I. Consider the expression, "Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off." The clever policy by which Jeroboam was to escape a difficulty which he could and ought to have met in faith in the providence of God, not only failed, but ruined his house; and brought down God's heaviest judgments on an unhappy land. Hardly had his son taken his father's place when Baasha rose and hurled him from his throne, and with that thirst for blood, which to this day marks the Oriental spirit, slew every man, woman, and child, belonging to the royal family. And amid the silence that reigned over this scene of ruthless massacre, the voice of Providence was heard, saying, "Thy calf, O Jeroboam, hath cast thee off." What the calf did to the monarch, it did to the people here called Samaria "who, following the steps of their king apostatized from God, and turned their backs on His temple. Judgment succeeded judgment. The ten tribes, a broken bleeding band, left the land of Israel to go into banishment to be lost for ages or for ever; and over the two idols that were left behind without a solitary worshipper at their shrine, God in providence might be heard saying, "Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off."
II. By way of warning and instruction I observe that the sentiments and spirit of my text are illustrated: (1) By the case of those who put riches in the place of God; (2) by those who live for fame for the favour, not of God, but of men; (3) by those who seek their happiness in the pleasures of sin.
T. Guthrie, Family Treasury,Sept. 1861, p. 129 (see also The Way to Life,p. 20).
References: Hosea 8:7. Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes: Ecclesiastes to Malachi,p. 312.Hosea 8:12. Ibid., Sermons,vol. i., No. 15; J. Hiles Hitchens, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xvii., p. 133; J. Irons, Thursday Penny Pulpit,vol. xvi., p. 353.