seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Hosea 14:1 When Ephraim spoke, people trembled;
he was exalted in Israel.
But he became guilty of Baal worship and died.
2 Now they sin more and more;
they make idols for themselves from their silver,
cleverly fashioned images,
all of them the work of craftsmen.
It is said of these people,
“They offer human sacrifices!
They kiss[a] calf-idols!”
3 Therefore they will be like the morning mist,
like the early dew that disappears,
like chaff swirling from a threshing floor,
like smoke escaping through a window.
4 “But I have been the Lord your God
ever since you came out of Egypt.
You shall acknowledge no God but me,
no Savior except me.
5 I cared for you in the wilderness,
in the land of burning heat.
6 When I fed them, they were satisfied;
when they were satisfied, they became proud;
then they forgot me.
7 So I will be like a lion to them,
like a leopard I will lurk by the path.
8 Like a bear robbed of her cubs,
I will attack them and rip them open;
like a lion I will devour them—
a wild animal will tear them apart.
9 “You are destroyed, Israel,
because you are against me, against your helper.
10 Where is your king, that he may save you?
Where are your rulers in all your towns,
of whom you said,
‘Give me a king and princes’?
11 So in my anger I gave you a king,
and in my wrath I took him away.
12 The guilt of Ephraim is stored up,
his sins are kept on record.
13 Pains as of a woman in childbirth come to him,
but he is a child without wisdom;
when the time arrives,
he doesn’t have the sense to come out of the womb.
14 “I will deliver this people from the power of the grave;
I will redeem them from death.
Where, O death, are your plagues?
Where, O grave, is your destruction?
“I will have no compassion,
15 even though he thrives among his brothers.
An east wind from the Lord will come,
blowing in from the desert;
his spring will fail
and his well dry up.
His storehouse will be plundered
of all its treasures.
16 The people of Samaria must bear their guilt,
because they have rebelled against their God.
They will fall by the sword;
their little ones will be dashed to the ground,
their pregnant women ripped open.”[b]
a. Hosea 13:2 Or “Men who sacrifice / kiss
b. Hosea 13:16 In Hebrew texts this verse (13:16) is numbered 14:1
There's been a lot of talk about Ephraim in this book. When I googled Ephraim I saw there is the Ephraim in Hosea and there's the Ephraim of Genesis. The Ephraim of Genesis was Joseph's son. Joseph had two sons.... both were born to an Egyptian woman who was given to Joseph. Now when Moses led the descendants out of Egypt.... Joseph was passed.... but his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh went with Moses and they settled the area of Canaan that was east of the Jordan. Now when Hosea is speaking.... he's not talking about Ephraim the man.... He's talking about the descendants of Ephraim..... half Egyptian.... living across the Jordan from the Temple and the rest of the family. It's as if they were foster kids...... In this chapter.... horrible things are going to happen to them.... but they are also descendant of Jacob [Israel].... and God loved Joseph....
This is from Bible-studys.org.
“When he offended in Baal, he died:” Under Ahab, the nation gave itself to the worship of Baal, and the result was spiritual death. The nation’s spiritual decline also resulted in political decline (1 Kings 16:31).
The tribe of “Ephraim” initially produced strong, God-fearing leaders like Joshua (Joshua 24:30), but eventually became overly self-confident and prone to idol worship, a constant theme in Hosea.
“Kiss the calves”: An act of devotion to their idols (1 Kings 19:18).
The making of idols was just another sign of how far they had fallen from God. They used the precious metals of silver and gold, that God had blessed them with, to make these abominable idols. Anything that you can see is not God. If it is made by human hands, it is not God. Even this calf was made by human hands, and was not to be worshipped. God is a Spirit. Kissing the calves just shows the degradation of their worship.
The lion, leopard, and bear are all native to Israel. Her Protector would now become to her as a wild beast, tearing and devouring (Lev. 26:21-22; Deut. 32:24; Ezek. 14:21).
The end of all their sin is destruction. The lion or leopard, stalks its prey, and then at a convenient time, pounces on them. The destruction that comes on them for their unfaithfulness to God will be sudden.
Hosea painted startling pictures of the coming judgment of God with the “lion,” the “leopard,” and the “bear” and then heightened the terror with references to “infants … dashed in pieces” and pregnant “women … ripped open” by the Assyrians.
Israel had been unfaithful to God, when they sought the help of the worldly kings around them. God was their help. These worldly kings not only could not save them from destruction, but would not if they could. They have made agreement with the world and left God. God is the only One that could and would, save them.
God had never wanted Israel to have an earthly king. He wanted to be their only King. They kept insisting on having a king like the countries around them, until God gave them Saul to be their king. It turned out he was not a good king and God (in His wrath), destroyed him, and put David in his place as king.
“I will ransom them from the power of the grave:” Only God can save Israel from national extinction. After its judgment is complete, Israel will ultimately be redeemed and will bring forth fruits of repentance. This national repentance and restoration will be realized in the Israel of the Millennium. Paul applies verse 14 to the resurrection of Christ, which guarantees the resurrection of all believers in Christ.
I was going to name this chapter "who is Ephraim?.... and then I realized.... this is about Israel going right to the edge of national extinction.... thanks to the commentary.This is from the easy English site.
Samaria was the important city of Israel. It was where Hoshea, the king, lived. This is why Assyria wanted to attack it. They will show no mercy. 2 Kings 15:16 and Amos 1:13 are other verses which show how armies attack people. They took babies that were inside women. They tore them out. The pain of Israel was to begin.
And this is from the bibletrack.org site.
Here's the word from Hosea's prophecy, "Israel is just a bunch of idol worshippers!" Actually they are called "calf kissers" in verse 2, a reference to the foundational religion of the Northern Kingdom which involved the two golden calves their first king, Jeroboam, established as their objects of worship. Maybe that's the derogatory statement the people in Judah made to the Northern Kingdom (Israel) residents, "You bunch of calf kissers!" Will they repent? NO! They will not. So, watch out for that "east wind" in verse 15, a reference to the armies of Assyria coming to town - thus, a prophecy of Israel's fall in 721 B.C. to the Assyrian army found in II Kings 17 . A very disturbing prophecy accompanying Israel's fall to Assyria is found in verse 16, "Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up." Ouch!
Ripping a baby out of it's mother..... that's so it doesn't grow up to fight. The Babylonians castrated the men.... so they wouldn't produce more men to grow up and fight. The Assyrians ripped the babies out of the pregnant women. I wonder.... did they also mutate woman so they could not have children? Is that part of what ripping the babies out of the women might also mean? Doing away with the ability to procreate will cause the extinction of a nation. The Babylonians and the Assyrians were trying to make the descendants of Jacob [Israel] extinct.No one seems to want those babies of the descendants of Jacob[Israel]...... The armies that attacked Israel.... were trying to wipe out the bloodline.....
I remember... God told Saul to wipe them all out.... so this wouldn't happen.... but Saul wanted to be a slave owner.... so he kept a few...... and now those same "few"..... want to wipe out the bloodline of Jacob [Israel].
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