In Psalm 29 the earthly assembly of Israel commands the the heavenly “sons of God” around the throne of God in the heavenly temple to give Yahweh the glory due to the Creator of heaven and earth. Everyone in the temple–both on earth and in heaven–say, “Glory!”
When the people of God assemble, sounds and power of Sinai reverberate throughout the assembly as God enters and all creation responds. The combined assembly of heaven and earth ascribe glory to God and pray for peace on earth amidst the chaos. We do not gather for mutual edification alone but join all creation in assembly to say, “Glory to Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel!”
Bobby Valentine and John Mark Hicks discuss the meaning of Psalm 29.
This section in Hosea’s last oracle begins and ends with the language of “guilt” (Hosea 13:1, 16). This functions like an inclusio or two bookends that characterize the content. Israel is guilty because they worshipped Baal and because Samaria rebelled against God.
Hosea brings this message home by retelling the story of Ephraim’s demise. They repeated the original sin of Israel at Mount Sinai by constructing a calf, an idolatrous image. They repeated Israel’s insolence in the wilderness as they forgot God. They clung to their own rulers and kings—who, in the end, were no help—instead of trusting in the reign of God. They flourished for a time by God’s grace, but ultimately an east wind from the wilderness overwhelmed them. The animal metaphors are about Assyria who comes from the east across the desert to devour the northern kingdom.
There is no hope in this chapter. Metaphors abound about the coming destruction and exile. Yahweh, who comes through Assyria, is like a predatory lion and leopard, like a mother bear angered by the loss of her cubs. Israel is like an unwise son who fails to flourish, even hiding in the womb rather than being birthed. Death is Israel’s future; no one can rescue them.
This end is described in horrifying terms. It uses the stock rhetoric of the Ancient Near East. There are reliefs from Assyria that picture the execution of pregnant women. One poem from the reign of Tiglath-Pileser I (1114-1076), says: the king “slits the wombs of pregnant women, he blinds the infants; he cuts the throats of their strong ones.” Hosea’s final verdict on Israel describes this horror. Israel will experience the atrocities of ancient warfare.
However, this chapter is not Hosea’s final word, or God’s last message to Israel. Hosea 14 invites Israel to return and offers hope, if not for this generation to escape death and exile, certainly for the revival of Israel, even the resurrection of Israel, in the future.
The Reason for the Exile (Hosea 13:1-3)
There was a time when Ephraim was respected and prosperous. The clan was the largest and most prosperous of the tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel. But they sinned, and they kept on sinning.
They reproduced the original sin of the children of Jacob. They made a calf “for themselves” or according to their desires and understanding. They made God in their own image, sacrificed to the idols, worshipped by kissing the images. They created idols of precious metals in violation of the first commandment of the Torah; they used their creative gifts as artisans to create something for themselves, something they could worship without covenantal obligation. Worshipping these idols, they pursued their greed and found their identity in their wealth and power.
“Therefore,” Hosea says, Ephraim will dissipate like a morning mist, or the dew on the morning ground. Like chaff on a threshing floor or smoke from a window, they will appear for a time but quickly disappear. Ephraim, the northern kingdom, will cease to exist.
Yahweh’s History with Israel (Hosea 13:4-13)
How can Ephraim disappear? Are they not the people of God? It is a long story, and Hosea recounts some of the history in Hosea 13:4-5, 10.
Exodus – Yahweh brought them out of the land of Egypt
Wilderness – Yahweh fed them and gave them drink in the wilderness
Monarchy – Israel demanded a king, and Yahweh gave them one.
This echoes Hosea 11 which is the story of God’s tender care for Israel as a son from Egypt to the land of promise. Yahweh gave birth to Israel, nurtured him, and provided all his needs. Yet . . .
When Israel was satisfied and his needs were met, he “forgot” his God because his “heart was proud.” He exalted himself and became, in his prosperity, wise in his own eyes and gloried in his strength.
Consequently, Yahweh became like a lion, leopard, and bear—but mostly lion (mentioned twice). The lion was the primary symbol of Assyrian power. Yahweh is announcing the encroaching armies of Assyria. Yahweh moves to discipline the northern kingdom and its leaders. Assyria will devour Israel like a wild animal. Death lies in Israel’s future; the kingdom will cease to exist.
When Yahweh decides to “destroy” Israel, there is no one to help. There are no political alliances that will save them. No king will save them. Israel has trusted in their kings, and this goes back to 1 Samuel 8 when Israel said, “Give us a king.”
God gives, and God takes away. Security was never in the human king but in God’s steadfast love. When Israel turned to their king for security and pursued idols, God took away their king—first God took away Saul, and now God is taking away Ephraim’s kings who ruled from Samaria. What God gave in anger—it was not God’s design, God now takes away in wrath—in discipline.
This discipline is due to their sin. Israel is like a child who refuses to be born. He has so much potential—wisdom is available. Instead, the son foolishly refuses to poke his head out of the womb and pursue life with God. Israel becomes a stillborn child who refuses to live. This is a haunting image; it is a gut-wrenching loss for the parent, for Yahweh. It is death for the child. All that God invested in Israel, like a mother preparing for the birth of her child, is lost as the future is shut down and closed off. The northern kingdom does not have a future—only death.
The Reason for the Exile (Hosea 13:14-16)
Yahweh engages in some self-reflection in Hosea 13:14. What is God to do with Israel? Shall Yahweh deliver Israel from Sheol (the place of the dead) or redeem them from their exile? Death is the discipline God has ordained for Israel. [The NRSV understands the statements as rhetorical questions while the NIV understands them as declarative sentences. Both are possible. See below.]
One might hear an echo of God’s compassion in Hosea 11. But in this oracle God says, “compassion is hidden from my eyes.” In other words, Israel is going to die. God will not save him from this death; the exile is going to happen, and the nation will cease to exist.
This is a kind of hopelessness—there is no deliverance from death. Though Ephraim once flourished among the clans (his brothers, the literal translation of Hosea 13:15), an east wind in the form of the Assyrian empire will arise from the eastern desert and dry up the land. It will take every drop of Israel’s prosperity and consume it on its own desires.
This is due to Samaria’s guilt. Samaria is the capital of the northern kingdom; she is synonymous with Ephraim (much like Washington is synonymous with the USA). Her guild is that “she rebelled against her God.” This was no mere weakness or slip but a rebellion. She committed the original sin of Jacob’s descendants—worshipping a calf either as an image of Baal or a forbidden image of Yahweh. Israel brought this on themselves through their idolatry.
This leads to a horrific end, and that end is described in the most gruesome and shocking terms. Our modern sensibilities rightly recoil from the image, but it is a stock piece of rhetoric in the Ancient Near East. The death of pregnant women and their unborn children is the epitome of destruction in ancient warfare. It is rhetoric for utter defeat, not necessarily annhilation. This violence was typical of conquering armies—even if not actually carried out in mass, it was the image that generated fear and obedience to the new rulers.
Israel’s end could not be conceived in any worse terms than the killing of pregnant women who carry the future of the nation in their wombs. This is not only an image of violence but of hopelessness.
Yet Yahweh, as we remember from Hosea 2-3 and Hosea 11, is not finished with Israel, and we will see this in the next chapter, Hosea 14.
Paul’s Use of Hosea 13:14: Implicit Hope for Israel in Hosea
Hosea 13:14 can be rendered as rhetorical question with an implied answer of “No” (“Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol” in the NRSV), or as a declarative sentence which functions as a promise (“I will ransom them from the power of the grave,” NIV). The language “compassion is hidden from my eyes,” if taken with the statements, seems to lend itself to the rhetorical understanding in the context Hosea speaks.
However, “compassion” (which only occurs in Hosea at Hosea 11:8) may serve a dual role here. On the one hand, it recalls God’s compassion which gives Israel hope. On the other hand, in this context God’s compassion will not hinder God from disciplining Israel. The nation will die. Yet God still has compassion, though hidden for a time. Hosea 14 will reveal Israel’s hope, just as the prophet proclaimed it in Hosea 2-3 and Hosea 11.
When Paul quotes Hosea in 1 Corinthians 15:55, he uses the rhetoric in the framework of hope. This is where Hosea ultimately lands. So, in the light of hope, the response to the rhetorical questions is “Yes” rather than “No.” For Hosea, it was “no” in that moment, but ultimately it is “yes.”
Paul read Hosea not in the light of Hosea’s contemporary circumstances which meant “no,” but in the light of Hosea’s hope for Israel (as per chapter 14) which comes to fruition in Jesus the Messiah. The resurrection of Jesus means, “Yes!” God will redeem Israel from death and release them from the power of the grave. Sheol will not have the final word. Jesus is the final word.
This begins a new section in Hosea, the last of three. The sentence, “The LORD has an indictment” in Hosea 12:1 parallels the one in Hosea 4:1 that opened the second section of the book as well as the indictment in the first section (Hosea 2:2). The first two sections are (1) chapters 1-3 focused on a marriage analogy and marital unfaithfulness and (2) chapters 4-11 culminating in the parental analogy and a rebellious child. Both sections ended, however, in hope of renewal and return. The same pattern holds for this last section, beginning Hosea 11:12 and runs through the end of the book. Lim calls it “literary recapitulation” with increased intensification (Hosea: Two Horizons, 200). The same pattern of unfaithfulness leading to disaster but never hopelessness is consistent throughout the book. All three oracles move from indictment to exile to hope.
The Indictment (Hosea 11:12-12:1)
The charges against Israel (Ephraim) are expressed in poetic form but may be enumerated in the following charges: (1) Israel lies and deceives, (2) multiplies violence, and (3) seeks political alliances.
Ephraim’s deceit (בְּמִרְמָ֑ה) in Hosea 11:12 is the same word Isaac uses to describe Jacob’s action in Genesis 27:35 (בְּמִרְמָ֑ה). In contrast to Judah who is faithful to the Holy One, Israel lives by deceit and seeks power, wealth, and honor (all the blessings) through lies.
Israel also multiplies violence with their falsehoods. There is no further comment on this point, but it probably entails political murder, shedding innocent blood, and war for the sake of national existence as we have seen throughout Hosea.
The political alliances are intended for political and national survival. Oil to Egypt was probably an attempt to win Egypt’s assistance just as Israel made treaties with Assyria to stave off extinction as a nation. Neither worked.
The upshot is that Ephraim seeks to preserve itself by shepherding the wind and pursuing its power “all day long.” But it is a futile and useless task. No one can chase the wind and capture it. It is like grabbing Superman’s cape. It backfires and leads to destruction.
The difficult aspect of this section is how Judah is named. Judah is regarded in a positive light in Hosea 11:12 (contra NIV) but is indicted in Hosea 12:2. Perhaps 11:12 reflects the stability of Judah in this period of history as it did not fall to the Assyrian empire like Israel did. Nevertheless, this is a longstanding problem. Hosea consistently addresses Israel instead of Judah as his primary audience. But Judah is sometimes mentioned (Hosea 5:5, 10, 12-14; 6:4; 8:14; 10:11) and typically in a negative way. So, the positive reference is atypical, though Judah is, at times,also pictured as the faithful kingdom in contrast to Israel (Hosea 4:15; cf. 1:7).
The use of “Judah” in Hosea 12:2 seems to expect “Israel,” especially in terms of the parallels and the addressee in the rest of the chapter is Ephraim. Some suggest a later editor inserted “Judah” to apply it to the national struggles of Judah after the fall of Israel. Perhaps. But the text reads well with Judah and Israel in parallel with the focus on Ephraim as in early texts in Hosea. In effect, as Lim puts it (p. 201), “Whether Judah likes it or not, they will be the inheritors of Ephraim’s tradition, both its promises and its failures.” Judah will ultimately and sadly follow the path of Ephraim. Indeed, they will follow the path of their ancestor Jacob. Judah is ultimately included in the disobedient people of God, and they will imitate Israel, the northern kingdom just as the whole nation follows the trajectory of their ancestor Jacob.
Three Remembrances of Jacob (Hosea 12:2-6)
Judah is not blameless—the prophet Micah will delcare an indictment against the southern kingdom in Micah 6:1-8, but Israel will soon discover its end as their deeds will catch up with them. Their end fits their ways; their judgment accords with how they broke covenant with Yahweh.
Jacob is the archetype of what is happening to Ephraim in the present. Hosea refers to three incidences in the life of Jacob in this section, and then a fourth in the last part of chapter twelve.
Birth (Hosea 12:3a)
“In the womb [Jacob] tried to supplant his brother [Esau].” This recalls the birth of the twins when Jacob was grabbing the heel of his brother. Hosea uses the same Hebrew word for supplant (עָקַ֣ב) that appears in Genesis 27:36 (יַעֲקֹ֗ב). Even the word heel (בַּעֲקֵ֣ב) is a cognate of the verb translated supplant (Genesis 25:26). From the beginning Jacob was a usurper—one who deceived others for his own advantage and position. In other words, Jacob is selfish, ambitious, and takes what does not rightly belong to him. Israel, too, as a nation, has been self-centered and plowed their own path rather than following God’s ways.
Wrestling Match (Hosea 12:3b-4a)
Jacob “strove (שָׂרָ֥ה) with God” and “strove (יָּ֤שַׂר) with the angel.” The Hebrew word for “strove” appears in Genesis 32:28 (שָׂרִ֧יתָ); Jacob struggled with this seeming adversary. The verb carries a broad semantic range from persistent exertion to contending or struggling. It is the verb that is part of the name of Israel (יִשְׂרָאֵל): one who struggles with God.
With whom did Jacob struggle? A human being (Genesis 32:28), God (Genesis 32:28; Hosea 12:3b) or an angel (Hosea 12:4a)? Was this a good thing?
The word angel simply means a messenger, an actor through whom God acts or sends a message. “Angel” does not refer to an ontology but a function; it is one sent from the heavenly realm. At the same time, this actor comes in the form of a human being. The messenger is a theophany in human form; it is God acting, condescending to Jacob for a wrestling match. This is confirmed by what Jacob names the place; he calls it Paniel, that is, the face of God. It is also confirmed by the name God gave to Jacob, that is, Israel, which means one who struggles with God. Jacob, then, encountered God in human form as a messenger from the heavenly realm (much like we might think about Abraham entertaining God in the form of three angelic visitors).
But was this a good thing? In Hosea 12, it is viewed negatively. But in Genesis 32, it is viewed positively. How is Hosea appropriating this story so that it reflects negatively on Jacob? Jacob is a contentious person, using deceit to gain what he wants. He is a scrapper. He wants a blessing from his opponent in the wrestling match and is determined to extract it. But the key may be that Jacob wept. This detail is absent in Genesis 32 but is present, using the same verb, in Genesis 33:4 when Jacob and Esau wept (יִּבְכּֽוּ). Hosea probably refers to the whole scenario where Jacob fears Esau, wrestles for a blessing, and then meets Esau with tears. In other words, this was a stressful, anxious string of events due to Jacob’s earlier deceit. Jacob uses whatever means available to preserve his life, even sending his wives and children ahead of him to Esau. Hosea uses the incident to remind us of the story of Jacob’s struggles with Esau, himself, and God. Israel, the northern kingdom, participates in this story—they are deceivers and liars who are even now struggling with God and others. But it will not turn well for them as it did for Jacob because they do not continue to seek God but abandon the covenant through idolatry.
Bethel (12:4b).
Exile is Israel’s destiny, just as it happened to Jacob when he went into Aram, even though Israel, like Jacob, had encountered God. Israel encountered God at Sinai, and Jacob encountered God at Bethel, which means “house of God” (Genesis 28:11-22; Genesis 35:6-15). God spoke to Jacob at Bethel just as God spoke with Israel at Sinai (Exodus 20:19—using the same verb as in Hosea 12:4). Yet, neither God speaking to Israel at Sinai nor speaking to Jacob at Bethel reshaped their identity—they were both still deceivers and liars. Their encounter with God had not transformed their character; at least, not yet.
Appropriation for Israel (12:5-6)
Yahweh is still Yahweh, the God of the heavenly armies. Yahweh’s identity is steadfast love and faithfulness (cf. Exodus 34:6). Yahweh is the standard of holiness; the one who yearn, as chapter 11 told us, to act with steadfast love toward Israel.
But the northern kingdom must “return” to God. Remember “return” is a key word in Hosea: return to God (Hosea 2:7; 3:5; 6:1; 14:1-2; 14:7) or return to Egypt due to their misdeeds (Hosea 4:9; 5:4; 7:10; 8:13; 9:3; 11:5), and there is a hope to return to the homeland again from Egypt (6:11; 12:9).
Their return to God, however, follows a particular path: steadfast love (hesed, חֶ֤סֶד), justice, and hopeful trust (קַוֵּ֥ה, to wait in hopeful expectation). These are the themes we encountered earlier in the book (cf. the combination of love and justice in Hosea 2:19), especially Hosea 6:4-6 where God expects Israel to reflect Yahweh’s own steadfast love in their lives. More specifically, Israel will pursue these features—returning to God—by the help of God (literally, “you will return by your God” in Hosea 2:6).
Israel’s Sin (Hosea 12:7-9)
The reference to justice in Hosea 12:6 is explained in Hosea 12:7. It is economic injustice. Traders use false scales that exploit people, and they enjoy it. Israel loves to oppress others. No doubt it gives them a sense of power and control as well economic wealth. They enjoy the benefits of oppression.
In this way, Ephraim has “gained wealth” for itself, and they take pride in their accomplishments. They have even deluded themselves into thinking that they have done nothing wrong. They have renamed oppression as justice when they practice injustice.
For this reason, Yahweh, the God of Israel, will return them to the wilderness. Though God brought them out of Egypt, they will now return to the wilderness. The festival of the Tabernacles or Booths celebrated their wilderness trek every year. It was a time of remembrance and gratitude, but this is different. These tents will not be for a week or symbolic; they will be an actual wilderness. Though they came from Egypt and even entered the promised land, now Israel will again experience the wilderness due to their sin. They will experience exile.
Appropriating Israel’s History (Hosea 12:10-14)
The story of Jacob—both in terms of the person so-named and the nation named after him—has been one filled with rebellion, stubbornness, and deceit.
Jacob fled to Aram after deceiving Isaac and defrauding Esau. He was forced to serve another for a wife and was cheated in the process. Though blessed while there, he suffered also and his flight to Aram is a metaphor for exile itself. Jacob’s sin caused him to flee and leave his home.
The prophets warned Israel and prosecuted them. God led them through visions and messages, and these messages told Israel’s history and identified their unfaithfulness. It was confrontational but also hopeful if Israel returned to God. Prophets can yield positive results—just as the prophet Moses led Israel out of Egypt and guarded them in the wilderness. But when Ephraim gives “bitter offense,” God returns them to Egypt and allows their own self-destruction.
Their sin, however, is excessive, and consequently Israel will pay the price for their own inquities. They will suffer sin’s own consequences. Two geographical spots are highlighted: Gilead and Gilgal. Both of these were located in the northern kingdom—Gilead in the north and Gilgal in its south. There is no record of the specific sins other than this text which highlights idolatry. Perhaps the point is the land of Israel is filled with idolatry from north to south, and this is particularly egregious because Gilgal is the first encampment of Israel in the land and Gilead is the place where Laban and Jacob covenanted with each other upon Jacob’s departure (Genesis 31:23, 25, 44-54).
Both were occasions for sacrifices in the story of Jacob, and now Israel has sacrificed to Baal rather than Yahweh in their idolatry. Therefore, this is the occasion of their fall because they have given “bitter offense” to and insulted Yahweh. In this they will receive their own reward, a just recompense for their sin.
Psalm 26 is a plea for grace and a thanksgiving for God’s response. The heart that trusts God rather than the heart that devises evil is heard, and the people who meditate on the works of God rather than those who pursue their own evil works are heard.
God is not silent. God responds, evil self-destructs, and the people of God have a stronghold for their deliverance.
Blessed be the Lord!
Bobby Valentine and John Mark Hicks discuss the meaning and significance of Psalm 26.
Since the beginning of Hosea 4, the prophet’s oracles have alerted and warned the northern kingdom of Israel of their approaching devastation and exile. The Assyrian empire is predatorial and expansionistic. They will occupy and annex the territory of Israel, and God will permit this due to Israel’s sin.
While Hosea 4-10 has identified the sins of Israel and God’s intent that the nation will suffer the consequences of those sins, Hosea 11 strikes a different note. We hear the sound of hope and promise despite their exile into “Egypt.”
In fact, the movement of the oracle recalls the journey out of Egypt, their return to Egypt, and the hope of return from Egypt. Israel was liberated from Egypt, but now they are returning due to their rebellion. But God’s compassion and deep love for Israel means that ultimately God will bring them home and once again liberate them from Egypt. While the first use of Egypt is historical (referring to the Exodus), the other uses of “Egypt” are metaphorical—symbolic of Israel’s return to oppression under the Assyrian empire and their eventual deliverance from “Egyptian” oppression once again.
Jim Limburg, in his Interpretation commentary on Hosea, nicely outlines this section of chapter eleven: past (1-4), immediate future (5-7), present (8-9), and distant future (10-11). While some of Israel is already overrun by Assyria (v. 6) and some are experiencing deportation (v. 11), Samaria—the capital city—is not yet destroyed, and the people are awaiting the final Assyrian push to take over the whole nation (v. 6). As Limburg suggests, this fits the context of the reign of King Hoshea of Israel (732-722 BCE) who made a futile alliance with Egypt as a desperate last effort to save his nation (2 Kings 17:4).
The Past: Out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1-4)
The Exodus is described as an act of God’s kindness. Israel is birthed out of love as Yahweh’s own son. Israel is the “firstborn” among the nations (Exodus 4:22), and they were birthed as a nation when they were liberated from Egyptian oppression. They were baptized in the sea and the cloud, journeyed to Sinai, and entered into covenant with God.
Yahweh treated Israel as God’s own child and lovingly cared for him. God loved, nurtured, and protected Israel. Notice the “I” statements in this section; they are emphatic! God is the subject of these verbs.
Taught Ephraim to walk
Took Ephraim in his arms
Led them with kindness and love
Lifted them up as infants to God’s cheeks
Bent down to them
Fed them
Love appears prominently here. “I loved” Israel, Yahweh says, and Yahweh led them out of Egypt and through the wilderness with “bands of love.” This birthing in love is also a calling—Israel has a role to play in world history and the coming of the Messiah.
God took the initiative to bring Israel out of Egypt due to God’s own love. This is the language of Deuteronomy 7 and 9: God chose Israel because God loved Israel and not because Israel was so faithful, righteous, numerous, or great.
This is not only a parental metaphor—in addition to the spousal metaphor of Hosea 1-3—but a kenotic one: Yahweh bends over backwards to accommodate and care for Israel. The Creator of the universe condescends to live and walk with Israel like a parent with a child. Yahweh is the transcendent Holy One who gets dirty hands by trekking through the wilderness with Israel.
Israel’s response, however, was rebellion. Hosea 11:2 recognizes the centrifugal force of God’s call and Israel’s rebellion. “The more I called them, the more they went from me,” Yahweh says. They turned to other gods, the Baals, and offered sacrifices to them. They “did not know” that Yahweh had healed them—led them out of Egypt, led them through the wilderness, and gave them a land in which to dwell.
The Immediate Future: Back to Egypt (Hosea 11:5-7)
Because of their rebellion and their refusal to return to God through submission to the prophetic word, Israel will return to Egypt. Since Assyria will be their king, the reference to “Egypt” is symbolic of a return to oppression in Assyrian exile. Instead of returning to God, they will return to Egypt from which God had called them in the beginning.
This is not only their immediate future; it is already happening. Violence through the sword has already arrived in their cities, presumably in the northern regions of the country like Galilee. Israel’s “empty-talkers” or “oracle-priests” (NRSV) have no impact; their oracles are consumed by the fires of the Assyrian empire. Their schemes will not save Israel but contribute to its destruction. The leaders of Israel did not listen to Hosea but listened to their false prophets and priests. Consequently, they will experience the ravages of war.
At some point in the process, it becomes too late to reverse it. Even if they call at this late moment, the consequences of their sins must play out because Israel has habitually and consistently turned away from God at every point. They may call to God in the midst of their trauma, but their hearts are actually far from God as their past demonstrates.
The Present: The Loving Parent (Hosea 11:8-9)
Nevertheless, God’s heart burns with compassion for them. God is not heartless. Neither does God take pleasure in the horror that is about to fall on the whole nation of Israel.
God addresses Israel with heart in hand; it is a soliloquy—a dramatic monologue—that expresses Yahweh’s depth of emotion. Yahweh is an anguished parent over the plight of Israel. Like many anguished parents, Yahweh asks, “What can I do?” or “How will I respond?”
The one thing Yahweh knows, it seems, is that God’s steadfast love will not give up on Israel. Though Israel rejected Yahweh over and over again, Yahweh will not finally and ultimately reject Israel.
Yahweh will not treat them like Admah and Zeboiim. These two cities were associated with Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 10:19; 14:2, 8), and they were destroyed with Sodom and Gomorrah (Deuteronomy 29:23). They were annihilated; they no longer existed.
But Yahweh will not do that to Israel. God will not fully vent his anger against Israel or destroy Ephraim altogether. Yes, they will suffer violence and war; they will go into exile, and they will lose their national existence. But God’s compassionate and tender heart mitigates, even controls, his “fierce anger.” God, unlike human beings, is not controlled by anger. Rather, God is the “Holy One”—the transcendent one, whose anger neither dictates nor compels God’s response. Ultimately, God will not act in wrath.
At one and the same time, God is both “Other” (transcendent) and also draws near (“bends down”). God is, at one and the same time, both transcendent and immanent; both the Holy One and the one who self-empties to be near beloved children.
The Distant Future: Home from Egypt (Hosea 11:10-11)
Rather, God will come, and Israel will respond. The dispersed Israelites—whether in Assyria, Egypt, or other nations—will return once God roars like a lion again. God’s children will come in fear and trembling back home. Israel will experience a new exodus, a deliverance from oppression and exile.
Though they roar like lions, they shall return as doves—birds that return to their home nest. The children of Israel will return “to their homes.” This is the promise of a restoration; a return to their houses. Their exile will come to an end. This is Israel’s hope, and it is grounded in the love and compassion of Yahweh who calls Israel “my son.”
The end of the exile and their resettlement in their homes is not explained. There is no timeline, nor is there any full description of what that means or entails. There is, however, no return of the northern kingdom in the descriptions of Chronicles, Ezra, or Nehemiah. Judah returns to the land, but Ephraim does not. Ultimately, according to Romans 9-11, Israel returns through the Messiah of Israel, Jesus of Nazareth.
Matthew’s Use of Hosea 11:1: A Christological Reading
After the birth of Jesus, Herod the Great sought to kill the newborn king, but Joseph was told to flee to Egypt. The family remained there until Herod’s death. This happened, according to Matthew, “to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son’” (Matthew 2:15).
As we read Hosea, it seems clear that Hosea 11:1 is not a prediction. On the contrary, it describes a past event; it describes the Exodus. There is no hint that it refers to anything in the future.
The Gospel writer in Matthew employs a theological (typological) hermeneutic that sees the analogy, parallel, and even the type-antiype of the story of Israel and the story of Jesus. Just as Israel was called out of Egypt, so Jesus was called out of Egypt. The fulfillment is not one of prediction-fulfillment but of type-fulfillment.
Jesus acts as the new Israel. Just like Israel, he comes to the promised land from Egypt. He travels by the grace and compassion of God. He settles in Galilee, the area of the northern kingdom of Israel first annexed by Assyria. He relives the story of Israel.
Except this time, Jesus is the faithful son rather than a rebellious one like Ephraim had been. He is the true Israellite, the true son of God—he represents the whole nation, both Israel and Judah. Israel gets a “do-over” in the life of Jesus.
When Matthew quotes Hosea 11:1, he intends for us to read the whole story of Hosea 11:1-11 in the light of God’s work in Jesus by the Spirit. Jesus has stepped into the story of Israel and reoriented it to faithfulness, and Jesus repeats the story of Israel but in faithfulness. And Jesus, who came to save his people from their sins, will liberate Israel by a new Exodus.
The opening poem is beautifully crafted and memorable. It is probably the most well-known part of Ecclesiastes. It has a lyrical quality which The Byrds used in their 1965 hit, “Turn! Turn! Turn!”
The poem articulates the extremes of human existence from birth to death, from love to hate, from mourning to dancing, from peace to war. Life “under the sun” is filled with both, and there is no escape from its reality.
Many find comfort in the words of the poem. By its very nature, poetry may have many levels of meaning, and it may be appropriated in different ways. The situation of the reader will shape how it is heard, and this is part of the point as poetry draws out and speaks our emotions.
What I find striking is that the Teacher (or Qoheleth) is frustrated by the poem. The teacher’s response is basically, “What’s the use?” or “What’s the point?” Life goes round and round, cycling from one extreme to another. There does not seem to be any profit in how life plays out. Qoheleth’s response to the poem is the same as the opening question of the book, “What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun?” (1:3).
Life feels like a burden that makes no sense. It is frustrating.
Qoheleth expresses this frustration by recognizing that God has put “eternity” (הָעֹלָם֙) in our hearts. Whatever that may mean, God has given humanity a sense of time, “a sense of past and future” (NRSV), that in our present human experience is beyond our wisdom. We can’t figure it out. We “cannot find out what God has done from beginning to the end.”
Nevertheless, the Teacher believes God “has made everything suitable (or fitting) for its time.” I wish I knew exactly what that means. It does not seem to me that everything that happens is “suitable,” much less “beautiful” as some translations.
Today, as we remember Seth, we have many questions. We don’t understand how it is fitting for death to invade the life of the Fletchers when their son, husband, father, and brother passes suddenly and unexpectedly in his sleep at the age of forty-six.
With Qoheleth, the poem does not offer much comfort but raises many questions. It seems to me that the poem is more like a protest and a submissive acknowledgement. Even The Byrds used it to protest the Vietnam War as the last line in the lyric is “A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late.” It is not, in effect, a time for war.
Neither is 46 years a time for death. Seth’s death is a question mark. It does not make sense. Or, as Qoheleth would say, it is vanity (hebel, הֶ֖בֶל); it is an enigma, or perhaps even absurd. It is the brevity of life, and this it burden we must bear.
So, our lament, our pain and our hurt are shared by the Teacher, and it is shared by the Psalmists of Israel where almost half of the Psalms are lament. They are filled with questions like “How long?” (Psalm 13:1-2) or “Why?” (Psalm 88:14). The life of faith is filled with frustrations as life continuously cycles from birth to death, mourning to dancing, love to hate, and peace to war.
Nevertheless, the Teacher is resolute. His response to this frustration is determined and purposeful. The Teachers affirms some fundamental truths about life.
First, Qoheleth says, “I know there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil.”
Today we have been immersed in Seth’s “toil.” He was a musician, professor, and husband and father. We have listened to the music he loved and played. We have heard stories of his love for family, even to the point of letting go of his career to homeschool his son and empower his wife to pursue her musical career in a military band.
This was Seth’s joy, and it was God’s gift to him. Seth found pleasure in his toil, in his music. He created beauty, created joy in the hearts of his audiences, and encouraged others to pursue the creative art of music. Seth knew something of what our Teacher expresses here—to enjoy life with God’s gifts.
Second, Qoheleth says, “I know that whatever God does endures forever.”
Love lasts forever; it is God’s own identity. Joy also lasts forever; it is God’s intent for humanity.
God was at work in Seth’s life, and what Seth created and shared with the world will endure because his love and joy will overflow again and again in the hearts of those who knew him and through his mentorship, care, and love for others. The joy and beauty of his music as a gift of God will endure forever.
This is the root of hope. The cycles of life is often frustrating, but God is at work in those cycles. God is making, creating, and acting in ways that are beyond us, beyond our discovery.
Perhaps in faith we might confess, “Yes, it is ‘fitting’—perhaps even ‘beautiful’”—while, at the same time, we cry out, “I believe, Lord; help my unbelief.”
Today we embrace hope, as Seth himself did. As he wrote, hope last forever. It will work, if we give our hearts space for God’s own working of hope in our lives.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Spirit.” Romans 15:13
Whom shall I fear? There is only one thing that I want and that is to sit in the house of the Lord, inquire of the Lord, and wait to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Psalm 27 is a confidence song, a song of trust. Though surrounded by adversaries and assaulted on every side, we will not be afraid because we live in God’s presence with security.
Psalm 22 is the lament and confession of a righteous sufferer in the expectation of God’s righteous deliverance. The Psalmist identifies with the story of Israel, and Jesus himself appropriates this Psalm for his own lament and confession in the hope of his own vindication.
This is not a Psalm about divine wrath or punishment for sin. Rather, it is the world all believers enter when we face suffering and death. We lament (“Why?”), we confess (“my God”), and we praise because we know God’s righteousness and kingdom will prevail.
This is the climax of Hosea’s series of oracles identifying the reason for Israel’s exile before offering hope in the next chapter. Again and again Hosea attempts to shock, persuade, and confront Israel with its unfaithfulness in hopes of their repentance and renewal. But Israel’s leaders—whether prophets, priests, or kings—were not listening.
They are living on past glory, but they don’t realize their glory was their shame. Sometimes what a nation glorifies is actually their shame. They became prosperous, but they turned their wealth toward idolatrous rituals, political power, military strength, and oppressive practices. Israel, the northern kingdom, is headed into exile because they did not use their prosperity to serve God but served themselves and credited other gods. They trusted in their military power and alliances rather than seeking the Lord.
Yahweh set them in the land to farrow it, plant, and reap. They had a choice to sow righteousness, reap steadfast love, and enjoy communion with God. But Israel chose to sow wickedness, reap injustice, and eat lies. Consequently, they suffered the consequences of their own choices, and their king was cut off and their calf lost its glory as it was carried to Assyria.
Prosperous but Idolatrous Israel (10:1-4)
Hosea remembers when Israel was a flourishing nation, which is particularly true under the reign of Jeroboam II. Together Israel and Judah reached the dimensions and prosperity of the reign of Solomon. It was the economic golden age for Israel during its independence from Judah.
While some translations use the present tense in Hosea 10:1 (NRSV), it is better to see this as past (NIV). There is no verb; its meaning and tense are supplied. “Israel was a spreading vine” identifies Israel’s growth period when Israel bore “fruit,” but it was a fruit “for” Israel. It was about them, their self-centeredness.
They used their prosperity to build more altars and pillars (or sacred stones). In other words, their cultic worship ritual was expanded, and we may presume that this was idolatrous in character (though the use of such shrines and pillars are known in the faithful history of Israel; cf. Exodus 20:24-26; Exodus 24:4; 1 Kings 6:20, 22). In fact, Deuteronomy 16:22 forbids the use of these tools in the service of foreign gods.
At the core is Israel’s heart. Hosea declares their heart “false” or “deceitful;” the Hebrew word literally means slippery or smooth. Their worship, even if offered to Yahweh, was not from a faithful heart. Consequently, Israel will suffer the consequences in the wake of their guilt, and God will destroy their shrines.
Instead of prosperity, Israel “now” lives with the unsettled political situation prior to the final fall of Samaria to Assyria. The political chaos of the successive assassinations of four kings renders Israel without a king—and ultimately there is no king in Israel when Assyria takes control.
Israel locates the reason for their situation—they did not fear the Lord. Consequently, their worship and civil practices (words and oaths) are meaningless. Injustice abounds and the political institutions have failed. The economic situation of the land is also chaotic through injustice, and what is growing in the land is poisonous. The fields are barren. Israel has no recourse. It will suffer its fate.
Samaria’s Idolatry (10:5-8)
Beth-Aven (10:5; cf. 4:15; 5:8) means the “House of Iniquity” or “House of Idolatry” which is a sarcastic assessment of Israel’s “house of God.” Samaria—representing Israel—had a calf (or calves in Dan and Bethel) that represented its unfaithfulness. Yet the people loved their calves and will mourn for their loss—a loss of glory, but not the glory of Yahweh; it is the glory of the false god represented by the calf. The calf (and its glory) will be carried to Assyria (Hosea 10:6) to honor the Assyrian Emperor, and by this Ephraim will be shamed by the loss of this idol. This glory contrasts with the glory of the Lord that one finds in the temple in Jerusalem. Not only has Israel lost the glory of its own idol, but more importantly it has not access to the glory of the Lord that led them out of Egypt so many years ago.
Along with the calf, Israel’s king will disappear as well. The high place where the calf sat at “Aven” will be destroy. Hosea calls it the “sin of Israel.” This also evokes the image of the calf at Mount Sinai (as in Hosea 8:6).
The contrast between the prosperity in Hosea 10:1 and the economic disaster in Hosea 10:8 is important to note. Once a flourishing vine, now the land is a place of “thorns and thistles.” The altar that was once loved is now mourned. What was once was a thing of beauty is now covered with weeds. It no longer functions. Its meaning is totally lost.
The result is that the people will say to creation itself—release us from our misery and eliminate us. They will invite the mountains to crash on top of them as in an earthquake. They will seek escape in the face of the onslaught of the Assyrian empire’s ruthless warriors.
Samaria’s Unfaithful Monarchy and Fruitless Land (10:9-15)
The reference to Gibeah in Benjamin, which was king Saul’s hometown (1 Samuel 10:26; 15:34), alludes to a time of general corruption. The “days of Gibeah” remind us of the time of the Judges when sexual violence is committed against women in Judges 19-20, and then summarized as the time when everyone did what was right in their own eyes (Judges 17:6; 21:25). Given the stories of Gibeah at the origins of Israel’s presence in the land, Israel has a track record of corruption, violence, and iniquity. This is their undoing, and God punishes them for the continuation of the evil of Gibeah in their own day.
Once Israel was a trained heifer but now their land is fruitless. Once Israel flourished, God loved Israel and cared for her as one would care for a heifer. Her neck was beautiful and appreciated; God delighted in her. Yahweh wanted Israel and Judah to plow good ground and reap righteousness and hesed (steadfast love). There was always opportunity for Israel to seek the Lord and reap God’s blessings. Judah is also included in this prospect. Hosea brings the full horizon of God’s intent to guide Jacob (all 12 tribes) into righteousness as they dwelt in the land God gave them.
But the situation has changed. Israel sowed evil and reaped injustice rather than righteousness. Consequently, “the tumult of war” came to the people of Israel. Their leaders failed them. This is happening “because” Israel trusted in their “power,” particularly the size of their military.
We don’t know the historical context of the reference to Shalman (perhaps a shortened form of the Emperor Shalmaneser V or III, or a Moabite king named Salamanu but it is uncertain) destroying Beth-Arbel, which was probably located in east side of the Jordan or may have been near the lake of Galilee. Whatever it was, its horror was astonishing since it involved the death of mothers and their children. The incident evokes terror in the memory of Israel. This is probably a literal reference unlike what we saw earlier in Hosea. Their deaths are the evidence of war’s insanity and a prospect for the future. What was experienced at Beth-Arbel is coming to Israel by the hand of Assyria. What happened at Beth-Arbel will happen to Bethel, where one of the calves was located.
Therefore, there will be no more king in Israel. The land will be lost, and the people will be exiled. The nation will no longer exist.
But does this mean God is finished with Israel forever? Has God forgotten them? Hosea 11 answers that question.
Psalm 21 is a royal Psalm that locates the king’s strength in Yahweh’s steadfast love. Yahweh saves and blesses the king of Israel because the king trusts in the steadfast love of the Lord. Yahweh delivers the king from the enemies of Yahweh and gives him the glory of the Lord’s presence.
The Psalm idealizes the king, hopes the king will trust in the Lord, and trusts in God’s deliverance. Israel praises and worships Yahweh toward this end. Unfortunately, the kings of Israel did not live out this pattern of submission, trust, and deliverance. Ultimately, Israel was exiled.
However, the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, did. He submitted to the Father, trusted the Father, and the Father delivered him. He exalted him to the right hand, and the Messiah will reign until all enemies are put under his feet.
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Biblical Texts | Tagged: Angels, Assembly, Baal, Elohim, Liturgy, Peace, Psalm 29, Sons of God, Storm, Temple, Worship | 
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Posted by John Mark Hicks