Albert Barnes Commentary Hosea 8:7

"For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: he hath no standing grain; the blade shall yield no meal; if so be it yield, strangers shall swallow it up." — Hosea 8:7 (ASV)

For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind – They will reap not merely as they have sown, but with a terrible increase. They sowed folly and vanity, and will reap not merely emptiness and disappointment, but sudden, irresistible destruction. They sowed the wind, and, as one seed produces many, so the wind, confined, as it were, in this destructive cultivation, would burst forth again, reinforced in strength, in greater abundance, and with great violence. Thus they “reaped the whirlwind,” indeed (as the word means) “a mighty whirlwind.” But the whirlwind which they reap does not belong to them; rather, they belong to it, blown away by it like chaff, the sport and mockery of its restless violence.

It has no stalk – If their design should for a time seem to prosper, all would be nothing but empty show, disappointing the more, the more it seems to promise. He speaks of three stages of progress. First, the seed would not produce the grain with the ear; it has no stalk, or standing corn; even if it advanced this far, still the ear would yield no grain; or if it perhaps yielded this, the enemy would devour it.

Since yielding fruit denotes doing works—the fruit of God’s grace—the absence of “standing corn” represents the absence of good works altogether. The absence of meal signifies that nothing is brought to ripeness. The “devouring” by “the enemy” means that what would otherwise be good is, through faulty intentions or lack of pure purpose, given to Satan and the world, not to God: “When hypocrites make a show of good works, they gratify with these the longings of the evil spirits. For those who do not seek to please God with them, do not minister to the Lord of the field, but to strangers. The hypocrite, then, like a fruitful but neglected “ear,” cannot retain his fruit, because the “ear” of good works lies on the ground.”

And yet he is fed by this very folly, because for his good works he is honored by all, eminent above others; people defer to him; he is raised to high places; nurtured by favors. But then will he understand that he has done foolishly, when, for the delight of praise, he will receive the sentence of the rebuke of God.