INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 13 This chapter begins with observing the different state and condition of Ephraim before and after his idolatry, Hosea 13:1; his increase in it, Hosea 13:2; and therefore his prosperity was very short lived, which is signified by various metaphors, Hosea 13:3; and his sins a... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN EPHRAIM SPAKE TREMBLING, HE EXALTED HIMSELF IN ISRAEL,.... Or, with trembling, as Jarchi: so Jeroboam, who was of the tribe of Ephraim, spake before Solomon, a great king, as he observes. R. Moses the priest interprets it of Jeroboam; but it may be understood of the tribe in general, and especi... [ Continue Reading ]
AND NOW THEY SIN MORE AND MORE,.... Since the times of Jeroboam, and also of Ahab, adding other deities to the calves, and to Baal, as follows; increasing the number of their idols, and their idolatrous sacrifices, rites, and ceremonies: this they did in the times the prophet, who prophesied after t... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE THEY SHALL BE AS THE MORNING CLOUD,.... Which, however promising it is, soon disappears when the sun is risen; signifying that the idolatrous Israelites, king, priests, and people, should be no more; their kingdom would cease, all their riches and wealth would depart from them, and they an... [ Continue Reading ]
YET I [AM] THE LORD THY GOD FROM THE LAND OF EGYPT,.... Which brought thee out from thence, as the Targum; and ever since, from that time to this, had shown a regard unto them, as the Lord their God, both in the wilderness, as later mentioned, and in the land of Canaan, where they had been continued... [ Continue Reading ]
I DID KNOW THEE IN THE WILDERNESS,.... Where there were no food nor drink, where were scorpions, serpents, and beasts of prey; there the Lord knew them, owned them, and showed a fatherly affection for them, and care of them; and fed them with manna and quails, and guided and directed them in the way... [ Continue Reading ]
ACCORDING TO THEIR PASTURE, SO WERE THEY FILLED,.... When they came into the land of Canaan, which was a land flowing with milk and honey, they were like a flock of sheep brought from short commons to a good pasture; and there they tilled themselves to the fail, and indulged to luxury and excess, pa... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE I WILL BE UNTO THEM AS A LION, Because of their idolatry, ingratitude, luxury, and especially their forgetfulness of God, which is last mentioned, and with which the words are connected. By this and the following metaphors are set forth the severity of God's judgments upon them for their s... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL MEET THEM AS A BEAR [THAT IS] BEREAVED OF HER WHELPS,.... Which is a fierce cruel creature at any time, but especially when this is its case, being very fond of its whelps; and having taken a great deal of pains to lick them into form, as Kimchi and Ben Melech observe, it is the more enraged... [ Continue Reading ]
O ISRAEL, THOU HAST DESTROYED THYSELF,.... Though the Lord was a lion, a leopard, and a bear to them, yet their destruction was not owing to him, but to themselves; he was not chargeable with it, but they only; the fault and blame was theirs; their own sins brought it on them, and provoked him to su... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL BE THY KING, WHERE [IS ANY OTHER] THAT MAY SAVE THEE IN ALL THY CITIES?.... Governor, Protector, and Defender; and so confirming what is before said, that their help was in him: or, as the Targum, Abarbinel, and others n, "where is thy king now, that he may serve thee in all thy cities?" whom... [ Continue Reading ]
I GAVE THEE A KING IN MINE ANGER,.... Not the king of Assyria, sent to waste and destroy them, and carry them captive, as some, for of him the next clause cannot be said; nor Jeroboam, the first king of the ten tribes, as others, who was not given in anger to Israel, but to Solomon; rather Saul, as... [ Continue Reading ]
THE INIQUITY OF EPHRAIM [IS] BOUND UP; HIS SIN [IS] HID. Which Kimchi restrains to the sin of the calves, and worshipping them; and others to the request of a king, the context speaks of: but it seems best to understand it in a more general sense of these, with all other sins, which were bound up, a... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SORROWS OF A TRAVAILING WOMAN SHALL COME UPON HIM,.... Upon Ephraim, or the ten tribes; that is, afflictions, distresses, and calamities, which are often in Scripture compared to the pains and sorrows of a woman in childbirth; and may denote the suddenness and inevitableness of them; see Isaiah... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL RANSOM THEM FROM THE POWER OF THE GRAVE,.... That is, "when" or "at which time" before spoken of, and here understood, as the above interpreter rightly connects the words, "I will" do this and what follows: I WILL REDEEM THEM FROM DEATH; these are the words, not of Jehovah the Father, as in... [ Continue Reading ]
THOUGH HE BE FRUITFUL AMONG [HIS] BRETHREN,.... This is not spoken of Christ, as some think, who take the words to be a continuation of the prophecy concerning the Redeemer, who should increase his brethren, and bring many to him; and be as noxious to hell and death as the east wind is to persons an... [ Continue Reading ]
SAMARIA SHALL BECOME DESOLATE,.... With this verse the fourteenth chapter begins in the Hebrew copies, and in the Targum, and in many versions; but seems better to conclude the present chapter; since it is in close connection with Hosea 13:15, and explains the figurative expressions there used. Sama... [ Continue Reading ]