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Daily Devotions

Hosea

Hosea 
Day 
Day 90

"Your calf is rejected, O Samaria"

Text: Hosea 8:5

THE FIRST IDOL OF ISRAEL

The first idol of Israel was the worship of a golden calf in the days of Moses (Exodus 32). The first idol set up by Jeroboam the son of Nebat was also a golden calf (1 Kings 12:25-33). There was a golden calf set up in Bethel. There was another golden calf set up in Dan (1 Kings 12:29).

THE NEW CAPITAL SAMARIA

In time, the capital was shifted to Samaria in the reign of Omri (1 Kings 16:24). He followed Jeroboam and walked in all his ways (1 Kings 16:25-26).

“Your calf is rejected, O Samaria!
My anger is aroused against them-
How long until they attain to innocence?
For from Israel is even this:
A workman made it, and it is not God;
But the calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces.”
Hosea 8:5-6

1. “Your calf is rejected, O Samaria”

a) It was rejected by the LORD in the reign of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
b) It was also rejected by the LORD when Omri became king and Samaria was the new capital.

2. “My anger is aroused against them”

a) The worship of the golden calf caused God’s anger to be aroused.
b) We have at least three instances of God’s anger aroused in the worship of a golden calf.
i) In the days of Moses (Exodus 32)
ii) In the days of Jeroboam the son of Nebat (1 Kings 12:25-33).
iii) In the days of Omri (1 Kings 16:25-26)

3. “How long until they attain to innocence?”

Not till Israel had gone into captivity and then redeemed by the Lord!

4. “For from Israel is even this: A workman made it, and it is not God”

a) A golden calf was man-made.
b) A workman made the idol.
c) How could a man-made idol ever be Deity?
d) It is obviously not God!

5. “But the calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces”

a) The calf of Samaria is a reference to the golden calf that was first conceived by Jeroboam I.
b) The altar was cursed by a prophet of God and it was destroyed once before (1 Kings 13:5).
c) It would be destroyed forever one day.