Hosea 12

Hosea 12:1

12:1, 2 Ephraim fed on the wind in the sense that he depended for survival on treaties with the Assyrians and Egypt. God has a controversy with Judah, and although Ephraim’s sin was greater, He would punish Jacob as well. 12:3 The patriarch Jacob is in view here. Though in some other places he is seen in an unfavorable light, here he is held out as an example of one who won victories through turning to God. 12:4-6 The Angel in verse 4 is identified as the LORD God of hosts and the LORD in verse 5. He is the same as the Angel of the Lord who appeared to Hagar (Gen_16:7-11); Abraham (Gen_18:1-33; Gen_22:11, Gen_22:15-16); and Jacob (Gen_31:11-13; Gen_48:16). See also Exo_3:2, Exo_3:6-15 and Num_22:22-35. Evangelicals generally believe that He is the Second Person of the Trinity in a preincarnate appearance. Ephraim is admonished to imitate Jacob by depending on God’s strength rather than his own (see Gen_32:28). 12:7, 8 But Ephraim is a cunning Canaanite (merchantman), a cheater, a self-reliant boaster, who thought himself immune from detection. 12:9 The LORD reminds him that he owes all his prosperity to the One who brought him out of Egypt. If he would only obey, God would still make him dwell in tents, as in the days of the . . . Feast (of Tabernacles). 12:10-12 Jehovah had spoken repeatedly through the prophets, but in vain. Gilead and Gilgal, the two parts of the northern kingdom, divided by the Jordan, will be brought to nothing because of their idolatry. The nation’s ancestor, Jacob, was a fugitive in Syria and a lowly tender of sheep in Mesopotamia. 12:13 But God graciously led his descendants out of servitude in Egypt by Moses the prophet. 12:14 Unmindful of this, Ephraim has provoked the Lord to anger by his idolatry and has brought the guilt of his bloodshed on himself. God will bring back his shame and reproach upon him.