They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity.
Hosea 4:8 belongs to a warning that as Israel increased the people sinned against God, and that He would turn their glory into shame and punish them for their ways and deeds. It sets forth the sinful condition of the inhabitants of the land, underscoring the preparation needed for the coming of the Lord. It describes unfaithful priests and false shepherds who feed on the sin of God's people and set their hearts on their iniquity.
These shepherds turn men away from the laws of God's kingdom to exalt their own theories and suppositions in opposition to God's law, so that prevailing impiety and wickedness grow to fearful proportions. In its modern application the verse exposes priests and human lawmakers who trample upon God's law and make human laws that they force the people to accept. They press Sunday observance on the plea that the whole world keeps Sunday and that God's people are few in number.
It means the people are blinded by error, taking their words from the lips of priests and human lawmakers and supposing it does not matter whether they keep God's law. That law was instituted in Eden when the foundations of the earth were laid, as God's memorial to honor the living God who made the world in six days and sanctified and blessed the day of His rest. The verse will be fulfilled when God's judgment falls upon mystic Babylon, when the shepherds' work reacts back upon themselves and priest and people alike are punished for their ways and repaid for their doings.
Hosea 4:8 belongs to a warning that as Israel increased the people sinned against God, and that He would turn their glory into shame and punish them for their ways and deeds. It sets forth the sinful condition of the inhabitants of the land, underscoring the preparation needed for the coming of the Lord. It describes unfaithful priests and false shepherds who feed on the sin of God's people and set their hearts on their iniquity.
These shepherds turn men away from the laws of God's kingdom to exalt their own theories and suppositions in opposition to God's law, so that prevailing impiety and wickedness grow to fearful proportions. In its modern application the verse exposes priests and human lawmakers who trample upon God's law and make human laws that they force the people to accept. They press Sunday observance on the plea that the whole world keeps Sunday and that God's people are few in number.
It means the people are blinded by error, taking their words from the lips of priests and human lawmakers and supposing it does not matter whether they keep God's law. That law was instituted in Eden when the foundations of the earth were laid, as God's memorial to honor the living God who made the world in six days and sanctified and blessed the day of His rest. The verse will be fulfilled when God's judgment falls upon mystic Babylon, when the shepherds' work reacts back upon themselves and priest and people alike are punished for their ways and repaid for their doings.