THE BOOK OF HOSEA
Part Two: Lesson 9
Chapters 12-13
"Holy Scripture
teaches the human family what the experience of the ages confirms "that while
human progress is a great advantage to man, it brings with it a strong
temptation. For when the order of values is jumbled, and bad is mixed with the
good, individuals and groups pay heed solely to their own interests, and not to
those of others."
Vatican II, Gaudium de spes, 37
+ + +
From Judgment to the Promise of Reconciliation
YHWH's
Covenant Lawsuit Continued (12:1-9)
Hosea 12:1-2 ~ Calling out the Political and Religious Perversity of
Ephraim/Israel
12:1 Ephraim besieges me with lying, the House of
Israel with duplicity. (But Judah still is on God's side, he is faithful to the
Holy One.) 2 Ephraim feeds himself on wind, all day he chases the
wind from the East, he heaps up cheating and violence; they make a treaty with
Assyria, at the same time sending oil to Egypt.
The second part of Part II begins with another indictment of Israel in Yahweh's covenant lawsuit (12:2). Ephraim's lying in 12:1/11:12 repeats the term kahas/kazab, also found in 4:2; 7:3; 9:2, and 10:13 (where the NJB translates it as "falsehood"). The next phrase speaks of Israel's duplicity/deceit, mirma, also in 12:8/7, where it describes a dishonest merchant whose scales are fraudulent/deceitful. The repetition is associated with Jacob son of Isaac, a "man of deception" (mirma) who deceived his father and took his brother Esau's birthright blessing (Gen 27:35). These related terms set Israel's plight with Yahweh in the context of the character of their ancestor, Jacob (Hos 12:4-8), whom God renamed Israel (Gen 32:28/27; 35:10), and Hosea's depiction of Israel's character in 12:7/6-8. Perhaps the sum of these negative characteristics also describes Israel's treaty-making and diplomacy attempts in the next verse, which Yahweh judges as false.
The speaker in 12:1/11:12 is unnamed. It could be Yahweh, but it could also be Hosea beset by the lies of his countrymen and women. The second half of the verse refers to Yahweh in the third person. Israel's deception in dealing with God is the central focus.
(But Judah still is on God's side, he is faithful to
the Holy One.)
The second part of 12:1/11:12 refers to the Southern
Kingdom of Judah in contrast to Israel. King Hezekiah of Judah initiated
reforms in the Southern Kingdom that called for the people's repentance and the
destruction of shrines to false gods (2 Kng 18:1-8). For that reason, Judah and
Jerusalem did not fall to the Assyrians like Israel and Samaria.
2a Ephraim feeds himself on wind, all day
he chases the wind from the East, he heaps up cheating and violence;
The point of the prophetic utterance is that no one can
control the wind. The Book of Ecclesiastes often describes human willfulness or
attempts at controlling events as "chasing after the wind" (e.g., 1:14; 2:11;
4:4), as is the case with Israel's attempts to control its own destiny.
2b they make a treaty with Assyria, at the same time
sending oil to Egypt.
A vassal treaty with Assyria rejected Yahweh's sovereignty
over Israel in the same way that a wife's pursuit of lovers (Hos 8:8-9) was a
violation of a marriage covenant and an act of disloyalty to her husband. The
oil carried to Egypt may refer to a trade alliance with the Egyptians that
included shipments of olive oil, a valuable product produced in the Levant and
prized for its many uses. Hosea's criticism of Israel's connections with Assyria
and Egypt repeats the oracles in 7:11 and 8:8-10. Involvement with Assyria during
Hosea's ministry went back at least to the reign of King Menahem, who ruled
from 743-738 BC (2 Kng 15:17-22) and continued until the Assyrian conquest of
Samaria (722 BC). During the reign of King Hosea of Israel (2 Kng 17:1-9), the
king appealed to the Egyptians for aid against Assyrian king Shalmaneser V
(726-723 BC) as recorded in the Bible (2 Kng 17:4) and found in ancient sources.
Hosea 12:3-8/9 ~ The Covenant Lawsuit Against Judah
3 Yahweh has a case [riv = covenant lawsuit]
against Judah, he will punish Jacob as his conduct merits, he will repay him as
his deeds deserve. 4 In the very womb he overreached his brother, in
maturity he wrestled against God. 5 He wrestled with the angel and
beat him, he wept and pleaded with him. He met him at Bethel and there God
spoke to us "6 yes, Yahweh, God Sabaoth,
Yahweh is his title! 7 So turn back with God's help, maintain
faithful love and loyalty and always put your trust in your God. 8 Merchants
use fraudulent scales. To defraud is his delight. 9 How rich I have
become!' says Ephraim, I have made a fortune.' But of
all his gains, he will keep nothing because of the sin of which he is guilty.
Yahweh's covenant lawsuit against Israel in 12:3 uses the same phrase as in Hosea 4:1. A riv/rib could be a personal or legal controversy. In this case, Yahweh announced again that His covenant people, who swore an oath of obedience to Him at Sinai in a legally binding ceremony, have broken their covenant vow and deserve the judgments they have brought upon themselves (Ex 24:3-7). Also, see references to covenant lawsuits in Isaiah 34:88, Jeremiah 25:31, Ezekiel 44:25, and Micah 6:2 (twice).
The mention of Judah is a warning not to follow the path of the Northern Kingdom. In verses 3-5, Hosea draws on the history of Jacob-Israel, the national ancestor, to make the case that God's judgment on the people is a righteous and just response to repay them according to what their ancestor's "deeds deserve," as Hosea recounts the history of Jacob-Israel from Genesis. Every verb in the Genesis account of Jacob's life is repeated in Hosea.
| Jacob/Israel in Genesis | Jacob/Israel in Hosea |
| In the womb of their mother, holding the heel [aqeb] of Esau, Jacob tried to supplant [ aqab] his brother (Gen 27:36). | Overreached/supplanted [ aqab] his brother in the womb (Hos 12:4a/3a). |
| Jacob wrestled [sara] with God and prevailed [yakal] (Gen 32:28). | In maturity, he wrestled/struggled [sara] against God (Hos 4b). |
| wrestled [sara] with God and men (Gen 32:28). | wrestled [waxyisar from sara] with an angel and prevailed [yakal] (Hos 12:5a/4a). |
| Esau wept [baka] during his reunion with Jacob (Gen 33:4). | Jacob wept [baka] and pleaded (Hos 12:5b). |
| Jacob named the place Bethel where God had spoken to him (Gen 35:15). | He met him at Bethel and there God spoke to us (Hos 12:5c). |
4 In the very womb he overreached his
brother, in maturity he wrestled against God. 5 He wrestled with the
angel and beat him, he wept and pleaded with him. He met him at Bethel and
there God spoke to us...
When the twins Esau and Jacob were in Rebekah's womb,
Jacob attempted unsuccessfully to supplant [ aqab] Esau, who was born first.
(cf. Gen 25:21-26), making him the "firstborn" heir. The other twin was born
grasping his brother's (Esau's) heel [aqeb], so Isaac called him Ya'aqob,
associated with the Hebrew word "heel" [aqeb] and the verb aqab, "cheat" or "supplanter/deceiver."
Jacob wrestled with a nocturnal visitor at Bethel and wouldn't release him
until he received a blessing. He received a blessing and a reaffirmation of his
name as "Israel." However, there is no mention of "weeping" in the account in
Genesis 32:23-33 unless it happened when the visitor dislocated his hip (Gen 32:26). Jacob named the site Peniel (face-of-God), Because I have seen God face
to face, he said, and I have survived" (Gen 32; 31/30).
When the twins were adults and Isaac was on his deathbed, Jacob deceived [aqab] his father into believing he was Esau, the heir, so that he could receive his brother's material and spiritual blessing. It was spoken as an oracle of Yahweh that one brother would be stronger than the other and the elder would serve the younger (Gen 25:23). The point of Hosea reviewing the history of the brothers was that the Israelites, like their ancestor Jacob, had tried to deceive God and usurp blessings they did not deserve.
The second clause beginning in 12:4b, recalls Jacobs's encounter with God at Bethel (Gen 28:11-22; 35:6-15) and starts with a double wordplay as it similarly interprets Jacob's life. In the Genesis account, Jacob "wrestled" with a nocturnal visitor near Peniel, a ford of the Jabbok River (Gen 32:22-32/23-33).1 The summary statement of that account addressed to Jacob is, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob but Israel [yisra'el], for you have striven [sara] with God ( Elohim) and with men and prevailed [yakal]." The clause in Hosea 12:3b uses the same tradition of wordplay. Jacob wrestled/strove with God [sara et-elohim].2
Notice in the comparison with Jacob's life history in Hosea 12:5c that the prophet uses "him" and "us." He shifts the encounter from Jacob to God meeting Israel, representing the entire people at Bethel, who have inherited their ancestor's deceptive behavior. The Hebrew "to us" is sometimes unjustifiably emended to "to him" in some Bible translations, losing the force of what God said concerning Jacob applied to Hosea's contemporaries, the descendants of Jacob-Israel.
6 yes, Yahweh, God Sabaoth, Yahweh is his
title! 7 So turn back with God's help, maintain faithful love [hesed]
and loyalty and always put your trust in your God.
Verse 6 is addressed to Israel. Yahweh's name identifies the
divine Person revealed to Jacob at Bethel. It also is a formulaic expression
found in Amos 4:13 = Yahweh God of hosts is his name [sem/shem] and
9:5-6 = Lord Yahweh of hosts ... Yahweh is his name [sem/shem].
Hosea pleads with his people to repent and restore their covenant relations with Yahweh. Similar language appears in Genesis 28:15 and 20 at Bethel. Israel is told to observe covenant love and loyalty and continually put their trust in God, which is fundamental to maintaining a personal relationship (cf. Mic 6:3) and are two of Yahweh's gifts for the restored Israel of the future (Hos 2:19-20/21-22).
8 Merchants use fraudulent scales. To
defraud is his delight. 9 How rich I have become!' says Ephraim, I
have made a fortune.'
When God cursed the Canaan in Genesis 9:25, the name "Canaan"
came to be synonymous with "merchant," probably because of the Canaanites'
skill at commerce in a land that was a bridge for the great trade routes
leading from Egypt into Mesopotamia and Asia Minor (see Is 25:8; Ezekcomplete
17:4; Zec 14:21). The Israelites had become like the pagan Canaanites, whom Yahweh
cursed and dispossessed of their land because of their many sins. The
Israelites would suffer the same judgment.
But of all his gains, he will keep nothing because of
the sin of which he is guilty.
The Israelites in Hosea's day thought of themselves as
wealthy and innocent of wrongdoing when they were actually in historical and
religious difficulties. They would not survive unless they acknowledged their
failures, repented illicit worship, and returned to Yahweh. The Israelites tried
to deceive God with their illicit offerings and usurped blessings they didn't
deserve, but their sins would convict them.
Hosea 12:10-11 ~ The Hope of Reconciliation
10 But I have been Yahweh your God since your days in Egypt
and will make you live in tents again as in the days of Meeting. 11 I
will speak through prophets, I will give vision after vision and through the
ministry of prophets will speak in parables.
God reminds the Israelites that His relationship with them as a people precedes their national life in Canaan and goes back to their liberation from slavery in Egypt. He has been with them since the days when they lived in tents on the journey to Mt. Sinai and the 40 years of wilderness wandering before they took possession of the Promised Land of Canaan. "The days of Meeting either refers to the stay at Mt. Sinai where God fixed a meeting with the people (Ex 3:12) or to the "tent of Meeting" in Exodus 33:7. Yahweh promises to continue to speak to His people through His prophets like Hosea who will receive visions. They will fulfill their teaching ministry by speaking in parables. Jesus the Messiah, God's Supreme Prophet, spoke in parables during His ministry.
Hosea 12:12-15 ~ There Can be no Reconciliation Without
Repentance for Past Sins
12 Is Gilead a sink of
iniquity? Yes, they are a worthless lot! At Gilgal they sacrifice to bulls,
that is why their altars are like heaps of stones in a plowed field. 13 Jacob
fled to the countryside of Aram, Israel slaved to win a wife, to win a wife he
looked after sheep. 14 By a prophet Yahweh brought Israel out of
Egypt and by a prophet Israel was preserved. 15 Ephraim gave bitter
provocation "Yahweh will bring his bloodshed down on him, his Lord will repay
him for his insult.
This passage concludes Jacob's and Israel's history in a didactic lesson with truths and consequences. Ephraim has provoked God with its failures that include idol worship. Jacob fled his enraged brother Esau and went to Aram, Abraham's home before coming to Canaan. There he herded Laban's sheep "to win a wife," actually two wives (Gen 29:15-39), becoming a husband and father. God used the prophet Moses to bring the Israelites out of Egypt and preserve the people. Now, He uses the prophet Hosea to carry His message to the Israelites to preserve them from divine judgment. However, Israel, unlike Jacob, shows no signs of transformation in working toward reconciliation. Therefore, Yahweh will judge Ephraim/Israel.
CHAPTER 13
God's Retribution (13:1-15)
Chapter 13 is the second of two historically centered prophetic lessons (Hos 11:12-13:15), with the first and last verses from this section with references to guilt and death. Ephraim/Israel's past, present, and future are briefly covered in 13:1-3 with a historical review in verses 4-8 that state why Yahweh is angry with the citizens of the Northern Kingdom. It announces that their destruction is imminent, and their rulers/leaders cannot save them (verses 9-11). The people's rebellious and unrepentant nature, together with God's righteous anger, signal disaster for the Northern Kingdom (verses 12-15).
Hosea 13:1-3 ~ Retribution for Idolatry
13:1 When Ephraim used to speak, all trembled; he was a power in Israel;
but once he had incurred guilt with Baal, he died. 2
And now they compound their sins by casting images for themselves out of
their silver, idols of their own invention, the work of craftsmen, all of it!
Sacrifice to them,' they say! Men bestow kisses to calves! 3 That is why they will be like morning mist,
like the dew that quickly disappears, like the chaff whirled from the
threshing-floor, like smoke escaping through the window.
Ephraim was the strongest tribe in the Northern Kingdom, and it was King Jeroboam I of Ephraim, the first king of the divided kingdom, who rejected the liturgical worship established by God at Jerusalem and built shrines of calf images and altars for Baal as the places for the people to offer worship.
but once he had incurred guilt with Baal, he died.
Baal appeared everywhere in the Canaanite and later the
Phoenician world of Hosea's time. In contrast to the Greek pantheon, in which
aspects of life were assigned to many gods who personified individual
characteristics, Baal had much broader roles. He could be a warrior god and a
weather god, which also connected him to water, the sea, the cycles of the
seasons, and generally to the afterlife in the cycles of life and death. In
some ways, it was easier to drive out the Canaanites than to eradicate the
influence of their pagan god.
3 That is why they will be like morning mist, like the dew
that quickly disappears, like the chaff whirled from the threshing-floor, like
smoke escaping through the window.
Hosea says the places of illicit worship would not last;
they would disappear like mist, chaff, and smoke. Interestingly, he mentions"
the threshing-floor." The Jerusalem Temple was built on what had been a threshing-floor
before King David purchased the site and built Yahweh's altar there
(2 Sam 24:18-25; 2 Chron 3:1).
Hosea 13:4-8 ~ Retribution for Ingratitude
4 But I have been Yahweh your God since
your days in Egypt when you knew no god but me, since you had no one else to
save you/be your Savior [mosia].* 5 I cared for you in the desert,
in the land of dreadful drought. 6 I pastured them, and they were
satisfied; once satisfied, their hearts grew proud, and therefore they forgot
me. 7 So now I shall be like a lion to them, like a leopard I shall
lurk beside the road, 8 like a bear robbed of her cubs I shall meet
them and rend the membrane of their heart, and there like a lioness I shall eat
them, like a wild beast tear them to shreds.
* The text of the Greek Septuagint for 13:4 has, "I am the Lord your God who set the heavens firm and keep the earth steady; my hands have created the whole array of heaven, but I have not shown these to you for you to follow them. I it was who brought you out of Egypt." When the calf-idols at Bethel and Dan were established by Jeroboam I, the first king of the Northern Kingdom, he said, "Here are your gods, Israel, these brought you up out of Egypt" (1 Kng 12:28). It was Yahweh, and no one else, who brought Israel out of Egypt and took care of the people in the desert. However, while enjoying the good God provided for them, they took those blessings for granted, and in the pride of their hearts, they forgot about Him.
In verses 7-8, God compares Himself in His anger against the unfaithful Israelites to four prey animals: a lion, a leopard, a mother bear deprived of her cubs, and a lioness. Like a wild beast, He will destroy them.
Hosea 13:9-14:1 ~ Inevitability of Ruin and the End of
the Monarchy
9 Israel, you have destroyed yourself though in me lies
your help. 10 Your king, where is he now, to save you,
or the governors in all your cities? "whom you once pleaded for, saying, Give
me a king and princes!' 11 In my anger, I gave you a king, and in my
wrath, I have taken him away. 12 Ephraim's guilt is packed away, his sin is locked
up. 13 Pangs as of childbirth overtake him, and a stupid child he is;
his time is due, but he does not leave the womb. 14
Shall I save them from the clutches of Sheol? Shall I buy them back from
Death? Where are your plagues, Death? Where are your scourges, Sheol? Compassion
will be banished from my sight! 15 Though Ephraim bears more fruit
than his brothers, the wind from the East will come, Yahweh's breath blowing up
from the desert to dry his spring, to dry up his fountain, to strip his
treasury of everything worth having. 14:1 Samaria will pay the penalty for
having rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword, their little
children will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women disemboweled.
Verses 9-14:1 refer to the destruction attributed to Yahweh in 13:7-8. "Your help/your helper" [ ezer] in verse 9 should be understood in terms of "your savior" in 13:4. Both terms indicate the work of Yahweh in bringing Israel out of Egypt and guiding them through the desert wilderness to the Promised Land. Yahweh is the one who saved/helped Israel in Egypt (Ex 18:4) and continued to help and deliver them (Dt 33:29; Ps 79:9), but Hosea's chilling claim is that the Israelite's helper/savior is now the divine agent of their doom.
10 Your king, where is he now, to save you ...
10a may be an ironic allusion to the last Israelite ruler,
King Hosea (732-724 BC), whose name meant "Yahweh saves." He became king in the
year the Assyrians conquered the northern part of the country, including
Galilee. His rule ended two years before the fall of Samaria in 724 when he
failed to pay the required tribute to the Assyrian king, who had him taken away
in chains and imprisoned (2 Kng 17:1-4).
The rhetorical question in verse 10 is addressed to Israel. It presupposes a time when the king is either gone or appears utterly helpless in the face of trouble. Considering the turnover in kings of the Northern Kingdom from the death of Jeroboam II in 743 BC until the capture of King Hosea by the Assyrians in 724 BC (2 Kng 17:3-4), it is not easy to determine the time when Yahweh's searching question fits best historically. Hosea quotes the people in the later part of verse 10 seeking kings and princes and recalls a time (centuries earlier) when representatives of the people requested the appointment of a king (1 Sam 8:4-20). According to the Scriptural account of that event, both Yahweh and the prophet Samuel reacted negatively to the request since Yahweh was their Divine King and the only king they needed, but the people wanted to be like other nations. Nevertheless, God acceded to their request but warned of the excesses accompanying a ruling monarchy (1 Sam 8:10-18). In this case, God gave them a king, and He took him away (verse 11).
In verse 13, Hosea applies the metaphor of childbirth to Ephraim/Israel's circumstances, following the poetic description of the people's stored iniquity in verse 12. Ephraim is a "stupid child" because he does not recognize the time for "coming forth." Ephraim is unwise because he does not present himself to God at the proper time "and time is running out. Without repentance, Yahweh will not exercise compassion toward His people to save them (verse 14). The Israelites maintained their folly/stupidity until the bitter political end of the state.
14 Shall I save them from the clutches of
Sheol? Shall I buy them back from Death? Where are your plagues, Death? Where
are your scourges, Sheol?
Before the Resurrection of Christ, after physical death, all
souls, both the righteous and the wicked, were consigned to the "abode of the dead"
in Hebrew, Sheol, and Hades in Greek. Sheol/Hades is not to be confused with
the Hell of the damned that didn't receive the souls of those who refused the
gift of God's salvation until after Jesus released the souls from Sheol when He
descended there from His tomb.3
15 Though Ephraim* bears more fruit than his brothers, the
wind from the East will come, Yahweh's breath blowing up from the desert to dry
his spring, to dry up his fountain, to strip his treasury of everything worth
having.
"Ephraim" is not in the Hebrew text, which has "he," but most
translators change it because Ephraim is suggested by the "bears fruit"
[yapheri], which corresponds to the origin of the name the younger son of Jacob
received in Genesis 41:52 ~ He named the second Ephraim, Because,' he said,
God has made me fruitful in the country of my misfortune.'" Joseph's elder
son was Manasseh, but when Joseph took his two sons to receive his father Jacob's
blessing, Jacob put his right hand on the head of Ephraim, giving him the
greater blessing. When Joseph protested that the elder son should receive the
greater blessing, Jacob said, "I know, my son, I know ... but his younger
brother will be greater, his offspring will be sufficient to constitute nations"
(Gen 48:18-19).
Although the tribe of Ephraim may have prospered among his "brothers" of the ten Northern tribes, Yahweh's judgment will be like the relentless dry, hot east wind [qadim] blowing from the wilderness and will consume all Ephraim's proud wealth.
14:1 Samaria will pay the penalty for having rebelled against her God.
They will fall by the sword, their little children will be dashed to pieces,
and their pregnant women disemboweled.
As with any capital city, Samaria can stand for the
nation or its government. Samaria is guilty of rebellion against Yahweh, her
God. Because of their covenant rebellion, Yahweh withdrew His divine protection.
Samaria endured a three-year siege by the Assyrian army before finally falling
to the enemy (2 Kng 17:5-6). As prophesied by Hosea, they fell by the swords of
the Assyrians, and the innocent suffered along with the guilty.
Endnotes:
1. Peniel means "face of God" and is based on the
exchange between Jacob and his opponent when Jacob had "seen God face to
face." (Gen 32:30/31).
2. The verb aqab has two related meanings: "follow/supplant" and "deceive."
3. Sheol/Hades still has a purpose and exists as a place/state of purification until the Last Judgment, when God will destroy both Sheol/Hades and death in the "Lake of Fire" that is the Hell of the damned (Rev 20:14). In the Final Age of man, blessings are eternal and so are judgments; therefore, Sheol/Hades no longer holds either the pure souls of the righteous nor does it contain the souls of the wicked who deny Christ and His gift of salvation. Sheol remains a place/state of purification for those souls judged worthy of salvation but who still need to purge unconfessed venial sins or forgiven mortal sins for which full penance has not been achieved before being released into the presence of God (1 Cor 3:12-15). Catholics call this state Purgatory, which means the "place of purification" (CCC 1030-32).
Questions for reflection or group discussion:
In 1 Samuel 8:5, the people appealed to the prophet
Samuel to give them a king so they could be ruled like other nations. What was
the problem with their desire to be just like their neighboring states? Is it
also wrong for us to strive to follow the examples of other secular nations?
Why might it be wrong, and where are the dangers? Is there a similar problem in
adjusting our moral focus to agree with secular society? What did St. Paul tell
the Christians of the Roman in Romans 12:2? Also see CCC 2520, 2826.
Catechism references (* indicates Scripture quoted
or paraphrases in the reference):
Hosea 11 (CCC 219*)
Hosea 11:1 (CCC 219, 441*, 530*)
Sheol, the abode of the dead (CCC 632*, 633*, 635*)
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