Hosea 8: Group Study Handout

How to use: read Hosea 8 aloud together, then take the questions in order. One page is enough for an evening.

Overview

Yahweh warns Israel that judgment is near, signaled by a trumpet call (vv. 1-2). They acknowledge God, yet they have rejected goodness, causing their enemy to pursue them (vv.

Key verse

“For they sow the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind. He has no standing grain. The stalk will yield no head. If it does yield, strangers will swallow it up.”
Hosea 8:7 (WEB)

Outline

Hosea 8:1–2 Warning of Imminent Judgment
Hosea 8:3–4 Rejection of Goodness
Hosea 8:5–6 Condemnation of Idolatry
Hosea 8:7–8 Consequences of Sin
Hosea 8:9–10 Futile Alliances
Hosea 8:11–12 Sins of Sacrifice
Hosea 8:13–14 Divine Retribution

Discussion questions

In v1, what imagery is used to describe Yahweh's presence over His house?
What does Israel claim in v2, and how does God respond throughout the chapter?
In v11, why does the text say Ephraim's altars became 'altars for sinning'?
In v12, what does it mean that God's law was regarded as a 'strange thing'?
When have you felt like Israel in v14, forgetting your Maker for other pursuits?

Go deeper

Passages that echo Hosea 8: Hosea 10, Mark 7, Galatians 6.

Before next time: read Hosea 9.