Relentless Judgment on Israel~ Hosea Chapter 13
When Ephraim spoke, trembling,
He exalted himself in Israel;
But when he offended through Baal worship, he died.
2 Now they sin more and more,
And have made for themselves molded images,
Idols of their silver, according to their skill;
All of it is the work of craftsmen.
They say of them,
“Let the men who sacrifice[a] kiss the calves!”
3 Therefore they shall be like the morning cloud
And like the early dew that passes away,
Like chaff blown off from a threshing floor
And like smoke from a chimney.
4 “Yet I am the Lord your God
Ever since the land of Egypt,
And you shall know no God but Me;
For there is no savior besides Me.
5 I knew you in the wilderness,
In the land of great drought.
6 When they had pasture, they were filled;
They were filled and their heart was exalted;
Therefore they forgot Me.
7 “So I will be to them like a lion;
Like a leopard by the road I will lurk;
8 I will meet them like a bear deprived of her cubs;
I will tear open their rib cage,
And there I will devour them like a lion.
The wild beast shall tear them.
9 “O Israel, you are destroyed,[b]
But your help[c] is from Me.
10 I will be your King;[d]
Where is any other,
That he may save you in all your cities?
And your judges to whom you said,
‘Give me a king and princes’?
11 I gave you a king in My anger,
And took him away in My wrath.
12 “The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;
His sin is stored up.
13 The sorrows of a woman in childbirth shall come upon him.
He is an unwise son,
For he should not stay long where children are born.
14 “I will ransom them from the power of the grave;[e]
I will redeem them from death.
O Death, I will be your plagues![f]
O Grave,[g] I will be your destruction![h]
Pity is hidden from My eyes.”
15 Though he is fruitful among his brethren,
An east wind shall come;
The wind of the Lord shall come up from the wilderness.
Then his spring shall become dry,
And his fountain shall be dried up.
He shall plunder the treasury of every desirable prize.
16 Samaria is held guilty,[i]
For she has rebelled against her God.
They shall fall by the sword,
Their infants shall be dashed in pieces,
And their women with child ripped open.
Footnotes:
- Hosea 13:2Or those who offer human sacrifice
- Hosea 13:9Literally it or he destroyed you
- Hosea 13:9Literally in your help
- Hosea 13:10Septuagint, Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate read Where is your king?
- Hosea 13:14Or Sheol
- Hosea 13:14Septuagint reads where is your punishment?
- Hosea 13:14Or Sheol
- Hosea 13:14Septuagint reads where is your sting?
- Hosea 13:16Septuagint reads shall be disfigured
In the belief that the following passage is true and that there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9), I give you Hosea 13 from God as a backdrop for events that will soon unfold in America; IF we do not turn from our persistent idolatry of sex, money, and willful ignorance and cling to the Lord with all of our heart, soul, and might.
All Scripture is God-breathed [given by divine inspiration] and is profitable for instruction, for conviction [of sin], for correction [of error and restoration to obedience], for training in righteousness [learning to live in conformity to God’s will, both publicly and privately—behaving honorably with personal integrity and moral courage]; 17 so that the man of God may be complete and proficient, outfitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work. ~2 Timothy 3:16-17
Ephraim was the largest tribe in the northern part of the kingdom of Israel. After King Solomon died, the kingdom of God-the 12 tribes of Israel-became divided into a northern and southern kingdom: Ephraim, the largest, (usually called Israel) and Judah, respectively. The people of God made idols out of silver (and gold) and the finest craftsmen sculpted these objects. They began worshiping their idols and abandoning the one true God.
One cannot but help notice the uncanny similarity with ancient objects crafted skillfully by hand out of silver and our modern-day electronics, all of which contain silver. Our first electronics contained gold, lead, and platinum, sometimes in high quantities, so much so that harvesting these precious metals from salvaged appliances is a booming business, especially in third-world countries. See this post on how idolatry is clutched by nearly everyone in America today in the form of personal devices. Idolatry is not a practice that got left in antiquity when we stopped making animal figurines. It very much continues on an even more pervasive scale today.
Even though God is not readily visible (we have to seek Him out), nor easily proved (His existence requires faith, not facts) does not mean that He is not real. Furthermore, His word stands true forever, so what is written in the historical record of the Bible was true, is true, and will be true in the future. Self-identified church-attending Christians are in denial about how much they practice idolatry. Not only that, but as Americans fall further and further away from belief in God, our citizens are bold about denying the existence of God at all.
God tolerates this behavior and practice no more today than He did when the Jewish nation was expunged from the Holy Land, several times over. He clearly states in the scriptures that if we forsake Him, He will not only forsake us, but He will allow the ‘wild beast to tear them [us], [we] he will know pain like a woman in labor, [we] he will lose his children, [our] his spring will dry up, [we] they shall fall by the sword, [our] their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and pregnant women will be ripped open’.
This sounds like Islamic practice. And it is happening very, very close to us! It is happening to Jews, and our Christian brethren in all parts of the world, and has even happened here, on American soil.
Islam has declared war on us, whom they call ‘infidels’. But instead of fighting their war their way, we must cling to God because God promises us in His covenant with us that if we love Him with our heart, soul, and might; and love our neighbors as ourselves above all else, “Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. ~Leviticus 26:8”
We cannot fight a war on our own and win. We have exalted ourselves because our lives became easy as Americans, and we neglected and forgot about God; as the Jews before us also had done and were punished. Only with God we will stand strong and be invincible.
~selah
~Song of Mary~ 