Hosea 11:10-12

REMONSTRATINGSEE JUDAH'S UNFAITHFULNESS

TEXT: Hosea 11:10-12

10

They shall walk after Jehovah, who will roar like a lion; for he will roar, and the children shall come trembling from the west.

11

They shall come trembling as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria; and I will make them to dwell in their houses, saith Jehovah.

12

Ephraim compasseth me about with falsehood, and the house of Israel with deceit, but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the Holy One.

QUERIES

a.

When will Jehovah roar and why will the children then come?

b.

Did any of the children of Israel go into captivity to Egypt?

c.

Why does God point Israel to Judah for an example of faithfulness?

PARAPHRASE

When the Lord turns His pity towards the covenant people once more and utters His loud, far-reaching call, the covenant people will come from all quarters of the earth, swiftly, and God will fulfill His covenant and give them the Messianic blessings which He has promised, Ephraim has surrounded me with hypocrisy and attacks Me on every side with deceit, for while claiming to be My people, they are idolaters. And Judah is also unbridled and unruly towards Me.

SUMMARY

God is going to fulfill His covenant and give a faithful remnant the Messianic blessings in spite of the fact that most of both Israel and Judah are unfaithful.

COMMENT

Hosea 11:10 THEY SHALL WALK AFTER JEHOVAH, WHO WILL ROAR LIKE A LION. The emphasis in this verse is on Jehovah's roaring! The phrase is repeated to indicate that Jehovah's call will be the cause of the people's coming to walk after Him. To walk after Jehovah means to be convertedto trust, obey and worship Jehovah (cf. Deuteronomy 13:5; 1 Kings 14:8). The Lord will do His roaring from Zion (cf. our comments on Joel 3:16-17; Amos 1:2), which is, of course a prophecy of the sending forth of the gospel from Jerusalem to all those who will hear and become sons of the covenant in the Messianic age. This verse, then, is Messianic in its fulfillment, as we shall see by its context.

Hosea 11:11 THEY SHALL COME. AND I WILL MAKE THEM TO DWELL. They will come from the east and the west (Egypt and Assyria). Keil says, out of all quarters of the globe, (cf. Isaiah 11:11). We wish to quote from Lange here:

A return to Jehovah is then announced as the fruit of this compassion, and the removal of the state of subjection to punishment by a restoration to the inheritance they had trifled away is promised as its manifestation.
As to the fulfillment of this promise, see the remarks on Chapter s 1 and 2. It may suffice to repeat here that we are not to hold to any fulfillment which would contradict the actual course of God's revelation. Hence we must not think of a future return of the external Israel into their own land from Assyria, if it were only from the consideration that Assyria exists no longer, and Israel is no longer in bondage to such a nation, and we cannot take the one (Israel, the Holy Land, the return) as literal, and the other (Assyria, captivity) as figurative. We must rather say, from the stand-point of the fulfillment of the Old Testament, i.e., from the stand-point of the New Testament, and in accordance with the actual course of events: the compassionate mercy of God towards his faithless people, which the Prophet sees win the victory over wrath, has been revealed in Christbut still as being far greater he sees it; what is clear to him is only the skia (shadow) of that which in Christ has actually occurred, and what is still going on in the forgiveness of sin and deliverance from its curse through free grace. (Italics and parenthesis ours).

This is as definitely a Messianic passage from Hosea as is Chapter s 1 and 2. Keil says, The fulfillment takes place in the last days, when Israel as a nation shall enter the kingdom of God.

Hosea 11:12 EPHRAIM COMPASSETH ME ABOUT WITH FALSEHOOD. BUT JUDAH YET RULETH. This verse, in the Hebrew Bible, is Hosea 11:1 of the 12th chapter of Hosea. It was made to be Hosea 11:12 of the 11th chapter only in the English versions. The emphasis of the verse is the unfaithfulness of both northern and southern kingdoms contrasted with God's faithfulness. Israel was full of hypocrisy. She claimed to belong to Jehovah, pretended to worship Jehovah, but turned right into wrong and worshipped idols. Calvin wrote, The Israelites had acted unfaithfully towards God, and resorted to deceits. just as a man might surround his enemy with a great army, so had they gathered together innumerable frauds, with which they attacked God on every side. Like an unfaithful wife Israel still demands the Lord's protection and support, while her every profession of love is a lie! Judah is no better! The word hiphil as it is in the Hebrew text here means to cause to ramble about. to be unbridled or unruly, to rove unrestrained. Judah runs loose, unbridled, following the dictates of her own unrestrained wantonness. Both seem unconcerned that it is the covenant of the ever Holy, Faithful One they are breaking (cf. Leviticus 19:2; Leviticus 21:8; Isaiah 6:3; Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29). Jehovah does not change, He will keep His wordHis threats as well as His promises!

QUIZ

1.

What does walking after Jehovah mean?

2.

Why do we say this passage is a Messianic passage?

3.

What is wrong with the English version of Hosea 11:12? Two things!