How to Forfeit Blessings

Israel was not simply minding her own business when suddenly Assyria came and victimized her in brutal ways. Israel was doing her level best to provoke God, to despise His blessings — and at some point, His patience was exhausted and He punished her for her sins. That is the message of this text. If you think that Israel is an innocent victim, you’ve been asleep since 1 Kings 12. Israel truly did deserve everything that happened in this chapter — and that is terrifying because it tells us something about ourselves. The God we serve has not changed. He still punishes those who persist over centuries in despising His blessings. In the history of Israel under Hoshea we see a warning of what our own fate might be if we persist in idolatry like theirs.