Impending Doom for the Rebellious

When the sin of pride and arrogance have run their course, the final stage is to be helpless yet unwilling to cry out for God’s help. This persistent refusal of God’s help had become a habitual pattern. This is a malady that has contemporary manifestations today.

Our problem today is that we tend to worship what gives us security. We put our trust in people and things. They become our idols when we seek from them what only God can provide. We were created to trust God, love people, and use things.

Our rebelliousness, resisting God’s help for so long, leads us into a pattern of living that does not acknowledge that we even have a need. But this is not a place of joy and peace, but of fear and uncertainty.

The stark reality for Israel is that those who persistently refuse the Lord’s help are given what they wanted: no help.

I. Israel’s fall from Privilege, 13:1-3.

A. Israel’s Past, verse 1.

At the start, Ephraim was the favored of all the sons of Israel. This started in Genesis 48:13-20

Genesis 48:13–20 NASB95

Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right, and brought them close to him. But Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, crossing his hands, although Manasseh was the firstborn. He blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, The angel who has redeemed me from all evil, Bless the lads; And may my name live on in them, And the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; And may they grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.” When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on Ephraim’s head, it displeased him; and he grasped his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn. Place your right hand on his head.” But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know; he also will become a people and he also will be great. However, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.” He blessed them that day, saying, “By you Israel will pronounce blessing, saying, ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh!’ ” Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh.

The first king of the Northern Kingdom was Jeroboam I, a descendant of Ephraim. They were a strong tribe in the north, the head of the other tribes in the north. Their folly was leading the other tribes in Baal worship. Because God would judge idolaters, they were as good as dead

Exodus 20:4–5 NASB95

“You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,

B. The Present, verse 2.

Yet Ephraimites and the other Israelites had continued to sin more and more, making molten images and carved idols of silver.

Under Jeroboam I, the worship of the calves.

Under Ahab, the worship of Baal,

Now, the multiplying of other idols, making beautiful idols made by skilled craftsmen for their construction. Then they professed their devotion and paid homage to their creations by kissing the images.

There is a bronze statue of Peter in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Some Roman Catholics who visit this statue kiss the big toe of Peter. The rest of the statue has been relatively unaffected by time, but the big toe of Peter shines brightly because of the constant kissing that has kept its patina bright. (Constable).

C. The Future, verse 3.

Their commitment to their idolatry would would have certain results: God’s judgment will make idolators quickly vanish. They are pictured like fog or dew in the morning, chaff from the threshing floor or smoke from a window that the wind blew away. This speaks of the swift, sure judgment that was coming to Israel.

II. Israel’s fall from Protection, 13:4-14.

A. Lord will change from Helper to Destroyer, verses 4-8.

Verse 4 Is the LORD’s reminder that He has been their God since the Israelites lived in Egypt, where they started out as a large family and grew to become a nation. He had commanded them not to acknowledge any other gods beside Himself. Deut 11 28

Deuteronomy 11:28 NASB95

and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following other gods which you have not known.

Becoming idolators would only be frustrating and futile, bringing on the curse promised by the LORD. To abandon the only Savior is to doom oneself to no salvation, John 6 68

John 6:68 NASB95

Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.

The LORD did not just save Israel; He cared for Israel in the wilderness, providing for them water and manna throughout their sojourn, bringing them to the Promised Land.

But once they got there and began to enjoy the rich pastures, it was not long before they became self-satisfied, proud, and forgot their God. The trap Israel fell into is one that is still alive and well today, namely the trap of prosperity, often being a greater temptation to depart from conscious dependence on God than adversity is.

Their behavior brings the LORD’s promise that He will behave like an enemy of His people. The LORD will be like a lion or leopard laying in wait until the right moment to attack a sheep grazing in rich pasture. He will confront Israel like a mother bear crazed by the loss of her cubs, see Prov. 17:12

Proverbs 17:12 NASB95

Let a man meet a bear robbed of her cubs, Rather than a fool in his folly.

The LORD will tear Israel open like a bear and consume them like a lioness. These animals were all wild animals native to Canaan, notorious for the relentless manner they sought and killed their prey.

Though the LORD had only desired to help them, by turning against the LORD, the Israelites had done something that would bring these results: The LORD will become their destroyer rather than their Helper.

B. Lord rejects Israel’s leaders, verses 9-11.

J. Vernon McGee said of verse 9:

“We often blame God for what happens to us. When you feel like that, this is a good verse to turn to. You have destroyed yourself, and you are responsible for your condition. But you can get help from God; He will furnish help to you.”

Instead of the LORD as their king, the people rejected Him as their king seeking one like all the other nations. They looked in hope for their king and his princes to deliver them from their enemies.

God gave them kings: first Saul, 1 Samuel 8:4-9

1 Samuel 8:4–9 NASB95

Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah; and they said to him, “Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations.” But the thing was displeasing in the sight of Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. The Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them. “Like all the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought them up from Egypt even to this day—in that they have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you also. “Now then, listen to their voice; however, you shall solemnly warn them and tell them of the procedure of the king who will reign over them.”

Later, the northern Kingdom chose her own kings who were not descendants of David, 1 Kings 12:16-20

1 Kings 12:16–20 NASB95

When all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, “What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse; To your tents, O Israel! Now look after your own house, David!” So Israel departed to their tents. But as for the sons of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death. And King Rehoboam made haste to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day. It came about when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, that they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. None but the tribe of Judah followed the house of David.

God’s anger came against Israel. He gave them Jeroboam I as their king, but He wanted all 12 tribes to remain under the authority of the Davidic king (Rehoboam). Each northern king proved ineffective in their role because they did not trust in the LORD, so the LORD removed them, one by one, which also made Him angry. These Ephraimite kings had followed the way of King Saul, and later King Jeroboam I, so God continued to remove kings until none were left. God’s plan was for His people to enjoy peace and prosperity. Israel’s sins and bad times, brought about by all these kings of the Northern Kingdom were unnecessary and displeasing.

C. Lord will hide His compassion from Israel, verses 12-14.

God would not look favorably on Israel; He would not forget their sin. They were rolled up in a bundle, much like a scroll, and stored up like a treasure. It was the hard evidence that God possessed that condemned the nation.

Stubbornly, Israel refused to leave its comfortable sin, like a baby refusing to come out of the warm, dark comfort of a mother’s womb. Yet the infant that does that would die in the womb. Israel, stubbornly refusing to repent and turn back to the LORD, would sooner die rather than leave her sins. Maybe they thought the proper time for repenting had not yet come? It is the tribe of Ephraim, including its leaders in Samaria, who caused the death of the whole nation.

The rhetorical questions the LORD asks in verse 14 are answered with a resounding no—compassion will be hidden from His sight; He will have no pity on them. Death is appealed to for the purpose of tormenting the Israelites, tearing them like a thorn bush; the Grave is called upon (like a hornet) to sting them fatally.

Later in history, God did provide a ransom for His people from the power of the grave , and He redeemed them from Death when Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose again, This future redemptive work for His people meant that death would not be the end for Israel, even though judgment in the near future was inevitable.

1 Corinthians 15:55 NASB95

“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

Paul applied this couplet to resulting effect of Christ’s redemption on all of God’s people. Death and the grave are not the final judgment and home of the believer. God did provide redemption for His people, and promised a glorious future, beyond His punishment for sin, for His own people—both for Israelites and for Christians.

Here in Hosea, the promise is that Israel would indeed suffer death and the grave, not that she would escape from it. Paul turns the passage around and showed that Jesus Christ’s resurrection overcame the judgment and death that are inevitable for all sinners.

III. Israel’s fall from Prosperity, 13:15-16.

Here is what results with the removal of the LORD’s compassion: Israel’s prosperity would come to an end. The change is described by Hosea as a hot eastern desert wind that is sweeping over Israel, drying up all its sources of water. Their brief time of flourishing is done; now Assyria would be like a sirocco, sweeping over Israel from the east and causing the nation to wither, All that was valuable in the land would be plundered by the Assyrians.

Verse 16 is the first verse of chapter 14 in the Hebrew Bible, yet has a very clear connection to what precedes it. The LORD will hold Samaria, the king’s city in the Northern Kingdom, a metonym for Israel, guilty for rebelling against her covenant LORD and God.

The soldiers of Israel would die in battle, Lev 26:25

Leviticus 26:25 NASB95

‘I will also bring upon you a sword which will execute vengeance for the covenant; and when you gather together into your cities, I will send pestilence among you, so that you shall be delivered into enemy hands.

Israel’s children would experience unmerciful executions, Deut 28:52-57

Deuteronomy 28:52–57 NASB95

“It shall besiege you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout your land, and it shall besiege you in all your towns throughout your land which the Lord your God has given you. “Then you shall eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters whom the Lord your God has given you, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you. “The man who is refined and very delicate among you shall be hostile toward his brother and toward the wife he cherishes and toward the rest of his children who remain, so that he will not give even one of them any of the flesh of his children which he will eat, since he has nothing else left, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you in all your towns. “The refined and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and refinement, shall be hostile toward the husband she cherishes and toward her son and daughter, and toward her afterbirth which issues from between her legs and toward her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of anything else, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you in your towns.

The Assyrians would even cut open her pregnant women with the sword, killing both mother and unborn child. This was done to make it impossible for the coming generation to eventually rise up and rebel against the conqueror.

The LORD had warned Israel. Now there was nothing left but His judgment for His rebellious people. Israel’s persistent, willful independence brought them to the state of not being able to cry out for God’s help. Verse 4 reminds us, “there is no savior besides Me.”