Hosea 8:3

Israel hath cast off [the thing that is] good,.... Or "rejected [him that is] good" (y); that is, God, as Kimchi observes; for there is none good but him, Matthew 19:17; he is the "summum bonum",

Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him. Israel. God repeats the name in opposition to their use of it (Hosea 8:2). Hath cast off the thing that is good.

This seems to be the answer God by his prophet gives to Israel; in the first part of the verse he doth refute their pretence of a peculiar relation and interest in God, in the latter he tells them what they must expect. Israel, the whole house of Israel, hath. east off, with an abhorrence, as an adulterous wife puts away her husband. Good; moral good to be done, all virtue and goodness; and the supreme good to be enjoyed, God, true religion and virtue; all cast off for idols, false religion, and debaucheries. Such a nation cannot be my people, nor do they know me. The enemy shall pursue him; that enemy he would be delivered from, the Assyrian army, shall overthrow, and then pursue, till he have cooped him up in Samaria, and till he have brought them captives out of their own land into Chalah, Chabor, and Gozan, &c. By this they shall know that I know them, their transgressions and hypocrisy.

Hosea 8:3 Israel hath cast off [the thing that is] good: the enemy shall pursue him.Ver. 3. Israel hath cast off the thing that is good] Heb. the good: as, first, the good God, who is good, original, universal, all-sufficient, and satisfactory, proportionable and fitting to our soul. He both is good and doeth good, Psalms 119:68, and that both naturally, abundantly, freely, and constantly. "Good thou art, O Lord, and ready to forgive," saith David, Psalms 86:5. And, the good Lord be merciful, saith Hezekiah in his prayer for the people, 2 Chronicles 30:9; 2 Chronicles 30:18. To speak properly, there is none good but God, saith our Saviour, Matthew 19:17, but Israel cast him, or rather kicked him, off ( procul a se reiecit), as the word signifieth. So do all gross hypocrites; they are rank atheists, practical atheists, though professional Christians. Secondly, they reject Christ as a sovereign, thongh they could be content to have him as a Saviour; they send messages after him, saying, We will not have this man to rule ever us; they will not submit to the laws of his kingdom, nor receive him in all his offices and efficacies; they are Christless creatures, as without God, so without Christ in the world. Thirdly, hypocrites reject the good Spirit of God (as David calleth him, Psalms 143:10), the fruit whereof is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth, Ephesians 5:9. When God striveth with them by his good Spirit, they, by yielding to Satan’ s suggestions, grieve that Holy Spirit, and by grieving resist him, and by resisting quench him, and by quenching maliciously oppose him, and offer despite unto him; and so cast themselves into the punishing hands of the living God, Hebrews 10:29; Hebrews 10:31. Lastly, they cast off the good word and true worship of God; those "right judgments, true laws, good statutes and commandments," Nehemiah 9:13; they put the promises from them, and judge themselves unworthy of everlasting life, Acts 13:46; they hate instruction, and cast God’ s words behind them, Psalms 50:17. In a word, "he hath left off to be wise, and to do good: he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil," Psalms 36:3-4. The words may be read thus, The good (God) hath rejected Israel; the enemy, shall pursue him according to that in the Psalm, "God hath forsaken him: persecute and take him; for there is none to deliver him," Psalms 71:11. Sure it is that the Lord is with us while we are with him; and if we seek him he will be found of us. But if we forsake him he will forsake us. And if he forsake us woe be to us, Hosea 9:12, we are in danger to be caught up by every paltry enemy, as young lapwings are to be snatched up by every buzzard.

(3) Cast off.—Jehovah’s reply to Israel’s hollow repentance. The word “cast off” means a scornful loathing of what is putrescent or obscene. “The thing that is good” is the name of God, which is the salvation of Israel (Aben Ezra).

3. The appeal is dismissed; Israel’s piety is but superficial (comp.Hosea 6:1-4); his ‘knowledge of God’ is not that which Jehovah expects. hath cast off] Not merely put aside out of caprice, but (as the word implies) cast off with loathing (see Hosea 8:5).

Israel has cast off the thing that is good - Or (since the word means “to cast off with abhorrence” “Israel hath east off and abhorred Good,” both “Him who is Good” and “that which is good.” The word “tob” includes both.

3. Israel hath cast off the thing that [“that which”] is good — Everything for which Jehovah stands; yea, Jehovah himself (compare Amos 5:4; Amos 5:6; Amos 5:14). Cast off — A strong word, to cast off with loathing.