Book of Hosea Chapter 8 Vs. 7

 Israel Will Reap the Whirlwind

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. Hos. 8:7

sown the wind... Sowing the wind is associated with the making of idols and worshiping them (Hos. 8:6-7). This indicates the escalating uselessness of all their false religion.

reap the whirlwind... The whirlwind refers to the terrible increase in what they would reap, which would be to the full. Such idolatry did cause the nation to be destroyed (Hos. 8:6, 8:9-14; 2Ki. 17:1-41).

it hath no... This refers to the utter fruitlessness of their design to be like other nations. It had no stalk, or wheat on it; and even if it did develop to this point strangers would take the fruit and use it for themselves.

When a man sows seed into the wind, it scatters and is not productive. We know that whatever we sow, that shall we reap. The Word of God is many times spoken of as seed. The problem with what they have done is that it will bring no good results. Their production from their lives does not bring good things, but bad.

For they sow the wind, and the whirlwind shall they reap. Indeed, like a storm Hosea’s own language now sweeps along; and his metaphors are torn into shreds upon it. Stalk it hath none: the sprout brings forth no grain: if it were to bring forth, strangers would swallow it.

The phrase they sow the wind is transitional. It alludes to the futility of both her idolatrous worship (Hos. 8:4-6) and her foreign policy (Hos. 8:8-10). Wind here represents that which lacks substance and is therefore worthless and of no assistance (cf. Prov. 11:29). Israel would reap in extra measure what she had sown. The futility (wind) which she had planted like seed would yield a crop of destruction (represented by the whirlwind). All her efforts directed toward self-preservation would be self-destructive.

The agricultural metaphor continues. Israel’s crop would be worthless, containing only stalks without grain. Even if she would produce grain, foreigners would take it away and the nation would not benefit from her labor.