Chapter 8 of Hoshea opens with an alarm: the prophet is commanded to sound the shofar and publicly announce the impending calamity. The chapter revolves around two focal points: the monarchy chosen contrary to God's will, and the golden calves in Beit El, which had become a symbol of casting off the yoke of Heaven. We will follow the order of the pesukim, examining the insights of Rashi, Radak, and Malbim, each illuminating the chapter from a distinct perspective.
אֶל־חִכְּךָ שֹׁפָר כַּנֶּשֶׁר עַל־בֵּית יְהֹוָה יַעַן עָבְרוּ בְרִיתִי וְעַל־תּוֹרָתִי פָּשָׁעוּ׃ - Put the shofar to your palate! Like an eagle over the House of the Lord, because they have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My Torah.
"Put the shofar to your palate" - meaning, place the shofar to your mouth, as God tells the prophet. Radak asks: Why does it say "to your palate" (chikkcha), when the shofar is placed to the lips and mouth, not the palate? He answers that the sound passes across the palate after emerging from the throat. One who blows the shofar expels air from the throat, and the breath travels across the palate into the shofar.
And who is the "eagle" coming upon the House of the Lord? Radak explains that this is the enemy: proclaim aloud and announce with the shofar that the enemy will swoop like an eagle over the House of the Lord. Rashi explains similarly - the enemy will come and devastate the land and the House of the Lord as well. And the reason: "Because they have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My Torah" - they abandoned the Beit HaMikdash, so I too will abandon it and permit foreigners to come and destroy it.
The Malbim interprets this differently: "Like an eagle over the House of the Lord" does not refer to the enemy, but to the prophet himself. The Holy One, blessed be He, commands the prophet to hasten and fly like an eagle to the House of the Lord, stand there, and sound the shofar. Whenever they wished to make a momentous announcement that needed to be publicized and heard by all, they would blow a shofar. God says to him: Stand there in the Beit HaMikdash, upon a high place, so that the message will be heard to the ends of the land, and then inform them that all this misfortune is coming upon them because they transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My Torah.
And why specifically in the House of the Lord? The Malbim adds: Because the announcement was directed not only at Shomron, who sinned profusely, but also at Yehudah. Although Yehudah lagged behind Shomron in their sins, and Yehudah and Binyamin had righteous kings, there was nevertheless corruption among them as well, and they needed to be aroused. And so it was: they repented in the days of Chizkiyahu when the king of Assyria marched against them, and God hastened like an eagle to protect His nest, as it is written: "As flying birds, so will the Lord protect Jerusalem."
לִי יִזְעָקוּ אֱלֹהַי יְדַעֲנוּךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - To Me they will cry, "My God, we, Israel, know You!"
Rashi cites Targum Yonatan: When distress comes upon them, they will cry out to Me and say, "My God, we, Israel, know You" - after all, we are Your people and we know You, have mercy upon us. But God says that He will not have mercy upon them, as written in the following verse, and the reason is that "Israel has rejected good" - Israel abandoned goodness, and therefore "an enemy shall pursue him."
Radak explains: "To Me they will cry" - Israel should have cried out to Me in the time of their distress, saying, "My God, we know You; we know that there is no savior other than You, and only You can rescue us" - yet they do not do so.
The Malbim explains that this is a command, in contrast to what was stated earlier, "They have not cried out to Me with their heart": Tell them to cry out to Me, tell them to say, "My God, we know You" - that we acknowledge You, meaning we realize that this adversity comes from You by Divine Providence, and all that we suffer is punishment for having forsaken Your covenant and rebelled against Your Torah. Thus, we have three interpretations: according to Rashi, it is a description of what will happen - when distress strikes, they will cry out; according to Radak, it means they ought to have cried out, yet they fail to do so; and according to the Malbim, it is a command - tell them to cry out to Me in times of trouble so that I may deliver them.
זָנַח יִשְׂרָאֵל טוֹב אוֹיֵב יִרְדְּפוֹ׃ - Israel has cast off good; an enemy shall pursue him.
According to the Malbim, who explains that there is a command here to tell them to cry out, all this is part of what they will say in their cry: "Our God, we know You," and we know that "Israel has cast off good" - since we abandoned the good, which is the Torah and the mitzvot, therefore "an enemy shall pursue him"; we received the punishment that the enemy pursues us. And the moment there is recognition of the hand of Hashem, an opening for redemption and salvation automatically opens up.
הֵם הִמְלִיכוּ וְלֹא מִמֶּנִּי הֵשִׂירוּ וְלֹא יָדָעְתִּי כַּסְפָּם וּזְהָבָם עָשׂוּ לָהֶם עֲצַבִּים לְמַעַן יִכָּרֵת׃ - They made kings, but not from Me; they appointed princes, and I did not know; of their silver and their gold they made idols for themselves, so that they will be cut off.
Radak and Ibn Ezra explain that the verse speaks of the reign of Jeroboam: they made Jeroboam king and did not inquire of Hashem. Radak raises a difficulty: wasn't Jeroboam's kingship from Hashem, and wasn't it Ahijah the Shilonite who informed him of his reign? He answers: it is true that this was so, but at the time they made him king, they did not inquire of Hashem. Hashem's word was with Jeroboam, but you, before accepting him as king, were supposed to ask Hashem, and you did not do that. Ahijah the prophet did not tell them that Hashem commanded to make him king, but rather told Jeroboam himself that they would make him king. It turns out that when you acted - you acted of your own free will and by your own choice.
Radak further adds: even if you were to say there was a command to crown him, at a certain point you understood that something had gone wrong. You saw that the man lost his direction, made calves, prevented the pilgrimage to Jerusalem - you already understood that something here was amiss, so why did you continue with him? Why did you not remove him from his kingship? After all, Ahijah the Shilonite, when he informed him of the kingship, conditioned it on him doing what is right and good in the eyes of Hashem. Radak also adds that the other kings of Israel were crowned without inquiring of Hashem, except for Jehu son of Nimshi, who was the only one who came by Hashem's command.
"They appointed princes, and I did not know" - here the commentators differ. Most commentators, including Rashi, Targum Yonatan, and Radak, explain that it comes from the root of authority and princedom: just as "they made kings" means they set up a king for themselves, so "they appointed princes" (heishiru) means they set up princes (sarim) for themselves. Even though it is written with a sin rather than a shin, it derives from the word sar (minister or prince). Just as they appointed the king without My desire, so too "they appointed princes, and I did not know" - they appointed ministers and leaders without My consent. Heaven forbid that one should interpret it as "I did not know about it," for nothing is hidden from Hashem; rather, the intention is "not with My consent": they would appoint ministers with whom I did not agree, leaders who would only cause them to sin and corrupt them.
"Of their silver and their gold they made idols for themselves" - as we saw at the beginning of Sefer Hoshea, "I multiplied her silver, and gold they made for Baal," all the silver and gold were used for idolatry. And regarding the meaning of "so that it will be cut off," there are several explanations: Radak explains that their name should be cut off and they would be exiled from their land - you performed actions that brought about your destruction and exile from the land. Another explanation: so that their silver and gold would be cut off, for by making idols from the silver and gold, you caused Hashem to destroy the silver and gold from you. Measure for measure: they made idols from the silver and gold, and Hashem will cut off the silver and gold from them.
The Malbim explains the entire verse in a different way. "They made kings, but not from Me" - this does not refer to Jeroboam specifically, but to the kings in general, whom they chose on their own and not through Hashem's prophet. And "they removed" (heishiru) is from the language of removal (hasarah): afterward they removed them from the throne, "and I did not know" - and this too was contrary to My will.
And to what does this refer? The Malbim says that there were two kings who were removed from the throne for the "terrible sin" of being unwilling to toe the line with the calves and the idolatry instituted by Jeroboam. They were not great righteous men, but in minor ways they were - they were not willing to worship those calves that Jeroboam had made.
The first is Shallum son of Jabesh. The Malbim notes precisely: nowhere in Tanach is it said of him, "And he did evil in the eyes of Hashem," as is said of all the kings of Israel. And if you should say that he reigned for only one month, and how much evil could he have managed to do? That is no argument, for Zimri reigned for only seven days, and nevertheless it was said of him, "and he died for his sins which he sinned... to walk in the way of Jeroboam." Therefore, Shallum son of Jabesh, who reigned for a month, had he walked in the sins of Jeroboam, it would have been recorded about him. It turns out that although he was not a great righteous king, he refused to follow the sin of Jeroboam, the path of the calves and the Baalim.
The public in Shomron then split into two factions: one faction supported him and reinforced the line of discontinuing the calves, while the second faction opposed him, specifically seeking to reinforce the calves and the heretical path of Yerov'am ben Nevat. These are the media figures and leftists of every generation, who want to strengthen the calves and everything associated with them so that the corrupted path begun by Yerov'am continues. As a result, they brought Menachem ben Gadi, who marched against Shallum ben Yavesh, killed him, and replaced him. This was an appointment orchestrated by that opposing faction, which initiated the removal of Shallum ben Yavesh from the throne so that someone aligned with their views would rule.
Menachem ben Gadi needed to solidify his rule, so he gave a thousand talents of silver to Pul, king of Ashur, so that he would secure the kingdom in his hand and assist him in strengthening his reign over the ten tribes. The reason: he faced opposition - the allies of Shallum ben Yavesh, who opposed the reign of Menachem ben Gadi because he wanted to bring back the calves.
The second king was Hoshea ben Elah. Concerning him, Scripture states: "And he did what was evil in the eyes of Hashem, yet not like the kings of Israel who preceded him" - he did evil, but not completely, for he did not worship the calves. Our Sages say that he even abolished the guard posts (perosda'ot) that Yerov'am had stationed along the roads to prevent Israel from making the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, removing those checkpoints and allowing them to go up for the festivals. The faction that followed the sins of Yerov'am, which opposed abolishing the calves, disputed with him as well. What did they do? They went and informed on him to the king of Ashur. This foolish pattern persists to this day: whenever the person governing does not align with their agenda, they go and tell the nations how terrible he is and what dreadful things he is doing, photographing this settlement or that balcony with satellite imagery. And so it was back then - they informed on him to the king of Ashur, and the king of Ashur came and imprisoned him.
It turns out that the removal of these two kings from their throne was done without Hashem's knowledge, meaning without His will. This is the meaning of the verse: "They crowned kings, but not from Me" - none of their kings ruled with My approval; "they removed princes, and I knew not" - and when two kings did align with My will, they removed them from the throne. At the very least, you should have kept the two kings who were less harmful!
And what is the meaning of "with their silver and their gold they made idols for themselves"? The Malbim explains: As long as the maintenance of the calves came from the king, the king funded it, and there was a dedicated royal budget to maintain the calves. So it is to this day - the "calves" never lack hefty budgets: performance troupes receive millions, universities receive billions, and you dare not ask where the money goes, because that infringes on academic freedom. Everywhere else, "sunlight is the best disinfectant," as the Supreme Court likes to say, but not when it comes to the universities - there they do as they please and spend money wherever they want, and you must not intervene. But when the king removed the calves, the opposing faction was forced to find funding out of its own pocket. They spent their own money to maintain the calves, since Shallum ben Yavesh and Hoshea ben Elah had cut the budgets. This is the meaning of "with their silver and their gold they made idols for themselves."
And why? "So that he may be cut off" - so that the king they had initially crowned would be cut off, that Shallum ben Yavesh would be cut off, that Hoshea ben Elah would be cut off. They funded the calves from their own pockets to maintain cohesion and the agenda of those opposed to abolishing the calves, thereby building a large coalition centered around the calf worship, through which they could eliminate the reigning king who opposed the calves.
זָנַח עֶגְלֵךְ שֹׁמְרוֹן חָרָה אַפִּי בָּם עַד־מָתַי לֹא יוּכְלוּ נִקָּיֹן׃ - Spurned is your calf, O Shomron; My anger burns against them; how long will they be incapable of purity?
According to the straightforward interpretation, the verse is concise: The Holy One, blessed be He, has spurned you, people of Shomron, on account of the sin of the calves in Beit El. "How long will they be incapable of purity?" - how long will they be unable to cleanse themselves from the filth of those calves? Radak asks: Was the calf not in Beit El rather than Shomron? He answers that from Achav onward, Shomron was the capital of the kings of Israel, and it was the kings who promoted the calf worship. Therefore it says, "Spurned is your calf, O Shomron" - Shomron represents the monarchy, and the accountability rests upon it, just as it is said of each king, "and he walked in the sins of Yerov'am," "he did not depart from the sins of Yerov'am." This is why the prophet attaches the guilt of the calf to Shomron.
Others interpret "Spurned is your calf, O Shomron" to mean: your calf has cast you away from Shomron; your calf is what caused you to be distanced from your land and brought you into exile.
The Malbim connects this to the preceding verse and adds an explanation to "so that he may be cut off": so that the king who spurned your calf, O Shomron, will be cut off. Everything they did in privately financing idol worship was intended to eliminate the king who had forsaken the calves - Hoshea ben Elah and Shallum ben Yavesh. Therefore Hashem says, "My anger burns against them." Why specifically now? Because until now, divine wrath was directed at the king, while the people were regarded as acting unwittingly or under coercion, since the king was the one promoting idolatry, providing the drive and initiative. But now, when two kings arose who did not encourage the calves and in fact did the opposite, yet a faction from among the people arose and made idols with their own silver and gold - now My anger burns against them.
"How long will they be incapable of purity?" - how long will the sin of the calves cling to them, rendering them unable to be cleansed of it? After all, they are no longer compelled to engage in this idolatry by the king, for the king opposes it, and they have complete freedom to serve Hashem. How long will they continue to cling to this idolatry?
כִּי מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל וְהוּא חָרָשׁ עָשָׂהוּ וְלֹא אֱלֹהִים הוּא כִּי־שְׁבָבִים יִהְיֶה עֵגֶל שֹׁמְרוֹן׃ - For it is from Israel, a craftsman made it, and it is no god; for the calf of Samaria shall be broken into splinters.
Rashi explains as if the reading were "for it is from Israel" - this calf was funded from the silver and gold of each and every person in Israel. And what is the meaning of the letter vav in "vehu" ("and it")? Rashi resolves this: this calf, too, is from them. It was not only the first calf that they made upon leaving Egypt, where each person removed their earrings and brought silver and gold, but this calf, too, was made from their own silver and gold.
"A craftsman made it, and it is no god" - an artisan made it. Do not imagine that it possesses any power, says the Radak, for the word "El" denotes strength and dominion. Could it be possible that something fashioned by a craftsman could possess greater power than the craftsman himself? A person can only impart to an object whatever limited capability he possesses; he cannot give it more power than he has himself. Just because the craftsman fashioned it, does it now become a god, a creator and former? It has no power of its own.
Moreover, "the calf of Samaria shall be broken into splinters." Shevavim means kindling, splinters, or wood chips, as in the Aramaic idiom "shiva mikshora" - a splinter from a beam. In other words, the calf itself will crumble into splinters. You will see that it has no ability whatsoever: not only can it not save its worshippers, it cannot even save itself, for it will disintegrate into crumbs.
The Radak interprets "for it is from Israel" differently: they did not learn this idolatry from the nations; it was not an imported commodity. Rather, they produced the calf entirely on their own, just like the Golden Calf they made in the wilderness.
The Malbim explains according to his approach: until now, the kings had instituted and produced the calves. But now, with the rise of Shallum ben Yavesh and Hoshea ben Elah, when the kings themselves opposed the calves, the calf was made by the people - "it is from Israel." They donated the money, as it says, "with their silver and their gold they made themselves idols." This is also the meaning of "a craftsman made it" - Israel themselves hired the artisan who made the calf, not the king.
In explaining "for it shall be shevavim," the Malbim offers a remarkable insight: they do not worship it because it holds power or divinity, but rather because they wish to be shovavim (wayward and unruly). Israel simply wants license to cast off restraint - "to abandon them to lawlessness," like a "backsliding daughter" (habat hashovavah). Therefore, they make the calves so that through them they can cast off the yoke of Heaven and do whatever strikes their fancy. This is also the deeper meaning behind "Return (shuvah), O Israel, unto Hashem your God," for the Jewish people strayed from the path like wayward children (shovavim).
This is the crux of the matter: they themselves know full well that these are not gods. If so, what purpose is served by a god from whom you receive nothing? The utility is enormous: it provides a pretext to abandon Hashem. Then a person can follow the stubbornness of his heart and do whatever he desires without pangs of conscience - after all, Hashem commands otherwise, but he claims he does not believe in Hashem; he "believes" in the calf. This reflects Chazal's teaching, "Israel worshipped idols only to permit illicit relations in public" - so that through it they could follow the waywardness of their hearts, like unruly, wild youths unchecked in their actions.
כִּי רוּחַ יִזְרָעוּ וְסוּפָתָה יִקְצֹרוּ קָמָה אֵין־לוֹ צֶמַח בְּלִי יַעֲשֶׂה־קֶּמַח אוּלַי יַעֲשֶׂה זָרִים יִבְלָעֻהוּ׃ - For they sow wind and shall reap a whirlwind; it has no standing grain; the stalk produces no flour; even if it should produce, strangers would devour it.
The Malbim explains: they received their retribution according to their deeds. Just as they sowed wind, they shall reap a whirlwind. Wind is gentle, while a whirlwind is violent and powerful - you sowed a little, and you will receive it in amplified measure. "It has no standing grain" - the sower yearns to see standing stalks, to see wheat grow, but from the seed they sowed no standing crop will emerge; no wheat will grow, and they will not reap the fruit of their labor. "The stalk produces no flour" - even if a sprout emerges, it will produce no grain from which flour can be made.
Seemingly, in such a state, the nations have nothing to seek from us, for nothing fruitful emerges from us. Therefore, Scripture adds: "Should it produce, strangers shall swallow it up." Even if something begins to sprout from their toil, even though it is not destined to yield flour - a thin, withered shoot unsuited to develop - strangers will swallow it up nonetheless. Why? Because of "should it produce" - who knows, perhaps in the future grain will grow from it and produce flour! Therefore, they do not allow it to grow at all, and while it is still in its bud, they already devour it.
נִבְלַע יִשְׂרָאֵל עַתָּה הָיוּ בַגּוֹיִם כִּכְלִי אֵין־חֵפֶץ בּוֹ׃ - Israel is swallowed up; now they have become among the nations like a vessel in which no one has any interest.
This is the nimshal: just as strangers swallow up the shoot, so too Israel is swallowed up - they come and take them, their property, all their wealth, and everything they possess. And although now they are among the nations like a vessel no one desires, like a "shoot that will not yield flour" offering no benefit, they swallow it up nonetheless out of the "perhaps" that it might produce flour in the future. Radak explains why they are now seen by the nations as an unwanted vessel: we saw earlier that they went to seek help from the nations, and the nations mocked them - "this will be their mockery in the land of Egypt." The nations disparage them and look down upon them as lowly; there is no use for them, yet here they come like weaklings begging for help.
כִּי־הֵמָּה עָלוּ אַשּׁוּר פֶּרֶא בּוֹדֵד לוֹ אֶפְרַיִם הִתְנוּ אֲהָבִים׃ - For they have gone up to Assyria, like a wild ass alone by itself; Ephraim has solicited lovers.
Rashi explains "a wild ass alone by itself" - they became like a wild ass that wanders off by itself, moving from place to place. And in explaining "solicited lovers" (hitnu ahavim), Rashi offers two explanations: either it is related to jackals (tanim), like that wild beast roaming the wilderness seeking mates, and so too Israel abandoned Hashem and went to seek help from Egypt and other nations. Or, it is related to etnán (a harlot’s fee), for Israel's turning away from Hashem to the nations is considered harlotry, and wherever there is harlotry there is an etnán, the payment for the deed. So too here, they gave gifts and payment to receive aid from the nations, abandoning their Husband - the Holy One, Blessed is He.
The Malbim explains what caused them to be swallowed up and to become like a vessel no one desires: it was because they subjugated themselves to the kings of Assyria, "for they have gone up to Assyria." And after accepting the sovereignty of the king of Assyria, they went and solicited love from the king of Egypt, like a woman who is unfaithful under her husband, giving fees to other lovers in order to leave her husband and rebel against him.
And what is the meaning of "a wild ass alone by itself"? The Malbim explains: the wild ass, accustomed to the wilderness, strays far from its place, as it is written, "A wild ass accustomed to the wilderness, sniffing the wind in her lust." Yet even though it distances itself from home and its natural habitat, its nature is to wander alone; it does not seek companionship, preferring solitude. Ephraim, however - on the one hand, resembles a wild ass in its unruly, wild behavior, wandering away from its place, but it seeks many companions, and in this it differs from the wild ass. The wild ass keeps to itself, whereas they are a wild ass that courts lovers and craves the closeness of the nations.
גַּם כִּי־יִתְנוּ בַגּוֹיִם עַתָּה אֲקַבְּצֵם וַיָּחֵלּוּ מְּעָט מִמַּשָּׂא מֶלֶךְ שָׂרִים׃ - Even though they hire among the nations, now I will gather them, and they shall tremble a little from the burden of the king of princes.
Hashem says: Even though they currently pay fees among the nations to solicit their affection and form alliances with them, there is still hope - "now I will gather them," I will gather them from the places where I banished them and return them to their land. On one condition: "and they shall tremble a little from the burden of the king of princes." "Vayachelú" is from the language of fear and trembling (chil u-re'adah), trembling from the "burden" (massa) that the prophets bear concerning them, the prophecies of calamity. If the king and princes shudder even slightly at the words of prophecy, if they are moved even a little by the words of rebuke, Hashem says, I will gather them. The main thing is that there be within them a measure of trembling and awe from the burden of the prophecy I convey.
כִּי־הִרְבָּה אֶפְרַיִם מִזְבְּחוֹת לַחֲטֹא הָיוּ־לוֹ מִזְבְּחוֹת לַחֲטֹא׃ - For Ephraim has multiplied altars to sin, altars have become for him a sin.
Yet they did not tremble before the burden of Hashem's word; they were unmoved by the words of the prophets and did not shake from the harsh prophecies. On the contrary - Ephraim multiplied altars to sin. The Malbim explains that when they courted love among the nations, they did not offer gifts merely to forge an alliance for political aid and military protection; they also forged an alliance with them in faith and the worship of the Baal. They joined them in worshipping their idols and multiplied altars to sacrifice upon them to the gods of the nations. This was not merely a defense pact, but a complete covenant of joining with the foreign nation in the fullest sense of the word, to worship its gods.
"Altars have become for him a sin" - the Malbim explains: in Ephraim's view, the altars made for idol worship were not a sin, whereas the altars upon which sacrifices are offered to Hashem, namely the Beit HaMikdash, were considered by him to be a sin. What he sacrifices to idols seemed proper to him, while what is offered to Hashem was deemed in his eyes to be sinful. And why?
אֶכְתׇּב־לוֹ רֻבֵּי תּוֹרָתִי כְּמוֹ־זָר נֶחְשָׁבוּ׃ - Were I to write for him the multitude of My Torah, they would be accounted as something strange.
The Malbim explains: The altars that I wrote for him in My Torah, upon which sacrifices are offered for the sake of Hashem - meaning the altar in the Beit HaMikdash according to the Torah - "were accounted as something strange," considered by them to be foreign altars. If someone went to sacrifice at the altar of Hashem, they would kill him, whereas someone who went to sacrifice to the Baal was lauded and praised. And why? Because they said that Hashem is the God of gods, exalted and lofty: "Do you really sacrifice an offering to Him and imagine that He looks down upon you? He has emissaries and appointed agents - the sun, the moon, the angels, the stars, and the constellations - and it is them you must worship, for they are lower down, and offering sacrifices to them makes sense." Thus, offering sacrifices to Hashem was deemed a sin in their eyes; on the contrary, in their view one ought to sacrifice to those lower ministers who execute Hashem's word, who could supposedly be influenced or benefit from the offering.
Rashi explains "Were I to write for him the multitude of My Torah" - I continuously rebuke him through the prophets and write the multitude of My Torah for him. The Radak adds that the prophets I sent to them warn them concerning the words of the Torah, yet to them "they were accounted as something strange" - foreign to them, as though I were speaking to them about something they do not know and have no connection to.
זִבְחֵי הַבְהָבַי יִזְבְּחוּ בָשָׂר וַיֹּאכֵלוּ יְהֹוָה לֹא רָצָם עַתָּה יִזְכֹּר עֲוֺנָם וְיִפְקֹד חַטֹּאותָם הֵמָּה מִצְרַיִם יָשׁוּבוּ׃ - As for the sacrifices of My roasted offerings, they slaughter meat and eat it; Hashem does not accept them. Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins; they shall return to Egypt.
The commentators explain that havhavai is related to lahav (flame), like something flickering or roasting in fire. Just as the root lakach (to take) becomes kach with the dropping of the lamed, so too lahav becomes hav, hence havhavai. "As for the sacrifices of My roasted offerings, they slaughter meat and eat it" - in the burnt-offerings that they dedicated to Heaven, there was no intention at all to please Hashem and sacrifice an offering to Him; rather, the entire purpose was that "they slaughter meat and eat it." Why do they bring it up to the altar? Just to eat meat! Not as an olah (burnt-offering) and not as a sacrifice to Hashem; rather, they treated it as entirely secular meat.
And they would say, "Hashem does not accept them" - Hashem has no desire for these sacrifices, since in their view Hashem does not supervise the deeds of human beings, but is merely the "God of gods." Therefore, they offered sacrifices to the Baals, to the heavenly hosts, and to the supernal angels from whom influences supposedly flow, while an offering to Hashem was perceived in their eyes as a sin. All of this stemmed from the fact that they did not tremble before the burden of the prophets' words, for the words of rebuke produced no dread or trembling in them.
And not only this: "Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins" - behold, the king of Assyria is coming; you are beginning to absorb blows and see that your iniquity is remembered and your sins are being punished. Even so, they did not tremble before Hashem and had no fear, but rather, "they shall return to Egypt."
The Malbim explains: They turned to Egypt as though returning to Egypt, as if the Holy One, blessed be He, had never redeemed them from Egypt to be His people. Instead, they traveled backward in time to become idolaters just as they had been in Egypt, when He had to tell them, "Draw out and take for yourselves lambs" - draw your hands away from idol worship. They regressed back to the days before Hashem had taken them to be His people.
Radak explains that this describes an actual reality: when they returned to Egypt with Yochanan ben Kareiach, violating the prophet's words who instructed them not to return to Egypt, they thought they could flee there and find salvation. Hashem says, "He will remember their iniquity" - there He will punish their sin even more than what occurred during the destruction of the Land and the exile, as it says regarding all who were in the land of Egypt, "By sword and famine they shall be consumed; from the least to the greatest they shall die by sword and famine." It turns out that regarding those who returned to Egypt - on the contrary, it was there that their iniquity was remembered even more.
וַיִּשְׁכַּח יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־עֹשֵׂהוּ וַיִּבֶן הֵיכָלוֹת וִיהוּדָה הִרְבָּה עָרִים בְּצֻרוֹת וְשִׁלַּחְתִּי־אֵשׁ בְּעָרָיו וְאָכְלָה אַרְמְנֹתֶיהָ׃ - For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces, and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; but I will send a fire into his cities, and it shall devour their palaces.
"For Israel has forgotten his Maker" - Radak explains this in the sense of "He made you and established you," that Hashem raised you and brought you to what you are today. Israel forgot the Holy One, blessed be He, Who raised him and brought him to his stature. "And built palaces" - he built temples for idol worship, as Targum Yonatan renders, "and built temples for idols."
Radak adds another interpretation: he forgot Hashem Who made him, and went and built palaces to save himself from the enemy. This is what is meant by "and Judah has multiplied fortified cities" - they forgot that their salvation comes from Hashem and put their trust in fortresses. He built palaces to rely on them, built a separation barrier, an iron wall, an Iron Dome, and the like, and forgot God his Maker, forgetting that genuine protection comes only from Hashem.
This is the essential point to consider: perhaps we strayed from the path, perhaps we need to return to the heritage of our ancestors, perhaps we need to repent and draw closer to Him, blessed be He - but instead, whenever a breach appears, people simply plug it up. If someone rams a vehicle to kill, we set up concrete barriers wherever soldiers stand. If there are missiles, we build an Iron Dome. If people infiltrate on the ground, we build a wall. If there are tunnels, we pump in water, develop gadgets and technologies. And one fails to realize that all this points in one clear direction: Someone is orchestrating this because you strayed from the path, and had you simply repented, you would have solved all these problems.
"For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces" - when one forgets Hashem, blessed be He, one seeks material solutions. This is not to say they are unnecessary, but had the path been corrected from the outset, all of this would have been spared, as Hashem protects you. Even though the nations are powerful and we are among seventy wolves, we would have been spared all these troubles, without needing to constantly scramble to plug each new breach. One would understand that our issue is with the Holy One, blessed be He, and not with the nations surrounding us.
"But I will send a fire into his cities, and it shall devour their palaces" - Hashem says: nothing will avail. I will send fire into the cities; by My will the enemy will come and burn the cities and set the palaces ablaze, as it is written, "And he burned the house of Hashem, and the king's palace, and every great house he burned with fire," and so he did in the cities of Judah: "Your cities are burned with fire." Radak adds that the fire may also be an expression of utter, total destruction, as if consumed by fire.
Malbim explains according to his approach that "For Israel has forgotten his Maker" refers back to what was said earlier, "they shall return to Egypt": it is as if they turned back the clock of history to the era before I took them out of Egypt, not knowing Me and worshiping idols. There in Egypt they forgot Hashem Who made them into a nation - you are a son of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, yet in Egypt they forgot this entirely. "And built palaces" - they built temples like the Egyptians, who had a dedicated temple for every star, worshiping all the heavenly bodies and constellations and building a temple for each. "And Judah has multiplied fortified cities" - until this point the prophet addressed the people of Shomron, and now he addresses Judah: even though Judah serves Hashem in the Beit HaMikdash, he nevertheless multiplied fortified cities and relied on his fortresses rather than on Hashem. Therefore Hashem says: I will send a fire into his cities, and it shall devour their palaces.
Chapter 8 opens with a warning shofar blast over the House of Hashem and concludes with a fire that devours the palaces. In between, the prophet lays bare the root of the corruption: kings coronated not in accordance with Hashem's will, and the few kings who did oppose the calves were deposed by a faction that financed the calves out of pocket to destroy those rulers. The calf was not worshiped out of belief in its power, but because it permitted them to be wild, rebellious, and cast off all restraint. From there, the path was short: paying tribute to Assyria and Egypt, building altars to idols while offerings to Hashem were counted as sin, and sacrifices whose sole purpose was eating meat. And when Israel forgets his Maker, he builds palaces and fortified cities, placing his trust in them. Hashem promises "Now I will gather them" - if only they would tremble even slightly from the burden of prophecy, if only there were a small shudder at the words of rebuke. This is the living lesson for all generations: the remedy does not lie in plugging breaches, but in recognizing that the hand at work is Hashem's, and the moment that recognition dawns, the opening to redemption is already made.