Commentaries \ Old Testament \ Hosea \ Hosea 12-14

Hosea 12-14

  • Print

 

Hosea 12-14
 
Hosea preached to Israel during an era of sharp decline. Despite the rampant idolatry in the land during the early days of Jeroboam II Israel enjoyed a measure of God’s kindness, resulting in national prosperity and military prowess (cf. 2 Kgs 14.23-29). But God’s kindness would not be out of step with justice and holiness; in time the LORD handed Israel over to Assyria (cf. 2 Kgs 17). Hosea personally understood the way the LORD felt about the condition of His people; the prophet was commanded to marry a harlot so that he could experience personally how Israel’s idolatry affected the LORD. Yet, akin to the prophecy of his contemporary Amos, Hosea concluded his message with exalted words of hope (cf. Amos 9.11-15). This theme, from two pre-exilic prophets, became paradigmatic for the prophets who would follow. Although the LORD would discipline His people, He promised restoration; with the LORD, the final word is always one of hope for the repentant.
 
Hosea indicted Israel for their deceptive ways (12.1-13.6). Despite the fact that God had spoken to His people through the prophets,
  1. God’s people were crafty in relations not only with Him, but also by making simultaneous pacts with Assyria, and Egypt (12.1; contra Deut 7.2; 17.16) 
  2. Their deceitful behavior matched that of their federal head, Jacob, who “In the womb grasped his brother’s heel, and as an adult he wrestled with God” (12.3)
  3. Their merchants used false scales for their own gain (12.7-8; contra Lev 19.36) 
  4. They committed the ultimate act of idolatry, giving themselves to cast images and idols, when the LORD said, “I have been the LORD your God ever since the land of Egypt; you know no God but Me, and no Savior exists besides Me” (13.4). Ironically, their idolatry was despite the fact that God had given them pasture and satisfaction; “Their hearts became proud,” the LORD said, “Therefore they forgot Me” (13.6)
 
As a result of their idolatrous, deceptive behavior God announced a plan of destruction for the nation (13.7-16). The LORD said, “I will be like a lion to them; I will lurk like a leopard on the path. I will attach them like a bear robbed of her cubs and tear open the rib cage over their hearts. I will devour them there like a lioness, like a wild beast that would rip them open” (vv. 7-8). Indeed, Israel and Judah had no help but the LORD (v. 9b)—who said, “Compassion is hidden from My eyes” (v. 14).
 
Restoration could thus come only through repentance, a return to covenant faithfulness (14.1-9). The prophet cried out: “Israel, return to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled in your sin. Take words of repentance with you and return to the LORD. Say to Him: ‘Forgive all our sin and accept what is good, so that we may repay You with praise from our lips’” (vv. 1-2). Yet Hosea exhorted his audience that their plea to the LORD must be accompanied by a very practical, objective change of behavior: severing ties with Assyria and destroying the idols of the land (v. 3). If they would change course, the prophet announced the word of the LORD to them: “I will heal their apostasy; I will freely love them, for My anger will have turned from him” (v. 4). In view of the LORD’s covenant faithfulness to His rebellious people, Hosea made a final personal plea to those in his hearing: “Let whoever is wise understand these things, and whoever is insightful recognize them. For the ways of the LORD are right and the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them” (v. 9). 
 
The final section of Hosea’s prophecy (chs 12-14) describes the LORD’s judgment upon Israel, and their future restoration—with the emphasis being on the former. In fact, words of hope do not begin until 14.4. Thus the phrase: “I will ransom them from the power of Sheol. I will redeem them from death. Death, where are your barbs? Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion is hidden from My eyes” (13.14)—which is quoted by Paul in 1 Cor 15.55—was in Hosea’s mind pejorative. Israel would die, experience the barbs of death, the sting of Sheol. How then could Paul employ Hosea’s phrase in his doxological statement about the believer’s future hope in the resurrection? He understood that in Christ death itself had been defeated, and that His resurrection was the firstfruits of what all believers will experience (1 Cor 15.23). Paul understood that Hosea’s prophecy as part of the storyline of Scripture, pointing forward to the days of fulfillment in Christ, when God dealt finally with the sin of His people. The quotation from Hosea occurs near then end of 1 Cor 15, where Paul wrote:
“This corruptible must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal must be clothed with immortality. Now when this corruptible is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting? Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Cor 15.53-57; cf. Hos 13.14).
 
 
*For a complete list of references, please see scripturestoryline.com