Tanak Foundations-Concepts in Hosea-Chapter 13

Hos 13.1-16 tells us Israel was not going to stop in their idolatry because they forgot the goodness of God. As a result, their kingdom would be taken away, along with the throne and capital city.

v 1…When Ephraim spoke there was trembling (being the most powerful tribe, he spoke with authority), he exalted himself in Israel, but through Baal (his idolatry serving Baal) he did wrong and died (his demise was determined).

v 2…And now they sin more and more (one sin led to another), and making for themselves molten images (of their own device), idols skillfully made from their silver, all of them the work of a craftsman. They say (the false prophets, priests, etc) of them, “Let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves (do homage, worship).”

v 3…Therefore, they will be like the morning cloud, and like dew which soon disappears (passes away), like chaff which is blown away from the threshing floor, and like smoke from a chimney (all of these show how quickly and suddenly their destruction will come).

v 4…Yet I have been the Lord your God since the land of Egypt; and you were not to know any God except me, for there is no savior besides me (showing how faithless Ephraim is being now).

v 5…I cared (literally knew you; alludes to betrothal-Jer 2.2) for you in the wilderness (with food, water, the Mishkan, guidance, preservation, direction, protection, etc), in the land of drought (where you need and desire everything).

v 6…As they had their pasture (Canaan), they became satisfied, and being satisfied, their heart became proud (elated in their prosperity); therefore, they forgot me (didn’t thank him nor depend on him).

v 7…So I will be like a lion to them; like a leopard, I will lie in wait (shows God’s predatory nature against unfaithful Israel) by the wayside (both fierce, swift, and do not spare).

v 8…I will encounter them like a bear robbed of cubs (fierce), and I will tear open their chests (what encloses the heart; they had closed their hearts to God and now it will be ripped open in the day of judgment, exposing all the cruelty and evil it had hidden-Heb 4.12-13); there I will also devour them like a lioness, as a wild beast would tear them (their chastisement as a people).

v 9…It is your destruction, O Israel (you did it to yourself-Prov 6.32), that you are against me, against your help (by opposing Yehovah).

v 10…Where now is your king (you asked for one) that he may save you in all your cities, and your judges of whom you requested, “Give me a king and princes (you asked for him but they can’t save you)?”

v 11…I gave you a king in my anger (Saul was over all Israel, but Yehovah saw it as a rejection of him), and I took him away in my wrath (Hoshea, the last king of Israel, the ten tribes).

v 12…The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up (not forgiven or “loosed”), his sin is stored up (in reserve for punishment).

v 13…The pains of childbirth (distress, trouble) come upon him; he is not a wise son (didn’t learn the lessons of his forefathers), for it is not the time that he should delay at the opening of the womb (he does not try to get himself out of his distress).

v 14…I will ransom them from the power of Sheol; I will redeem them from death (as the Goel or kinsman redeemer he will redeem). O death, where are your thorns (Paul quotes this in 1 Cor 15.54)? O Sheol, where is your sting? Repentance will be hidden from my sight (Yehovah will not repent about the destruction of death and Sheol, and salvation will be accomplished).

v 15…Though he (Ephraim) flourished among the reeds (other brothers) an east wind (Assyria) will come, the wind of the Lord coming up from the wilderness (Assyria must pass through a wilderness to get to Israel), and his (Ephraim) fountain will become dry, and his spring will be dried up (not just the fruitful land, but all sources of power and security).

v 16…Samaria (Hebrew “Shomron” meaning to guard; the main city but symbolic for the whole nation) will be held guilty, for she has rebelled against her God (by serving idols not Yehovah). They will fall by the sword (of the Assyrians), their little ones will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women will be ripped open (the children should have inherited the blessings of Yehovah, not death).

Posted in All Teachings, Articles, Idioms, Phrases and Concepts, Prophecy/Eschatology, The Festivals of the Lord, The Tanak, Tying into the New Testament

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