Hosea 13--The LORD's Relentless Judgment on Israel

Hosea 13
English Standard Version

The LORD's Relentless Judgment on Israel
13 When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling;
    he was exalted in Israel,
    but he incurred guilt through Baal and died.
2 And now they sin more and more,
    and make for themselves metal images,
idols skillfully made of their silver,
    all of them the work of craftsmen.
It is said of them,
    “Those who offer human sacrifice kiss calves!”
3 Therefore they shall be like the morning mist
    or like the dew that goes early away,
like the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor
    or like smoke from a window.

4 But I am the LORD your God
    from the land of Egypt;
you know no God but me,
    and besides me there is no savior.
5 It was I who knew you in the wilderness,
    in the land of drought;
6 but when they had grazed, they became full,
    they were filled, and their heart was lifted up;
    therefore they forgot me.
7 So I am to them like a lion;
    like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.
8 I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs;
    I will tear open their breast,
and there I will devour them like a lion,
    as a wild beast would rip them open.

9 He destroys you, O Israel,
    for you are against me, against your helper.
10 Where now is your king, to save you in all your cities?
    Where are all your rulers--
those of whom you said,
    “Give me a king and princes”?
11 I gave you a king in my anger,
    and I took him away in my wrath.

12 The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;
    his sin is kept in store.
13 The pangs of childbirth come for him,
    but he is an unwise son,
for at the right time he does not present himself
    at the opening of the womb.

14 I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol;
    I shall redeem them from Death.
O Death, where are your plagues?
    O Sheol, where is your sting?
    Compassion is hidden from my eyes.

15 Though he may flourish among his brothers,
    the east wind, the wind of the LORD, shall come,
    rising from the wilderness,
and his fountain shall dry up;
    his spring shall be parched;
it shall strip his treasury
    of every precious thing.
16 Samaria shall bear her guilt,
    because she has rebelled against her God;
they shall fall by the sword;
    their little ones shall be dashed in pieces,
    and their pregnant women ripped open.

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The people of Israel grew more and more like the Canaanites, eventually turning to human and child sacrifice to "worship" their idols that they made of of all different kids of metals.  It took the work of many men to harvest the ore, refine it, and craft it into an idol.  We see in the New Testament that when the gospel changed people so they no longer worshiped idols and they burned their books of sorcery and magic, there were literal riots started by the guildsmen who profited off of these abominations.

The LORD reminds them that He is the one who redeemed and saved them from Egypt.  He made them a people and He bought them with a price.  He proved that day that He is God alone and there is no god other than Him.  Therefore, they are to have no other gods besides Him and they are not to make for themselves any graven images, nor worship the creature/creation rather than the Creator God.  He led them through the wilderness to the Land that He had prepared for them and gave them everything they needed as their Provider and Defender.  He caused fear to rise up in the heart of their enemies so that they would run away from battle.  He gave the Israelites fields and orchards where they did not plant, and cities with walls that they did not build.  He gave them a good and spacious land flowing with milk and honey.  He did all this--they just had to follow His lead and obey His command.

Now the same terror that was in the hearts of the Canaanites should be rising up within the hearts of the Israelites.  They should have a fear of the LORD based off of His swift and complete judgement that will one day come upon the wicked and destroy them.  The LORD will protect the righteous from the enemy without and the enemy within.  The LORD knows how to preserve the righteous while punishing the wicked.  For the sake of His Name and His covenant, He will not completely destroy His people.  To tie back into yesterday's lesson, Jacob was a deceitful trickster and he spent most of his life making dumb decisions and poor choices.  This affected his kids too and trickled all the way down to these generations hundreds of years later.  The LORD will use whatever means are necessary to turn His people into what He wants them to become, but there is too much at stake for Him to let them become like the world and destroy the very culture necessary for the gospel to go forth to the entire world.  The Jews were to fulfill their role as being a light unto the Gentiles.

They are now in slavery not to Egypt, but to sin and death, and the LORD will once again redeem them--this time at the cost of His one and only Son.  It will not be the blood of any lamb, but the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  The LORD will snatch those who belong to Him from the pit whether they deserve it or not, and He will do this for the sake of His Name and covenant and for His good pleasure.  Though the Jews may be saved, Ephraim's days of being a prince among her people are done.  They will never again rebel against the king that is to come from Judah.  The city of Samaria will never again be a capital city for the northern kingdom and there will no longer be a Northern and a Southern kingdom, but once again, there will be a united kingdom under the headship of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

The Lord will lead His people, His sheep through the wilderness to springs of cool, living water.  Like the water that came from the Rock in the time of the Exodus.  No longer will they be like a dry and barren wilderness, but there will be miraculous life that comes forth from what appeared to be nothing more than a valley of dry bones, and all this will be done to the praise and glory of the LORD.  The judgments of the LORD are just and He does so to preserve the righteous and punish the wicked.  This too brings Him much glory.