The final two chapters are a last appeal to the northern kingdom of Israel to repent while there is still time, to turn from their idols to the true God, and so escape the terrible punishment awaiting them – of which they seemed totally ignorant, for it was coming from the very people upon whom they relied to save them from other, lesser threats (14:3).
This chapter has several passages in which the text is disputed. Not being a Hebrew expert, the writer has little choice but to take the reading which seems best to fit the context, or to take that most generally accepted. The reader is also free to make his own judgment over the particular renderings.
The fall of Ephraim
The first sentence in this chapter is a case in point. “When Ephraim spake trembling” is rendered by the R.V. as “When Ephraim spake, men trembled”; the R.S.V. and the N.I.V. give similar renderings. It seems best to accept this reading, and take it that the reference is to the time when Ephraim was the leading tribe in Israel, and exercised authority over other tribes. This situation existed first in the times of Joshua and Judges, when the ark of God was in Shiloh, and again later, after the division of the twelve tribes into two, with Ephraim leading the greater part.
The apostasy of Ephraim began with Jeroboam’s golden calf; but the offence “in Baal” came to a head in the days of Ahab, when almost the whole nation followed Jezebel’s god, leaving only the faithful 7000 still known to the true God. The result was spiritual death. This chapter begins, therefore, with the spiritual death of the ten tribes, and ends with their literal death: “they shall fall by the sword” (v.16).
Verse 2 shows that Baal-worship was by no means Ephraim’s worst sin. Other more depraved idols were created, out of their own perverted imagination. The last sentence of this verse is another translated differently by other versions, suggesting that human sacrifice was involved in the calf-worship: “They offer human sacrifice and kiss the idols” (N.I.V.), a reading also suggested by the A.V. margin.
Verse 3 sees Ephraim as a cloud promising rain, but vanishing with the rising of the sun; then the image changes to one of chaff blown away by the whirlwind of the threshing floor, then again to the smoke rising from the chimney, scattered by the wind. Isaiah, prophesying at the same time as Hosea, uses the image of the glorious beauty of a flower suddenly fading, or early fruit dropping off the plant (28:4). It must have been hard for Ephraimites, in what seemed to be the height of their prosperity, to grasp the truth that their apparently solid state would end rapidly and inevitably, and be no more.
“I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt”
Again the theme of redemption from Egypt comes into play. Israel is seen as Gomer, symbolic of the beautiful wife of God saved from bondage in Egypt, brought safely through the wilderness and placed in a fruitful land. God presents Himself by His Memorial Name given to Israel at this time, “Yahweh thy Elohim”, and reminds Israel of the Ten Commandments which they had covenanted to keep: “thou shalt know no god but me”.
In the wilderness, God “knew” Israel as a man knows his wife, expecting her to be faithful and capable of giving him faithful children. But once Israel had entered the land and found abundant pasture, she began to forget God, exactly as God had warned and predicted (Deut.6:10-12; 32:15). Therefore, since God is a God who keeps His Word, the punishments warned would inevitably follow. It seems to me that here the whole nation is being addressed; all had turned to idols; it was only the repentance of a remnant of Judah which eventually allowed some to escape the judgments.
Among the warnings of coming judgment in the Law given to Israel in the wilderness was the promise:
“I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your highways shall be desolate” (Lev.26:22).
Here in Hosea God warns Israel that that judgment is imminent:
“Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe them: I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps … the wild beast shall tear them” (v.8).
These wild beasts clearly stand for the judgment to be brought directly by God at the hand of surrounding nations. This principle will be very fully dealt with in the forthcoming articles in the series by Bro. Richard Purkis, “Beginnings in Genesis”, and I do not propose to prove this point here, except to point out that the nations which devastated and persecuted Israel are seen in Daniel 7 as wild beasts, and it is notable that the four beasts of Daniel 7 are all mentioned here, the lion, leopard, bear and wild beast – though not quite in the same order. The leopard and the bear are in inverse order, and the lion is mentioned twice. Nevertheless the animals are likely to represent the same nations as those In Daniel 7.
“Where is thy king?”
“O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself”, says Hosea. Again, it is the whole nation being addressed, and the image of Gomer comes to mind. The fact that a small part of Judah escaped destruction at this time did not negate the complete fulfillment of the prophecy; in time Judah also was destroyed, and Isaiah, probably writing after the carrying away of the northern kingdom surely refers to Hosea’s prophecy when he says,
“Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away” (Is.50:1).
The “putting away” referred to by Isaiah, identical with the “destruction” of Hosea, was nevertheless not the total end of Israel as God’s wife, for, said God, “In me Is thine help”. This last is yet another disputed text, other versions reading “Who can help you”, or similar. However, there is hope offered later on in the chapter, and I prefer the A.V. here, which follows the Hebrew text.
“I will be thy king” in the A.V. has a different reading offered in the margin, which has “Rather, Where is thy king?”, and this reading is followed by all versions I have consulted. The verse goes on to ask Israel where the kings were who could save her from God’s coming judgment – kings for which, even when appointed by God, she had asked. Then God declares, “I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath”. This does not seem to refer to one specific incident, such as the giving of Saul to be Israel’s first king, but appears to be a reference to the occasions when God appointed kings to northern Israel, only to end the dynasty in anger, or cause a king to die. The immediate occasion which would be recalled by Israel at this time would be the giving by God of the house of Jehu in His anger against the house of Ahab, but then the removal of the last king of Jehu’s line when those kings proved as evil as those they had replaced.
The unwise son
The following few verses repeat one of the most fascinating themes of Hosea’s prophecy – that of birth and rebirth. We have already read of a faithful child born to Israel (Jezreel) followed by two children of whoredom (Hos.1). Here we have the idea presented of another child ready to be born, though one that would prove to be stillborn.
It is quite clear that Israel understood the symbol of birth used here in Hosea. And what is also clear is that at this time there was a widespread expectation among some that there would be a rebirth of a faithful seed. It will be remembered that some few years before, the prophet Isaiah had told the king of Judah, in the context of an invasion of Judah by Israel and Syria, that “a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Is.7:14). It has been shown1 that the first application of this prophecy was to the birth of a faithful remnant to the “virgin daughter of Zion” at a time when both the land of Israel and that Of Syria had been “forsaken” of their kings (v.16).
Micah also had prophesied in the same terms, although he foresaw Judah bringing forth the faithful remnant in Babylon (an event put off through the faithful action of Hezekiah – see Jeremiah 26:18, which makes it clear that the captivity promised by Micah was postponed):
“Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail … thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the LORD shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies” (4:10).
That the prophecy was certainly seen by Hezekiah in this way may be proved by his words when the Assyrian surrounded Jerusalem:
“The children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth” (Is.37:3).
The troubles brought to Israel by the different invasions of the predatory nations were seen by the faithful as the pangs of labour, out of which a child would be born. In the days that this prophecy of Hosea was written, those who believed the words of the prophets of God would be watching and waiting for redemption to come out of the agonies being suffered.
But there was going to be no live birth out of the destruction to come on northern Israel. The child in the womb was a child whose iniquity was bound up, and so when the time of birth came, he would remain in the birth canal until he died. It was his own fault – he chose to remain in sin, even at this critical time. But when Sennacherib, some four years later, came against Judah, Hezekiah would have in his hand this prophecy of Hosea, and would have seen the end of the kingdom of Israel in fulfillment of Hosea’s words. And he would know what to do.
To whom, then, does the next verse refer? Here are some who are not going to die in childbirth, but to be brought out of the grave as a child emerges from its mother’s womb. This cannot refer to Ephraim, for the prophecy goes on immediately after this verse to describe the coming destruction of Israel. Surely this verse can only refer to those other, faithful children to whom Hezekiah refers in Isaiah 37:3. The quotation of the verse by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 makes it clear that it refers to a true redemption from death, by God’s action. In Corinthians the verse refers to the end of death itself – the complete fulfillment of Hosea’s prophecy. But in the short term it must have referred to the redemption from imminent death of the remnant of Judah in Jerusalem.
‘Samaria shall be desolate”
The rest of the chapter is perfectly straightforward. Again the imagery of the fruitfulness of Ephraim is brought up. Though rich, fertile and wealthy, the east wind of the Assyrian armies would come up upon them and destroy all their abundance, all the good things they had amassed. And the most terrible deeds would be perpetrated on the people – as the inevitable consequence of their rebellion against God.
The terrible deeds listed in verse 16 did indeed take place, but the Assyrians were later punished for their cruelty (Is.10). They had gone, as it were, beyond their brief, and would not be allowed to triumph. Indeed, not many years after they had carried away Israel, Assyria disappeared as a great nation of the world, never to reappear.
References
- See “Immanuel” by Bro. G. Walker, “Bible Student” Vol.14 Nos.1-6
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