The nation began in a glorious way while the people still served the Lord. No nation on earth could stand against them while they were faithful to the Lord. But their coming national downfall is a direct result of their spiritual downfall. "When Ephraim spoke, people trembled; he was exalted in Israel. But he became guilty of Baal worship and died." (Hosea 13:1)
Hosea's ministry began during the most prosperous era of the northern kingdom---the reign of Jeroboam II---but the people's hearts could scarcely have been more destitute. As the Lord Jesus says to the church at Laodicea of the Apostle John's day (this church also represents the final age of the church, during the last days): "You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked." (Revelation 3:17) The same thing can be said of the people in Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II. Their military and economy are strong but their spirits are languishing due to having forsaken the Lord. Outwardly they are prosperous but spiritually they are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
The northern kingdom's first king, Jeroboam I, introduced the two golden calf sites as centers of worship so his subjects would not travel into the southern kingdom of Judah to worship at the temple. He presented these calves as symbols of the Lord, not as symbols of some other deity, but the Lord had expressly forbidden fashioning any image to represent Him. This sin set them on a slippery slope to full scale idolatry because anything fashioned to represent the Lord diminishes Him in human eyes. The images intended to symbolize Him were much like the images intended to represent heathen gods; soon the people began to believe He was just one of many gods and that they could choose to worship Him or a deity of the other nations---or they believed they could worship Him along with those deities. They began heaping sin upon sin upon sin. "Now they sin more and more; they make idols for themselves from their silver, cleverly fashioned images, all of them the work of craftsmen. It is said of these people, 'They offer human sacrifices! They kiss calf-idols!'" (Hosea 13:2) Eventually they began committing the most heinous religious practice of all: sacrificing their own children to that abominable heathen god Molek.
Because of their sins, the Lord is going to allow them to be swept out of their nation just as He swept their heathen predecessors from the land. "Therefore they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears, like chaff swirling from the threshing floor, like smoke escaping from a window." (Hosea 13:3)
If the people had not turned from the Lord, they could have enjoyed all the blessings He promised them for obedience. Deuteronomy 28 contains a list of all the blessings that would have been theirs, perpetually, if they had remained faithful to Him. But they have not remained faithful to Him, even though He reminds them that He is the one and only God. No one else has ever done anything for them. No heathen deity ever spoke to them, ever rescued them from Egypt, ever planted them in the promised land, or ever made a covenant with them. "But I have been the Lord your God ever since you came out of Egypt. You shall acknowledge no God but Me, no Savior except Me. I cared for you in the wilderness, in the land of burning heat." (Hosea 13:4-5) No other god ever supplied their needs; there is no other god. Yet the more the Lord blessed them, the more they forsook Him. They began to trust in their own wealth and might, and in the help of heathen allies, rather than in the Lord who made them into a nation in the first place. "When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot Me." (Hosea 13:6)
Because they have forgotten the Lord, the curses of Deuteronomy 28 will fall upon them instead of the blessings. "So I will be like a lion to them, like a leopard I will lurk by the path. Like a bear robbed of her cubs, I will attack them and rip them open; like a lion I will devour them---a wild animal will tear them apart." (Hosea 13:7-8) We can be the friend of God or we can make ourselves the enemy of God. We have been given free will to make such a choice but we have to accept the consequences of our choice. We can love and serve the Lord who loves us or we can spurn His love and help, heaping sin upon sin and causing harm to ourselves and to those around us. The Lord is righteous and must judge sin. He would not be holy and worthy of our worship if He did not judge sin.
If only the people had not rejected His help! They could have had this: "The Lord will establish you as His holy people, as He promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in obedience to Him. Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you." (Deuteronomy 28:9-10) But they rejected their one true source of help, as He says: "You are destroyed, Israel, because you are against Me, against your helper." (Hosea 13:9) The people could have enjoyed the blessings of fellowship with the Lord and they could have influenced people of other nations to convert to the Lord when those nations saw how the Lord protected and provided for Israel. Instead they've behaved just like those pagan nations and the Lord, for the sake of His holy name, cannot let them get away with it. Who would be drawn to Him if the people called by His name behave just like people who don't even acknowledge Him?
The same can be said of us today as Christians; if we behave like unbelievers, who will be drawn to Christ by observing our character? How can we testify about Christ if we don't set an example for godly living? If we don't appear to love our fellow man, why should they believe Christ (whom we claim to serve) loves them? If we don't have any joy in our hearts, why would a depressed or discouraged person think we have any useful spiritual advice for them? If we are committing the same sins as unbelievers, and yet claim to be saved, they can look at us and say, "They're no better than I am! Some of them do even worse things than I'm doing. And yet they tell me I need to go to church? It hasn't done them any good, from what I can see."
Calling ourselves Christians but living like unbelievers gives unbelievers an opportunity to blaspheme the Lord's name and to ridicule the church. In this same way, the people of ancient Israel were still calling themselves by the name of the Lord but living like heathens. This made heathen people bold enough to blaspheme His name and ridicule Him, which is something they wouldn't have done in times past when they feared Israel's God. They feared Israel's God because He drove the tribes of Canaan out and planted Israel in their place and then defended Israel time and time again from armies too big for them to fight without supernatural help. The Lord will defend His honor, not only for His own sake but for the sake of those who will believe on Him when He defends His honor. If He does not discipline the Israelites for their sin, many people will conclude that He is not righteous at all or they will conclude that He doesn't exist at all.
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