TEXT [Commentary]
5. The folly of deceitful pride (13:1-16)
1 When the tribe of Ephraim spoke,
the people shook with fear,
for that tribe was important in Israel.
But the people of Ephraim sinned by worshiping Baal
and thus sealed their destruction.
2 Now they continue to sin by making silver idols,
images shaped skillfully with human hands.
“Sacrifice to these,” they cry,
“and kiss the calf idols!”
3 Therefore, they will disappear like the morning mist,
like dew in the morning sun,
like chaff blown by the wind,
like smoke from a chimney.
4 “I have been the LORD your God
ever since I brought you out of Egypt.
You must acknowledge no God but me,
for there is no other savior.
5 I took care of you in the wilderness,
in that dry and thirsty land.
6 But when you had eaten and were satisfied,
you became proud and forgot me.
7 So now I will attack you like a lion,
like a leopard that lurks along the road.
8 Like a bear whose cubs have been taken away,
I will tear out your heart.
I will devour you like a hungry lioness
and mangle you like a wild animal.
9 “You are about to be destroyed, O Israel—
yes, by me, your only helper.
Let him save you!
Where are all the leaders of the land,
the king and the officials you demanded of me?
11 In my anger I gave you kings,
and in my fury I took them away.
12 “Ephraim’s guilt has been collected,
and his sin has been stored up for punishment.
13 Pain has come to the people
like the pain of childbirth,
but they are like a child
who resists being born.
The moment of birth has arrived,
but they stay in the womb!
14 “Should I ransom them from the grave[*]?
Should I redeem them from death?
O death, bring on your terrors!
O grave, bring on your plagues![*]
For I will not take pity on them.
15 Ephraim was the most fruitful of all his brothers,
but the east wind—a blast from the LORD—
will arise in the desert.
All their flowing springs will run dry,
and all their wells will disappear.
Every precious thing they own
will be plundered and carried away.
must bear the consequences of their guilt
because they rebelled against their God.
They will be killed by an invading army,
their little ones dashed to death against the ground,
their pregnant women ripped open by swords.”
NOTES
13:2 idols, images. The former word was sometimes reserved for the worship of specific foreign gods (e.g., Isa 46:1; Jer 50:2). Hosea, however, used it as a general term for idols. As in 8:4-5, it is employed here to delineate idols cast from precious metals. It appears also in 4:17 and 14:8. Although the latter term denotes images cast from metal, one cannot always discern a distinction in this term among the many Hebrew words for idols (see note on Hab 2:18).
“Sacrifice to these,” they cry. The NLT follows the lead of many in reading a plural imperative (zibekhu [TH2076, ZH2284]) for the MT’s substantival participle zobekhe (the sacrificers of men). Once again, the syntax is so abnormal that it is an almost insoluble crux. Therefore, it has occasioned several suggestions and emendations.
The problem revolves around the question of whether zobekhe ’adam (1) stands in apposition to “they say” (NLT “they cry”) so as to read “to them they say, that is, those who sacrifice men” or (2) the word for “sacrifice” is to be viewed as an imperative: “to them they say, ‘Sacrifice!’” The following ’adam [TH120, ZH132] (man) would then be the subject of the subsequent plural verb (i.e., “men are kissing calves” or “let men kiss [the] calves”; cf. NJB, NRSV).
Scholars are commonly divided along lines compatible with one of these positions. The first alternative above takes the passage to refer to the practice of human sacrifice in the northern kingdom (cf. LXX, Vulgate, NIV, REB, GW). That human sacrifice of children was practiced in connection with Baal can scarcely be doubted (cf. 2 Kgs 23:10; Jer 7:31; 19:5-6; 32:35; see further my note on 2 Kgs 16:3 in Patterson and Austel 1988:245-246). The NLT follows the second alternative but ties lahem [TH3807.1/1992.1, ZH4200/2157] (to them) to the imperative: “Sacrifice to them.”
Among many other proposals, one that may be noted in a few translations is to take the debated zobekhe ’adam to be the subject of the following verb: “Let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves” (cf. NASB, KJV, NKJV). This would appear to rest in part on an interesting suggestion made long ago by the medieval Jewish scholar David Kimchi (AD 1160-1235, as cited by Keil 1954:154), but often overlooked by expositors: to understand zobekhe ’adam as a type of subjective genitive, that is, “sacrificers of men” = “men who sacrifice.” Such a construction, though uncommon, is not unknown in Hebrew. Thus Isa 29:19 reads ’ebyone ’adam [TH34/120, ZH36/132] (“poor of men” = “men who are poor”); Gen 16:12 has pere’ ’adam [TH6501/120, ZH7230/132] (“a wild ass of a man” = “a man who is a wild ass”); and Prov 15:20 speaks of kesil ’adam [TH3684/120, ZH4067/132] (“a fool of a man” = “a foolish man”). Such is the verdict of Cohen (1985:49) and of Keil (1954:154-155) and G. A. Smith (1929:332), although with differing results. Following this approach and taking zobekhe ’adam in apposition to hem (they), the MT can be understood in yet another way: “To them [the craftsmen] those who sacrifice are saying that they will kiss the calves [= idols].” Whatever the proper solution, God is condemning the apostate and foolish people for their wanton idolatry.
13:4 You must acknowledge no God but me. God’s declaration reinforces the first commandment (Exod 20:3; Deut 5:7). As here, both expressions of the Decalogue tie the commandment to God’s deliverance of his people from Egypt. The word translated “have” is literally “know” in the MT. As such, it reminds the people of both their guilt in following other gods and their failure to really know and honor God (see note on 4:6).
13:5 I took care of you. Lit., “I knew you.” Once again (see the commentary below), the importance of knowledge is emphasized. Knowing/knowledge is a key theme in the book, being woven into the fabric of several oracles. The book will end with a reminder of the importance of exercising proper knowledge (14:9).
in that dry and thirsty land. The NLT rendering of the hapax legomenon occurring in the MT is in harmony with those who relate the tal’uboth [TH8514, ZH9429] to Semitic cognates signifying drought or arid conditions.
13:9 You are about to be destroyed . . . by me, your only helper. The abrupt style of the Hebrew has occasioned varying interpretations. Many expositors have devised elaborate schemes to bring a specific rule of syntax to bear on this sentence, often referring to obscure grammatical possibilities. The relevant difficulties are best understood as follows: (1) shikhetheka [TH7843, ZH8845] is a third singular verb, prophetic perfect—“it (i.e., the beast of 13:8) will destroy you” or “it will bring you into ruin” (i.e., Israel’s pride, cf. 13:6); (2) ki [TH3588, ZH3954] is an adversative particle—“yet/but”; (3) bi [TH871.2/2967.1, ZH928/3276] is a preposition with a first common singular suffix—“in me”—and be‘ezreka [TH5828, ZH6469] (your help) stands in apposition to bi. For a penetrating study of the syntactical force of the preposition be-, see Futato 1978:69-83.
Nevertheless, the main point seems clear: Israel’s low esteem, if not outright disdain, for God will bring its destruction. This will happen despite the availability of God, its only true helper. Thus understood, the verse serves as a literary hinge between the threats based on the historical lesson and the condemnations that follow in vv. 10-11. The NLT has rendered in accordance with the flow and sense of the context.
13:10 Now where is your king? The turmoil occasioned by the rise of competing kings who rapidly succeeded one another only intensified the reality of Israel’s hopeless situation. In the face of the Assyrian threat, no human king could save them.
13:11 I gave you kings. Lit., “I gave you a king.” Most translations and scholars render this Hebrew prefix conjugation verb as past tense (= the older preterite; cf. Num 23:7). So understood, it refers to Israel’s first request for a king so as to be “like all the other nations” (1 Sam 8:5). Some take the verb to be present tense: “I keep giving” (e.g., Laetsch 1956:101; McComiskey 1992:221; G. A. Smith 1929:333; cf. La Sacra Biblia). The Vulgate renders it as a future: “I will give,” referring to the coming invasion by the king of Assyria (cf. Garrett 1997:261).
13:12 collected . . . stored up. The metaphor is that of wrapping up some item and putting it in storage for future use. Andersen and Freedman cite the contribution of Vuilleumier-Bessard who “has suggested that the imagery is derived from the practice of wrapping up precious manuscripts and putting them in storage. The manuscripts found at Qumran afford the best-known example” (1980:637). They themselves propose that “what is described here is the removal of idols to safe storage, with the intention of retrieving them again in the future” (Andersen and Freedman 1980:638). Perhaps the simplest solution is to view the text as an application of Deut 32:28-35. There God points out his patience with the sinning people but warns, “Am I not storing up these things, sealing them away in my treasury?” (cf. Cohen 1985:51; Keil 1954:159; Wood 1985:221).
13:13 a child who resists being born. The metaphor is that of an “overdue” baby. The image points to Israel’s failure to recognize an opportunity—even at this late hour—to avert certain doom. Its downward slide to destruction could yet be reversed by submitting to Yahweh, its true king. By so doing, it would be born anew to renewed spiritual and moral vitality, and extended national existence. Their situation was like a baby resisting its birth.
Since babies obviously do not choose to delay their birth, some (e.g., Garrett 1997:263-264; Stuart 1987:206) suggest that the reference is to a baby that is mispositioned in the womb. While this may be the actual cause of the tardiness in delivering, the point here is the urgency of the time. It was the final hour for Israel. Not to submit to its only helper was sheer and stubborn stupidity. In a slightly different twist in imagery, Hezekiah likened Judah’s extreme danger during the Assyrian king Sennacherib’s siege of Jerusalem to a mother who, though the hour of her delivery had come, did not have the strength to bear the child. Only God’s intervention could deliver them (2 Kgs 19:3-5).
13:14 the grave? Lit., “Sheol.” In the OT, Sheol refers to the state of death or the grave, the place of the dead body (e.g., Gen 37:35; 44:31; Num 16:30-33; Ps 88:3), but most commonly the term is reserved for the abode of the wicked dead (Ps 49:13-14; Isa 14:11). The NLT textual note points out a variant understanding in the LXX, which contains a rhetorical question implying a positive outlook. Paul appears to be drawing upon the LXX in 1 Cor 15:55 although he replaces the word “hades” (which he “never uses”; Robertson and Plummer 1911:378) with “death,” thus reading death in both parallel lines. (Note that Ellicott n.d.:327, however, suggests that Paul’s words are “a free use on the Apostle’s part of the prophet as they appropriately rise in his memory.”) In context, “Hosea 13:14 will become a reality for God’s people. With powerful effect, Paul quotes Hosea’s striking rhetorical questions” (Mare 1976:291).
O death, bring on your terrors! O grave, bring on your plagues! The NLT renders according to the sense. If the previous two sentences are rhetorical questions expecting a negative answer, then these two invite the agents of terminal judgment to begin their horror. The invitations to death and Sheol are given in inverse order to their appearance in the previous two lines, thus forming a neat chiasmus.
13:15 Ephraim was the most fruitful of all his brothers. Lit., “for he—a son of/among brothers—shall be fruitful.” The MT has been variously emended. Most commonly, ben ’akhim [TH1121/251, ZH1201/278] (son of brothers) has been changed to read something like ben ’akhu [TH996/260, ZH1068/286] (“among reeds”; NASB, NRSV; cf. Cohen 1985:51; Mays 1969:179; Wolff 1974:22). Although the text is admittedly difficult, the reading “son among brothers” (cf. KJV, NIV, ASV, NLT) may be defended as both fitting the imagery and artistry of Hosea and as corresponding to other OT passages about Ephraim.
Genesis 48 shows that Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh were reckoned among Jacob’s sons in the blessing/inheritance (Gen 48:5). In that blessing (Gen 48:16), Jacob prayed for their increase and said of their father “Joseph is a fruitful tree, a fruitful tree beside a spring” (Gen 49:22 mg). In Hosea itself, the life of Jacob (cf. 12:3-5, 12) and the imagery of fruitfulness (10:1) and the east wind (= Assyria; 12:1) have already appeared. Their use here, though somewhat obscure, is not as perplexing as it might seem at first glance; further, an extended pun on the consonant pairing pr (Pe, Resh) is clearly intended. To start with, the words used of fruit (peri [TH6529, ZH7262]) and fruitfulness (para’, porath) contain this pair. The reference to the “east wind” as a symbol for Assyria also provides a tie to 8:9, where the noun “wild donkey” is used in describing Israel’s courting of Assyria—another instance of the pr pairing, as the noun has the same consonants as the verbal stem behind “was . . . most fruitful” (para’ [TH6500, ZH7229]; see note and commentary on 8:9). Finally, the name Ephraim also contains the consonant cluster pr. In sum, Ephraim, who has become fruitful in accordance with the ancient promise of Gen 48, will nonetheless be devastated. The nation after which Ephraim chased like a wild donkey in heat would come against it like a hot east wind (cf. 12:1).
13:16 [14:1] their little ones dashed to death . . . their pregnant women ripped open. See 10:14; 2 Kgs 8:12-15; Isa 13:16; Amos 1:13. Cf. note on Nah 3:10.
COMMENTARY [Text]
God’s final judgment oracle begins with a reminder to Ephraim that as the representative tribe of the northern kingdom, it bore a noble heritage. Despite being a leader among the other tribes, however, they had gone over to the worship of Baal. This, along with the perpetuation of the state religion of the calves established by Jeroboam I, had led the northern kingdom into gross idolatry. They would soon bring about their own destruction—such was imminent. In a series of colorful similes, the Lord warned them that like morning mist before the rising sun, like chaff borne along by the wind, or like smoke rising from a chimney into the air, theirs would be a rapid and complete end (13:1-3).
The Lord went on to remind Ephraim that it was he (the Lord) who redeemed them from Egyptian bondage long ago. It was he who lovingly cared and provided for them in the wilderness. They simply had no other true savior and guide. Yet, when God had richly blessed them, rather than being grateful or even taking note of him, they became self-satisfied and proud. Rather than remembering God, they forgot him.
Here again, the crucial importance of true knowledge is underscored. It was their refusal to acknowledge God for who he truly is and their neglect of their covenant relationship with him that lay at the heart of Israel’s problem (cf. 2:8, 20; 4:6; 5:3-4; 11:3; 13:4). Unfortunately, they failed to realize that “the meaning of human life cannot be determined apart from God, the giver of life” (Craigie 1985:81).
Failing to know God experientially, the people fell into all manner of grievous sin. Becoming spiritually and morally apostate, they nonetheless feigned acknowledgment of God. But it was too late. The enemy was already on the move (cf. 8:1-4) and Israel’s punishment was certain (cf. 9:7). God himself would turn from defender to attacker. Using another graphic simile, he likened himself in his judicial wrath to a series of vicious animals that would rip them apart and devour them. The northern kingdom was doomed (13:4-8). “How sad the change, when He who had been Israel’s Creator and Preserver became her Destroyer!” (Fausset 1948:506).
Accordingly, Israel must take urgent notice. The death of the northern kingdom was at hand. To whom could they turn? Surely not to their leadership, for they were all degenerate. Moreover, the kings Israel had chosen were not God’s choice from the beginning. To be sure, God had made provision for a human king to reign over them, but this one was to be a man of the Lord’s choosing, a man of godly character (Gen 49:10; Num 24:17; Deut 17:14-20). They, however, had chosen a king and a path that were displeasing to God (cf. 8:4; 10:2; 1 Sam 8:4-22). Moreover, when Israel split off from Judah, its first king set a precedent for turning away from God by instituting the state religion of calves at Dan and Bethel (1 Kgs 12:25-33). This became a besetting sin in Israel and was a precipitating cause of Israel’s slide into further idolatry and eventual demise (2 Kgs 17:7-23). God warned his people that although he allowed them to elect to have a king and to select their own leader (1 Sam 8:22), he would now bring the whole system of royalty down, together with the kingdom itself (13:9-11).
God had no other choice. Israel had accumulated a record of gross sins for far too long. Their judgment was long overdue and had to come quickly. Hosea used a metaphor that, though illogical, is so striking that it would instantly catch his hearers’ attention. Israel’s stubborn refusal to repent and return in submission to God in order to avert disaster and acquire renewed vitality is likened to a baby in the birth canal who refuses to be born. As that baby resists coming into life, so Israel refused to be born anew into the full fellowship and blessings of God. How foolish! As that baby endangered his own life and that of the mother, so God’s sinning people were facing not only their own death but that of the nation (13:12-14).
The chapter closes with another reminder of Israel’s folly. The Lord returned to the subject of Ephraim’s privileged position and prosperity. Blessed beyond measure, Israel had added to their idolatry, immorality, and self-will by selecting apostate kings who carried on foolish foreign policies. Not only had this been sapping the nation’s vitality and moral fiber, but the very ones in whom Israel put its trust would turn on them and destroy them. Israel would fall, and many of its people would be savagely put to death. Their precious possessions would be carried off as booty, while the land itself would suffer great devastation. Such would be the costly price of their spiritual rebellion against God.
All of the emphases of this chapter have been introduced earlier in the book. Their reiteration here underscores their vital importance to God. At least four should be noted. First, Israel’s problems began with a lack of gratitude that led them to serve self rather than God. In addition, Israel went off into the worship of other gods and the work of their own hands (13:1-3). Believers of all ages need to heed Israel’s bad example and determine to be faithful to God and his claim upon their lives (Rev 2:10). It is so easy to slip almost imperceptibly into putting something other than God as the focus of one’s life. To do so is idolatry. John’s warning is still well taken (1 John 5:21). Likewise, believers should be “thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe” (Heb 12:28).
Second, Israel had also forgotten their redeeming God, as well as his care and concern for them (13:4-6). God certainly has ordered it otherwise. God himself ordained the rainbow to be a symbolic memorial of his pledge that there would never again be “a flood [to] destroy the earth” (Gen 9:11). He also established the Passover for Israel, as a memorial of his mighty deliverance of his people out of Egypt (Exod 12:1-10; 13:3, 8-10). All of the set feasts of Israel were designed to be more than mere rituals. They were given to make God’s people enter into an active, conscious fellowship with God, their Redeemer and Lord (see, e.g., Deut 16). The children of Israel were charged with remembering. They were to recall that God had ransomed his oppressed people (Deut 5:15) and so to act with special kindness toward the oppressed of society (Deut 24:17-22).
Paul encouraged gentile believers to remember, with gratitude, their salvation through Christ (Eph 2:11-19). John affirmed that godly remembrance can stimulate the church to repentance and renewed faithfulness (Rev 2:5; 3:3). In the familiar Pauline instructions concerning the Lord’s Supper, the apostle rehearsed our Lord’s admonition concerning regular remembrance of this ordinance (cf. Luke 22:19 with 1 Cor 11:24-25). As Christ’s body was broken, so the believer’s will is to be yielded in total dedication and obedience to God. As Christ’s blood was poured out, so the believer’s life is to be poured out unreservedly in grateful, joyous, and willing service to him. As those who are redeemed, may believers remember the Lord’s full provision by giving their lives in faithful service to him.
Third, Israel had renounced God’s kingship in favor of choices made to suit themselves. God’s people therefore brought on themselves certain judgment (13:9-11). The lesson is clear: Godless leadership can ruin any nation (Prov 14:34; see the commentary on 4:1-14; 6:4–7:16; and 8:1-14). Contrariwise, when any nation or individual has God as leader, they can ask for help and he will graciously supply it (Ps 118:5-7; Isa 30:19).
Fourth, Israel established a long record of guilt that would be dealt with severely (13:12-16). Believers, too, should remember that God will judge unconfessed sin when we each “stand before the judgment seat of God” (Rom 14:10). There “we will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body” (2 Cor 5:10). Nevertheless, God does not desire to keep a permanent record of our sins (Ps 130:3) but has so arranged matters that confessed sin is freely forgiven (1 John 1:8-9). May each believer keep short accounts with the Lord!
The messages of personal and national death given in 13:14 “become words of victory in 1 Corinthians 15:54-55.”[20] Because the first half of 13:14 is cast in an interrogative sentence, a certain ambiguity exists. Accordingly, many have opted for a note of hope here rather than that of strict judgment. The apostle Paul seized upon that possibility and sounds a note of triumph for the believer. Because of Christ’s resurrection “the ransom and redemption that God intended for Israel (13:14a) have been fulfilled. The backs of Sheol and death have been broken” (Hubbard 1989:223).[21] Believers now have the assurance of their own bodily resurrection on that day when Christ will return to take them unto himself. Moreover, as those united to the resurrected Christ, the victor, Christians have the potential and power to live victorious lives.