Read Hosea 8.1-9.9 Israel's religious crimes.
Hosea criticizes Israel's religious practices, blaming Israel for worshiping images (8.4-6), participating in empty rituals (8.13), following other gods (9.1), and persecuting the prophets (9.7-8).
In verse 8.4 by accusing Israel of making kings without God's knowledge, Hosea may refer to the installation of kings through violent palace uprisings rather than through proper religious and prophetic legitimation (7.1-7).
In verses 5-6 the calf was a prominent religious image in Israel from its beginnings when its first king, Jeroboam 1, set up calves in the religious sanctuaries at Bethel and Dan (1 Kings 12.28-30).
They may have been considered pedestals or throne images for God, as were the cherubim in the Jerusalem Temple (1 Kings 6.23-28, 8.10-11), rather than images of God or idols.
But both Hosea and Israel's historian (1 Kings 12.28) regard these calves as idols.
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