They cry to me, ‘My God, we Israel acknowledge you!’
Parallel Translations
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They cry to me, ‘My God, we Israel acknowledge you!’
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Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee.
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Will they cry unto Me: 'My God, we Israel know Thee'?
Cross-references (13)
Passages linked to Hosea 8:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Matthew 7:21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
- Titus 1:16 They profess that they know God, but by their deeds they deny him, being abominable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work.
- 2 Kings 10:16 He said, “Come with me, and see my zeal for Yahweh.” So they made him ride in his chariot.
- 2 Kings 10:29 However, Jehu didn’t depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin, the golden calves that were in Bethel and that were in Dan.
- Psalms 78:34-37 When he killed them, then they inquired after him. They returned and sought God earnestly. They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God, their redeemer. But they flattered him with their mouth, and lied to him with their tongue. For their heart was not right with him, neither were they faithful in his covenant.
- Isaiah 48:1-2 “Hear this, house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel, and have come out of the waters of Judah. You swear by Yahweh’s name, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness— for they call themselves citizens of the holy city, and rely on the God of Israel; Yahweh of Armies is his name.
- Jeremiah 7:4 Don’t trust in lying words, saying, ‘Yahweh’s temple, Yahweh’s temple, Yahweh’s temple, are these.’
- Hosea 7:13-14 Woe to them! For they have wandered from me. Destruction to them! For they have trespassed against me. Though I would redeem them, yet they have spoken lies against me. They haven’t cried to me with their heart, but they howl on their beds. They assemble themselves for grain and new wine. They turn away from me.
- Micah 3:11 Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money: yet they lean on Yahweh, and say, “Isn’t Yahweh among us? No disaster will come on us.”
- Matthew 25:11 Afterward the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us.’
- Luke 13:25 When once the master of the house has risen up, and has shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ then he will answer and tell you, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’
- 1 John 2:4 One who says, “I know him,” and doesn’t keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth isn’t in him.
- Hosea 5:15 I will go and return to my place, until they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face. In their affliction they will seek me earnestly.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (17 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain By the Prophet saying, To me shall they cry,…
By the Prophet saying, To me shall they cry, some understand that the Israelites are blamed for not fleeing to God; and they thus explain the Prophet’s words, “They ought to have cried to me.” It seems to others to be an exhortation, “Let the Israelites now cry to me.” But I take the words simply as they are, that is that God here again touches the dissimulation of the Israelites, They will cry to me, We know thee; and to this the ready answer is Israel has cast away good far from himself; the enemy shall pursue him I thus join together the two verses; for in the former the Lord relates what they would do, and what the Israelites had already begun to do; and in the latter verse he shows that their labour would be in vain, because they ever cherished wickedness in their hearts, and falsely pretended the name of God, as it has been previously observed, even in their prayers. Israel, then will cry to me, My God, we know thee. Thus hypocrites confidently profess the name of God, and with a lofty air affirm that they are God’s people; but God laughs to scorn all this boasting, as it is vain, and worthy of derision. They will then cry to me; and then he imitates their cries, My God, we know thee When hypocrites, as if they were the friends of God, cover themselves with his shadow, and profess to act under his guardianship, and also boast at the same time of their knowledge of true doctrine, and boast of faith and of the worship of God; be it so, he says, that these cries are uttered by their mouths, yet facts speak differently, and reprove and expose their hypocrisy. We now then see how these two verses are connected together, and what is the Prophet’s object.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain They shall cry like hypocrites, but not from the…
They shall cry like hypocrites, but not from the heart, as their deeds declare.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Hos 8:2 Israel shall cry unto me, My God,…
Hos 8:2 Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee.
Ver. 2. Israel shall cry unto me] It is their course and custom to do so; they will needs do it, though I take no delight in it. Hypocrisy is impudent, as Hos 5:6 Jer 3:4-5. No, nay, but it will despite God with seeming honour; and present him with a ludibrious devotion. Israel, though revolted and degenerated into Jezreel, Hos 1:4, shall cry, yea, cry aloud, vociferabuntur, cry till they are hoarse, as criers do; and unto me, but not with their heart, Hos 7:14. It is but clamor sine fide fatuus, an empty ring, that God regards not. For, "not every one that saith unto him, Lord, Lord," &c., Mat 7:21. Many lean upon the Lord and say, "Is not the Lord among us? none evil can come unto us," Mic 3:11, who yet shall hear, Discedite, Avaunt, ye workers of iniquity; I know you not. Woe then to all profligate professors, carnal gospellers; their prayers shall not profit them, neither shall they be a button the better for their loud cries to the most High, Pro 1:28, and odious fawnings.
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My God, we know thee] When their hearts are far from him. Of such pretenders to him and his truth it is that the apostle speaketh, Tit 1:16, "They profess that they know God" (which yet God denies, Hos 4:1; Hos 5:4), "but in works they deny him; being abominable, and disobedient, and to every good work reprobate." To come and call God Father, the guide of our youth, and then to fall to sin, this is to do as evil as we can; we cannot easily do worse, Jer 3:4-5. To cry, "The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord," and then to "steal, murder, and commit adultery.," &c., this is painted hypocrisy, Jer 7:4; Jer 7:9. When men shall take sanctuary, and think to save themselves from danger by a form of godliness (as the Jews fable that Og, king of Bashan, escaped in the flood by riding astride upon the Ark) when they are perfect strangers to the power of it, this is to hasten and heap up wrath, Job 36:13. Religion, as it is the best armour, so the worst cloak; and will serve hypocrites as the disguise Ahab put on, and perished. Castalio maketh this last clause to be the speech of the blessed Trinity, We know thee, O Israel: q.d. Though thou collogue and cry, My God; yet we know thine hypocrisy and the naughtiness of thy heart. But the former sense is better, though the placing of the word Israel in the end of the verse seem to favour this; for thus it runs in the Hebrew, "To me they shall cry, My God, we know thee, Israel."
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Israel, the ten tribes,
Israel, the ten tribes,
shall cry in deep distress; when the Assyrian rangeth over their country, when Samaria is besieged, they will cry out aloud, but hypocritically; they will roar, but not pray.
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My God; then they will look to the ancient alliance and league between their fathers and me.
We know thee, an only Saviour; be ours, for we are thine. Thus in hypocrisy will they carry it.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Israel shall cry unto me, my God, we know…
Israel shall cry unto me, my God, we know thee. In their distress they shall cry to the Lord to help them, and have mercy on them, as they used to do when in trouble, Isa 26:16; when the eagle is come upon them, and just ready to devour them; when Samaria is besieged with file Assyrian army, their king taken prisoner, and they just ready to fall into the hands of the enemy, then they shall cry to God, though in a hypocritical manner; own him to be the true God, and claim their interest in him, and pretend knowledge of him, and acquaintance with him; though they have not served and worshipped him, but idols, and that for hundreds of years; like others who profess to know God, but in works deny him, Tit 1:16. Israel is the last word in the verse, and occasions different versions: "they shall cry unto me"; these transgressors of the covenant and the law, these hypocrites, shall pray to God in trouble, saying, "my God, we Israel", or Israelites, "know thee"; or, "we know thee who are Israel" (x); and to this sense is the Targum,
"in every time that distress comes upon them, they pray before me, and say, now we know that we have no God besides thee; redeem us, for we are thy people Israel;''
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why may they not be rendered thus, "they shall cry unto me; my God, we know thee, Israel" shall say? Castalio renders them to this sense, "my God", say they; but "we know thee, Israel"; we, the three Persons in the Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit, we know thy hypocrisy and wickedness, that it is only outwardly and hypocritically, and not sincerely, that thou criest unto and callest upon God.
(x) "ad me clamant, Deus mi, novimus te nos Israel", De Dieu; "clamabunt ad me, O Deus meus, nos Israelitae cognoscimus te", Tigurine version, so Tarnovius; "mihi vocant, Deus mi, cognovimus, vel agnoscimus te Israel", vel "nos lsrael, seu Israelitae", Schmidt.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Shall cry - But not sincerely.
Shall cry - But not sincerely.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 2. Israel shalt cry] The rapidity of the…
Verse 2. Israel shalt cry] The rapidity of the eagle's flight is well imitated in the rapidity of the sentences in this place.
My God, we know thee.] The same sentiment, from the same sort of persons, under the same feelings, as that in the Gospel of St. Matthew, Mt 7:22: "Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? Then will I profess unto them, I never KNEW YOU."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Hos 8:2-4. Israel shall cry unto me — Namely,…
Hos 8:2-4. Israel shall cry unto me — Namely, when calamities come upon them, My God, we know thee — Thou art our God in covenant with us, and we make profession of thy name, and own thee for the only true God: see Mat 7:21-22. Israel hath cast off the thing that is good — They have not walked agreeably to their profession, but have cast off obedience to my laws. This is a declaration, that all the worship of Israel, or their crying, My God, was vain, since their actions were wicked, or they had cast off what was good. Christ has made a declaration to the same purpose, to warn us of falling into the like error, in the passage above referred to. They have set up kings — Made a defection from the house of David, formed themselves into a distinct kingdom, and chosen what kings and governors they pleased, without ever asking my advice or consent. Not by me — Not by my warrant or order. Shallum, and Menahem, and Pekah, usurped the kingdom by murder and treason, 2Ki 15:13-14; 2Ki 15:25, not by any declaration of God’s will, as Jeroboam and Jehu did; nor were any of the kings between Jeroboam and Jehu, nor any after the posterity of Jehu, made by God’s appointment. They have made princes and I knew it not — They have appointed judges, or magistrates, such as I approved not of, and had no hand in raising up to that dignity. Of their silver, &c., they have made themselves idols — They have abused their wealth to idolatry, which will be the occasion of their destruction: see Hos 2:8.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Israel shall cry unto Me, My God, we know…
Israel shall cry unto Me, My God, we know Thee - Or, according to the order in the Hebrew, “To Me shall they cry, we know Thee, Israel,” i. e., “we, Israel,” Thy people, “know Thee.” It is the same plea which our Lord says that He shall reject in the Day of Judgment. “Many shall say unto Me, in that Day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy Name, and in Thy Name cast out devils, and in Thy Name done many wonderful works” Mat 7:22. In like way, when our Lord came in the flesh, they said of God the Father, He is our God. But our Lord appealed to their own consciences; “It is My Father who honoreth Me, of whom ye say, He is our God, but ye have not known Him” Joh 8:54. So Isaiah, when speaking of his own times, prophesied of those of our Lord also; “This people draweth nigh unto Me, with their mouth and honoreth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me” Mat 15:8; Isa 29:13. “God says, that they shall urge this as a proof, that they know God, and as an argument to move God to have respect unto them, namely, that they are the seed of Jacob, who was called Israel, because he prevailed with God, and they were called by his name.” As though they said, “we, Thy Israel, know thee.” It was all hypocrisy, the cry of mere fear, not of love; from where God, using their own name of Israel which they had pleaded, answers the plea, declaring what “Israel” had become.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Know thee. They resemble those to whom our Saviour…
Know thee. They resemble those to whom our Saviour will reply, Not every one that saith, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, Matthew vii. 22. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain My God, we know thee--the singular, "My," is used…
My God, we know thee--the singular, "My," is used distributively, each one so addressing God. They, in their hour of need, plead their knowledge of God as the covenant-people, while in their acts they acknowledge Him not (compare Mat 7:21-22; Tit 1:16; also Isa 29:13; Jer 7:4). The Hebrew joins "Israel," not as English Version, with "shall cry," but "We, Israel, know thee"; God denies the claim thus urged on the ground of their descent from Israel.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 2. The reading of the R.V. is to be…
2. The reading of the R.V. is to be preferred, “They shall cry unto me, My God, we Israel know thee.” Such attitude will be in great contrast to their former turning from Jehovah; but when no other help is near they will remind him that they belong to him, and this relationship they will urge as a reason why he should help them (compare Isa_43:1).
My God — Each individual cries; the singular passes into the plural, including the whole nation. Wellhausen, disregarding the accents and slightly altering the text, gets this translation, “To me they cry, My God! but I (Jehovah) know thee, O Israel.” And knowing their true character he will permit justice to have her way. The time of mercy is past.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 2. Israel shall cry …] Rather, Unto me they…
2. Israel shall cry …] Rather, Unto me they will (then) cry, My God, we—Israel—know thee. When the punishment comes, they will cry aloud to Jehovah, and lay stress upon their belonging to Him. ‘Israel’ is mentioned, as the title of honour (the kunya, comp. the commentators on Isa_44:5), given by Jehovah, which was the outward sign of His mystic connexion with His worshippers. The speech of the Israelites is the counterpart of that of Jehovah in Isa_43:1, ‘I have called thee by name; thou art mine.’ (The Septuagint and the Peshito, however, omit ‘Israel.’) ‘My God’ seems used distributively, each Israelite professes to feel his individual relation to the national God.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (2) Should be rendered, To me they cry, My…
(2) Should be rendered, To me they cry, My God, we know Thee, we Israel.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know…
Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee. The more literal as well as more exact rendering is, to me wilt they cry, My God, we know thee, we Israel! Notwithstanding their provocation, their unfaithfulness to the covenant of God, and their disobedience to the Law, they appeal unitedly and severally to God in the day of their distress, and urge two pleas their knowledge of God, or acknowledgment of him as the true God; and their high position as his people. Thus the Chaldee paraphrase has: "As often as calamity comes upon them they pray and say before me, Now we acknowledge that we have no God beside thee; deliver us, because we are thy people Israel." As to the construction, either "Israel" is in apposition to anachnu, the subject of the verb, or there is a transposition. Thus Rashi: "We must transpose the words, and explain, "To me, cries Israel, My God, we know thee; so also Kimchi and Aben Ezra. The former says, "Israel which comes after, should be before, after wyyl, and many inversions of this kind occur in Scripture, as Eze_39:11 and Psa_141:10." The word "Israel" is omitted by the LXX and Syriac, and in many manuscripts of Kennicott and De Rossi.
HOMILIES BY A. ROWLAND Ver. 2. On knowing God.
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Ignorance of God or forgetfulness of him leads to moral depravity. This may be illustrated both by national history and by individual experience. Israel was an example of this truth. The people had forsaken God, had turned to idols, and were therefore sunk in the licentiousness of pagan worship. Their only hope of moral restoration and of future blessedness lay in the fulfillment of the promise, "Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee." The converse of our first statement is equally true. The habitual consciousness that God is near cannot but give simplicity, dignity, reverence, and holiness to life. This was the source of Abraham"s magnanimity, of Joseph"s purity, of Moses" dignity, of Daniel"s heroism. "They endured as seeing him who is invisible." Our hope is to be found in the same source: "This is life eternal, that they might know thee," etc.
I THE MEANS OF KNOWING GOD. They can be seen in the experience of Jacob, who first won for himself the name "Israel.
1. Repentance is the first step in such knowledge. No one can see goodness while gazing on sin, or know God while absorbed in self. A moral change, not a mental, is required of us as of Israel. The teaching of Christ was not too abstruse for comprehension, but it was too Divine for those absorbed in earthliness. His foes "loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." Paul was surrounded by men of culture, yet declared "the natural man receiveth not the things of God... neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned." John knew the advantages of intelligent study, but he said, He that loveth not knoweth not God." The change from sin to holiness involves, in the spiritual realm, the change from ignorance to knowledge. Exhibit this in the vision Jacob had at Mahanaim. He knew God"s Name after he had repented of his old sin against Esau, and of the habitual subtlety it revealed. Then as Israel he could say, "My God, I know thee.
2. Prayer is the outcry of repentance. "Israel shall cry to me." We know a man by fellowship with him, and thus we may know God; and he who speaks to God oftenest knows him best. How infinite the condescension that permits this, the love that encourages it! None can make God known to others unless they know him themselves. Hence the special need of prayer on the part of all who speak of him. The Divine teachers of the race have been those who have come from the presence of the Eternal. Illustrations found in the great lawgiver, who had spoken to God in Midian and on Sinai; in David, whose psalms show the agony of his prayer, the intensity of his worship; in the prophets, who saw visions of God; in the apostles, who were prepared for service by being with Jesus, and not by rabbinical culture; in reformers and others, whose spiritual power has been proportionate to their intimacy with God. If all professing Christians could say, "My God, we know thee," a human priesthood would be abolished, and the skepticism of the world would be paralyzed. It is true of this knowledge, as of all the higher blessings, "He that asketh receiveth.
II THE JOYS OF KNOWING GOD.
1. The sense of personal relationship to him. "My God." He who can say, "My God," implies such blessings as these:
1. Thou art the Pardoner of my sin; e.g. David in Ps 51.
2. The Bearer of my burdens: Esther and Nehemiah.
3. The Source of my strength: Paul, "I can do all things," etc.
4. The Place of my safety: Noah and Elijah.
5. The Spring of my hope: John in Patmos.
6. The Crowner of my life: Paul, "Henceforth there is laid up," etc.
2. The sense of saintly association. "Israel shall cry." In this cry the people of Hosea"s time were associated with their forefathers. The God of their fathers was their God. He is the same yesterday, and today, and for ever. Hence the helpfulness of the Scripture histories, which tell us what God has been to others. Dwell on the advantages of the history and the memories of the past. Show how the saints were accustomed to strengthen themselves for their present need by recalling former help. David recalled his experience as a shepherd; the exiles their former glory; the Jews their early deliverances, etc. Christian fellowship enlarges the possibilities of this. The experience of one is enriched by the memories of others. The joy of heaven will consist partly in the remembrances the redeemed have of the loving-kindness of God. Associations with the saintly are the noblest and most abiding.
III THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF KNOWING GOD. They who know him are called upon:
1. To wait on him in lowly prayer. If he be God, he demands our constant homage.
2. To serve him with loyal heart, with no reserve of thought, or wish, or love.
3. To learn of him by constant thought. To one who knows him he says, "I will guide thee with mine eye." His glance, his whisper, is enough for us.
4. To represent him by consecrated life. When Moses came from the presence of God his face shone with heavenly light. When the Sanhedrim saw the courage and wisdom of Peter and John, they saw that they had been with Jesus. So he who is habitually with God will have about him something of heaven"s atmosphere and of Christ"s Spirit.
CONCLUSION. "No man knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son shall reveal him. A.R.
HOMILIES BY J.R. THOMSON Ver. 2. Israel"s cry.
It could not be that, however tempted and however sinful, the children of the covenant should lose all remembrances of the mercies shown to them and the blessings promised to them. God had not forgotten them, neither did they altogether forget God. This cry, represented as rising to Heaven from Israel"s lips, seems natural enough: "My God, we know thee.
I WHEN A CRY OF HYPOCRISY, FEAR, OR SELFISHNESS, IT WAS VAIN. Alas! It was often this. Superstition led the people to conjoin the worship of Jehovah with the worship of idols. It would seem that, in their ignorant, selfish, worthless religiousness, they wished to stand well with both. There was a measure of truth in the cry; for the children of Abraham had a right to look to Jehovah and say, "My God," and they could justly add, "We know thee." Yet, occupying the position they did, their utterance was unheard by and unacceptable to the Searcher of hearts.
II WHEN A CRY OF SINCERITY AND FAITH, IT WAS ACCEPTABLE. It was not that the words were wrong in themselves; it was the spirit that was defective and blamable. When such words came from filial, grateful, spiritual natures, most welcome were they to the ear of the Supreme. The language admits of, nay, it naturally expresses, devoutness a joyful appropriation, heartfelt communion. It rejoices in an honorable and blessed relationship; it acknowledges a happy, elevating, and unbroken familiarity. T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain My God, we know Thee.
Hos_8:2
My God, we know Thee.
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Agnosticism
An agnostic is not one who knows nothing, for some men who are embraced by this term are men of unusual mental attainments and ability. He is one who neither denies nor affirms. The term is applied to those who hold that there are matters pertaining to religion which we not only do not know, but have no means of knowing. An agnostic does not simply assert the incompleteness of human knowledge upon things Divine, but that real knowledge concerning such things is an impossibility to man. An agnostic is not an atheist. He does not deny the existence of a God. He is not a sceptic or doubter. He is positive in affirming that we neither have nor.can get any knowledge of God, or of the unseen world. Mr. Herbert Spencers views have been thus summarised:
1. The proper object of religion is a Something which can never be known, or conceived, or understood; to which we cannot apply the terms emotion, will, intelligence; of which we cannot either affirm or deny that it is either a person, or being, or mind, or matter, or, indeed, anything else.
2. All that we can say of it is that it is an inscrutable existence, or an unknowable cause; we can neither know nor conceive what it is, nor how it came about, nor how it operates. It is notwithstanding the ultimate cause, the all-being, the creative power.
3. The essential business of a religion so understood is to keep alive the consciousness of a mystery that cannot be fathomed.
4. We are not concerned with the question what effect this religion will have as a moral agent, or whether it will make good men and women. Religion has to do with mystery, not with morals. Agnostics reverence the phenomenal and the Great Unknown above and behind it; but, holding that the senses are the only source of knowledge, they do not know, and say we never can know, that the eternal energy behind all phenomena can think, feel, will, and contrive. Agnosticism is open to three objections.
I. It is presumptive. The agnostic begins by a confession of human ignorance, and then proceeds to make a universal assertion which implies the possession of universal knowledge. To assert that the unknown cause can never be known, or conceived, or understood is to assume that the speaker is acquainted with the constitution and calibre of all mind in all ages. To say that the inscrutable existence will never be known by man is to say we know what will be the extent of all mens knowledge in the future. We cannot measure all possible knowledge with our finite minds. He who says that God is unknowable, takes a self-contradictory attitude, and assumes such knowledge as can be attributed only to a Divine Being.
II. Agnosticism is paralysing. The great mainspring of human activity and basis of human happiness is faith. The three steps taken by every man who has achieved ought worthy of remembrance have been these--conception, conviction, and action. The conviction was the faith which stimulated to and sustained the action. United to faith, but distinct from it, is hope, that vigorous principle which enlists in its service both head and heart. Agnosticism bows these two fair angels out of human society. It tells us that we know only the phenomenal; we have no spiritual insight. If every man in society were a consistent agnostic there would be a speedy and inglorious termination to all scientific, social, political, and ecclesiastical enterprises.
III. Agnosticism is positively pernicious. It disposes of all true religion. For religion is the linking of a soul to a personal God. Agnosticism defines religion as devotion to that which is believed to be best. It has no personal God. Dispensing with religion--
1. Agnosticism strikes away one of the chief supports of society.
2. Begets despair.
There is nothing left for the heart of man but to settle down into a stony state of utter desolation and despair. Agnosticism encourages pessimism. But we affirm that God is known, though our knowledge is incomplete. We have sufficient knowledge to justify and demand our worship of God, our trust in, and love for, and obedience to Him. That God is known is proved by the Scriptures, by the manifestation of Christ, and by the testimony of Christian experience. (J. Hiles Hitchens, D. D.)
The knowledge of God
Israel pretended to know God, but in works denied Him. They would cry and say, We know Thee; when in truth they knew Him not, and were only speaking lies in hypocrisy.
I. Observe the time when they would make this profession. In a season of great affliction and distress, when God would contend with them, when their enemies should be let loose upon them, and everything around them look dark and distressing. When they begin to feel Gods wrath they will begin to humble themselves, and profess themselves to be His people. Troubles will often make those pray who never prayed before. But if they leave off prayer when the trouble is over, this shews that it came out of feigned lips. Conviction is often the fruit of correction, but does not always lead to conversion.
II. The manner in which this profession would be made, They would not only speak, but speak vehemently, and cry with earnestness and confidence. But they called God their God, though they had no interest in Him, and claimed an acquaintance with Him while they were ignorant of His true character.
III. The importance of a right knowledge of God.
1. It is a great thing truly to know the Lord. A perfect knowledge of God is unattainable by us. But a true knowledge of God is vital and efficacious, and has a transforming influence. It is the effect of Divine illumination, so that none have it until it is communicated from above.
2. A profession of this knowledge is of great importance. It is no light matter to be able to say on good ground, My God, I know Thee. With the mouth confession is made unto salvation, but there must first be a believing with the heart unto righteousness. True faith will produce a good confession. Let us see that our acknowledgment of God be accompanied with corresponding affections and dispositions towards Him, going to the grounds of our religion, and tracing it up to its source and origin.
IV. Some of the evidences of a true knowledge of God.
1. All saving knowledge proceeds from God only. All the knowledge we have of Him by the unassisted efforts of reason will come to nothing.
2. Saving knowledge will produce a humble confidence in God. Humility is one of the first fruits of a good understanding.
3. A spiritual acquaintance with God will be accompanied with a conformity of soul to Him. There will be a resemblance of His holy nature, and a subjection to His holy will.
(1) It is a great evil to profess to know God, and yet, in works, to deny Him.
(2) Beware the contrary extreme, of withholding an open profession of the truth after we have been brought to understand and receive it.
(3) The subject shows the reason why many apostatise from their profession. They have received the truth, but not in the love of it.
(4) The enlightening and renewing influences of the Holy Spirit are necessary to form the Christian character. (B. Beddome, M. A.)
The claim to know God
In the Hebrew the order of the words is, To Me they shall cry, My God, we know Thee; Israel. This order hints some observations that would hardly arise from our version. In our Bible it is only a speech of God to them. In the Hebrew they seem to remind God who they wore; as if they said, We are Israel, who know Thee, remember we are not strangers to Thee. Observe--
1. In affliction men see their need of God.
2. Even hypocrites and the vilest wretches in the time of their distress will claim interest in God and cry to Him.
3. Knowledge and acknowledgment of God in an outward and formal way hypocrites think will commend them much to God in time of affliction. They expect favour from God because they have made some profession of Him. We know Thee, as if they said, Lord, we were not as others who forsook Thee; we continued Israel still; we did not turn to the heathens. It is very difficult to take away mens spirits from trusting in formality in outward worship. (Jeremiah Burroughs.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Hos_8:2. We] Heb. joins Israel with the last clause,…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Hos_8:2. We] Heb. joins Israel with the last clause, “We know thee, we Israel,” a plea of descent to move God to mercy; but hypocrisy, the cry of fear and not love. Dead knowledge cannot deliver.
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Hos_8:3. Cast off] implies dislike, the breaking of relative bonds. Good] (tob) may include God, the supremely good, and all the blessings of salvation. Pursue] in retribution for rejecting God.
Hos_8:4. Kings] The self-authorized schism from the house of David. All their princes not from God. Many and violent were the usurpations and dethronements. Knew] Approved (Psa_1:6; Mat_25:12). Idols] and calf-worship a further sin. They] i.e. the gold and silver, as Hos_8:6 [Keil]. Lit. that he may be cut off. The whole people destroyed [Pusey]. Though forewarned, yet heedless (Jer_7:15; Jer_44:8).
Hos_8:5. Cast off] disgusts. Israel had cast off God; calf-worship would cast off them or be the means of God casting them off. How long] Lit. how long will they not be able innocency to endure (cf. Isa_1:14; Psa_101:5); they were incapable of purity before God (Jer_19:4).
VAIN RELIGION.—Hos_8:2
Israel in the hour of need call upon God, plead their knowledge of him as the covenant people, and depend upon help for the sake of their relationship to him God denies this claim, and will reject all who honour him with their lips merely, when their hearts are far from him. Knowledge without practice is all in vain. God will not own those who only profess, who cry, “My God,” and do not forsake iniquity.
I. The religion of natural descent. “We Israel,” the seed of Jacob, who was called Israel. This was the boast of the Jews. “We be Abraham’s seed.” Natural relationship and noble birth avail nothing before God. Yet men boast of their ancestry and pious parents, and trust God will regard them on that account. God has a peerage of his own. The grace of God can create children of Abraham from stones of the wilderness: the outcasts and the heathen. “Whose son art thou” spiritually? The son of God, or the son of the Devil? “He is a Jew which is one inwardly.”
II. The religion of formalism. “My God, we know thee.” Knowledge is a necessity, and may be acquired by all. The knowledge of God is within the reach of every one. There is no excuse for ignorance of God. But many profess and use the name of God who do not know him; orthodox in their creed, but sinful in their life. “They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him.” They cry, “Lord, Lord,” in their devotions, but in their lives are sinful and iniquitous. The religion of many is mere profession and words; a matter of form and ceremony. We as a nation say, “My God,” boast of our morality and knowledge, build temples to God and swear by his altar; but our conduct contradicts our profession. To know God’s will and do it not involves greater punishment; to possess great advantages and not to use them brings greater responsibility at the judgment-day. “Many,” presumptuously boasting of their profession and work, “will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?”
III. The religion of merit. The spirit of the text is a spirit of pride and superior merit. We are Israel and we know thee, and have therefore a claim to thy mercy. God answers the plea in Hos_8:3. Israel indeed! then why cast off good, and sin against me! You have no plea to urge and no merit to secure my favour. It was a plea of hypocrisy and fear. There is a fearful tendency in men to cling to good works, and hope to merit Divine mercy through religious duties. They mention benevolent deeds, devotional forms, and social morality, in hope of procuring God’s favour. The Papist repeats his prayers, counts his beads, and makes his stated confessions, and feels that he is at peace with his Maker. The Protestant paces the round of religious duties in self-righteousness and pride, and soothes his soul with the hope of heaven. Merit we have none. The most holy and devout only do their duty. There are no works of supererogation. Salvation is of grace, not by works, lest any man should boast.
Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,—
That in the course of justice none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy,
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.
FORSAKING GOOD AND PURSUING EVIL, THE SUREST WAY TO RUIN.—Hos_8:3-5
These words declare the true position of Israel. They were only Israel in name, and not in reality. They had cast off God, and with him everything good. They set up their own kings and institutions, did not seek to please, and were therefore disowned of God. Like sinners now, they pursued ways, the ends of which were death, and were so infatuated in their folly, that they seemed to act with a view to be “cut off” and utterly rejected.
I. The abandonment of good. “Israel hath cast off the thing that is good.”
1. God, the chief good, was cast off. He was forgotten in his law, resisted in his demands, and forsaken in his worship. A thing cast off indicates supreme contempt, utter abhorrence. We neither think of it nor care for it. This casting off of God—(a) Is most unreasonable. It is to forget our highest interests and wound our own souls; to offend our best friend, and involve ourselves in the greatest misery, (b) Is most ungrateful. “Is not God thy father that hath made thee?” Should we, then, despise a father’s love and reject our greatest benefactor? “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken. I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.”
2. All good was cast off. It is good to draw near to God (Psa_73:28), and is best for us to do so, and therefore perilous to forsake God. It is our honour, peace, safety, and riches to love and worship him. Those who are far from him, those who reject him, cast off all that is good. They despise good in this world and in that which is to come. How sad the condition when men say, “Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? Who is the Lord, that we should obey his voice?”
II. Evil pursued. Forsaking God opens up the way to the pursuit of evil. Spiritual good is the only safeguard of the soul. Cast off this, and you open the way for the ravages of sin. Israel had committed two evils.
1. They were guilty of civil apostasy. In founding the kingdom by Jeroboam, and in successive rule, they had set up kings without Divine authority (1Ki_11:27-40). They rebelled against the royal house of David, encouraged successful conspiracies, and sought their own selfish ends. Men now in family affairs, national politics, and religious life, set up their own and consult not God’s will. They do not acknowledge God in all their ways; they act without his license and approval. As they begin, so they continue. They made and removed princes, as the Roman armies did emperors of old. In the “vicissitudes of families” and nations we have the rise and the fall of the mighty; the misfortunes of all who live and rule without God. Self-will will ever bring self-destruction. But God, whose power we cannot resist, and whose wisdom we should not dispute, will accomplish his own will in the affairs of men.
2. They were guilty of religious apostasy. “Of their silver and their gold have they made them idols.”
1. This idolatry was encouraged by nobility. The kings and princes whom they set up patronized their customs and pleased their minds. They were ambitious in their aims, thought themselves absolute and free in their rule, and sought to gratify their own lusts.
2. This idolatry was supported by wealth. The gold and silver which God gave were devoted to the making of the calves or the support of their worship. One sinful change brings another. Civil rebellion must be upheld by ecclesiastical defection. Usurp the throne of men, and the next step is to set up idols on the throne of God. Withhold talents and wealth from God, or be niggardly in maintaining the true, and you will be lavish in upholding a false religion and a selfish scheme. Men employ their wealth against God; are constantly setting up their own kings, casting off Jehovah, and ungratefully abusing the gifts of his providence and grace.
III. Certain ruin results. The course men pursue will determine their fate. Fallen angels cast off allegiance to God, and were driven from him. Many devout men, once true worshippers of God, have fallen into sin and idolatry. The gods you make will govern your life, fashion your character, and determine your destiny. Forsake all good and cast off God, you imperil your soul. Such conduct is ruinous and most destructive, attracts God’s vengeance, and brings down his wrath upon the sinner. If they forsake him he will turn his back upon them, and “woe unto them when I depart from them.” “Woe” in trial and distress, “woe” in the hour of death, “woe” in the eternal world. “Woe unto the wicked, for it will be ill with them.”
1. This is the fulfilment of God’s word. God denounced a curse upon them if they forsook him (Deu_28:15; Deu_28:25).
2. This is the natural retribution of Divine providence. All the idols of men—wealth, ambition, and beauty—will fail them in the hour of need. They will be “cast off” by the gods in whom they trusted. “Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off.” But “the Lord will not cast off his faithful people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Hos_8:2. Cry, My God. Men are ready enough to cry to God in affliction, when they forget him in health. Trouble drives the stoutest sinners and the most corrupt Church to prayer. “But religion, which is the best armour, is the worst cloak; and will serve hypocrites as the disguise Ahab put on, and perished” [Trapp].
Hos_8:3. Casting off God. First, the good God, who is good, original, universal, all-sufficient and satisfactory, proportionate and fitting to our soul. He both is good and doeth good (Psa_119:68), and that both naturally, abundantly, freely, and constantly (Psa_86:5). Israel cast, or rather kicked him off, as the word signifieth. So do all gross hypocrites; they are rank atheists, practical atheists, though professed Christians. Secondly, they reject Christ as a Sovereign, though content to have him a Saviour. They will not submit to the laws of his kingdom, nor receive him in all his offices and efficacies. Thirdly, hypocrites reject the good Spirit of God, the fruit whereof is all godliness, righteousness, and truth (Eph_5:9). When God striveth with them, by yielding to Satan’s suggestions they grieve that Spirit, by grieving resist him, and by resisting quench him, and by quenching him oppose him maliciously and do despite unto him, and so cast themselves into the punishing hands of the living God (Heb_10:29; Heb_10:31). Lastly, they cast off the good word and true worship of God; those right judgments, true laws, good statutes and commandments (Neh_9:13); they put the promises far from them, and judge themselves unworthy of eternal life (Act_13:46); they hate instruction, and cast God’s words behind them (Psa_50:17). In a word, “he hath left off to be wise, and to do good; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil” (Psa_36:3-4) [Trapp].
I. The thing cast off—“Good,”—God, Christian worship, the Scripture. Despising them, throwing them away as worthless, putting them out of sight as obnoxious. Many boasters of the law did this practically. In these days many cannot endure practical duty and responsibility, contemptuously treat and despise the law of God, as Moses indignantly dashed it on the ground. II. The spirit indicated.
1. Pride.
2. Contempt of Divine authority.
3. Indifference to Divine truth.
4. Atheism of heart.
5. Deadness of conscience and all moral feeling. III. What this leads to. Sooner or later it leads to
(1) open transgression, and
(2) outward rejection. If men cast away the thing that is good there is no wonder when evils pursue and overthrow them (Psa_140:11; Pro_5:14).
When men once begin to turn their back on their own happiness and on the way of God, they will still grow more averse from it, till they become to abominate and abhor it; and this fills up the measure of their iniquity. God will not let sin thrive in their hands, but will send on judgments, and let them feel their loss in their strokes who would not see their prejudice in forsaking what was good [Hutcheson].
Hos_8:4. Set up kings. Such were all their kings except Jehu and his house. During 253 years, for which the kingdom of Israel lasted, eighteen kings reigned over it out of ten different families, and no family came to a close, save by a violent death. The like self-will and independence closed the existence of the Jewish people [Pusey].
In the government of nations and the choice of rulers, in family duties and in individual life, God should be consulted and pleased. For he can put down what we set up, and set up what we put down.
Hos_8:5. Cast thee off. Rejected by one’s own God, disappointed in one’s own choice! If Samaria had been firm and faithful to the God of Israel it would have been of great service, a powerful help in need; but the calf was a broken reed, a miserable comforter. So this will ever be the case. Beauty and fame may fade like flowers. Riches take unto themselves wings and fly away. Idols will be shivered to pieces, and the men who trusted on them disappointed for ever. All fail and nothing abides, have God, the only true and permanent good.
“O Cromwell, Cromwell,
Had I but served my God with half the zeal
I served my king, he would not in mine age
Have left me naked to mine enemies.”
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 8
Hos_8:2. Hope. There are few men, even among the most worldly, who do not expect to be converted before they die; but it is a selfish, mean, sordid conversion they want—just to escape hell and to secure heaven. They desire just experience enough to make a key to turn the lock of the gate of the celestial city. They wish “a hope,” just as men get a title to an estate. No matter whether they improve the property or not, if they have the title safe. A “hope” to them is like a passport, which one keeps quietly in his pocket till the time for the journey, and then produces it [Beecher].
Hos_8:3-4. Casting off good. When children get high notions and despise home, when they throw off parental authority and restraint, they become wayward and self-willed; make the path of life difficult, which their parents had pioneered and made easy. So one who casts off the fear of God and sets up his own, or the authority of others, insults his Maker and injures himself, makes his future miserable, and may be cast off himself at last.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.