How had the Israelites’ altars become “altars for sinning”? (Hosea 8:11–13)
11 “Though Ephraim built many altars for sin offerings,
these have become altars for sinning.
12 I wrote for them the many things of my law,
but they regarded them as something foreign.
13 Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to me,
and though they eat the meat,
the Lord is not pleased with them.
Now he will remember their wickedness
and punish their sins:
They will return to Egypt.
Hosea 8:11 - 13
ESV - 11 Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they have become to him altars for sinning. 12 Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands, they would be regarded as a strange thing.
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Asked September 11 2019
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Jack Gutknecht
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Tim Maas
God had commanded the building of one altar in Israel at the place that He would choose (Jerusalem) for the offering of blood sacrifices to Him for the purpose of the nation's sins being forgiven. In contravention of that commandment, multiple altars had been built in multiple locations in the nation for those sacrificial offerings. That, in itself, was a sin, and the reason why the Lord was not pleased with those offerings. To further compound that sin, those altars over time (as God's Law in general was disobeyed and forsaken by Israel) became places where offerings were made to other gods, which was an even more grievous offense, causing God to speak of the punishment that He would impose as a result.
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