Chapters 12-14

Hosea Chapter 12


Why was the east wind mentioned in verse 1?

The east wind is considered to be one of the most dangerous and destructive of all winds. It was and still is considered parching, wasting ad injurious winds in most countries. What God is telling them that they have put themselves in harms way by trusting all the superpowers of the time and not trusting God. They have paid off these superpowers and made deals with them instead of falling on their knees and depending on the Lord.


What does Jacob have to do with Hosea’s prophetic word? (verse 2-6)

When we go back into the book of Genesis and read about Jacob you see that he took his brother by the heel in the womb. The phrase “heel-catcher’ symbolized a person who could not be trusted a person who achieved what they wanted by any means. They would perform dishonest acts and trough crafty and cunning means to deceive people to get what they wanted. They were considered to be a double-dealer. God is telling Israel that they remind Him of Jacob’s double dealing. We see that the patriarch Jacob struggled with God (Gen:32:24-30) and didn’t want to submit to God, we see the same thing happening in Israel at the time of Hosea. Can you image physically wrestling with God. Well Jacob won the match but why did God allow him to win. We see that after winning and while hanging onto God he wept. First what is meant by prevailing against God? We actually prevail against God when we lose and have to surrender to God. He tell on to God and sought favor, he wanted Gods blessing. God is telling Israel to hold onto Him with all their heart and surrender. We cannot ever return to God without His help, we need to have a true dependency on His loving Kindness.


What type of punishment will befall Israel?? (verse 7-11)

At this point we know that Israel still hasn’t turned back to God. They are both being cunning and deceitful which is why they were called Canaanites. A Canaanite probably meant some form of merchant because they were known for that. Now remember that Israel was probably also in a prosperity at this time. But God will now make them lose everything and they will be forced to live in tents. This is because they will be exiled and be forced to give up everything.







What is the connection between Jacob flee to Syria and Israel? (verse 12)

Israel like Jacob was going to be exiled. Jacob fled his brother Esau when he went to his Uncle Laban house in Syria in search for a wife. This was the connection that Israel was now to be exiled also.


What is the reproach being given to Israel.? (verse 13-14)

No matter how many prophets God sends, Israel still doesn’t listen. He will give them back to slavery by using Egypt. This is where they will be exiled to..


Hosea Chapter 13


Why was meant by the morning clouds and why? (verse 1-3)

The answer is pretty simply, just like morning clouds or early dew, etc. everything there mentioned fades away. It exists only for a short time. They continue to worship Baal and the use of the statement “The men who sacrifice” could possible refer to human sacrifice which was practiced at that time. It should be noted that they usually sacrificed children. You can refer to Hsa 9:13 and Hsa 5:2. to see where it was also stated. Hubbard stated
“Viewed together, the sin is a total perversion of values. A craftsman’s work is elevated to divine status; human beings sacrifice their offspring to a metal object from whose lifeless form they also beg help; persons embrace with adulation the images of the very animals that they use for ploughing, threshing and hauling.”



In verses 4-6, what is God telling Israel?

He is telling them that when they really need something they turn to God and at other times when things are going good they forget who God is. The people change like the wind but God is the same everyday, yes, yesterday today and tomorrow. He never changes and His love for us is great enough that He would allow His precious Son to go through all He did so that we can spend eternity with Him. Yet we don’t give Him enough of our time.



Why use the Lion, Leopard and Bear in verse 7-8?

According to Wood
“The three mentioned - lion, leopard, and bear - were all native to Palestine and known for their relentless manner of killing prey.”


Who can help Israel at this time? (verse 9)

God is the only one that can help Israel at this time. All they have to do is repent and turn back to Him.





What happened to the king Israel wanted? (Verse 10-11)

According to Guzak,
“God wanted to be recognized as the King of Israel, no matter which man sat on the royal throne. When they rejected the Lord as King, He gave them the kind of kings their hearts wanted and deserved, and then even took those kings as further judgment.”
If we all remember Israel wanted to be like everybody else they wanted a king. They were never happy with just God being the King of their lives.


What is verses 12-16 showing us.

The terrible judgment that will befall Israel. Childbirth shows us the labor pains which come unexpected and last in duration. Didn’t Eve have to go through childbirth for her sin? It was said in my notes that Paul referenced Has 13:14 in 1 Corr 15:55 which states:
"O Death, where [is] your sting? [fn] O Hades, where [is] your victory?"
This was said when describing the resurrection of Jesus and the triumph over death.

Hosea Chapter 14


In verse 2 what does the words “take words with you” mean?

God just doesn’t want them to return to Him, He is looking for true words of repentance. It’s real easy just to lower your head when you do something wrong but we need to express to God the love we have for Him and the feeling of sorrow that we have disobeyed Him. David Guzak say it very nicely:

When we come before the Lord, it is essential to take words with you. There is a place for sharing the inarticulate feelings of the heart with God, but that is not the essence of fellowship and prayer with Him. The worship of God is intelligent, and God made us able to communicate ideas and feelings with words. It isn’t enough to sit before the Lord and feel love towards Him. Instead, take words with you - tell God that you love Him. It isn’t enough to feel repentance before the Lord. Instead, take words with you and tell God you repent before Him.
This is the same idea that Paul expressed in Romans 10:8-10: But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. God commands us to communicate with Him in words, not only ideas or feelings.
What words do we take with us? Take the words God gives you in His Word! When we communicate to God in the words and ideas of Scripture, we find an articulate and effective voice before God.

We need to always be in front of the Lord worshipping Him and telling Him how much we love Him. We need to ask for forgiveness for any of the wrongs we have done. If the angels and the saints can be in heaven praising and worshipping Him all the time that may be a lesson for our lives. This will also be good practice since that is what we will be doing when we join Him. We need to humble ourselves at the foot of Jesus. We need to truly return to the Lord and tell Him of His greatness and how merciful He is.





What does God promise a repentant Israel? (verse 4-7)

From David Guzak:

I will heal their backsliding: God saw that Israel was bent on backsliding from Him (Hosea 11:7), but He promises to heal the backsliding of a repentant Israel. He does it not because Israel now deserves it, but because it is in His nature to love them freely.
i. The word is compassionate: I will heal their backsliding. This shows God looks on our backsliding more like a disease than a crime. He does not say, “I will pardon their backsliding.” It is “as though he said, ‘My poor people, I do remember that they are but dust; they are liable to a thousand temptations through the fall, and they soon go astray; but I will not treat them as though they were rebels, I will look upon them as patients, and they shall look upon me as a physician.’” (Spurgeon)
ii. The word is certain: I will heal their backsliding. Not “I might heal” or “I could heal” or “I can try to heal,” but I will heal their backsliding. Come to God for healing of your backsliding, and He will do it! God is too great a physician to allow any patient to leave His office without being healed.
iii. The word is personal: I will heal their backsliding. He speaks to His people, and addresses them personally. We have to come to the Great Physician and say, “Heal my backsliding. I want to be the ‘their.’” To get the healing, you have to count yourself among the backsliders.
iv. Are you backsliding? The signs may not be so obvious to others. When you see a tree broken over in a windstorm, it’s easy to think that it was the wind. If you look closer, you will often see that insects have been at work a long time on the tree, making it weaker and weaker. It really wasn’t the wind that did it - other trees around it withstood the wind. It was the slow decline of strength, as insects nibbled away month after month.
b. This passage shows us what is restored when we return to the Lord.
Growth is restored (He shall grow)
Beauty is restored (He shall grow like the lily)
Strength is restored (lengthen his roots like Lebanon)
Value is restored (His beauty shall be like an olive tree)
Delight is restored (His fragrance like Lebanon)
Abundance is restored (revived like grain . . . grow like the vine . . . scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon)
c. His branches will spread: When God restores Israel, he will be a blessing to others, not blessed only unto himself
.


Free from idols and walking now in wisdom (verse 8-9)

From David Guzak:

What have I to do anymore with idols? When God’s people are healed from backsliding, they focus on the Lord Himself and not on any kind of idol.
Your fruit is found in Me: At one time, Israel thought they might find fruit in themselves or in the idols of the nations. Now, healed of their backsliding, they find their fruit only in God.
Your fruit is found in Me can have two ideas, equally true. First, we find the fruit to nourish our soul in God, and God alone. Second, we find the fruit that we are to bear unto the world in God, and God alone.
Who is wise? The wise man will see the message throughout the Book of Hosea. He will understand that in His mercy, God offers a wonderful opportunity for repentance and restoration, and it is dangerous and foolish to neglect that invitation.
The ways of the Lord are right: Even in the midst of promised judgment, the wise and understanding man sees that the ways of the Lord are right, and that ever announcement of judgment is an invitation to repentance.
i. “In beauty of expression these final words of Hosea rank with the memorable chapters of the OT. Like the rainbow after a storm, they promise Israel’s final restoration. Here is the full flowering of God’s unfailing love for his faithless people, the triumph of his grace, the assurance of his healing - all described in imagery that reveals the loving heart of God.” (Wood)


Charles Suurgeon said of Chapter 14:
“This is a wonderful chapter to be at the end of such a book. I had never expected from such a prickly shrub to gather so fair a flower, so sweet a fruit; but so it is: where sin abounded, grace doth much more abound. No chapter in the Bible can be more rich in mercy than this last of Hosea; and yet no chapter in the Bible might, in the natural order of things, have been more terrible in judgment. Where we looked for the blackness of darkness, behold a noontide of light!”.

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