Reflections on Hosea 13

Hosea 13 (Contemporary English Version)


1. When your leaders spoke, everyone in Israel trembled and showed great respect. But you sinned by worshiping Baal, and you were destroyed.
   
2. Now you continue to sin by designing and making idols of silver in the shape of calves. You are told to sacrifice to these idols -- yes, even to kiss them.
   
3. And so, all of you will vanish like the mist or the dew of early morning, or husks of grain in the wind or smoke from a chimney.
   
4. I, the LORD, have been your God since the time you were in Egypt. I am the only God you know, the only one who can save.
   
5. I took care of you in a thirsty desert.
   
6. I fed you till you were satisfied, then you became proud and forgot about me.
   
7. Now I will attack like a lion, ambush you like a leopard,
   
8. and rip you apart like a bear robbed of her cubs. I will gnaw on your bones, as though I were a lion or some other wild animal.
   
9. Israel, you are done for. Don't expect help from me.
   
10. You wanted a king and rulers. Where is your king now? What cities have rulers?
    
11. In my anger, I gave you a king; in my fury, I took him away.
    
12. Israel, your terrible sins are written down and stored away.
    
13. You are like a senseless child who refuses to be born at the proper time.
    
14. Should I, the LORD, rescue you from death and the grave? No! I call death and the grave to strike you like a plague. I refuse to show mercy.
    
15. No matter how much you prosper more than the other tribes, I, the LORD, will wipe you out, just as a scorching desert wind dries up streams of water. I will take away your precious treasures.
    
16. Samaria will be punished for turning against me. It will be destroyed in war-- children will be beaten against rocks, and pregnant women will be ripped open.
    

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Ever since God delivered Israel from bondage in Egypt to a land "flowing with milk and honey," she accepted the Lord's blessings without thanks and credited them to her own skills and to the blessings of other gods. There were short periods in which the nation did honor and worship God, thanking him for His provisions, but overall, they were an unappreciative people. Again, we need to see this as a picture of how most of us are. We do not tend to see God as the source of our blessings and do not thank Him for the fact that all we have comes from Him. So when everything is taken away from us, what do we do? We have two main choices. We can suddenly recognize the God that we have been ignoring and blame Him for our misfortune, even though we didn't recognize Him for our fortune, OR, we can suddenly recognize this God toward whom we have been unthankful, confess our sin, and turn to Him for help. When we are surrounded with blessings it is easy to ignore God, but when we lose it all and all the sources we have looked to for help are helpless to do anything, our real source of help and blessing becomes obvious.

It is this position of helplessness to which God is bringing Israel in the passages we are reading from Hosea. We keep seeing this reference to Ephraim. Ephraim was the leading tribe in Israel, the one that had been the leader in taking Israel down the path to worshiping idols. King Jeroboam, who led Israel to secede from Judah and to the worship of Baal, was an Ephraimite. Verses 1 and 2 speak of this connection between Ephraim and Baal worship. Verse 3 tells of what will happen to them. They will be as transitory as a morning mist or as chaff that blows in the wind, or smoke from a window. Hosea reminds them briefly of how God delivered them Egypt. He was the only Savior they had. But whenever Israel had what she needed ("when they had pasture"), her heart became proud and she forgot the Lord. And so do we. It is a reason Jesus spoke of the difficulty of the rich entering the kingdom of God. They tend to depend on their riches rather than on God.

God was their Savior, but now He will become their destroyer and will attack them as a lion or as a bear robbed of her cubs. He points out that they have no help but God, and this they are about to find out. They will be at that point of decision between whether to blame God or go to Him for help. The question will be, how many other sources will they turn to before recognizing that God is their only help? One of those sources will be their leaders, but the question is raised in verse 10, "Where now is your king?" Their leaders will be destroyed. They cannot help. They are reminded that God did not want them to have any leader but Himself. They wanted a king and He, in His anger, let them have one, beginning with Saul. Now their king will be taken away from them and who then will help them? Will they recognize it is God they need and not a king?

Over all the years that Israel has followed other gods, God may have withheld His hand from punishment, but He did not overlook their guilt. No, "Ephraim's guilt is preserved; his sin is stored up." (v. 12) Their guilt had been stored up until this time. The time for punishment was upon them. Now, "They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open." (v. 16)