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
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.
