Hosea 13:9-16

REQUITINGISRAEL WILL PERISH

TEXT: Hosea 13:9-16

9

It is thy destruction, O Israel, that thou art against me, against thy help.

10

Where now is thy king, that he may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges, of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes?

11

I have given thee a king in mine anger, and have taken him away in my wrath.

12

The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is laid up in store.

13

The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him: he is an unwise son; for it is time he should not tarry in the place of the breaking forth of children.

14

I will ransom them from the power of Sheol; I will redeem them from death: O death, where are thy plagues? O Sheol, where is thy destruction? repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.

15

Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an east wind shall come, the breath of Jehovah coming up from the wilderness; and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up: he shall make spoil of the treasure of all goodly vessels.

16

Samaria shall bear her guilt; for she hath rebelled against her God; they shall fall by the sword; their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.

QUERIES

a.

Why does God bring up the subject of Israel's king?

b.

Why the reference to death and Sheol?

c.

Were pregnant women really to be ripped up?

PARAPHRASE

It is to your own self-destruction, O Israel, that you have resisted Me, your only source of help. What good is your king now? Is it not evident that he is unable to save you? Where are all the royal counselors and ministers of state whom you chose when you broke away from the rule of the house of David and formed your own kingdom? You asked for them, now let them save you. In My anger over your separation from the throne of David I have repeatedly given you your desired kings and in wrath I have overthrown them because they are all wicked. Ephraim's sins are all carefully bound together and preserved for the day when they will be punished. Pain and agony like that of a woman at childbirth will come upon Ephraim. Yes, God is going to chasten Israel in order to bring about a new birtha conversion; but Israel behaves foolishly. Like a child, who at the time of the labor-pains will not enter the opening of the womb, Israel will not let himself be new-born. Yet out of the hand of hell will I redeem them; from death will I set them free! Where are your plagues, O death, now that I have annihilated you? Where is your destruction, O Sheol, now that I have conquered you? My purpose of salvation will be irrevocably accomplished and I will not change! For the remnant of Ephraim which remains faithful will bear fruit among brethren. On the other hand, upon the Ephraim that has turned into Canaan, an east wind will come, a judgment of Jehovah, which will destroy this Ephraim. This judgment of Jehovah, the Assyrian empire, will plunder the treasures and valuables of Ephraim. Samaria will pay for its sins because it has rebelled against its God. Her people will be killed by the invading armies, her babies dashed to death against the ground, her pregnant women ripped open with a sword.

SUMMARY

The prophet once more discloses to the people the reason for their corruption. Then, after pointing to the saving power of the Lord, he holds up before them utter destruction as the just punishment for their guilt.

COMMENT

Hosea 13:9 IT IS THY DESTRUCTION, O ISRAEL, THAT THOU ART AGAINST ME. What a statement this ispregnant with meaning! Man's sin, judgment, sentence and destruction are not, in themselves, from God, but from man's moral choice to rebel against God. Whoever casts himself against the Rock of Ages will destroy himself (cf. Matthew 21:42-44), for God's justice, mercy, righteousness is immutable. An ancient church father wrote, Rightly is God called, not the Father of judgments or of vengeance, but the Father of mercies, because from Himself is the cause and origin of His mercy, from us the cause of His judging or avenging. Hosea is here speaking of the ten tribes in their rebellion against Jehovah when they withdrew from the rule of the house of David under Rehoboam and made Jeroboam their king. The ten tribes showed their contempt for Jehovah when they renounced allegiance to and portion in the throne of David (cf. 1 Kings 12:16). Of course, this spirit of desiring to be rid of the rule of Jehovah began in the days of Samuel (cf. 1 Samuel 8:5) when all the people desired to imitate the nations about them and be ruled over by a visible, physical king,

Hosea 13:10-11 WHERE NOW IS THY KING, THAT HE MAY SAVE THEE. I HAVE GIVEN THEE A KING IN MINE ANGER. The challenge of Hosea 13:10 does not presuppose that Israel had no king at all at that time, but simply challenges the people to put forth any of their kings that could save them. None could. We are reminded of Isaiah's challenge to idols and false prophets (Isaiah 42:21-24; Isaiah 44:6-20), to prove their omnisciencethey could not. Israel had put all her trust in her kings to save her from economic and political ruin, but all the king's horses and all the king's men, couldn-'t put Israel together again.

Hosea 13:11 does not refer simply to the dethronement of one king by another, but to the kingdom generally, which God would overthrow in His anger. The anger of God stands at the beginning and at the end; giving kings and taking them away, are both an evidence of His displeasure, Lange says:

The whole (temporal) kingdom was a divine system of punishment and chastening. At the request of the people, He granted them a king, but with the expression of His displeasure at their desire because it proceeded from unbelief and vanity, and with the declaration that they would lose their freedom by its realization. But, at the same time, this kingdom of Israel might become a blessing if it with its king would obey God. Nay, God, by establishing the throne of David in Zion, even connected the most precious promises with this kingdom, if the king were entirely one with God and should gather about him a nation obedient to God. But the people with their king followed more and more decidedly a course opposed to God by separating (in the kingdom of the Ten Tribes) from the house with which God had connected his promises, and so forsaking the king which God had given them, they must therefore be punished by having this self-erected kingdom taken away, and the punishment is all the greater that they shall never return to a state of freedom, but must lie under the much viler bondage of foreign rulers until they return to the king whom God had promised to raise up from the House of David.

God gave the tribes who were discontented with the rule of the House of David, a king of their own that He might punish them for their resistance to His divinely appointed government. God held the rebellious ten tribes responsible for separation from the royal house to which the promise of covenant fulfillment had been given. So when Israel separated itself from the theocracy, it separated itself from the divinely appointed worship and altar, and formed an apostate worship, priesthood and an idol-god. God, after a long period of grace in which He sent many prophets to turn the people back to His will, finally took away Israel's government and gave the nation into thehands of the Assyrians to serve as slaves.

Hosea 13:12 THE INIQUITY OF EPHRAIM IS BOUND UP. The word tsarur means, boundup in a bundle to store away or preserve with certainty, so as not to be lost. So, the idea here is the certainty of the punishment of Israel. Israel thought, as do all sinners, that because God does not punish sin at once, He never will. They think that God will bear with them always, because He bore with them so long; or that He does not see, does not regard it, is not so precise about His laws being broken (cf. Ecclesiastes 8:11). But unrepented sin is increasingly stored up, piled one upon another, stored up until the patience of God reaches the divine day of appointment.

Hosea 13:13 THE SORROWS OF A TRAVAILING WOMAN SHALL COME UPON HIM. FOR IT IS TIME HE SHOULD NOT TARRY IN THE PLACE OF THE BREAKING FORTH OF CHILDREN. Here is an example of the prophet slipping from one figure to another with application to the same object. It is a very graphic use of figures of speech to portray the obstinacy of Israel. First Hosea describes the punishment Israel will endure by the figure of alluding to the pains of childbirth. Yet, though there is pain in child-birth, it brings forth new life. So, Israel, if she allows her sorrow and travail to turn her to God will be bring forth new life (cf. Micah 4:9-10; Isaiah 26:17-18). But death comes if the foetal child does not enter the vagina during labor. So, now, Hosea turns to this tragic picture to represent the stubborn resistance of Israel to the divine purpose in its travial. Israel is an unwise son because, while under the chastening judgment, he resists conversion and new birth. The place of the breaking forth of children, is in Hebrew, Mishbar banim, which means literally, the breach; the place of bringing forth.

Hosea 13:14. O DEATH WHERE ARE THY PLAGUES? O SHEOL, WHERE IS THY DESTRUCTION?. This verse contains a promise, not a threat, as some commentators have mistakenly understood. The primary intent of the statement is for a faithful remnant of Israel (the Ten Tribes). God's promise here is that He has the power even to redeem Israel (from the premature death mentioned in Hosea 13:13, by raising them from the dead (so to speak) even as Ezekiel predicted in his figure of the dry bones in Ezekiel 37! Some of the Ten Tribes did eventually return with Judah and form the Messianic people. But the ultimate fulfillment of this promise was fulfilled when Christ, the true Israel, conquered death and hell, when He died and rose from the grave (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:55). The Israel restored from the captivity became a type of the Messiah and the Messianic people (cf. Isaiah 25:8 ff).

The phrase repentance shall be hid from mine eyes, simply signifies that what God has promised to do will be certainly and absolutely accomplished, conditioned upon the response of Israel to His promise. God does not repent! He does not change! His will is immutable! (cf. Psalms 89:34-36; Psalms 110:4). Israel, if she will, can put her trust completely in God's promise to redeem her from the death of captivity and restore her to her intended destiny as a part of the Messianic peopleif she will! It is not God's will that has changedHe does not repentit is Israel's choice that has changed.

Hosea 13:15 THOUGH HE BE FRUITFUL AMONG HIS BRETHREN. We prefer K & D translation of the conjunction in Hosea 13:15 which makes it read For he will bear fruit among brethren, rather than the Though he be fruitful. of the text. The opening phrase of Hosea 13:15 then becomes a play upon the name Ephraim which means double-fruit-fulness. The prophet is saying, in essence, Yes, even your name signifies the promise of God that some of Ephraim will be redeemed and bear fruit. Of course, all the promises of God are fulfilled to those who adhere to the conditions under which they are given. Of the whole nation of Israel in Hosea's day, only that small remnant who walked in faith in the promises of God and were obedient to His commandments, would be fruitful among their brethren. On the other hand, upon the majority of the people of Israel that has turned itself into Canaan (cf. Hosea 12:8), an east wind will come. A storm from the east will come upon them. This storm from the east (Assyrian soldiers) will consume the fruitful land of the northern kingdom, and all the impenitent sons of Ephraim with it. Their treasures shall be plundered. They become paupers.

Hosea 13:16 SAMARIA SHALL BEAR HER GUILT. Samaria (Israel represented by her capital city) must atone for her sins. She must pay! She has sown the windnow she shall reap the whirlwind! One word summarizes the past and present history of the Northern Kingdom: REBELLION (cf. 1 Kings 12:19; 2 Kings 17:14-17). There is a gruesome description of the cold-blooded cruelty of the Assyrian conquest here. Children will be dashed to death upon the pavements of village streets; women, pregnant with child, will be ripped open with the swords of the soldiers. For a record of the actual fulfillment of this see 2 Kings 8:12; 2 Kings 15:16.

QUIZ

1.

Why is rebellion against God a prelude to self-destruction?

2.

How did God give them a king in anger and take away a king in wrath?

3.

Why does the prophet liken Israel's situation to child-birth?

4.

What is the promise concerning victory over hell and death to Israel?

5.

Where is this promise quoted in the New Testament and what is its meaning?

6.

What is the east wind that will come and destroy impenitent Israel?

7.

Where is the record of the fulfillment of Hosea 13:16?