Hosea · chapter 12 of 14
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Hosea 12 charges Ephraim with feeding on wind, multiplying falsehood and violence, and making covenants with Assyria and Egypt. It recalls Jacob, who wrestled with God and wept and pleaded for his favor at Bethel, as a model for what Israel should do: return to its God, hold fast to love and justice, and wait for him continually. It denounces false balances and unjust wealth.
Hosea 12 reviews the history of the patriarch Jacob to speak to his descendants, the people of Israel. Jacob, who deceived and wrestled, is both a warning and a hope: the one who struggled with God ended up weeping and seeking his favor. The chapter joins a criticism of dishonest merchants with an urgent call to return.
Ephraim feeds on wind and pursues the east wind; all day long he multiplies falsehood and violence. He makes a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried to Egypt. The Lord has an indictment against Judah and will punish Jacob according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds. In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God. He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favor. He met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with us: the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord is his memorial name.
So you, return to your God, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God. But Ephraim is a merchant with false balances in his hand, who loves to oppress. He says: Ah, but I am rich; I have found wealth for myself; in all my labors they cannot find in me iniquity that is sin. God answers that he has been the Lord their God since the land of Egypt and will again make them dwell in tents, as in the days of the appointed feast.
He says he spoke to the prophets and multiplied visions, and through the prophets gave parables. Gilead is iniquity, and in Gilgal they sacrifice bulls; their altars are like stone heaps on the furrows of the field. Jacob fled to the land of Aram, and there Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he guarded sheep. By a prophet the Lord brought Israel up from Egypt, and by a prophet he was guarded. Ephraim has given bitter provocation; therefore his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him and repay him for his disgrace.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Ephraim feeds on wind and pursues the east wind, multiplying falsehood and violence and making covenants with Assyria and Egypt. Chasing security in human alliances is running after something that cannot be caught.
Jacob wrestled with the angel and prevailed, wept and pleaded, and at Bethel found God. The patriarch was strong when he gave in: his victory was seeking the favor of the one with whom he had struggled.
Return to your God, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God. The call sums up the response God expects: to return, to live with love and justice and to trust without interruption.
Ephraim is a merchant with false balances who claims to have become rich without sin. Unjust wealth and self-justification combine in a person who can no longer see his own sin.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Wind: he pursues the east wind and multiplies falsehood and violence. — Hosea 12:1
Answer: With Assyria, and oil is carried to Egypt. — Hosea 12:1
Answer: He took his brother by the heel. — Hosea 12:3
Answer: He wept and pleaded, and at Bethel he found God. — Hosea 12:4
Answer: To return to your God, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for him. — Hosea 12:6
Answer: The Lord, by a prophet. — Hosea 12:13
Hosea 12 invites us to look at our spiritual history honestly. Jacob was a man who wrestled and deceived, and still God met him at Bethel. That memory can give hope to those who know they are imperfect and also warn those who want to keep deceiving. In a small group you can share how God met us in the middle of our struggles.
The chapter also speaks of honesty at work: false balances are a form of oppression, and self-justification is dangerous. Ask in the class which practices in your own workplace, small or large, are a false balance today. And verse 6 remains a program for life: return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait always for God.
Hosea 12 ends with the people who have bitterly provoked their Lord. In Hosea 13 God compares himself to a lion, a leopard and a bear while announcing the fall of Samaria, and still leaves a question about death that anticipates the final victory.
He mentions that Jacob took his brother by the heel in the womb (Genesis 25), that he wrestled with God or the angel at Peniel (Genesis 32) and that he met God at Bethel (Genesis 28 and 35). He also recalls his service in Aram for a wife. Hosea uses them as a mirror for his descendants.
It is an image of useless effort: wind neither feeds nor can be caught. Hosea uses it to describe the political alliances with Assyria and Egypt, and the deceit with which the people seek security.
They were places of worship in the northern kingdom where sacrifices were offered that God did not accept. Hosea says their altars are like heaps of stones on the furrows of the field, that is, plentiful and worthless.