#1130 Hosea 12 Wept and Sought Favor

 

“Ephraim feeds on the wind,

And pursues the east wind;

He daily increases lies and desolation.

Also they make a covenant with the Assyrians,

And oil is carried to Egypt.

2 “The Lord also brings a charge against Judah,

And will punish Jacob according to his ways;

According to his deeds He will recompense him.

3 He took his brother by the heel in the womb,

And in his strength he struggled with God.

4 Yes, he struggled with the Angel and prevailed;

He wept, and sought favor from Him.

He found Him in Bethel,

And there He spoke to us—

5 That is, the Lord God of hosts.

The Lord is His memorable name.

6 So you, by the help of your God, return;

Observe mercy and justice,

And wait on your God continually.

7 “A cunning Canaanite!

Deceitful scales are in his hand;

He loves to oppress.

8 And Ephraim said,

‘Surely I have become rich,

I have found wealth for myself;

In all my labors

They shall find in me no iniquity that is sin.’

9 “But I am the Lord your God,

Ever since the land of Egypt;

I will again make you dwell in tents,

As in the days of the appointed feast.

10 I have also spoken by the prophets,

And have multiplied visions;

I have given symbols through the witness of the prophets.”

11 Though Gilead has idols—

Surely they are vanity—

Though they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal,

Indeed their altars shall be heaps in the furrows of the field.

12 Jacob fled to the country of Syria;

Israel served for a spouse,

And for a wife he tended sheep.

13 By a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt,

And by a prophet he was preserved.

14 Ephraim provoked Him to anger most bitterly;

Therefore his Lord will leave the guilt of his bloodshed upon him,

And return his reproach upon him. Hosea 12 NKJV

Hosea 12

Ephraim feeds on the wind - Ephraim is one of the northern tribes of Israel, and his name is a reference to these tribes, as a capital of the northern kingdom.  That he feeds on wind is an observance of the futility wherewith he seeks deliverance, making alliances with Assyria and Egypt, praying to the gods made by men. He believes in empty promises, and such nourishment as the wind can provide for men, a grasping for that which leaves you parched when you were thirsty, you needed living water, but you swallowed the wind.

…16They have made their land a desolation, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and shake their heads. 17I will scatter them before the enemy like the east wind. I will show them My back and not My face in the day of their calamity.” Jeremiah 18: 16-17

2-6 The Lord also brings a charge against Judah, and will punish Jacob - Together, the northern and southern kingdom, broken here, are all together Jacob, who God renamed, Israel, the father of the twelve tribes. Judah does not need to follow in her sister's sin, and should see the events that will come, the Assyrian invasion and captivity, as the wages connected to what God has called sin, regardless of the location. He drove out the people's in the land for their abominations, and both the Northern and Southern kingdoms had that testimony. Both seem to ignore history, God's word, and choose a token relationship to Yahweh, putting more weight upon the symbols of their Jewish religion rather than the substance. 

He took his brother by the heel - Jacob and Esau, two nations struggling in Rebecca's womb, these were Israel's beginnings. Jacob was a deceiver, and now Ephraim has thought that the better part of his heritage and conducted himself in such a manner. 

“‘To grasp the heel’ also meant to go behind one’s back in order to deceive or trick him, and this became the dominant characteristic of the man.” (Boice)

…25The first one came out red, covered with hair like a fur coat; so they named him Esau. 26After this, his brother came out grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. And Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born. 27When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home.… Genesis 25: 25-27

He struggled with God - This is how men all relate to God, with enmity and strife, resentful of their lack of autonomy, for they cannot exist unless called. Jacob was a manipulator, and prone to human reason and deceit as a means to what he wanted. God chose him, but rather than trust God, he and his mother would deceive Isaac, his father.

22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

27 The man asked him, “What is your name?”

“Jacob,” he answered.

28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”

29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”

But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.

30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

31 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon. Genesis 32: 22-32

In depth background to Genesis 32

He struggled with the angel and prevailed - Though a sinner, Jacob refused to let go till he was blessed, and this was a Theophany, probably the preincarnate Christ, my, how God does so condescend to men of such low estate. There is here the encouragement to pray, and that without ceasing, to hold on to the very thing that is everything, there is nothing else without Him. Look again, there is a lot here, for it is in Christ and through Christ, His life, His death, and that at the hands of men, this is the gospel, that He lays His life down, steps down from Heaven's glory to take my place. "My life was spared", says Israel, there is no deception in the deceiver about this, He saw God and lived. He will not forget it because God touched his hip and he will limp the rest of his life, but it is better to struggle here, to be broken here, than to enter eternity unbroken, self deceived. 

…17The reason the Father loves Me is that I lay down My life in order to take it up again. 18No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from My Father.” 19Again there was division among the Jews because of Jesus’ message.… John 10: 17-19

…10So Pilate said to Him, “Do You refuse to speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You and authority to crucify You?” 11Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed Me over to you is guilty of greater sin.” 12From then on, Pilate tried to release Him, but the Jews kept shouting, “If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who declares himself a king is defying Caesar.”… John 19: 10-12

7-10 They shall find in me no iniquity that is sin - Canaanites were the original people in the land that God drove out for their sin. They were traders, and Ephraim has become like them in their dealings so here they are compared. Remember, they were to be driven out of the land. Israel thinks he has been so clever in business that there will be nothing to discover, his tracks are hidden, his misdealing undetected. God hates lying, hates false weights and balances, and nothing is hidden from Him.

I will again make you dwell in tents - They are wicked towards strangers, dishonest in gain, so God will make them strangers, in tents like their days in the wilderness, refugees. 

11-14 And for a wife he tended sheep - He has forgotten his humble beginnings. Jacob was a deceiver, and when he served for his first wife he was deceived by his uncle and given another. He served 7 more years for Rachel. Now his children deceive others, but also themselves, for not all who from Israel are Israel.