#1133 Joel 1 A Swarm

 

The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:

Hear this, you elders;

give ear, all inhabitants of the land!

Has such a thing happened in your days,

or in the days of your fathers?

3 Tell your children of it,

and let your children tell their children,

and their children to another generation.

4 What the cutting locust left,

the swarming locust has eaten.

What the swarming locust left,

the hopping locust has eaten,

and what the hopping locust left,

the destroying locust has eaten.

5 Awake, you drunkards, and weep,

and wail, all you drinkers of wine,

because of the sweet wine,

for it is cut off from your mouth.

6 For a nation has come up against my land,

powerful and beyond number;

its teeth are lions' teeth,

and it has the fangs of a lioness.

7 It has laid waste my vine

and splintered my fig tree;

it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;

their branches are made white.

8 Lament like a virgin wearing sackcloth

for the bridegroom of her youth.

9 The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off

from the house of the Lord.

The priests mourn,

the ministers of the Lord.

10 The fields are destroyed,

the ground mourns,

because the grain is destroyed,

the wine dries up,

the oil languishes.

11 Be ashamed, O tillers of the soil;

wail, O vinedressers,

for the wheat and the barley,

because the harvest of the field has perished.

12 The vine dries up;

the fig tree languishes.

Pomegranate, palm, and apple,

all the trees of the field are dried up,

and gladness dries up

from the children of man.

A Call to Repentance

13 Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests;

wail, O ministers of the altar.

Go in, pass the night in sackcloth,

O ministers of my God!

Because grain offering and drink offering

are withheld from the house of your God.

14 Consecrate a fast;

call a solemn assembly.

Gather the elders

and all the inhabitants of the land

to the house of the Lord your God,

and cry out to the Lord.

15 Alas for the day!

For the day of the Lord is near,

and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.

16 Is not the food cut off

before our eyes,

joy and gladness

from the house of our God?

17 The seed shrivels under the clods;

the storehouses are desolate;

the granaries are torn down

because the grain has dried up.

18 How the beasts groan!

The herds of cattle are perplexed

because there is no pasture for them;

even the flocks of sheep suffer.

19 To you, O Lord, I call.

For fire has devoured

the pastures of the wilderness,

and flame has burned

all the trees of the field.

20 Even the beasts of the field pant for you

because the water brooks are dried up,

and fire has devoured

the pastures of the wilderness. Joel 1 ESV

Joel 1 Locust

1-3 The word of the Lord - This is a bold claim, not to be taken lightly, as so many in our day do, attaching "thus saith the Lord, God showed me, I felt or I dreamed". People blame all sorts of dribble on the Holy Spirit, but they will have to answer for claiming to be sent when they weren't, and for claiming to be the voice of God when He did not speak to them.

The LORD - This is Jehovah or Yahweh (YHWH - Hebrew had no vowels) which "speaks of intimacy and a relationship bonded metaphorically through the covenant likened to marriage and thus carries special significance to Israel (Ex 3:14)." (MacArthur)

Joel, the son of Pethuel - Joel means "The Lord is God", and Pethuel means "Persuaded of God". We do not know much now of Joel or his father, and I have seen some try to speculate which tribe he came from, and as fascinating as I find such things, it's too reaching in this case. I will agree with most commentators, from the reading, that he is a pre-exilic prophet. 

Pethuel - Only mention in Scripture. Some suggest that because there is no additional description this suggest the prophet was well known and therefore needed no additional introduction. Derived from the verb pathah meaning to be spacious, wide or open. So the name Pethuel is variously interpreted to mean "Enlargement of heart," "Openheartedness of/toward God," or “Persuaded of God." (See devotional on the name Pethuel). - Precept Austin

Hear this, give ear - This is from God, yet it still needs a call to attention, awake the faculties of the mind, drop what you are doing, for many it is a great difficulty to listen. Not only do we need to listen, but we need to pass on the words of God to our children and grandchildren, carefully handing down God's truth.

Has anything like this happened in your days Or in your fathers' days? - Joel is drawing his readers into his message (using interrogative statements is always a good way to arrest your audience's attention and draw them to mentally engage in the discourse!) Further, Joel's rhetorical questions emphasize to the audience, the utter uniqueness of this present plague. This rhetorical question is to be answered with a firm “No!” Joel is calling the old men to confirm the fact that there had never been one like this plague in Judah's history. This calamity is unprecedented. Of note is the fact that here Yahweh sent on His own chosen people the very plague He sent on Pharaoh! Jehovah does not play favorites. Sometimes I think to myself, "Well I can get away with this sin because I'm His son." How foolish and deceptive is such manner of thought. In fact, I have an even greater degree of culpability than the pagan who does not know Him! Woe! (cf Ro 2:1-4-note) - Precept Austin

4-7 Locust has eaten - There are different types or possibly waves of locust here, but also a comparison to the size of the army of the coming invaders. A locust judgment or drought would lead to famine conditions. The same when invading armies enter the land; they harvest what they did not plant, dress what they did not raise. Israel knew of this from stories of Egypt, and the famine that led Israel to Egypt. Even the elders now though had seen nothing like this in their day.

12 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up on the land of Egypt and beat every plant of the land, even all that the hail has left.”

13 So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord directed an east wind on the land all that day and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind 1brought the locusts.

14 The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled in all the territory of Egypt; they were very 1numerous. There had never been so many 2locusts, nor would there be so many 3again.

15 For they covered the surface of the whole land, so that the land was darkened; and they aate every plant of the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Thus nothing green was left on tree or plant of the field through all the land of Egypt. Exodus 10: 12-15

…45He sent swarms of flies that devoured them, and frogs that devastated them. 46He gave their crops to the grasshopper, the fruit of their labor to the locust. 47He killed their vines with hailstones and their sycamore-figs with sleet.… Psalm 78: 45-47

Awake, you drunkards and weep - They will when they wake to realizing their excesses are gone, that they have been drunk up by another, the grapes and the vine have been destroyed. People will steal for their excesses, kill for their conveniences, and hate those that point out the nature of their reasoning as wrong. This is the first wave, the weakest and most easily affected, our indulgent natures.

8-10 Lament like a virgin wearing sackcloth - Your groom is gone, dead in the prime of his youth. Sackcloth was comparable to the goat and camel hair warn by the prophets; it was humble, itchy, uncomfortable, just like the words of the prophets. It is for both the young virgin bereft of her husband and for the prophet, their clothes of mourning. The words of judgment, no matter that they are true and just, yet they are horrible in the gut, painfully bitter to the teller; the office of a true prophet was not glamorous, few ever responded well. They were laughed at, hated, beaten, burned, sawn in half, yet for the sake of money some pretend to be one of them. 

1Come now, you who are rich, weep and wail over the misery to come upon you. 2Your riches have rotted and moths have eaten your clothes.… James 5: 1-2

The priest mourn - Without the wine and wheat they could not perform their duties, and they were also dependent upon what was brought in for their food. God is in a sense removing the form of religion, the comforts of it, and pushing them to look at the heart of their famine. It has spiritual origins.

38 “Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two one year old lambs each day, continuously.

39 “The one lamb you shall offer in the morning and the 1other lamb you shall offer at 2twilight;

40 and there shall be one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of beaten oil, and one-fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering with one lamb.

41 “The 1other lamb you shall offer at 2twilight, and shall offer with it 3the same grain offering and 4the same drink offering as in the morning, for a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the Lord.

42 “It shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the doorway of the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there. Exodus 29: 38-42

11-12 Be ashamed, O tillers of soil - Men, for all their ability, it is yet from God and tilling His soil. In this day, with our technology, we produce bumper crops, some have noted that even the homeless in the United States are fat, and though we plan and prepare against drought, yet it can come beyond our means. They made aqueducts, we now have massive dams, pumps that drive water from deep wells, and insecticides to prepare against the day of the locusts, yet store shelves when without stock because of "Covid". This is what the farmer is known for, yet his hands are tied, the earth is dried up and the locust eat whatever sparse leaf is left. The demand is greater, the mouths are many, but I cannot feed them. 

…3The nobles send their servants for water; they go to the cisterns, but find no water; their jars return empty. They are ashamed and humiliated; they cover their heads. 4 The ground is cracked because no rain has fallen on the land. The farmers are ashamed; they cover their heads. 5Even the doe in the field deserts her newborn fawn because there is no grass.… Jeremiah 14: 3-5

Be ashamed (0954)(bosh from root = “to become pale” or “to blush”) is a verb which conveys the primary meaning of to fall into disgrace, normally through failure, either of self or of an object of trust. It is both an external and a subjective experience, ranging from disgrace (Hos. 10:6) to guilt (Ezra 9:6) When failure or sin occurs, there is a disconcerting feeling, a flushing of the face. This Hebrew verb bosh often occurs in contexts of humiliation and shattered human emotions, and can include the feeling of public disgrace. The confusion, embarrassment, or dismay when things do not turn out as expected. - Precept Austin

13-14 Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests - It is a call to repentance, as "blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted", but the priests must lead the way in mourning over their sin, for the sin of the people. 

Cry to the Lord - The people need to repent too, not just the priest.

…3Jehoshaphat was alarmed and set his face to seek the LORD. And he proclaimed a fast throughout Judah. 4So the people of Judah gathered to seek the LORD, and indeed, they came from all the cities of Judah to seek Him. 2 Chronicles 20: 3-4

15-18 For the Day of the Lord in near - The day of judgment. The cup of God's wrath is full and ready to be poured out on Israel, just like Egypt and all else who sin, for the Lord is Holy and just. Sadly, they often looked forward to Messiah but most missed the time of His visitation, and those who refused to humble themselves will find that they cannot stand. So many calls to repent, to lament over our sins, yet we take stock in our comforts, our strong towers, our sprinkler system, our hope for good governance.

16 Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts, the Lord,

“There is wailing in all the plazas,

And in all the streets they say, ‘Alas! Alas!’

They also call the farmer to mourning

And 1cprofessional mourners to lamentation.

17 “And in all the vineyards there is wailing,

Because I will pass through the midst of you,” says the Lord.

18 Alas, you who are longing for the day of the Lord,

For what purpose will the day of the Lord be to you?

It will be darkness and not light; Amos 5: 16-18

How the beasts groan - We have had an effect in our falling, upon everything that was placed beneath our feet and under our care.

…4for when Jezebel had slaughtered the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty men per cave, providing them with food and water.) 5Then Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go throughout the land to every spring and every valley. Perhaps we will find grass to keep the horses and mules alive so that we will not have to destroy any livestock.” 6So they divided the land to explore. Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went the other way by himself.… 1 Kings 18: 4-6

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.

20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, 1in hope

21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. Romans 8: 18-22

19-20 I call - There is nothing but desolation, and man must often be brought to this place, where he has looked far and broad only to find all the wells dried up. Israel went to Egypt, to Assyria; Judah showed off foolishly before the visitors from Babylon. They had their own kings who were inferior to the word of God, who often went against God, taxed for their own luxuries, to reward their close companions, indulging at the price of the poor, sacrificing the lives of their own families and children. 

…14Sacrifice a thank offering to God, and fulfill your vows to the Most High. 15Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.” 16To the wicked, however, God says, “What right have you to recite My statutes and to bear My covenant on your lips?… Psalm 50: 14-16

#1132 Hosea 14 What Have I To Do With These

 

O Israel, return to the Lord your God,

For you have stumbled because of your iniquity;

2 Take words with you,

And return to the Lord.

Say to Him,

“Take away all iniquity;

Receive us graciously,

For we will offer the sacrifices of our lips.

3 Assyria shall not save us,

We will not ride on horses,

Nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands, ‘You are our gods.’

For in You the fatherless finds mercy.”

4 “I will heal their backsliding,

I will love them freely,

For My anger has turned away from him.

5 I will be like the dew to Israel;

He shall grow like the lily,

And lengthen his roots like Lebanon.

6 His branches shall spread;

His beauty shall be like an olive tree,

And his fragrance like Lebanon.

7 Those who dwell under his shadow shall return;

They shall be revived like grain,

And grow like a vine.

Their scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

8 “Ephraim shall say, ‘What have I to do anymore with idols?’

I have heard and observed him.

I am like a green cypress tree;

Your fruit is found in Me.”

9 Who is wise?

Let him understand these things.

Who is prudent?

Let him know them.

For the ways of the Lord are right;

The righteous walk in them,

But transgressors stumble in them. Hosea 14 NKJV

Hosea 14 Israel Restored At Last

They do not say what good they seek, but refer it to God. It is not good of the world's showing, but good of God's giving. They were to consider their sins, their wants, and the remedy; and they were to take, not sacrifices, but words stating the desires of their hearts, and with them to address the Lord. The whole forms a clear description of the nature and tendency of a sinner's conversion to God through Jesus Christ. As we draw near to God by the prayer of faith, we should first beseech him to teach us what to ask. We must be earnest with him to take away all iniquity. - Matthew Henry

1-3 Return to the Lord your God - God is light and in Him is no darkness, He is holy, and that means otherly, not worldly or earthly like us, and He is without sin, pure and undefiled. They went about after their iniquity, chasing sin took them further from the One Who was eternally opposed to it.

…22And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.… Romans 3: 22-24

Take words with you - Come with corrected speech, asking of the Lord what no man can do for you. They had gone to Egypt, gone to Assyria, but they neglected the Lord. This is not the words of vain professors that he bids them to bring, but those that come out of the abundance of a new heart. Come with right doctrine, come wanting to know Him for Who He is, come desiring for all your iniquities to be taken away, to be cleansed. It is not a call to memorize sayings, to offer up empty speech, to treat the word of God as a book of incantations, don't approach God like that. Too often we are guilty of treating God like we would be enraged by others for treating us the same. Drop a coin in the plate, say a hail Mary or some other abominable thing, no, let it be of the changed heart and of the right mind.

…7You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you: 8‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. 9They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’ ”… Matthew 15: 7-9

For in You the fatherless finds mercy - This is the cry for adoption, that we are orphans, lost, separated from God by sin, but He is merciful.

…17For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God, showing no partiality and accepting no bribe. 18He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and He loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing. 19So you also must love the foreigner, since you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.… Deuteronomy 10: 17-19

…4For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love 5He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the Beloved One.… Ephesians 1: 4-6

4-7 I will heal their backsliding - He sanctifies us, through His Spirit He convicts us with His law, and we come to the knowledge of our deep and pressing need. We struggle but no longer in vain, we no longer wish to please the eyes of men, but those of God, Who looks into the heart of every man, and  from Whom nothing is hid. Though we wrestle with temptation we never lose hope, that the same God, Who we believe by faith has justified, will also cleanse and conform us to the image of His Son.

…26I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances. 28Then you will live in the land that I gave your forefathers; you will be My people, and I will be your God.… Ezekiel 36: 26-28

…8If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us.… 1 John 1: 8-10

…8For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.… Ephesians 2: 8-10

He shall grow like the Lily - Israel will come with such words as fitting a repentant heart, "He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities", they will one day remember Him Whom they pierced and mourn for Him. He will forgive and cause Israel to flower once again, He is faithful to His covenant.

Verse Hosea 14:5. I will be as the dew unto Israel — On these metaphors I gladly avail myself of the elegant and just observations of Bp. Lowth. "These verses (Hosea 14:5-7) contain gracious promises of God's favour and blessings upon Israel's conversion. In the fifth verse, it is described by that refreshment which copious dews give to the grass in summer. If we consider the nature of the climate, and the necessity of dews in so hot a country, not only to refresh, but likewise to preserve life; if we consider also the beauty of the oriental lilies, the fragrance of the cedars which grow upon Lebanon, the beauteous appearance which the spreading olive trees afforded, the exhilarating coolness caused by the shade of such trees, and the aromatic smell exhaled by the cedars; we shall then partly understand the force of the metaphors here employed by the prophet; but their full energy no one can conceive, till he feels both the want, and enjoys the advantage, of the particulars referred to in that climate where the prophet wrote." - Lowth's twelfth and nineteenth prelection; and Dodd on the place. - Adam Clarke's Commentary

25I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you will not be conceited: A hardening in part has come to Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. 26And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come from Zion; He will remove godlessness from Jacob. 27And this is My covenant with them when I take away their sins.”… Romans 11: 25-27

Those that dwell under his shadow - Israel's shadow, this is the nation through which God revealed His redemptive plan, the people Who represent the covenant made with Abraham. We know from a careful study of scripture that not all who call themselves Israel are, and that it is the inner circumcision of the heart that God looks for, yet He has kept a remnant of this people. One day this nation will have the city set high on a hill, will be the recognizable shade of those who come under God's revelation of Himself, and the redemption provided through His Son, Who was the seed promised in the garden. In Isaac shall thy seed be called, and one day that final remnant will confess Jesus as Lord to the glory of God the Father.

1This is the message that was revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz concerning Judah and Jerusalem: 2In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. 3And many peoples will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.… Isaiah 2: 1-3

8-9 What have I to do anymore with idols - There is nothing back there for me, I know it a farce now, and so I look for My Master's feet, how did He walk, which way did He go, there is no other way worth knowing?

The righteous walk in them - Bring forth fruit worthy of repentance, now I beg and plead, let that be found in me, let me walk in Your light, and bring forth that which is pleasing to You.

Who profit by the truths the prophet delivered? Such as set themselves to understand and know these things. The ways of God's providence towards us are right; all is well done. Christ is a Foundation Stone to some, to others a Stone of stumbling, and a Rock of offence. That which was ordained to life, becomes, through their abuse of it, death to them. The same sun softens wax and hardens clay. But those transgressors certainly have the most dangerous, fatal falls, who fall in the ways of God, who split on the Rock of Ages, and suck poison out of the Balm of Gilead. Let sinners in Zion fear this. May we learn to walk in the right ways of God, as his righteous servants, and may none of us be disobedient and unbelieving, and stumble at the word. - Matthew Henry

#1131 Hosea 13 Guilt Of Making My Own Religion

 

When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling;

he was exalted in Israel,

but he incurred guilt through Baal and died.

2 And now they sin more and more,

and make for themselves metal images,

idols skillfully made of their silver,

all of them the work of craftsmen.

It is said of them,

“Those who offer human sacrifice kiss calves!”

3 Therefore they shall be like the morning mist

or like the dew that goes early away,

like the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor

or like smoke from a window.

4 But I am the Lord your God

from the land of Egypt;

you know no God but me,

and besides me there is no savior.

5 It was I who knew you in the wilderness,

in the land of drought;

6 but when they had grazed, they became full,

they were filled, and their heart was lifted up;

therefore they forgot me.

7 So I am to them like a lion;

like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.

8 I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs;

I will tear open their breast,

and there I will devour them like a lion,

as a wild beast would rip them open.

9 He destroys you, O Israel,

for you are against me, against your helper.

10 Where now is your king, to save you in all your cities?

Where are all your rulers—

those of whom you said,

“Give me a king and princes”?

11 I gave you a king in my anger,

and I took him away in my wrath.

12 The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;

his sin is kept in store.

13 The pangs of childbirth come for him,

but he is an unwise son,

for at the right time he does not present himself

at the opening of the womb.

14 I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol;

I shall redeem them from Death.

O Death, where are your plagues?

O Sheol, where is your sting?

Compassion is hidden from my eyes.

15 Though he may flourish among his brothers,

the east wind, the wind of the Lord, shall come,

rising from the wilderness,

and his fountain shall dry up;

his spring shall be parched;

it shall strip his treasury

of every precious thing.

16  Samaria shall bear her guilt,

because she has rebelled against her God;

they shall fall by the sword;

their little ones shall be dashed in pieces,

and their pregnant women ripped open. Hosea 13 ESV

Hosea 13

1-3 When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling - Ephraim was one of the most powerful tribes and held a position of prominence. Ephraim and Manasseh came from Joseph, the favored son of Jacob.

Those who offer human sacrifices kiss calves - The apostate form of Judaism, in the north, incorporated idols in the form of calves. This was a political move in part, and here is a link for more on that: Sins of Jeroboam

The same people who say they worship the true God were doing so by unauthorized means, making graven images, but they were also worshiping other gods by means which the Creator abhorred, human sacrifice. This is a topic that comes up often and in every age, that my life and wants are worthy to sacrifice another human life for, and now people do it in the name of "compassion" and "the science", but it's not their own life they offer up. 

…3You shall have no other gods before Me. 4You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath. 5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,… Exodus 20: 3-5

…4because they have abandoned Me and made this a foreign place. They have burned incense in this place to other gods that neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have ever known. They have filled this place with the blood of the innocent. 5They have built high places to Baal on which to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal— something I never commanded or mentioned, nor did it even enter My mind. 6So behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.… Jeremiah 19: 4-6

Imperium link

Like the chaff - People who practice such things as are under God's judgment and passing away, will in turn pass away with them.

…3He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does. 4Not so the wicked! For they are like chaff driven off by the wind. 5Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.… Psalm 1: 3-5

4-8 Besides Me there is no Savior - There is only one God, and it is He, Who brought Israel out of captivity in Egypt. He led them through the wilderness, made Himself known to them as the provider of Manna. The Red Sea parted at the presence of His invisible footprints, He commanded water from the rock, spoke to Moses, removed their enemies from before them, led them with a cloud by day and fire by night, yet they grumbled and complained.

They became full - When they were blessed financially and materially their hearts grew hard, thinking themselves the captains, they quickly became shipwrecked. I have heard a lot of people say that money isn't everything, and when I was younger I believed that they meant it, but as I watched them come into contact with it, I saw they didn't really believe that. Some openly brag about their high walls of money and things, "he who dies with the most toys wins", and all that, but it seems to be the time when it is most easy to slip away, to forget to pray, or think too highly of oneself, for such blessings to many are the equivalent of godliness or negate the need for Him altogether.

1 Timothy 6:8-12 But, if we have food and clothes, we will be satisfied with that. Those who want to become rich bring temptation to themselves and are caught in a trap. They want many foolish and harmful things that ruin and destroy people. The love of money causes all kinds of evil. Some people have left the faith, because they wanted to get more money, but they have caused themselves much sorrow. But you, man of God, run away from all those things. Instead, live in the right way, serve God, have faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, grabbing hold of the life that continues forever. You were called to have that life when you confessed the good confession before many witnesses.

…23Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” 25When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”… Matthew 19: 23-25

9-11 Give me a king and princes - Sometimes the worse punishment is God turning us over to what we want. The people wanted kings so they could be like those of the lands around them, to have someone who would go out and fight their battles, protect them, always desiring some sort of idol to replace God. Where are your kings now? They did not lead in a godly fashion, and they contributed to the need for much wrath. Their kings crossed the line of the priest's duties, made images of calves, pointed men to themselves, made wicked alliances, abused power, they were all humans, all corrupt, but men still look for that special man to come. They pine for heroes long gone in the days past. God allowed them kings, but He also told them how to pick a king, and it was always a matter of integrity and godliness, yet they did not put these priorities on top in their own lives, so eventually they had kings that matched their depravity.

14When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,” 15you are to appoint over yourselves the king whom the LORD your God shall choose. Appoint a king from among your brothers; you are not to set over yourselves a foreigner who is not one of your brothers.… 

12-13 He does not present himself at the opening of the womb - He is a child that needs to be born, but he waits inside the birth canal, he will not progress and so dies in the womb. You must be born again, and all that is between him and the light of day is to repent, to say this is sin that I commit, and therefore I am a sinner, unworthy, but please have mercy on me. He turns away from the light of conviction, he withdraws himself from the truth. 

…18But in this way God has fulfilled what He foretold through all the prophets, saying that His Christ would suffer. 19Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away, 20that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus, the Christ, who has been appointed for you.… Acts 3: 18-20

10Now as for you, son of man, tell the house of Israel that this is what they have said: ‘Our transgressions and our sins are heavy upon us, and we are wasting away because of them! How can we live?’ 11Say to them: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’ 12Therefore, son of man, say to your people: ‘The righteousness of the righteous man will not deliver him in the day of his transgression; neither will the wickedness of the wicked man cause him to stumble on the day he turns from his wickedness. Nor will the righteous man be able to survive by his righteousness on the day he sins.’… Ezekiel 33: 10-12

14-16 I shall redeem them from death - The eternal God took on humanity, God the Son came to earth to be born of a virgin. He was the only fit sacrifice to satisfy eternal righteousness. God has said that the wages of sin is death, but Christ lived a sinless life, and was therefore a perfect sacrifice, the infinite Son dying to satisfy the infinite demands of a Holy and just God. Since eternal death is linked to sin, and since Christ had no sin, then death could not hold Him. He rose again. We can get a good understanding of this verse from the Apostle, when he refers to it in the New Testament. 

…54When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come to pass: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 55“Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?” 56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.… 1 Corinthians 15: 54-56

The east wind, the wind of the Lord - God is sending Assyria to punish the sins of Israel.

Samaria shall bear her guilt - She has been apostate, sought her own way, paid trinket type homage to God, worshipped idols and the wages of sin is coming.

#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.