‘When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling, He exalted himself in Israel, But when he offended in Baal, He died. In a play on the use of the term Ephraim which can signify 1) Joseph's Song of Solomon, 2 the tribe of Ephraim, 3) the whole of Israel, and 4) the rump of Israel left in the days of Hosh... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE EPHRAIM HAVE OFFENDED SO DEEPLY, AND HAVE REJECTED THEIR DELIVERER, JUDGMENT UPON THEM IS INEVITABLE (HOSEA 13:1). The crimes of Israel are again laid bear. They are guilty of idolatry (Hosea 13:1), ingratitude (Hosea 13:5), trusting in false leaders (Hosea 13:10) and complacency (Hosea 13:1... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And now they sin more and more, And have made for themselves molten images from their silver, Even idols according to their own understanding, All of them the work of the craftsmen. They say of them, “Let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves.” And they had continued to sin more and more, mak... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Therefore they will be as the morning cloud, And as the dew which passes early away, As the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the threshing-floor, And as the smoke out of the chimney.' In consequence of their dismissal of YHWH, YHWH would dismiss them. They would become like the mo... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Yet I am YHWH your God, From the land of Egypt, And you shall know no god but me, And besides me there is no saviour'. And yet this should not have happened. It need not have happened. What they had overlooked was that He was unique. He was YHWH their God. He was the One Who had delivered them... [ Continue Reading ]
‘I knew you in the wilderness, In the land of great drought. According to their pasture, So were they filled, They were filled, and their heart was exalted, Therefore have they forgotten me.' Furthermore when they had gone into the wilderness, YHWH had known them there. He had watched over them... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Therefore am I to them as a lion, As a leopard will I watch by the way, I will meet them as a bear which is bereaved of her whelps, And will rend the enclosure of their heart, And there will I devour them like a lioness, The wild beast shall tear them.' And because of their behaviour and atti... [ Continue Reading ]
‘It is your destruction, O Israel, That you are against me, Against your help.' But they have turned away from the One Who is their help. And this is what will result in their destruction, the fact that they are against YHWH (something which they would no doubt have hotly denied, but which was n... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Where now is your king, That he may save you in all your cities? And your judges, of whom you said, Give me a king and princes?' Let them consider that their king and princes have already been snatched away by the wild beasts. Where were they now? If this was just prior to the siege of Samaria,... [ Continue Reading ]
‘I have given you a king in my anger, And have taken him away in my wrath.' For the truth was that their king had been given to them by a God angry at their ways, and now in His wrath He had taken him away from them, as a lion or leopard or bear takes its prey. Israel's initial king had been given... [ Continue Reading ]
‘The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up, His sin is laid up in store. And this was all because of the way in which Ephraim treasured their sins. They had packaged them up, they had laid them up in store. They wanted to cling on to them and possess them continually. They did not want to do away with s... [ Continue Reading ]
‘The sorrows of a travailing woman will come on him, He is an unwise son, For it is time he should not tarry, In the place of the breaking forth of children.' But there could be only one consequence of this. Instead of being a living son, led by leading reins, and protected in the wilderness (Hos... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from death? O death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your destruction? Compassion (repentance) will be hid from my eyes.' But what of the Redeemer from Egypt? What of the Deliverer from death? They had always relied on H... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Though he be fruitful among his brothers, an east wind will come, The breath of YHWH coming up from the wilderness, And his spring will become dry, and his fountain will be dried up, He will make ruination of the treasure of all goodly vessels.' And just as He had earlier declared that they wou... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Samaria will bear her guilt, For she has rebelled against her God, They will fall by the sword, Their infants will be dashed in pieces, And their women with child will be ripped up. For Samaria, Ephraim's capital and leadership source, must now bear her guilt, because she has rebelled against... [ Continue Reading ]