Hosea Chapters 12 through 14

Hosea Chapters 12 through 14

This is the last installment of our series of presentations on the prophecy of Hosea. Throughout the prophecy, we have seen a common theme, which is also common in the other Biblical prophets: that the children of Israel were about to suffer a great calamity, and were being cast off from the Kingdom and polity of Yahweh their God because of their sin, but that they had a promise of a later reconciliation in Christ. Here in these last chapters, Hosea continues with that same theme, allowing us to further reflect upon much of what has already been presented these past few weeks, and although his words are quite foreboding, he ends with a message of hope, a hope which we still bear to this very day.

KJV Hosea 12:1 Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt. 

At Hosea 2:5 it is explained that Israel's national sin was related to Israel's desire for foreign trade: “For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.”

Hosea 3:1, from the Septuagint, also elucidates this very thing: “And the Lord said to me, Go yet, and love a woman [who represents Israel] that loves evil things, an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, and they have respect to strange gods, and love cakes of dried grapes.” 

Hosea 8:7-11: “7 For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up. 8 Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Nations as a vessel wherein is no pleasure. 9 For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers. 10 Yea, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes. 11 Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin.” As Paul said of “Israel according to the flesh” in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, the things that the nations sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God.

Ephraim sought out trade and discourse with Assyria and with Egypt, and therefore Yahweh punished Ephraim by giving the nation over to Assyria and back into the captivity that was suffered anciently in Egypt. Ephraim sewed the wind and reaped the whirlwind. Ephraim feeds on that wind (the trade winds), and does not look to Yahweh his God for sustenance. Today China is our Assyria. The world is our Egypt. Because we forsook Yahweh's commandment to be a separate people, we are held captive by Mystery Babylon: the great satanic international mercantile beast system, because we sought the trade of other peoples, thereby respecting the false gods of those peoples.

2 The LORD hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him. 

We see Judah is not out of scope, but that Yahweh would deal with Judah separately. The reference to Jacob is a reminder that all of Israel, Ephraim and Judah, would be punished for their iniquity.

3 He [Jacob] took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God: 4 Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us; 

The name Jacob comes from a Hebrew phrase which means "heel holder" or metaphorically "supplanter". The name was initially given to Jacob because of the circumstances of his birth, described in Genesis 25:25-26: “25 And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau. 26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.”

Much later in the lives of Jacob and Esau and after Jacob had taken his blessing, at Genesis 27:36 we read that Esau said this: “Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing.”

Because the name Jacob may mean "supplanter", when Jacob received the blessing from his father, Esau said “Is not he rightly named Jacob?” Esau then plotted to kill Jacob for what had happened, because he saw that Jacob had supplanted him. Yet Esau should of realized that Jacob's supplanting of him in the birthright and the blessing was Providential, because of his own actions resulting from his demonstrated contempt for his birthright and blessings. Jacob was not really to blame for Esau's losing these things, Esau himself was.

Jacob “had power over the angel, and prevailed”. In Genesis chapter 31, when Jacob was in Syria, an angel of Yahweh appeared to him and told him: “I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred [meaning the land of his parents and his brother].” In Genesis Chapter 32, where Jacob had departed the house of his father-in-law and went south to the land of Canaan, he knew that he was about to meet his brother, Esau, who years ago had conspired to kill him. This is evident at Genesis 27:41: “And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.” Jacob, fearing that his brother would attempt to perform this vow, entering into the land had first split his camp up in fear of his meeting with his brother, Esau. Doing this, Jacob traveling between the two camps was left alone. 

Here is the rest of the account, from Genesis 32:24-32: “24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. 25 And when he [the man] saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. 26 And he [the man] said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he [Jacob] said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. [So there would be no retribution.] 27 And he [the man] said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. 28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. 29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. 30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. 31 And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. 32 Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.”

Jacob prevailed with God, because Jacob had the favor of God. Like a child prevails with his father, Jacob was granted the favor of God, because Jacob obeying his parents sought God's will in guiding his own life, as opposed to his brother Esau who despised his birthright and the promises to his fathers, and sought his own pleasures. We are not told much about the angel, (or simply messenger). Evidently the angel tested Jacob, and Jacob arose to the test, therefore prevailing even over the angel of God. Regardless of what one wants to think about the angel, Jacob had feared seeing Esau, and here Jacob is tested even beyond those fears, but he prevails because he had the favor of God.

The angel indeed had the power to defeat Jacob. The angel merely touched Jacob's thigh, and put it out of joint. Yet Jacob did not relent in his struggle, and that is how Jacob prevailed over the angel. The lesson is, I believe, a message to Jacob, that no matter what odds he faced, he would prevail so long as he put up a fight, because he had the favor of God. Yet even with the favor of God, giving up the fight was not an option. Jacob prevailed because he continued the fight, even when his leg was out-of-joint, which was a great disadvantage.

With that lesson, Jacob should have known likewise, that because of that same favor he would also overcome Esau, and therefore had no need to fear him. When we are tested, we are not tested as a lesson for God, that He may see how we react to our trials. God needs no lessons from man. Rather, when we are tested, we are tested as a lesson to ourselves, that we see how we fail, or how we prevail, and we should learn to conduct our lives accordingly.

4 Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us; 

All of Genesis chapter 28 is instrumental in seeing why Jacob had the favor of God, and why Esau did not. At the end of Genesis chapter 27, after Rebekah helped Jacob obtain the blessing of the first-born from his father, a blessing which his father meant for Esau, Rebekah explains why she did it, at Genesis 27:46: “And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me?” Esau had already taken wives of the Hittites, and Rebekah knew that was wrong. Here we shall continue with Genesis chapter 28: “1 And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. 2 Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother. 3 And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people; 4 And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham. 5 And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padanaram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother. 6 When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padanaram, to take him a wife from thence; and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan; 7 And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padanaram; 8 And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father; 9 Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife. 10 And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. 11 And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. 12 And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. 13 And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. 16 And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. 17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. 18 And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. 19 And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first. 20 And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, 21 So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God: 22 And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” 

Jacob obeyed his parents, cared for his birthright, and did as he was told. He was told by his father that if he obeyed, he would receive the promises to Abraham, and he did. This also validates Paul's much later assertions, that Jacob alone out of all the seed of Abraham was the recipient of the Abrahamic Covenant, and he was. Even having seen this, Esau took to his own devices rather than inquire of his father what he should have done, and so his failure continued. At Bethel, the promise which Isaac made to Jacob concerning the blessings of God were made immediately evident. We, like Jacob, must obey God if we desire to enjoy His blessings. If we disobey, we shall endure a much harder trial, and be brought along a much more difficult path to repentance. We may have to wrestle with many “angels”.

5 Even the LORD God of hosts; the LORD is his memorial. [Yahweh is Jacob's memorial, in the sense of His continued offerings of favor towards Israel.] 6 Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually. 7 He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress.

The Hebrew word for Canaan was originally from a root which meant to humiliate or vanquish, but apparently became synonymous with the idea of trafficking at some point in ancient Hebrew history. That alone should tell us just who the merchants of the earth truly are. Verse 7 here may mean more than what it appears to say, and here are readings from various sources:

GNV, Hosea 12:7 He is Canaan: the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loueth to oppresse.

LXX, Hosea 12:7 As for Chanaan, in his hand is a balance of unrighteousness: he has loved to tyrannize.

NASB, Hosea 12:7 A merchant, in whose hands are false balances, He loves to oppress.

The NASB is seemingly the most literal, but the pronoun whose is added, and it is not necessarily the most correct. The Septuagint is quite literal and correct, speaking of the Greek. Overall the sentence seems to be ambiguous, however that may be purposely so. It was the prospect of Jacob's mixing with the Canaanites which his parents feared most, and here the descendants of Jacob have begun to do that very thing, for which they are also going to be punished.

8 And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance: in all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin. 9 And I that am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast.

“Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance”: Israel was to be a separate people, and they would obtain the endless blessings of God. Yet Israel turned to trade and intercourse with the despised peoples of the earth, as all the other Genesis 10 nations had already done, and therefore Israel would lose all of the wealth it had gained in this manner. Israel became a merchandising nation. "A merchant shall hardly keep himself from doing wrong; and an huckster shall not be freed from sin." - Sirach 26:29

Israel would be made to live in tents, as they had done in Egypt. The fulfillment of this was over the one-thousand year period to come, during which time the Kimmerian and Scythian children of Israel lived in virtual poverty – as the Greek writers attest – as nomads on the steppe and in the forests of northern Europe. The very word Scythian seems to be an indication of the fulfillment of this prophecy. Skuthos in Greek, plural Skuthoi, the word was apparently not used by Assyrians or Persians, is not a native Greek word, and therefore the Greeks – who also called the Scythians after the Assyrian word Kimmerians or the Persian Sakans, must have gotten the word for Scythians from the Scythians themselves. It seems that Scyth, or Skuth, the ending of the word being Greek, can only be from the Hebrew word for tabernacle, which is succoth, the people calling themselves after their manner of dwelling.

10 I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets. 

So we have a wealth of recorded prophets around this time, notably Isaiah, Amos, Jonah, and Joel, in addition to Hosea. Micah and Nahum followed very shortly after, and they were followed shortly after by Habakkuk and Zephaniah. All of the other prophets came much later, and their ministries were centered around the fall of Judah and Jerusalem, or the return and the 70-weeks Remnant Kingdom. Yahweh raises prophets as He sees a need to warn the people. There were prophets in the time of David and Solomon, aside from the well-known Samuel, Elijah and Elisha, however either works were not committed in their name, or we do not have their writings today. 1 Chronicles 29:29 mentions alongside Samuel both: “the book of Nathan the prophet, and ... the book of Gad the seer”, so there are two early books of the prophets which we cannot identify today.

11 Is there iniquity in Gilead? surely they are vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields. 

The sacrifices would do the nation no good, its punishment for its iniquity is sealed, and there is no help except for any mercy which Yahweh their God may offer them in their captivity.

12 And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep. 

This is another reference to Genesis chapter 28, and another reason why reading this, and seeing why Israel was being punished, we must look to why Jacob was first considered worthy of the favor of God in the first place - and a solution is found only in a return to that original behaviour. "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." - 2 Chronicles 7:14. Our father Jacob found favor in obedience to God and to his parents. Honor thy father and mother, so that thou shalt have long life upon the earth. We must do likewise, and Hosea is our warning once again. For we too, like the Israel of Hosea's time, have become a nation of whores for the commerce of aliens, and we are in danger of once again losing our national identity and heritage because of our whoredom.

13 And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved. 14 Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly: therefore shall he leave his blood upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him.

Israel was delivered from the captivity in Egypt through the hands of Yahweh's prophet Moses, and Israel was preserved in the land of Canaan through the hands of Yahweh's prophet Joshua. Now Israel is being delivered into Assyrian captivity, and is warned by Yahweh's prophet, Hosea. The idea of bitterness in Hebrew was used metaphorically of rebellion. Therefore the beginning of verse 14 may be rendered “Ephraim provoked to anger most rebelliously”. Therefore his sin will be evident, and the Assyrian – his new lord, the word being the Hebrew word adon – shall be the rod of Yahweh's anger, as we read in Isaiah 10:3-5: “3 And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory? 4 Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. 5 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.”

KJV Hosea 13:1 When Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died. 

James 4:10: “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” Submitting oneself to the will of God, that is true humility. When we submit ourselves to Yahweh God, He exalts us. When we rebel against His Word, He humbles us. Israel was a great nation because it was a just nation, and a just nation is one that is obedient to God. When Israel went off into sin, it degenerated. The American experiment is also a failure for that very reason, and now it is in degeneracy. The idea that a nation could be both great and immoral is a jewish conception, and it cannot last, or even exist. You cannot have a great society in immorality, it will no longer be great but rather it will destroy itself in its sin. Immorality is satanic and destroys every nation which experiments with attempts to give it any legitimacy.

I wrote in my article, Philthadelphia, that “Jeffersonian Liberalism held the ideal that a God-fearing Christian nation could govern itself, and should therefore be free of the tyranny of either church or monarch. Jewish liberalism has taken God out of the nation, and imposed a tyranny that either church or monarch could only envy.” In a God-fearing nation, people generally govern and police themselves, there is no need for tyranny, and a free and just society flourishes. In a degenerate and immoral nation, where sin is upheld by law and so-called “rights” for deviants and aliens are legislated into existence, tyranny naturally results because those so-called “rights” are unnatural and must be forced upon the people. In the modern world, a police state is the inevitable result of a degenerate state.

2 And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves. 

The molten calves and other idols of paganism are only representations of the foul practices that accompanied those pagan religions. The results of these sins are evident in Hosea 5:5-9: “5 And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them. 6 They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD; but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them. 7 They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: for they have begotten strange children: now shall a month devour them with their portions. 8 Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: cry aloud at Bethaven, after thee, O Benjamin. 9 Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be.”

One result in following the idols of the other nations was the begetting of strange children - the products of race-mixing. Here we also see Gibeah mentioned. At Hosea 10:9 it is written: “O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah: there they stood: the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them.” The battle of Gibeah was begun when the tribe of Benjamin defended the immorality of certain “men of Belial”. Race-mixing and sexual immorality, these are the sins which idol-worship led the children of Israel off into.

Today as a society we mass-produce idols, and set them up all over our houses. We do not see it as idol-worship, but it is, when we follow the behavioral patterns which the idols represent. We sit in front of the television or in the theater and we absorb all of the ungodly filth that comes from the jews controlling the entertainment and media industry. They are the new baal priests. They condition us into accepting - even to the point of defending - race-mixing and other forms of sexual immorality. They push every form of deviancy off on society as if the behaviour was normal. They promote the most degenerate people as “stars” and lure the minds of our children away from us. Wherever we allow these modern-day baal priests into our homes, we shall have degeneracy of one form or another being promoted to us. 

The word culture itself has the word cult at its core. The word cult describes a particular form of religious worship, and you cannot develop a culture without a common religion. Moral degeneracy is the new baal religion for pop culture, and pop culture is jewish in nature, brought to us by the jews who control Hollywood and the rest of the media and entertainment industry. Godlessness is their religion. Jewish godlessness is destroying Christendom. In ancient Israel, Jeroboam had instituted the idolatrous religion of the golden calves so that he could maintain political power in Israel, and he appointed priests of the scum of the land to maintain it. Today the nature of change in our religious practice is far more subtle, and organized Christianity has been turned into a baal religion gradually, through legislation, through tax incentives, through the gradual infiltration of academia, through a corruption of the seminaries, through a corruption of the fundamental literature which was achieved because jews have come to control much of the publishing industry, and through the promotion of the scum of the land into its most prominent positions - those who would go along with the promotion of the jews and their godless, immoral agenda. The Scofield and Bullinger Bibles, which drastically changed the attitudes of Christians towards favoring the accursed jews and away from the true message of Christ, are two examples of how the major Christian sects were infiltrated and turned into a modern-day baal religion. Christianity has been corrupted, and therefore the new baal worship, pop culture, is the dominant lifestyle. There will be no healing of any Christian nation until the television, the movies, the magazines, the newspapers, the pulp novels, and anything else that promotes decadence and this new baal worship are gone from the homes of Christians everywhere. We must cast off our idols before we can ever expect the mercy of our God.

3 Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney. 

Israel will be punished severely, however they will not be destroyed altogether. There is still the promise of restoration found in Hosea 1:10: “Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.”

4 Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me. 

Yahweh is our saviour, and there is no other. Yahweh our God is Yahshua Christ our Saviour and Redeemer. The apostle Thomas looked at the resurrected Christ and knew this immediately, addressing Him as “My Lord and my God!” Yahshua Christ is both the root and the branch of Jesse, both the Creator God and God Incarnate as a man. 

Isaiah 43:11-12: “11 I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour. 12 I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God.”

Isaiah 45:21-22: 21 Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. 22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.

The reference to “all the ends of the earth” is only a reference to the fact that the people of God were to be spread to all of the ends of the earth. This was expressed in the provenance of God long before it actually happened, as early as Deuteronomy chapter 33 where Moses says that “His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.”

1 Samuel 2:1-10: “1 And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation. 2 There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God. 3 Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. 4 The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. 5 They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble. 6 The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. 7 The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up. 8 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD'S, and he hath set the world upon them. 9 He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail. 10 The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

Jeremiah 30:11: “For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.”

The fulfillment of all of these things is now, and has been over the last twenty centuries. It is the Saxon and Keltic peoples who were ancient Israel scattered among the Adamic nations of Asia and Europe, and it is they who returned to God in Christ. It is their recovery and restoration to Him which is the theme throughout this prophecy of Hosea. It is our promise that when we follow Him, that we shall be exalted, and that He will destroy all of those who oppose His will for us. In the end, we shall indeed be a separate people, because He has promised to make a full end of all the other nations, a promise which is repeated many times in Scripture.

5 I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought. 6 According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me. 

In good times, we easily forget about our God. In good times, we seek profligacy and wantonness. In hard times or in times of crisis, only then do we see calls for prayer and repentance. This is our own most common form of hypocrisy. If we had a humble and repentant attitude all of the time, we would not so readily be led off into sin.

7 Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe them: 8 I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them. 

All of our wars and other travails which we have suffered throughout our history are due to our national disobedience and rebellion from our God. These things are a natural result of the ungodly path which our ancestors had taken.

9 O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help. 10 I will be thy king: where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes? 11 I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath. 

Our ancient ancestors rejected Yahweh God as King, and sought an earthly king. We have it now, in our documented history, that no matter what government of man we set up, it becomes corrupt, because man cannot fashion a perfect government. We are taught to believe that theocracy is oppressive, and that is a jewish teaching so that the jew can rule over us. We must learn from all of this, that Christ is King, and He is our only hope from the challenges we face this day.

12 The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is hid. 13 The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him: he is an unwise son; for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of children. 

The words “the place” are an interpolation of the King James translators. Here we shall read two alternate versions, the NASB and Brenton's Septuagint, which is a fair translation of the Greek in this instance:

NASB Hosea 13:13 The pains of childbirth come upon him; He is not a wise son, For it is not the time that he should delay at the opening of the womb.

LXE Hosea 13:13 Pains as of a woman in travail shall come upon him: he is thy wise son, because he shall not stay in [or abide in] the destruction of thy children.

Ephraim, the name standing for the Israelites of the divided kingdom, had been destroying his children with his idolatry. Here, with either reading, there is a promise that Ephraim would be forced to cease from this behaviour, that his children are not destroyed. The promise of future children for Israel is seen in Isaiah 66:8: “Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.” The children described here by Isaiah are all the tribes of the dispersion, which soon after appear in European history as the Parthian and Scythian and Kimmerian and Saxon Germanic people.

14 I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes. 

Where the King James version has repentance, the NASB has compassion, and the Septuagint Greek consolation. However here the subject is not Israel, but death and the grave. This too, is both a Messianic prophecy and a promise of restoration to Israel.

The apostle Paul, speaking to the Corinthians, who themselves were descended from Israelites who were dispersed long before Hosea's time, said this at 1 Corinthians 1:54-58: “54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

15 Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an east wind shall come, the wind of the LORD shall come up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up: he shall spoil the treasure of all pleasant vessels. 16 Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.

This is an immediate prophecy concerning ancient Israel, and its destruction at the hands of the Assyrians. Today we see that we are once again in a state of decadence, and while we still have a hope of salvation, and an even stronger hope than our ancient ancestors did, we cannot take for granted that we shall not suffer a similar and sudden destruction for these same sins. We are told in the Revelation that Mystery Babylon, which is the world system of commerce controlled by our satanic adversaries, shall fall in an hour. For that reason we are warned: “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (Revelation 18:4).

Reading from 2 Corinthians 6:14: “14 Do not become yoked together with untrustworthy aliens; for what participation has justice and lawlessness? And what fellowship has light towards darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Beliar? Or what share the faithful with the faithless? 16 And what agreement has a temple of Yahweh with idols? For you are a temple of the living Yahweh; just as Yahweh has said, 'I will dwell among them, and I will walk about; and I will be their God, and they will be my people.' 17 On which account 'Come out from the midst of them and be separated,' says the Prince, and 'do not be joined to the impure, and I will admit you'. 18 'And I will be to you for a father, and you will be mine for sons and daughters, says the almighty Prince.' 7:1Therefore having these promises, beloved, we must cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and of Spirit, accomplishing sanctity in awe of Yahweh.”

KJV Hosea 14:1 O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.

Our destruction is the natural result of our sin.

2 Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips. 

Both the Septuagint Greek and the NASB render the Hebrew word for calves metaphorically, as fruit. The phrase may be a double-entendre, referring also to the calves which were idols in Israel, that if Yahweh were to remove the iniquity, His people were also to remit to Him by removing the idolatry from their mouths.

His promise to remove iniquity is found in Christ. Once we, being children of God, if indeed we are children of Israel, accept Christ and follow Him, then we have no sin: as the apostles John and Paul both told us, that even if we do sin as all men occasionally sin, that sin will not be imputed to us.

3 Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy. 

Idols have no power to grant either salvation or mercy.

4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him. 5 I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. 6 His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. 

Lebanon was, at one time, a much more fertile place than it is now. In the ancient Epic of Gilgamesh, a piece of literature perhaps 4000 years old, Lebanon is described as a vast and thick forest of cedars stretching all the way to the seacoast. The Biblical phrase “cedars of Lebanon” made a lot more sense at that time than it does now.

7 They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon. 8 Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found.

This happened, when the Germanic tribes accepted Christianity, and especially with the Reformation when the idols of Roman Catholicism were done away with. It took two thousand years to accomplish!

9 Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.

We have hope in Christ. We only have hope in Christ. For many centuries now, under our own monarchies, and then later in this age under the illusion of self-government, everything that we have done has been infiltrated and corrupted by those eternal enemies of God known today as jews. We return to Christ, or we fall with the jew, because the jews, and all of the enemies of Yahweh our God, all of the goat nations, are on a path to perdition, and perdition they shall find.

Obadiah 1:15-18, from the NASB: “15 For the day of the LORD draws near on all the nations. As you have done, it will be done to you. Your dealings will return on your own head. 16 Because just as you drank on My holy mountain, All the nations will drink continually. They will drink and swallow, And become as if they had never existed. 17 But on Mount Zion there will be those who escape, And it will be holy. And the house of Jacob will possess their possessions. 18 Then the house of Jacob will be a fire And the house of Joseph a flame; But the house of Esau will be as stubble. And they will set them on fire and consume them, So that there will be no survivor of the house of Esau, For the LORD has spoken.”