I. The prophet's language may justly be regarded as a distinct promise or prophecy on the part of God. He says, with that infinitude of meaning that all words truly spoken by Him must have: "To Me shall they cry, My God, we know Thee, Israel," or "Israel shall cry, My God, we know Thee." In the very midst of the national sins and disasters of His people, the Lord in His anger yet remembers mercy, and declares that the time shall come when idolatrous Israel shall confess to the knowledge of Him, in deed and in truth.
II. The conversion of Israel, we are taught, is contingent upon the bringing in of the Gentiles. To say, therefore, that Israel shall be restored, is to say that the world shall be converted; that the world shall cry, "My God, we know Thee;" that the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. Nor must we judge of this matter from our own position in time; the wheels of His chariot seem to tarry, the Bridegroom is long in coming, but God has eternity to work in. He is not hampered by human circumstances, nor hurried for lack of time. If His purposes are real purposes, they concern the human race as a whole, and their accomplishment is coeval with the consummation of the race.
III. It is a remarkable transition here from the singular to the plural; from the "My God" to the "We know Thee." No scheme of religion would be complete that did not equally recognize the claims of the individual, and those of the multitude; none could be Divine that did not reconcile them. But the religion of the Bible says that "we" is made up of a whole nation, or rather of many nations, and yet every unit is a living entity, and instinct with life; for every individual cries "My God." Many of our practical problems of the present day consist in the difficulty of adjusting these rival claims. They can only be adjusted, they can only be eradicated and reconciled in the kingdom of God, when every unit of the great army that no man can number, can cry in deed, and in truth, "My God," and when they all alike can say, "We know Thee."
S. Leathes, Good Words,1874, p. 606.
Reference: Hosea 8:2. J. H. Hitchens, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxvii., p. 59.