Hosea 13:3

"Now they sin more and more, and have made themselves molten images of their silver, even idols according to their own understanding, all of them the work of the craftsmen. They say of them, ‘They offer human sacrifice and kiss the calves.’"

Key Reflection

The people of Israel are depicted as increasingly sinful, fashioning idols from silver and other materials to worship according to their own imaginations. These idols were often portrayed as calves, a reference to the golden calf incident during Moses' absence (Exodus 32:1-6), which would have been particularly scandalous for the audience as it directly echoed the covenant-breaking of their ancestors. The phrase "They offer human sacrifice and kiss the calves" highlights the grotesque distortion of worship they had embraced, blending ancient pagan practices with a superficial adherence to Yahwistic rituals, thus inverting true piety into idolatrous abomination.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud -There is often a fair show of prosperity, out of God; but it is short-lived. “The third generation,” says the pagan proverb, “never enjoys the ill-gotten gain.” The highest prosperity of an ungodly state is often the next to its fall. Israel never so flourished, as under Jeroboam II. Bright and glistening with light is “the early dew;” in an hour it is gone, as if it had never been. Glowing and gilded by the sun is “the morning cloud;” while you admire its beauty, its hues have vanished. “The chaff” lay in one heap “on the floor” with the wheat.

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