Hosea 2:8

8 But she does not know that I was the one who gave her grain, new wine, and oil. I gave her much silver and gold, but she used it for Baal.

Hosea 2:8 Meaning and Commentary

Hosea 2:8

For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil,
&c.] This is a reason, not of her resolution to return to her first husband, but to go after lovers, and of her ascribing these things to them, ( Hosea 2:5 ) , and why the Lord would behave towards her as he determined to do, ( Hosea 2:6 Hosea 2:7 ) , this ignorance was wilful and affected, and therefore blameable; she might have known, but she would not; she did not set her mind to know; she did not consider who gave her these things, nor behave as if she knew, as Jarchi: or she did not own and acknowledge God to be the author and giver of them, as she should have done; which was ingratitude rather than ignorance, and is a heinous sin, and to be resented; since all good things, temporal and spiritual, as daily bread, all the necessaries of life, signified by these things, so the word, and ordinances, and spiritual gifts, which they may be emblems of, come from God, and should be acknowledged; but the Jews, as in the times of Isaiah, did not know him, and acknowledge his benefits, ( Isaiah 1:2 Isaiah 1:3 ) , so, in the times of Christ, they did not know him to be the God of Israel, God over all, blessed for ever; from whom, and for whose sake, who was to be, and was born of them, they enjoyed the privileges they did, ( John 1:10 John 1:11 ) ( Romans 9:4 Romans 9:5 ) . And multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal;
the relative "which" may refer to all that goes before; and the sense be, that these gifts of God, and which should have been owned as such, and employed in his service, and to his glory; some were made use of in meat and drink offerings to Baal; and others in decking themselves to appear in his worship to his honour; or in ornamenting the idol therewith, or in making it thereof, so the Targum and Syriac version: and all this may be said to be done, when these things are spent in the service of other lords than the Lord himself; when they are abused to sinful purposes, and consumed on the lusts of men, to gratify their sensuality, pride, and vanity, which the Jews did.

Hosea 2:8 In-Context

6 So I will block her road with thornbushes; I will build a wall around her so she cannot find her way.
7 She will run after her lovers, but she won't catch them. She will look for them, but she won't find them. Then she will say, 'I will go back to my first husband, because life was better then for me than it is now.'
8 But she does not know that I was the one who gave her grain, new wine, and oil. I gave her much silver and gold, but she used it for Baal.
9 "So I will come back and take away my grain at harvest time and my new wine when it is ready. I will take back my wool and linen that covered her nakedness.
10 So I will show her nakedness to her lovers, and no one will save her from me.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.