Hosea 8:8

8 So the people of Israel are swallowed up. Now they are like a worthless pot to me among the nations.

Hosea 8:8 Meaning and Commentary

Hosea 8:8

Israel is swallowed up
Not only their substance, but their persons also, the whole nation of them, their whole estate, civil and ecclesiastic: it notes the utter destruction of them by the Assyrians, so that nothing of them and theirs remained; just as anyone is swallowed up and devoured by a breast of prey; the present is put for the future, because of the certainty of it: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein [is] no
pleasure;
when Shalmaneser took Samaria, and with it swallowed up the whole kingdom of Israel, he carried captive the inhabitants of it, and placed them among the nations, in "Halah, Habor, by the river Gozan", and in the cities of the Medes, ( 2 Kings 17:6 ) ; where they lived poor, mean, and abject, and were treated with the utmost neglect and contempt; no more regarded than a broken useless vessel, or than a vessel of dishonour, that is made and used for the ease of nature, for which no more regard is had than for that service: thus idolaters, who dishonour God by their idolatries, shall, sooner or later, be brought to disgrace and dishonour themselves.

Hosea 8:8 In-Context

6 Your calf is not God. A skilled worker from Israel made it. But it will be broken to pieces."

7 The LORD says, "Worshiping other gods is like worshiping the wind. It is like planting worthless seeds. Assyria is like a windstorm. That is all my people will harvest. There are no heads of grain on the stems that will come up. So they will not produce any flour. Even if they did produce grain, the Assyrians would eat all of it up.

8 So the people of Israel are swallowed up. Now they are like a worthless pot to me among the nations.

9 They have gone up to Assyria for help. They are like a wild donkey that wanders around by itself. Ephraim's people have sold themselves to their Assyrian lovers.

10 They have sold themselves to the nations to get their help. But now I will gather them together. They will get weaker and weaker. The mighty kings of Assyria will crush them.