The Israelites are sowing the nothingness of idolatry. And it is also a bit of what Hosea is saying here. They do not have existence in themselves. It’s the same thing that we see throughout the Old Testament in God’s polemic against idols. Think here of 1 Corinthians 10, where Paul talks about the idols not having any actual existence. But it’s not exactly “nothing” that they are planting. To “sow the wind” is essentially planting nothing. To sow the wind would be to go into a field with no seed in your hand and go through the motions of planting. You sow tomato seeds then you reap a tomato (hopefully).īut here in Hosea, what would it mean to “sow the wind”? What exactly are the Israelites planting? If you plant tomato seeds into the ground, you’re going to grow tomatoes and not apples. What is Hosea saying? What does it mean to sow the wind and reap the whirlwind? What Does it Mean to Reap the Whirlwind? And in 8:9, we see the specific situation that Hosea is considering sowing the wind: “For they have gone up to Assyria.” This is the age-old principle that you reap what you sow. Jeroboam had made shrewd treaties with these nations, and it led to much prosperity. But much of this prosperity was because of their relationship with both Egypt and Assyria. They were extending their borders and enjoying great prosperity. When Hosea began in ministry, it is likely that they were in the heyday of Jeroboam II’s reign. Historically, the people of Israel were sandwiched between two superpowers, Egypt and Assyria. God calls the prophet, Hosea, to “take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” Hosea’s marriage to the unfaithful Gomer is a picture of God’s covenant relationship with Israel.

Hosea is one of the most interesting books in the Old Testament. What does it mean to reap the whirlwind? Is that a good thing, or is it something we want to avoid? What Is the Context of Hosea 8:7? It turns out his little phrase “reap the whirlwind” comes from the Bible. But this guy was making me think that I wouldn’t want this whirlwind. I’d heard of people talking about a windfall, and it sounded like something good. I wasn’t even sure exactly what a whirlwind was, much less what it meant to reap one. At one point, the speaker informed us that if we weren’t responsible with our finances now, we’d reap a whirlwind later. That’s what the advertisement said that compelled my wife to sit through a two-hour seminar on the benefits of buying into their insurance plan as twenty-somethings.

Whirlwind reamp