SOW THE WIND

Hosea 8:7 For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.

The first few verses of this chapter of Hosea, establishes the reasons behind the lesson text. Verse one notes that through Hosea, God is saying to blow the trumpet, that is, sound the alarm, as if the enemy is approaching. Because of the transgressions of Israel, they would be overtaken by the eagle. This could be a prophecy of the Babylonian siege under Nebuchadnezzar or, most likely, to the Assyrian invasion under Shalmaneser.

Why would God let Israel be taken by their enemies? It was because they said my God, we know Thee (Vs 2), yet were not obedient to His commandments. They had cast off the thing that is good (Vs 3). They had haphazardly set up kings without God's approval (Vs 4), which probably refers to all the turmoil that resulted from some of the kings of the Northern Kingdom, the kingdom of Israel, who "took the throne" in devious ways, even by the assassinations of previous kings. They continued in idolatry, with special reference made to the calf idol, which was learned while in Egypt and carried with them into the Land of Canaan (Vs 4-6). A strong point is made against idol worship in verse 6. The god they worshipped was one made by man; they committed themselves to idolatrous worship. God could not have been made by a man, because it was God that created man, therefore, for man to make God was impossible.

These are the things, referred to in our text, that Israel had sown the wind. They said they loved God but did not show it; they were disobedient to His will; in a treasonous way, they had set up kings which God did not appoint or approve; they continuously worshipped idols. From the sowing of these seeds, Israel would reap the whirlwind. One definition of a whirlwind is a current of air spinning violently in a spiraling motion, having a destructive force that has no definite direction or motion. Israel, then, sowed seeds of destruction, and destruction is exactly what the harvested.

The latter part of the text verse, indicates that the seeds Israel sowed were of no value as far as sustaining their physical lives. It is as if Israel was planting what they thought was good seed, only to find out that what grew didn't have stalks or buds that allowed grain to be produced, and, those seeds that did germinate and yielded grain, were stolen by strangers. In a word, the seeds that Israel planted were worthless, as a food crop, to sustain their physical lives. Figuratively, the disobedient seeds that they sowed yielded a harvest of their own destruction.

In Paul's letter to the Galatians, he told them: Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. We find many examples in the bible of people sowing seed, many of which were parables spoken by Jesus as He taught His disciples, as well as His Christian followers today. There were both good and bad seeds sown. Both of these are contained in one parable noted in Matthew 13. In the parable starting in Verse 24, we see that the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. Does this remind you of what takes place in the world today? It should, because in verses 36 through 43, Jesus explains this parable. The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one. In this world, both good and bad seed are planted in the same field. There are times when the good seed takes root, grows, matures, and yields a hundred fold. But there are also times when the tares seem to grow at a much faster rate and choke out the good seed resulting in crop failure (see the parable of the sower in Matthew 13:3-8 & 18-23).

In today's world many men and women sow the wind? They sow seeds of discord, strife, hatred, scoffing, anger, disputing, and contention. Be assured that when these seeds are planted, germinate, grow, and mature, they will yield a bountiful harvest that will become a cancer to people of the world, and the world will reap a whirlwind! Know this, reader; such diabolical actions are the result of Satan's false prophetic followers. They are a whirlwind of destructive sin, and the wages of sin is death.