Hosea 11-13

Hosea 11

“Out of Egypt I called my son”

• Later applied in Matt 2:15

“The more they were called, the more they went away”

• Baal worship replaces Yahweh 

“I taught Ephraim to walk” 

• “cords of kindness”:
  • Hebrew: חַבְלֵי אָדָם (ḥavlei ’adam)
  • gentle, relational bonds
• “bands of love”
• God’s guidance is nurturing
• Yet:“they did not know that I healed them”

Judgment announced: “Assyria shall be their king”

“bent on turning away” Hebrew: תְּלוּאִים (telu’im)

• hanging/suspended  

Hesitation? “How can I give you up, O Ephraim?”

• Admah, Zeboiim:
  • cities destroyed with Sodom (Gen 19; Deut 29:23)

“I am God and not a man…”

• A divine love ! 

“They shall go after the LORD… like a lion”

•Return from Egypt and Assyria

Hosea 12

“Ephraim feeds on the wind” “pursues the east wind”

• destructive desert wind
• Empty wind! 

“The LORD has an indictment (רִיב riv) against Judah”

“took his brother by the heel” (Gen 25:26)

• “strove with God” (Gen 32:22-32)

Interpretation:

• Jacob embodies:
  • deception
  • struggle
  • eventual transformation

“So you, by the help of your God, return…”

• “steadfast love (חֶסֶד) and justice (מִשְׁפָּט mishpat)”

“Canaanite” (כְּנַעַן kena‘an) = merchant

• Israel acts like dishonest traders
• “In all my labors they cannot find in me iniquity” – They do not believe they have sinned

“Gilgal… heaps of ruins” altars are/will be worthless

Jacob: flees, serves for a wife – vs the coming exile of Israel

“Ephraim has given bitter provocation”  Judgment is coming

Hosea 13

Once “there was trembling” from Ephraim due to their power 

• Then Baal worship led to “death”
• “they sin more and more”
• Idols:“work of craftsmen”
• “kiss calves”: (cf. 1 Kings 19:18)

They will be like “morning mist… dew… chaff… smoke”

• vanishing, fleeting

“You know no God but me and besides me there is no savior.” !!!

“when they were satisfied, they became proud”

• self-sufficiency
• ‘Didn’t need’ God

God described as lion, leopard, bear

“You are destroyed, O Israel, because you are against me”

• “Where now is your king?”
• “I gave you a king in my anger” ( 1 Sam 8)

Ephraim’s sins are “bound up… kept in store”- they are not forgotten

“O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting?”

• Quoted by Paul (1 Cor 15:55)

13:15–16 – Final Judgment

13:15 – East Wind (Assyria)

• destructive כוח (ruaḥ qadim)

Horrible imagery:

• children dashed
• pregnant women ripped open
• Covenant curses reach their most severe form (.Deut 28:53-57)

Application

God is a God who remembers His people even when they have forgotten Him.  Israel’s (and our)pride leads to self-destruction. When we lose our relationship with God and rely on our selves, we resist God’s perfect love.