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"Israel has rejected the good"

Text: Hosea 8:2

THE PROTEST OF ISRAEL

Israel protested this word of warning from the Lord. The nation proclaimed that it knew God.

“Israel will cry to Me,
‘My God, we know You!’
Israel has rejected the good;
The enemy will pursue him.”
Hosea 8:2-3

1. “Israel will cry to Me, ‘My God, we know You!'”

a) This is a cry of protest.

b) It is not a cry for help.

c) They claim to know God.

i) There was a theoretical knowledge of God.

ii) There were people who had knowledge of the Scriptures.

iii) But the claim of knowledge of God had no particular value at all.

2. “Israel has rejected the good”

a) This was the grim reality.

b) True knowledge of God should have led to good results:

i) There should be righteousness.

ii) There should be the pursuit of holiness.

iii) There should have been obedience to the Lord.

c) But Israel had rejected the path of goodness.

i) The path of evil had been followed.

ii) The kings and princes had rejected the path of goodness.

iii) The prophets and priests had also rejected the path of goodness.

iv) The people in Israel had followed their leaders in abandoning the path of goodness.

3. “The enemy will pursue him”

a) God would remove His protection.

b) He would allow the enemies to attack and pursue Israel.

c) The enemy will prevail over Israel.

d) Israel would reap a terrible harvest.

e) The nation that had broken the Covenant of God and had rejected His laws would be forsaken.