Hosea 13:8

I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them. I WILL MEET THEM AS A BEAR THAT IS BEREAVED OF HER WHELPS - (). 'Writers on the natures of beasts say that none is more savage than a she-bear when bereaved of her whelps' (Jerome). AND WILL REND THE CAUL OF THEIR HEART - the membrane enclosing it-the pericardium. AND THERE WILL I DEVOUR THEM - "there," "by the way;" "there," where they sinned, shall they be punished (). THE WILD BEAST SHALL TEAR THEM. It is remarkable that here there are specified the very four beasts which Daniel ...

But he afterwards adds, _I will rend, _or _will tear_, _the inclosure of their heart_. They who understand the enclosure of the heart to be their obstinate hardness, seem to refine too much on the words of the Prophet. We know, indeed, that the Prophets sometimes use this mode of speaking; for they call that a hard heart, or a heart covered with fatness, which is not pliant, and does not willingly receive sound doctrine. But the Prophet rather alludes to the savageness of the bear, when he says, I will rend or tear in pieces the membrane of the heart, and will devour you as a lion. For it is the most cruel kind of death, when the lion with his claws and teeth aims at the heart itself and tears the bowels of man. The Prophet therefore intended to set forth this most cruel kind of death. “I will therefore,” he says, “tear asunder the pericardium, or the enclosure of the heart.” I do not at...

1-8 While Ephraim kept up a holy fear of God, and worshipped Him in that fear, so long he was very considerable. When Ephraim forsook God, and followed idolatry, he sunk. Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves, in token of their adoration of them, affection for them, and obedience to them; but the Lord will not give his glory to another, and therefore all that worship images shall be confounded. No solid, lasting comfort, is to be expected any where but in God. God not only took care of the Israelites in the wilderness, he put them in possession of Canaan, a good land; but worldly prosperity, when it feeds men's pride, makes them forgetful of God. Therefore the Lord would meet them in just vengeance, as the most terrible beast that inhabited their forests. Abused goodness calls for greater severity....

Verse Hosea 13:8. _AS A BEAR - BEREAVED_] This is a figure to denote excessive ferocity. 2 Samuel 17:8, where a remarkable instance is given. _AND WILL REND THE CAUL OF THEIR HEART_] Every savage beast goes first to the _seat of the blood_ when it has seized its prey; as in this fluid they delight more than in the most delicate parts of the flesh. _THERE WILL I DEVOUR THEM LIKE A LION_] לביא _labi_, the _old_ _strong lion_; drinking the blood, tearing the flesh, and breaking the bones to extract the marrow. _THE WILD BEAST SHALL TEAR THEM_] Probably this refers to the _chakal_ or _jackal_, who frequently hunts down the prey, which the lion takes the liberty to devour, while the jackal

AS A BEAR BEREAVED OF HER WHELPS - The Syrian bear is fiercer than the brown bears to which we are accustomed. It attacks flocks 1 Samuel 17:34, and even oxen . The fierceness of the she-bear, “bereaved of her whelps,” became a proverb (2 Samuel 17:8; Proverbs 17:12; and here). : “They who have written on the nature of wild beasts, say that none is more savage than the she-bear, when she has lost her whelps or lacks food.” It blends wonderfully most touching love and fierceness. It tenderly protects its wounded whelps, reckless of its life, so that it may bring them off, and it turns fiercely on their destroyer. Its love for them becomes fury against their injurer. Much more shall God

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 MEET THEM AS A BEAR [THAT IS] BEREAVED OF HER WHELPS,.... Which is a fierce cruel creature at any time, but especially when this is its case, being very fond of its whelps; and having taken a great deal of pains to lick them into form, as Kimchi and Ben Melech observe, it is the more enraged at the loss of them, and therefore falls upon man or beast it meets with the utmost fury: the phrase is expressive of the fiercest rage; see Proverbs 17:12; AND WILL REND THE CAUL OF THEIR HEARTS: the pericardium, which is a membrane or skin that encloses the heart, and which when pierced is immediate death: perhaps some respect is had to the closing of their hearts to God, the hardness of them against him and his ways, and their inattention to his word; and now he will open them, not in a way of grace and mercy, but of wrath and fury; as a bear, when it seizes a man, stick

Hosea was full of complaints against the people of God; for, in his day, they had very sadly wandered from the Lord. They had even forgotten him. In Hosea's prophecy, we have the plaintive voice of a loving God chiding his backsliding children. Hosea 13:1. _When Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died._ A modest, humble, trembling heart is often by far the sounder heart, but when we begin to sin, and to sin boastfully, and to wrap ourselves about with the robe of self-complacency, then is death very near to us: «When Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died.» Hosea 13:2. And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, and idols according to

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

HOSEA 13:1 (= Heb. Hosea 13:1 to Hosea 14:1). FACILIS DESCENSUS AVERNO. Israel has persistently lapsed into the Baal-worship and idolatry, and therefore shall be swept away as the chaff (Hosea 13:1). Yahweh has brought him up from Egypt, protected him in the wilderness, and given him plenty, yet he has forgotten Him (Hosea 13:4), therefore He is against them as a bear bereaved of her whelps. Israel's ruin is self-imposed (Hosea 13:7) and his kings are powerless ...