---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Hosea 13"
description: "CHAPTER 13   :-. EPHRAIM"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/hosea/13"
---

CHAPTER 13

. EPHRAIM'S
SINFUL INGRATITUDE
TO GOD, AND ITS
FATAL CONSEQUENCE;
GOD'S PROMISE
AT LAST.
This chapter and the fourteenth
chapter probably belong to the troubled times that followed Pekah's
murder by Hoshea (compare [Hosea 13:11](../../../kjv/hosea/13/11);
[2 Kings 15:30](../../../kjv/2-kings/15/30)). The subject is the
idolatry of Ephraim, notwithstanding God's past benefits, destined to
be his ruin.

**1. When Ephraim spake
trembling**—rather, "When Ephraim (the tribe most powerful
among the twelve in Israel's early history) spake (authoritatively)
there was trembling"; all reverentially feared him [JEROME],
(compare [Job 29:8](../../../kjv/job/29/8); [Job 29:9](../../../kjv/job/29/9);
[Job 29:21](../../../kjv/job/29/21)).
**offended in Baal**—that
is, *in respect to* Baal, by worshipping him ([Job 29:21](../../../kjv/job/29/21)), under Ahab; a more heinous offense than even the calves.
Therefore it is at this climax of guilt that Ephraim "died."
Sin has, in the sight of God, within itself the germ of death, though
that death may not visibly take effect till long after. Compare [Job 29:21](../../../kjv/job/29/21), "Sin revived, and I *died.*" So Adam in the
day of his sin was to die, though the sentence was not visibly
executed till long after ([Genesis 2:17](../../../kjv/genesis/2/17);
[Genesis 5:5](../../../kjv/genesis/5/5)). Israel is similarly
represented as politically dead in [Genesis 5:5](../../../kjv/genesis/5/5).

**2. according to their own
understanding**—that is, their arbitrary devising. Compare
"will-worship," [Colossians 2:23](../../../kjv/colossians/2/23).
Men are not to be "wise above that which is written," or to
follow their own understanding, but God's command in worship.
**kiss the calves**—an act
of adoration to the golden calves (compare [1 Kings 19:18](../../../kjv/1-kings/19/18);
[Job 31:27](../../../kjv/job/31/27); [Psalms 2:12](../../../kjv/psalms/2/12)).

**3. they shall be as the morning
cloud . . . dew**— ([Hosea 6:4](../../../kjv/hosea/6/4)).
As their "goodness" soon vanished like the morning cloud
and dew, so they shall perish like them.
**the floor**—the
threshing-floor, generally an open area, on a height, exposed to the
winds.
**chimney**—generally in
the East an orifice in the wall, at once admitting the light, and
giving egress to the smoke.

**4.** ([Hosea 12:9](../../../kjv/hosea/12/9);
[Isaiah 43:11](../../../kjv/isaiah/43/11)).
**no saviour**—temporal as
well as spiritual.
**besides me**— ([Isaiah 43:11](../../../kjv/isaiah/43/11)).

**5. I did know thee**—did
acknowledge thee as Mine, and so took care of thee ([Psalms 144:3](../../../kjv/psalms/144/3);
[Amos 3:2](../../../kjv/amos/3/2)). As *I knew* thee
as Mine, so *thou* shouldest *know* no God but Me ([Amos 3:2](../../../kjv/amos/3/2)).
**in . . . land of . . .
drought**— ([Deuteronomy 8:15](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/8/15)).

**6.** Image from cattle, waxing
wanton in abundant pasture (compare [Hosea 2:5](../../../kjv/hosea/2/5);
[Hosea 2:8](../../../kjv/hosea/2/8); [Deuteronomy 32:13-15](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/32/13-15)).
In proportion as I fed them to the full, they were so satiated that
"their heart was exalted"; a sad contrast to the time when,
by God's blessing, Ephraim truly "exalted himself in Israel"
([Hosea 13:1](../../../kjv/hosea/13/1)).
**therefore have they forgotten
me**—the very reason why men should remember God (namely,
prosperity, which comes from Him) is the cause often of their
forgetting Him. God had warned them of this danger ([Deuteronomy 6:11](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/6/11);
[Deuteronomy 6:12](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/6/12)).

**7.** ([Hosea 5:14](../../../kjv/hosea/5/14);
[Lamentations 3:10](../../../kjv/lamentations/3/10)).
**leopard**—The *Hebrew*
comes from a root meaning "spotted" (compare [Lamentations 3:10](../../../kjv/lamentations/3/10)). Leopards lurk in thickets and thence spring on their
victims.
**observe**—that is, *lie
in wait* for them. Several manuscripts, the *Septuagint,
Vulgate, Syriac,* and *Arabic* read, by a slight change of
the *Hebrew* vowel pointing, "by the way *of Assyria,*"
a region abounding in leopards and lions. *English Version* is
better.

**8.** "Writers on the natures
of beasts say that none is more savage than a *she bear,* when
*bereaved of her whelps*" [JEROME].
**caul of . . . heart**—the
membrane enclosing it: the pericardium.
**there**—"by the way"
([Hosea 13:7](../../../kjv/hosea/13/7)).

**9. thou . . . in me**—in
contrast.
**hast destroyed thyself**—that
is, thy destruction is of thyself ([Proverbs 6:32](../../../kjv/proverbs/6/32);
[Proverbs 8:36](../../../kjv/proverbs/8/36)).
**in me is thine
help**—literally, "in thine help" (compare [Proverbs 8:36](../../../kjv/proverbs/8/36)). Hadst thou rested thy hope *in Me,* I would have
been always ready at hand *for thy help* [GROTIUS].

**10. I will be thy king;
where**—rather, as the *Margin* and the *Septuagint,
Syriac, Vulgate,* "Where now is thy king?" [MAURER].
*English Version* is, however, favored both by the *Hebrew,*
by the antithesis between Israel's self-chosen and *perishing
kings,* and God, Israel's *abiding* King (compare [Hosea 3:4](../../../kjv/hosea/3/4);
[Hosea 3:5](../../../kjv/hosea/3/5)).
**where . . . Give me a
king**—Where now is the king whom ye substituted in My stead?
Neither Saul, whom the whole nation begged for, not contented with Me
their true king ([1 Samuel 8:5](../../../kjv/1-samuel/8/5); [1 Samuel 8:7](../../../kjv/1-samuel/8/7);
[1 Samuel 8:19](../../../kjv/1-samuel/8/19); [1 Samuel 8:20](../../../kjv/1-samuel/8/20);
[1 Samuel 10:19](../../../kjv/1-samuel/10/19)), nor Jeroboam, whom
subsequently the ten tribes chose instead of the line of David My
anointed, can save thee now. They had expected from their kings what
is the prerogative of God alone, namely, the power of saving them.
**judges**—including all
civil authorities under the king (compare [1 Samuel 10:19](../../../kjv/1-samuel/10/19)).

**11. I gave . . . king in . . . anger
. . . took . . . away in . . . wrath**—true both of Saul ([1 Samuel 15:22](../../../kjv/1-samuel/15/22);
[1 Samuel 15:23](../../../kjv/1-samuel/15/23); [1 Samuel 16:1](../../../kjv/1-samuel/16/1))
and of Jeroboam's line ([1 Samuel 16:1](../../../kjv/1-samuel/16/1)). Pekah was taken away through Hoshea, as he himself took
away Pekahiah; and as Hoshea was soon to be taken away by the
Assyrian king.

**12. bound up . . . hid**—Treasures,
meant to be kept, are bound up and hidden; that is, do not flatter
yourselves, because of the delay, that I have forgotten your sin. Nay
([Hosea 9:9](../../../kjv/hosea/9/9)), Ephraim's iniquity is
kept as it were safely sealed up, until the due time comes for
bringing it forth for punishment ([Deuteronomy 32:34](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/32/34);
[Job 14:17](../../../kjv/job/14/17); [Job 21:19](../../../kjv/job/21/19);
compare [Romans 2:5](../../../kjv/romans/2/5)). Opposed to
"blotting out the handwriting against" the sinner ([Romans 2:5](../../../kjv/romans/2/5)).

**13. sorrows of a travailing
woman**—calamities sudden and agonizing ().
**unwise**—in not
foreseeing the impending judgment, and averting it by penitence ().
**he should not stay long in
the place of the breaking forth of children**—When Israel might
deliver himself from calamity by the pangs of penitence, he brings
ruin on himself by so long deferring a new birth unto repentance,
like a child whose mother has not strength to bring it forth, and
which therefore remains so long in the passage from the womb as to
run the risk of death ([2 Kings 19:3](../../../kjv/2-kings/19/3);
[Isaiah 37:3](../../../kjv/isaiah/37/3); [Isaiah 66:9](../../../kjv/isaiah/66/9)).

**14.** Applying primarily to God's
restoration of Israel from Assyria partially, and, in times yet
future, fully from all the lands of their present long-continued
dispersion, and political *death* (compare [Hosea 6:2](../../../kjv/hosea/6/2);
[Isaiah 25:8](../../../kjv/isaiah/25/8); [Isaiah 26:19](../../../kjv/isaiah/26/19);
[Ezekiel 37:12](../../../kjv/ezekiel/37/12)). God's power and grace
are magnified in quickening what to the eye of flesh seems dead and
hopeless ([Romans 4:17](../../../kjv/romans/4/17); [Romans 4:19](../../../kjv/romans/4/19)).
As Israel's history, past and future, has a representative character
in relation to the Church, this verse is expressed in language
alluding to Messiah's (who is the ideal Israel) grand victory over
the grave and death, the first-fruits of His own resurrection, the
full harvest to come at the general resurrection; hence the
similarity between this verse and Paul's language as to the latter
([1 Corinthians 15:55](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/15/55)). That similarity
becomes more obvious by *translating* as the *Septuagint,*
from which Paul plainly quotes; and as the same *Hebrew* word is
translated in [Hosea 13:10](../../../kjv/hosea/13/10), "O
death, *where* are thy plagues (paraphrased by the *Septuagint,*
'thy victory')? O grave, where is thy destruction (rendered by the
*Septuagint,* 'thy sting')?" The question is that of one
triumphing over a foe, once a cruel tyrant, but now robbed of all
power to hurt.
**repentance shall be hid from
mine eyes**—that is, I will not change My purpose of fulfilling
My promise by delivering Israel, on the condition of their return to
Me (compare [Hosea 14:2-8](../../../kjv/hosea/14/2-8);
[Numbers 23:19](../../../kjv/numbers/23/19); [Romans 11:29](../../../kjv/romans/11/29)).

**15. fruitful**—referring to the
meaning of "Ephraim," from a *Hebrew* root, "to
be fruitful" ([Genesis 41:52](../../../kjv/genesis/41/52)).
It was long the most numerous and flourishing of the tribes ([Genesis 41:52](../../../kjv/genesis/41/52)).
**wind of the Lord**—that
is, sent by the Lord (compare [Genesis 41:52](../../../kjv/genesis/41/52)), who has His instruments of punishment always ready. The
Assyrian, Shalmaneser, c., is meant ([Jeremiah 4:11](../../../kjv/jeremiah/4/11)
[Jeremiah 18:17](../../../kjv/jeremiah/18/17); [Ezekiel 19:12](../../../kjv/ezekiel/19/12)).
**from the wilderness**—that
is, the desert part of Syria ([Ezekiel 19:12](../../../kjv/ezekiel/19/12)), the route from Assyria into Israel.
**he**—the Assyrian
invader. Shalmaneser began the siege of Samaria in 723 B.C.
Its close was in 721 B.C.,
the first year of Sargon, who seems to have usurped the throne of
Assyria while Shalmaneser was at the siege of Samaria. Hence, while
[2 Kings 17:6](../../../kjv/2-kings/17/6) states, "the *king
of Assyria* took Samaria," [2 Kings 17:6](../../../kjv/2-kings/17/6) says, "at the end of three years *they* took it."
In Sargon's magnificent palace at Khorsabad, inscriptions mention the
number—27,280—of Israelites carried captive from Samaria and
other places of Israel by the founder of the palace [G. V. SMITH].

**16.** This verse and foretell the calamities about to befall Israel before her
restoration ([Hosea 13:14](../../../kjv/hosea/13/14)), owing
to her impenitence.
**her God**—the greatest
aggravation of her rebellion, that it was against *her* God ([Hosea 13:14](../../../kjv/hosea/13/14)).
**infants . . . dashed in
pieces,** c.— ([2 Kings 8:12](../../../kjv/2-kings/8/12)
[2 Kings 15:16](../../../kjv/2-kings/15/16); [Amos 1:13](../../../kjv/amos/1/13)).

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