Hosea 9:7,8 - The day of punishment has come

9:7

This was no arbitrary series of events that were happening to them, but were punishment from the Lord, judgement upon their sin. The prophet was meant to be one who proclaimed the word of God, proclaimed the truth, but he was a fool. The man of the spirit was meant to be a man who was truly wise and had insight, but he was mad. Fool and mad here could be taken as meaning the supposed prophets and men of God were really no such thing and just offered human wisdom. Or they could be taken to mean that because society had rejected God, they considered those who were still men of God speaking God’s words to be fools and madmen. This latter situation pretty much describes the state of the West in these days.

9:8

The prophet of God is the “watchman of Ephraim”. He is there to warn the people, in particular to warn them when they are straying from God’s path and of the judgement that is therefore heading there way. He was truly a friend of the people, yet there was hatred of him in the house of God. As we know, Jesus encountered the same reaction, only more so, as He explained in the parable of the tennants.