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"Israel has forgotten his Maker"

Text: Hosea 8:14

FORGETTING THE LORD

Moses warned Israel of the danger of forgetting God (Deuteronomy 4:23; 8:11). The words of Moses were virtually forgotten by many in the days of Hosea.

“For Israel has forgotten his Maker,
And has built temples;
Judah also has multiplied fortified cities;
But I will send fire upon his cities,
And it shall devour his palaces.”
Hosea 8:14

1. Israel, the Northern Kingdom

a) The nation had forgotten his Maker.

i) God’s covenant (Deuteronomy 4:23)

ii) God’s statutes and laws (Deuteronomy 8:11)

iii) It did not remember what God had done (Deuteronomy 8:18)

b) “And has built temples”

i) In Shechem

ii) In Samaria

iii) To many idols the nation adored.

iv) The temples were built at great cost, at the expense of the people.

2. Judah, the Southern Kingdom

a) Judah also has multiplied fortified cities.

i) Judah believed in its own strength.

ii) There was little trust in God to defend the nation.

b) Judah was not guiltless with reference to idolatry.

i) Since the days of Solomon, idolatry was practiced.

ii) There were a few kings that sought to reform Judah.

iii) But those efforts were too little and too late.

c) But I will send fire upon its cities and it shall devour his palaces.

i) The fire that God would send would be through Babylon.

ii) Babylon would set a fire that would raze all Judah’s palaces to the ground.

iii) Judah would then go into captivity for seventy years and rue the day it abandoned its faith in the LORD their God.