Hosea 10:8
The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us. The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.
Hosea 10:8 belongs to a prophecy given near the end of Israel's kingdom during a time of extreme wickedness. It stands in Hosea's fourteen short chapters in which God makes mighty appeals to His backslidden children who had mixed themselves among the peoples to come to Him, promising to heal their backsliding and love them freely. Aven is a degraded name for Bethel, the chief center of calf worship where Jeroboam I had set up a golden calf.
Its setting is idolatrous worship involving altars and images, with Israel spending its strength on itself rather than serving God. The high places, the sin of Israel, and their idolatrous altars will be destroyed, desolated, and abandoned, with thorn and thistle coming up upon them. The idol and the valuable treasures of the place would be carried off to Assyria, bringing shame on the people who had trusted the idol and its priests.
The cry to the mountains to cover them and to the hills to fall on them expresses the people's terror and desperate plea to be hidden from the calamity and judgment. The coming desolation was so terrible that the people would beg for covering. The same image applies to the judgment of the great day of the Lord, especially for those who had greater gospel opportunities, professed to serve God, and rejected His warnings while assuming they were right with Him.
When the day of the Lord, the day of wrath, death, and pain, comes, doomed sinners will call in vain for the mountains and hills to cover them. They will have no place to hide, terrified by God's presence, but Christ will find them all and seal their doom, and their plea cannot hide them from the coming King. Those who persist in rejecting offered mercy will eventually join that fearful prayer for rocks and mountains to fall on them, in contrast with the present invitation to receive mercy and eternal life. The verse therefore warns people now to seek refuge in the Saviour's grace.
In the final ruin, those lulled into security by hopes of human progress will likewise find it too late to seek shelter.