Hosea 12:1-14
1 Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt.
2 The LORD hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punisha Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him.
3 He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God:
4 Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us;
5 Even the LORD God of hosts; the LORD is his memorial.
6 Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually.
7 He is a merchant,b the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress.
8 And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance: in all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin.
9 And I that am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast.
10 I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministryc of the prophets.
11 Is there iniquity in Gilead? surely they are vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields.
12 And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.
13 And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved.
14 Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly: therefore shall he leave his blood upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him.
In the second movement Jehovah set the present sin in the light of His present love. The sin of Ephraim and the sin of Judah, if the marginal reading be adopted, are both declared. The sin of Ephraim is then more distinctly stated, and its pride and impertinence declared. Yet love would triumph over all. Jehovah declared Himself to be the God who had delivered Israel from Egypt, and who would yet again deliver, being true to the messages of the prophets, to the visions of seers, to the similitudes of the ministry of the prophets.
Finally, the present condition of Israel is set in the light of the future love of Jehovah. Opening with the question, "Is Gilead iniquity?" He immediately answered by declaring, "They are altogether vanity," "they sin more and more," charging them with determined persistence in idolatry. Because of abounding sin, judgment was absolutely unavoidable. Yet love would triumph by the way of the wilderness. They had sinned against love in the strength of love's gifts. Jehovah would therefore come against them in terrible judgment, and that because Israel was against God. The sin of Ephraim would create His sorrow. Nevertheless, at last the almighty strength of love would overcome even death and the grave.