Hosea 12
The Example of Jacob, Israel's Ancestor 3–6
Ephraim’s Deceit and False Riches 7–8
God’s Deliverance and Impending Judgment 9–14
Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain
Study Notes for Hosea 12
Verse 1
feedeth on wind — Ra’ah is the shepherd’s verb for pasturing a flock, so Ephraim grazes on wind and follows ‘the east wind’ (qadim), the wind that makes what is planted wither (Ezek 17:10). The covenant with the Assyrians and the oil sent to Egypt match ‘they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria’ (Hos 7:11).
Verse 2
a controversy with Judah — Riv is a legal dispute, the word of the LORD’s charge against the land in Hos 4:1. Here it reaches Judah as well, and ‘Jacob’ stands for the whole people. ‘Recompense’ is shub, to turn back: the doings come back on the doer, as in ‘reward them their doings’ (Hos 4:9).
Verse 3
by the heel — Aqab, to take by the heel, gives Jacob his name (Gen 25:26). ‘Had power with God’ is sarah, to have power as a prince, which gives the name Israel in ‘as a prince hast thou power with God and with men’ (Gen 32:28). This verb is found only in these two verses.
Verse 4
he wept, and made supplication — Genesis records Jacob’s hold on the angel, ‘I will not let thee go, except thou bless me’ (Gen 32:26), and Hosea adds that he wept. ‘Supplication’ is chanan, to ask for favour. ‘He found him in Bethel’ recalls the place ‘where God spake with him’ (Gen 35:15), and ‘with us’ takes later generations into what was said there.
Verse 5
the LORD is his memorial — ‘Hosts’ is tsaba, armies. ‘Memorial’ is zeker, the word of Ex 3:15: ‘this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.’ The name given to Moses is the name by which the LORD is to be remembered.
Verse 6
keep mercy and judgment — ‘Turn’ is shub, the verb rendered ‘recompense’ in v.2 and ‘return’ in 14:1. ‘Keep’ is shamar, to guard, and the two things guarded are chesed (‘mercy’) and mishpat (‘judgment’), as in ‘to do justly, and to love mercy’ (Mic 6:8). ‘Wait’ is qavah, to look for with expectation.
Verse 7
a merchant — The Hebrew is Kena’an, Canaan, the nation’s own name. The people who took Canaan’s land are called by it while they keep ‘balances of deceit’, though ‘a false balance is abomination to the LORD’ (Prov 11:1). ‘Oppress’ is ashaq, the verb of Amos 4:1.
Verse 8
Yet I am become rich — ‘Substance’ is ’on, the same word as ‘strength’ in v.3. In Jacob it had power with God, and in Ephraim it is wealth: ‘I have found me out substance’. The boast matches ‘My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth’ (Deut 8:17) and ‘I am rich, and increased with goods’ (Rev 3:17).
Verse 9
dwell in tabernacles — ‘I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt’ echoes Ex 20:2 and returns in 13:4. ‘Tabernacles’ is ohel, tents, recalling the booths of the feast, kept ‘that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths’ (Lev 23:43). Readers take the promise as a return to wilderness life or as a renewed feast.
Verse 11
Gilead… Gilgal — ‘Is there iniquity in Gilead?’ echoes 6:8, ‘Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity’. At Gilgal Joshua pitched twelve stones (Josh 4:20), and the LORD said, ‘This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt’ (Josh 5:9), which gave the place its name. Now its altars are ‘as heaps’, gal, something rolled.
Verse 12
fled into the country of Syria — Aram is the land of Laban, to which Jacob fled (Gen 27:43) and where he ‘served seven years for Rachel’ (Gen 29:20). The offerer of firstfruits later confessed, ‘A Syrian ready to perish was my father’ (Deut 26:5). ‘Kept sheep’ is shamar, the verb that v.13 turns to Israel: ‘by a prophet was he preserved’.
Verse 13
by a prophet — Moses is the prophet meant: ‘there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses’ (Deut 34:10). ‘Preserved’ is shamar, the shepherd’s verb of v.12 and the ‘keep’ of v.6. The flock was led as the Psalm says, ‘Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron’ (Ps 77:20).
Verse 14
most bitterly — Tamrurim is the plural of bitterness, the bitterest provocation. ‘Leave his blood upon him’ means that the blood Ephraim has shed stays on him, as ‘blood toucheth blood’ (Hos 4:2). ‘Return’ is shub for the third time (vv.2, 6, 14): the reproach Ephraim brought comes back to him from his Lord.