TEXT [Commentary]

  2.   Hosea’s observation: Israel has a history of deceit (12:2-6)

2 Now the LORD is bringing charges against Judah.

He is about to punish Jacob[*] for all his deceitful ways,

and pay him back for all he has done.

3 Even in the womb,

Jacob struggled with his brother;

when he became a man,

he even fought with God.

4 Yes, he wrestled with the angel and won.

He wept and pleaded for a blessing from him.

There at Bethel he met God face to face,

and God spoke to him[*]—

5 the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies,

the LORD is his name!

6 So now, come back to your God.

Act with love and justice,

and always depend on him.

NOTES

12:2 [3] charges against Judah. See note on 4:1.

Jacob . . . his deceitful ways. God’s people have begun to display the same sort of deceit as the patriarch Jacob.

12:3 [4] Jacob struggled with his brother. The verb translated “struggle” (‘aqab [TH6117, ZH6810]) forms a play on the name Jacob (ya‘aqob [TH3290, ZH3620]). Etymologically “struggle” is associated with a noun having to do with the heel of the foot. The verb itself connotes the idea of supplanting or seizing. Jacob came into life grasping his brother’s heel (Gen 25:26), and so his name forms a wordplay with the word “heel” in that context. Two nominal derivatives from this verb reflect the thought of deception or trickery: ‘aqob [TH6121A, ZH6815] (deceitful) and ‘oqbah [TH6122, ZH6817] (trickery). These two form a wordplay with Jacob’s name in the context of his deceitful actions later in life (Gen 27:36). But a second verbal root, the homograph ‘qb II, which carries the meanings “watch” or “protect,” probably lies behind the ancient name “Jacob.” Names compounded with the root ‘qb are frequently attested in the extrabiblical literature of the ancient Near East. Thus, at Tell Mari may be noted ya-ah-qu-ub-el: “may God protect” (cf. Huffmon 1965:303-304).

when he became a man. The consonants of the noun for manhood (’on [TH202, ZH226]) form a play on the noun for deception or iniquity (’awen [TH205, ZH224]), which Hosea used previously in discussing the calf at Bethel, calling that city Beth-aven (4:15; 5:8; 10:5).

he even fought with God. The verb connotes the notion of struggling. Its consonants are associated with Jacob’s change of name to Israel (yisra’el [TH3478, ZH3776], Gen 32:28; 35:9; see note on 12:4). A second verb which might be the root of yisra’el is sarar I [TH8323, ZH8606], with the meaning “rule,” stemming from the noun sar [TH8269, ZH8569] (prince, ruler).

12:4 [5] he wrestled with the angel. The verbal form here (wayyasar) is unique. Most expositors think the verb is the same as that in 12:3 (sarah [TH8280, ZH8575]). As such, they understand that Jacob’s struggle with God was culminated by his striving with the angel.

at Bethel he met God face to face. God met with Jacob twice at Bethel, first in his flight from Esau (Gen 28:10-22) and second on his return there (Gen 35:9-14).

God spoke to him. Lit., “God spoke with us” (‘immanu [TH5973/5105.2, ZH6640/5647]). The suffix on the preposition here is commonly understood to be an alternate third masculine singular (cf. LXX; Stuart 1987:187). For attestation of such a third-person form, see the discussion in Andersen and Freedman (1980:615). The more usual third-person form, however, would be ‘immo [TH5973/2050.2, ZH6640/2257]. If the strict MT parsing (“with us”) is maintained, it could indicate Hosea’s intention to identify contemporary society with its patriarchal progenitor (Andersen and Freedman 1980:640). Thus, when God twice spoke to Jacob at Bethel, his heirs were seminally present there. Kaiser remarks, “It was not only Jacob the individual but also the total nation that was intended. The shift from ‘him’ to ‘us,’ from the patriarch to the nation, is at the heart of the prophet’s design” (1985:41-42).

12:6 [7] love and justice. For this pair of ethical qualities, see the notes on 2:19.

always depend on him. The NLT renders the verb qawweh [TH6960, ZH7747] (wait) in accordance with the constraints of the context. The piel stem attested here connotes the idea of an expectant waiting. For example, Jeremiah used the derived noun tiqwah [TH8615A, ZH9536] to speak of future hope for the exiles (Jer 29:11; 31:17). Hosea also used this noun in declaring that the Valley of Achor would be made a door of hope (2:15). Judah’s future hope lay in renouncing its deceitful ways and (like Jacob, who became Israel) living in full dependence upon the Lord.

COMMENTARY [Text]

Hosea understood the Lord’s words to mean that God had a controversy with Judah, in addition to Israel. All of God’s people had been behaving like Jacob, the trickster of old. “Jacob’s trickery became legendary. Accordingly, it served as a ready symbol for the prophets to seize upon in condemning the grasping, greedy ways of contemporary society” (Patterson 1999:390). The patriarch was a deceiver even while he was still in Rebekah’s womb. He displayed his eventual penchant for trickery by seizing his brother’s heel. Such would surface in tricking Esau out of his birthright in exchange for a bowl of stew (Gen 25:27-34) and by tricking Isaac into giving him the fatherly blessing that rightfully belonged to Esau.

All his life Jacob struggled with God until he wrestled with God’s angel at Peniel. There he pleaded for a blessing, and as a result his name was changed to Israel (Gen 32:22-30). The change of name was subsequently confirmed at Bethel (Gen 35:9-14). Indeed, both in an earlier encounter at Bethel (Gen 28:10-22) and in this second meeting, Jacob was confronted with the supremacy and lordship of Yahweh. On both occasions, God blessed him. In that later meeting, he not only confirmed Jacob’s name change but reiterated to him the provisions of the Abrahamic covenant (cf. Gen 28:13-18; 35:10-12). Jacob the trickster at last became a man who could live a princely life by letting God rule over him.

Unfortunately, God’s people in Hosea’s day still practiced the deceit of their patriarchal heritage. At Bethel, the very place where Jacob the trickster finally came to the end of himself, Hosea’s contemporaries deceived themselves by feigning allegiance to God in their syncretistic worship (a charge Hosea frequently brought against Israel), while being devotees of Baal at heart.

The worship of Baal (who is no god at all) at Bethel was foolish. Was not Bethel the traditional site where the Lord God Almighty twice revealed himself to their forefather? Like Jacob of old, they needed to meet with God, submit to him, and reflect his standards in their lives. Not to do so was to follow the old Jacob, the trickster. Indeed, in following their own ways they only deceived themselves and were tricked by their own deceptive practices (cf. Prov 28:10; 1 Cor 3:19).

Like Israel of old, believers can be tricked by their own desires. The mind and heart are all too cunning (Ps 64:6). Jeremiah cautioned that the heart is deceitful (Jer 17:9) and Isaiah (Isa 5:21) denounced those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. In another matter—that is, our efforts to evangelize and minister to others—we do well to remind ourselves that Paul reported that his labors in the gospel were from neither impure motives nor trickery (1 Thess 2:3). May Paul’s standard be that of contemporary Christianity as well.