants resolved or to a confrontation that your grandpaa wants to respond to through a pushback retort or retorts.
What do you think that God’s specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people guys and gals, who were living in Israel’s northern kingdom land area really wanted to do with Hosea – who was one of God’s planet Earth’s assigned prophet spokesmen, as Hosea prophesied doom over them. God’s specially chosen guys and gals who were living in Israel’s northern kingdom had rejected God’s command to always do good. Three out of the five guys over a 13 year period who took on ruling over Israel’s northern kingdom’s guys and gals used violence to lay claim to the title of king. Calf-idols were handmade by craftsmen who were living in Israel’s northern kingdom. Calf-idols were placed in temples had been constructed in the towns of Bethel and Dan. God’s worship mandates were being totally corrupted by pagan notions and practices that were Baal centered. Israel’s people groups guys and gals who lived in Israel’s northern kingdom had acquiesced to what their neighbor country guys and gals were doing. God’s specially chosen guys and gals who were living in Israel’s northern kingdom nearly 2,733 years ago were making a mockery of God having chosen them to be His specially chosen guys and gals. Your grandpaa thinks that God’s specially chosen guys and gals who were living in Israel’s northern kingdom were probably really getting ticked off at Hosea for his criticisms of them and for his predictions of what was going to happen to them in the very near future.
Hosea 8 sums up what God told Hosea was about to happen to His specially chosen guys and gals who were living in Israel’s northern kingdom because of their continuous, defiant actions against Him. Verse 1 says, ““Put the trumpet to your lips! An eagle is over the house of the LORD because the people have broken my covenant and rebelled against my law.” The eagle that is mentioned is in reality a vulture. The Assyrian people group army is symbolized by this eagle (vulture) who God had circling over His specially chosen guys and gals who were living in Israel’s northern kingdom. Even though Israel’s northern kingdom’s king was paying a levy to the Assyrian people group king, the tribute did not keep God from using the Assyrian people group army to do a number on His specially chosen guys and gals because of their incessant, rebellious defiance of what He had specifically mandated them to do through the commands and laws that He gave them through Moses at Mount Sinai. God’s specially chosen guys and gals who were living in Israel’s northern kingdom lost their special identity with God making them worthless to Him. How ticked off do you think that God has now become with Christ-follower fellowships in the United States?
Hosea 8 (1152)