Charles Ellicott Commentary Hosea 2:8

"For she did not know that I gave her the grain, and the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied unto her silver and gold, which they used for Baal." — Hosea 2:8 (ASV)

Translate in the present tense: and she does not know that it is I who gave, etc. This yearning of Jehovah over the results of his chastisements is a wonderful anticipation of Luke 15.

Corn, and wine ...—Corn, wine, and oil are mentioned here as the chief indigenous products of Canaan (Genesis 27:28; Deuteronomy 33:28, etc.).

Gold was largely imported from Ophir (probably the west coast of India, where Tamil is spoken, according to Delitzsch, Genesis, pp. 258-259. On the other hand, Friedrich Delitzsch, in his work on the Site of Paradise, p. 99, holds that Ophir was a coast or island between the north end of the Persian Gulf and the southwest corner of Arabia).

Silver was obtained from Tarshish, through Phoenician markets. Observe that Israel at this time abounded in the possession of precious metals (Wilkins, Phoenicia and Israel, pp. 111-116).

Which they ... Baal.—They have transformed Jehovah’s gift into an image of Baal. Baal-worship was before calf-worship (Judges 2:3, Judges 2:8) and was diametrically opposed to Jehovah-worship, just as gross Pantheism is to pure and stern Monotheism.