Apostasy's Condemnation

In this solemn warning of the judgment that would shortly fall on the idolatrous kingdom of Israel, the prophet Hosea addressed a people marked by peace and prosperity. They were affluent to a large degree and pretended that the rise of Assyria as a world power portended no real threat to their peace and safety. But Israel was a nation of ungodliness. Apostasy had generated an atmosphere rife with immorality, and the people had fashioned their own relativistic moral code that essentially made each person the arbiter of that person's conduct. They refused the unchanging standards of God's Word and counted that revelation as a strange thing. Hosea warned the people that they could not escape the judgment of God.