Verse 6
The Assyrians would carry the golden calf to their land in honor of their king (cf. Hosea 8:10). Israel would then feel great shame because the Israelites had decided to trust in a foreign alliance with the Assyrians for their security (cf. Hosea 5:13; Hosea 7:8-9; Hosea 7:11; Hosea 8:9-10).
"For us alliances between nations are such a commonplace of life that we can hardly imagine a nation standing alone . . .
"It should have been fundamental, however, for Israel that no foreign alliances were possible. The reason was quite simply that in those days the secular state did not exist, and so in practice it was impossible to distinguish between a state and its gods. In an extant treaty of peace between Rameses II of Egypt and Hattusilis the Hittite king it is a thousand of their gods on either side who are the witnesses to and guarantors of it. [Note: Footnote 1: James B. Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, pp. 200-201.] So even a treaty on equal terms with a neighbouring country would have involved for Israel a recognition of the other country’s deities as having reality and equality with Jehovah. To turn to Assyria or Egypt for help implied of necessity that their gods were more effective than the God of Israel." [Note: Ellison, p. 131.]
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