ONCE MORE: PUPPET-KINGS AND PUPPET-GODS
So shall Bethel do unto you because of your great wickedness: in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off. Hos. 10:15
So shall Beth-el... Which had been a place of God, had been turned into a place of calf worship. God's fury was kindled against them, because of this worship of a false god. The time this happened, was a time when it appeared they were gaining in prosperity. They were prosperous in the flesh, but their spiritual lives were greatly lacking.
Hosea (ca. 732-722 B.C.).
the king of... The king was cut off and helpless. It happened so suddenly; it seemed like a morning.
Bethel, which here represents the nation as a whole, would experience a similar fate because of her great sin (cf. Hos. 4:15; Amos 7:10-17). The fall of Israel’s king would signal the conquest of the nation by Babylon (cf. Hos. 10:3, 10:7; 2Kgs. 17:4-6).
Thus, shall I do to you, O house of Israel, because of the evil of your evil: soon shall the king of Israel be undone-undone.
The political decay of Israel, then, so deeply figured in all these chapters, must end in utter collapse. Let us sum up the gradual features of this decay: the substance of the people scattered abroad; the national spirit dissipated; the national prestige humbled; the kings' mere puppets; the prophets corrupted; the national vigor sapped by impurity; the idolatry conscious of its impotence.
Bethel, which here represents the nation as a whole, would experience a similar fate because of her great sin (cf. Hos. 4:15; Amos 7:10-17). The fall of Israel’s king would signal the conquest of the nation by Babylon (cf. Hos. 10:3, 10:7; 2Kgs. 17:4-6).
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