Hosea 13 is a very eye opening chapter. Hosea speaks God’s judgment against the northern kingdom of Israel (also called Ephraim) because of persistent idolatry, pride, and rebellion. This chapter looks to God’s past faithfulness with Israel’s unfaithfulness and warns of the consequences that are about to come through foreign invasion from Assyria. God recalls how Ephraim was once respected and influential among the tribes of Israel. However, Israel became guilty through the worship of Baal and other idols. The people even made idols from silver and worshiped what their own hands had created. Because of this, he says they would disappear like, morning mist, early dew, chaff blown by the wind, and smoke from a chimney. We are still like this today. When it comes to our homes, vehicles, bank account, or our family do we credit ourselves for what we have built or do we give glory to God for what he has provided? If we claim the glory for our blessings we usually end up putting our faith in the comforts in life that we have. We have to realize that anything placed above God eventually proves empty and temporary. God also reminds Ephraim that He alone delivered them from Egypt and sustained them in the wilderness. In verse 4 God says: “You shall acknowledge no God but me.” Yet when Israel became prosperous, they forgot Him. There is a pattern that still goes on today. God blesses, people prosper, people become proud, then people forget God. God says because of their rebellion He will come against them like a lion, a leopard, and they will be like a bear robbed of her cubs. God is basically telling them that they are so blinded by what they have let become idols that they have forgotten who the one and only God is. Prosperity can become spiritually dangerous when it produces self-sufficiency instead of gratitude. In verse 9 God declares “You are destroyed, Israel, because you are against me, against your helper.” Israel’s downfall is self-inflicted. The nation rejected the very One who could save it. Then God refers to Israel’s demand for a king (1 Samuel chapter 8). The people wanted human rulers instead of trusting God. Their kings had failed to solve their deepest problem which was their rebellion against God. This should sound familiar. How many of us when election time rolls around put our faith in who the next president is? We should learn from the past that human solutions cannot fix spiritual problems. Also, in verse 12 and 13 we see that sin cannot be hidden forever. Israel’s guilt is “stored up” and recorded before God. Know that God has a breaking point. Israel is compared to a child that refuses to be born when labor pains come. In other words, Israel stubbornly resists the opportunity to repent and change. When we delay repentance it often leads to greater consequences. To live life as though God is not there will only last for a little while. In Hosea we see that God will allow this for a time, but eventually he will declare who he is in our lives. This should be our warning to always repent and always put him where he should be in our lives. Love y’all! Have a great day!
Hosea 13:1-16
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“When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he was exalted in Israel. But he incurred guilt through Baal and died. Now they continue to sin and make themselves a cast image, idols skillfully made from their silver, all of them the work of craftsmen. People say about them, “Let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves.” Therefore, they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes, like chaff blown from a threshing floor, or like smoke from a window. 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. I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought. When they had pasture, they became satisfied; they were satisfied, and their hearts became proud. Therefore they forgot me. So I will be like a lion to them; I will lurk like a leopard on the path. I will attack 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. I will destroy you, Israel; you have no help but me. , Where now is your king, , that he may save you in all your cities, and the rulers , you demanded, saying, “Give me a king and leaders”? I give you a king in my anger and take away a king in my wrath. Ephraim’s guilt is preserved; his sin is stored up. Labor pains come on him. He is not a wise son; when the time comes, he will not be born. , 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. Although he flourishes among his brothers, , an east wind will come, a wind from the Lord rising up from the desert. His water source will fail, and his spring will run dry. The wind will plunder the treasury of every precious item. Samaria will bear her guilt because she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword; their children will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.”
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