Hosea 12

Ho 12:1-14.

REPROOF OF

EPHRAIM AND

JUDAH:

THEIR

FATHER

JACOB

OUGHT TO

BE A

PATTERN TO

THEM.

This prophecy was delivered about the time of Israel's seeking the aid

of the Egyptian king So, in violation of their covenant with Assyria

(see

Ho 12:1).

He exhorts them to follow their father Jacob's persevering

prayerfulness, which brought God's favor upon him. As God is

unchangeable, He will show the same favor to Jacob's posterity as He

did to Jacob, if, like him, they seek God.

1. feedeth on wind--

(Pr 15:14;

Isa 44:20).

Followeth after vain objects, such as alliances with idolaters and

their idols (compare

Ho 8:7).

east wind--the simoon, blowing from the desert east of Palestine, which

not only does not benefit, but does injury. Israel follows not only

things vain, but things pernicious (compare

Job 15:2).

increaseth lies--accumulates lie upon lie, that is, impostures

wherewith they deceive themselves, forsaking the truth of God.

desolation--violent oppressions practised by Israel

[MAURER].

Acts which would prove the cause of Israel's own desolation

[CALVIN].

covenant with . . . Assyrians--

(Ho 5:13; 7:11).

oil . . . into Egypt--as a present from Israel to secure Egypt's

alliance

(Isa 30:6; 57:9;

compare

2Ki 17:4).

Palestine was famed for oil

(Eze 27:17).

2. controversy with Judah--

(Ho 4:1;

Mic 6:2).

Judah, under Ahaz, had fallen into idolatry

(2Ki 16:3,

&c.).

Jacob--that is, the ten tribes. If Judah, the favored portion of the

nation, shall not be spared, much less degenerate Israel.

3. He--Jacob, contrasted with his degenerate descendants, called by

his name, Jacob

(Ho 12:2;

compare

Mic 2:7).

He took Esau by the heel in the womb in order to obtain, if

possible, the privileges of the first-born

(Ge 25:22-26),

whence he took his name, Jacob, meaning "supplanter"; and again, by his

strength, prevailed in wrestling with God for a blessing

(Ge 32:24-29);

whereas ye disregard My promises, putting your confidence in idols and

foreign alliances. He conquered God, ye are the slaves

of idols. Only have Jehovah on your side, and ye are stronger than

Edom, or even Assyria. So the spiritual Israel lays hold of the heel of

Jesus, "the First-born of many brethren," being born again of the Holy

Spirit. Having no right in themselves to the inheritance, they lay hold

of the bruised heel, the humanity of Christ crucified, and let not go

their hold of Him who is not, as Esau, a curse

(Heb 12:16, 17),

but, by becoming a curse for us, is a blessing to us.

power with God--referring to his name, "Israel," prince of

God, acquired on that occasion (compare

Mt 11:12).

As the promised Canaan had to be gained forcibly by Israel, so heaven

(Re 3:21;

compare

Lu 13:24).

"Strive," literally, "as in the agony of a contest." So the Canaanitess

(Mt 15:22).

his strength--which lay in his conscious weakness, whence, when his

thigh was put out of joint by God, he hung upon Him. To seek strength

was his object; to grant it, God's. Yet God's mode of procedure was

strange. In human form He tries as it were to throw Jacob down. When

simple wrestling was not enough, He does what seems to ensure Jacob's

fall, dislocating his thigh joint, so that he could no longer stand. Yet

it was then that Jacob prevailed. Thus God teaches us the irresistible

might of conscious weakness. For when weak in ourselves, we are strong

(Job 23:6;

Isa 27:5;

2Co 12:9, 10).

4. the angel--the uncreated Angel of the Covenant, as God the Son

appears in the Old Testament

(Mal 3:1).

made supplication--

Ge 32:26:

"I will not let thee go, except thou bless me."

he found him--The angel found Jacob, when he was fleeing from Esau into

Syria: the Lord appearing to him "in Beth-el"

(Ge 28:11-19; 35:1).

What a sad contrast, that in this same Beth-el now Israel worships the

golden calves!

there he spake with us--"with us," as being in the loins of our

progenitor Jacob (compare

Ps 66:6,

"They . . . we;"

Heb 7:9, 10).

What God there spoke to Jacob appertains to us. God's promises to him

belong to all his posterity who follow in the steps of his prayerful

faith.

5. Lord God--JEHOVAH, a name implying His

immutable constancy to His promises. From the Hebrew root,

meaning "existence." "He that is, was, and is to be," always the same

(Heb 13:8;

Re 1:4, 8;

compare

Ex 3:14, 15; 6:3).

As He was unchangeable in His favor to Jacob, so will He be to His

believing posterity.

of hosts--which Israel foolishly worshipped. Jehovah has all the hosts

(saba) or powers of heaven and earth at His command, so that He is

as all-powerful, as He is faithful, to fulfil His promises

(Ps 135:6;

Am 5:27).

memorial--the name expressive of the character in which God was ever

to be remembered

(Ps 135:13).

6. thou--who dost wish to be a true descendant of Jacob.

to THY God--who is therefore bound by

covenant to hear thy prayers.

keep mercy and judgment--

(Mic 6:8).

These two include the second-table commandments, duty towards one's

neighbor, the most visible test of the sincerity on one's repentance.

wait on thy God--alone, not on thy idols. Including all the duties

of the first table

(Ps 37:3, 5, 7; 40:1).

7. merchant--a play on the double sense of the Hebrew,

"Canaan," that is, a Canaanite and a "merchant"

Eze 16:3:

"Thy birth is . . . of Canaan." They who naturally were

descendants of pious Jacob had become virtually

Canaanites, who were proverbial as cheating merchants

(compare

Isa 23:11,

Margin), the greatest reproach to Israel, who despised Canaan.

The Phœnicians called themselves Canaanites or

merchants

(Isa 23:8).

oppress--open violence: as the "balances of deceit" imply

fraud.

8. And--that is, Notwithstanding.

Yet I am . . . rich--I regard not what the prophets

say: I am content with my state, as I am rich

(Re 3:17).

Therefore, in just retribution, this is the very language of the enemy

in being the instrument of Israel's punishment.

Zec 11:5:

"They that sell them say . . . I am rich." Far better

is poverty with honesty, than riches gained by sin.

my labours--my gains by labor.

they shall find none--that is, none shall find any.

iniquity . . . that were sin--iniquity that would

bring down the penalty of sin. Ephraim argues, My success in my labors

proves that I am not a guilty sinner as the prophets assert. Thus

sinners pervert God's long-suffering goodness

(Mt 5:45)

into a justification of their impenitence (compare

Ec 8:11-13).

9. And--rather, "And yet." Though Israel deserves to be cast off

for ever, yet I am still what I have been from the time of My

delivering them out of Egypt, their covenant God; therefore, "I will

yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles," that is, to keep the feast of

tabernacles again in remembrance of a new deliverance out of bondage.

Fulfilled primarily at the return from Babylon

(Ne 8:17).

Fully and antitypically to be fulfilled at the final restoration from

the present dispersion

(Zec 14:16;

compare

Le 23:42, 43).

10. by . . . the prophets--literally, "upon," that is, My spirit

resting on them. I deposited with them My instructions which

ought to have brought you to the right way. An aggravation of your

guilt, that it was not through ignorance you erred, but in defiance of

God and His prophets [CALVIN]. Ahijah the Shilonite, Shemaiah, Iddo,

Azariah, Hanani, Jehu, Elijah, Elisha, Micaiah, Joel, and Amos were "the

prophets" before Hosea.

visions . . . similitudes--I adopted such modes of

communication, adapted to man's capacities, as were calculated to

arouse attention: I left no means untried to reform you. The first,

second, and third chapters contain examples of "similitudes."

11. Is there iniquity in Gilead?--He asks the question, not as if the

answer was doubtful, but to strengthen the affirmation: "Surely they are

vanity"; or as MAURER translates, "They are nothing but iniquity."

Iniquity, especially idolatry, in Scripture is often termed "vanity."

Pr 13:11:

"Wealth gotten by vanity," that is, iniquity.

Isa 41:29:

"They are all vanity . . . images." "Gilead" refers to

Mizpah-gilead, a city representing the region beyond Jordan

(Ho 6:8;

Jud 11:29);

as "Gilgal," the region on this side of Jordan

(Ho 4:15).

In all quarters alike they are utterly vile.

their altars are as heaps in the furrows--that is, as numerous as such

heaps: namely, the heaps of stones cleared out of a stony field. An

appropriate image, as at a distance they look like altars (compare

Ho 10:1, 4; 8:11).

As the third member in the parallelism answers to the first, "Gilgal"

to "Gilead," so the fourth to the second, "altars" to "vanity." The

word "heaps" alludes to the name "Gilgal," meaning "a heap of stones."

The very scene of the general circumcision of the people, and of the

solemn passover kept after crossing Jordan, is now the stronghold of

Israel's idolatry.

12. Jacob fled . . . served--Though ye pride

yourselves on the great name of "Israel," forget not that your

progenitor was the same Jacob who was a fugitive, and who served for

Rachel fourteen years. He forgot not ME who

delivered him when fleeing from Esau, and when oppressed by Laban

(Ge 28:5; 29:20, 28;

De 26:5).

Ye, though delivered from Egypt

(Ho 12:13),

and loaded with My favors, are yet unwilling to return to Me.

country of Syria--the champaign region of Syria, the portion lying

between the Tigris and Euphrates, hence called Mesopotamia. Padan-aram

means the same, that is, "Low Syria," as opposed to Aramea

(meaning the "high country") or Syria

(Ge 48:7).

13. by a prophet--Moses

(Nu 12:6-8;

De 18:15, 18).

preserved--Translate, "kept"; there is an allusion to the same

Hebrew word in

Ho 12:12,

"kept sheep"; Israel was kept by God as His flock,

even as Jacob kept sheep

(Ps 80:1;

Isa 63:11).

14. provoked him--that is, God.

leave his blood upon him--not take away the guilt and penalty of the

innocent blood shed by Ephraim in general, and to Molech in particular.

his reproach shall his Lord return unto him--Ephraim's dishonor to

God in worshipping idols, God will repay to him. That God is "his Lord" by right redemption and special revelation to Ephraim only

aggravates his guilt, instead of giving him hope of escape. God does not

give up His claim to them as His, however they set aside His

dominion.