Hosea 13:14

I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes. I WILL RANSOM THEM FROM THE POWER OF THE GRAVE; I WILL REDEEM THEM FROM DEATH: O DEATH, I WILL BE THY PLAGUES; O GRAVE, I WILL BE THY DESTRUCTION - "from the power" - literally, from the hand, i:e., from the grasp of the grave. Applying primarily to God's restoration of Israel from Assyria partially, and in times yet future, fully, from all the lands of their present long-continued dispersion and political death (cf. Hosea 6:2, "After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight;" Isaiah 25:8;...

The Prophet, I doubt not, continues here the same subject, namely, that the Israelites could not bear the mercy offered to them by God, though he speaks here more fully. God seems to promise redemption, but he does this conditionally: they are then mistaken, in my judgement, who take these words in the same sense as when God, after having reproved and threatened, mitigates the severity of his instruction, and adds consolation by offering his grace. But the import of this passage is different; for God, as we have already said, does not here simply promise salvation, but shows that he is indeed ready to save, but that the wickedness of the people, as it has been said, was an impediment in the way. Let us, however, more carefully examine the words. _From the hand of the grave, _he says. By the hand he doubtless means power: for Jerome does nothing but trifle, when he speaks here of works, a...

9-16 Israel had destroyed himself by his rebellion; but he could not save himself, his help was from the Lord only. This may well be applied to the case of spiritual redemption, from that lost state into which all have fallen by wilful sins. God often gives in displeasure what we sinfully desire. It is the happiness of the saints, that, whether God gives or takes away, all is in love. But it is the misery of the wicked, that, whether God gives or takes away, it is all in wrath, nothing is comfortable. Except sinners repent and believe the gospel, anguish will soon come upon them. The prophecy of the ruin of Israel as a nation, also showed there would be a merciful and powerful interposition of God, to save a remnant of them. Yet this was but a shadow of the ransom of the true Israel, by the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. He will destroy death and the grave. The Lord would no...

Verse Hosea 13:14. _I WILL RANSOM THEM FROM THE POWER OF THE GRAVE_] In their captivity they are represented as _dead_ and _buried_, which is a similar view to that taken of the Jews in the Babylonish captivity by Ezekiel in his _vision of the valley of dry bones_. They are now lost as to the purpose for which they were made, for which God had wrought so many miracles for them and for their ancestors; but the gracious purpose of God shall not be utterly defeated. He will bring them out of that grave, and ransom them from that death; for as they have _deserved_ that death and disgraceful burial, they must be _redeemed_ and _ransomed_ from it, or still lie under it. And who can do this but God himself? And he will do it. In the prospect of this the prophet exclaims, in the person of the universal Redeemer, "O death, I will be thy plagues;" I will bring into th...

I WILL RANSOM THEM FROM THE POWER OF THE GRAVE - Literally, “from the hand,” i. e., the “grasp of the grave,” or “of hell.” God, by His prophets, mingles promises of mercy in the midst of His threats of punishment. His mercy overflows the bounds of the occasion upon which He makes it known. He had sentenced Ephraim to temporal destruction. This was unchangeable. He points to that which turns all temporal less into gain, their eternal redemption. The words are the fullest which could have been chosen. The word rendered “ransom,” signifies, rescued them by the payment of a price, the word rendered “redeem,” relates to one, who, as the nearest of kin, had the right to acquire anything as his own, by paying that price. Both words, in their exactest sense, describe what Jesus did, buying us “with a price,” a full and dear price, “not of corruptible things, as of silver and gold, but with His...

EXPOSITION The first eight verses of this chapter form the premises from which the prophet, in the ninth verse, draws the conclusion that the conduct of Israel had been suicidal; that they had brought on themselves the calamities which they had experienced, and ultimately the ruin in which those calamities eventuated. The various particulars of their sin are enumerated, with the provocation caused or the punishment incurred by each. Thus the idolatry of Baal stripped them of the authority they once possessed, and issued in the dissolution of their state. After they had been to some small extent reclaimed from this national sin, and had somewhat retrieved their position, their perseverance in the calf-worship and the progress of their idolatrous practices provoked Jehovah so grievously as to threaten their sudden and entire destruction. Then their gross ingratitude to God for his great go...

I WILL RANSOM THEM FROM THE POWER OF THE GRAVE,.... That is, "when" or "at which time" before spoken of, and here understood, as the above interpreter rightly connects the words, "I will" do this and what follows: I WILL REDEEM THEM FROM DEATH; these are the words, not of Jehovah the Father, as in Hosea 1:7; but of the Son, who redeemed Israel out of Egypt, which was a typical redemption, Hosea 13:4; in whom is the help of his people laid and found, Hosea 13:9; the Word of the Lord, as the Targum; who is the true God, the mighty God, and so equal to this work of redemption and who is also the near kinsman of the redeemed as one of the words here used implies, and so to him belonged the right of redemption: the persons re

Hosea 13:1. _When Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel;_ When we are little in our own esteem, when we are full of fears concerning ourselves, when we dare not think of boasting, then it is that we grow: «When Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel.» Hosea 13:1. _But when he offended in Baal, he died._ It is when, like Ephraim, we turn aside to other gods, when our heart goes astray from the Lord, that there is death-death to our joys, death to our confidence, death to our usefulness. No one knows what destruction there is, even in the least sin, to the most joyful believer. It is like the hot breath of the Sirocco, which scorches up every green thing. If, before this terrible blast, everything is like Eden, behind it all is as a

REDEEM Hebrew, "goel," Redemption (Kinsman type). (_ See Scofield) - (Isaiah 59:20). _ DEATH (1 Corinthians 15:55). O GRAVE Hebrew, "Sheol," also in preceding clause. (_ See Scofield) - (Habakkuk 2:5). _...

CHAPTER 13 EPHRAIM'S RUIN AND JUDGMENT _ 1. Ruin and judgment (Hosea 13:1) _ 2. It is thy destruction, O Israel! (Hosea 13:9) 3. Mercy to follow wrath (Hosea 13:12) 4. The desolation of the nearing judgment (Hosea 13:15) Hosea 13:1. In the beginning Ephraim was humble, and knowing his dependence, he spoke with trembling. Then he became puffed up, exalted himself in Israel, loving the preeminence, it led on to the schism from Judah and the house of David. The next step after this separation from Judah was idolatry, then