1 When Ephraim speaketh tremblingly, He hath been lifted up in Israel, When he becometh guilty in Baal he dieth.
And they forsake all the commands of Jehovah their God, and make to them a molten image -- two calves, and make a shrine, and bow themselves to all the host of the heavens, and serve Baal, and cause their sons and their daughters to pass over through fire, and divine divinations, and use enchantments, and sell themselves to do the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, to provoke Him; That Jehovah sheweth himself very angry against Israel, and turneth them aside from His presence; none hath been left, only the tribe of Judah by itself.
And he saith, `I have not troubled Israel, but thou and the house of thy father, in your forsaking the commands of Jehovah, and thou goest after the Baalim; and now, send, gather unto me all Israel, unto the mount of Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the shrine, four hundred -- eating at the table of Jezebel.'
And Ahab son of Omri hath reigned over Israel in the thirty and eighth year of Asa king of Judah, and Ahab son of Omri reigneth over Israel in Samaria twenty and two years, and Ahab son of Omri doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah above all who `are' before him. And it cometh to pass -- hath it been light his walking in the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat? -- then he taketh a wife, Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Zidonians, and goeth and serveth Baal, and boweth himself to it, and raiseth up an altar for Baal, in the house of the Baal, that he built in Samaria; and Ahab maketh the shrine, and Ahab addeth to do so as to provoke Jehovah, God of Israel, above all the kings of Israel who have been before him.
`Jehovah -- God of the spirits of all flesh -- appoint a man over the company, who goeth out before them, and who cometh in before them, and who taketh them out, and who bringeth them in, and the company of Jehovah is not as sheep which have no shepherd.' And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Take to thee Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom `is' the Spirit, and thou hast laid thine hand upon him, and hast caused him to stand before Eleazar the priest, and before all the company, and hast charged him before their eyes, and hast put of thine honour upon him, so that all the company of the sons of Israel do hearken. `And before Eleazar the priest he standeth, and he hath asked for him by the judgment of the Lights before Jehovah; at His word they go out, and at His word they come in; he, and all the sons of Israel with him, even all the company.' And Moses doth as Jehovah hath commanded him, and taketh Joshua, and causeth him to stand before Eleazar the priest, and before all the company, and layeth his hands upon him, and chargeth him, as Jehovah hath spoken by the hand of Moses.
The standard of the camp of Ephraim, by their hosts, `is' westward; and the prince of the sons of Ephraim `is' Elishama son of Ammihud; and his host, and their numbered ones, `are' forty thousand and five hundred. And by him `is' the tribe of Manasseh; and the prince of the sons of Manasseh `is' Gamaliel son of Pedahzur; and his host, and their numbered ones, `are' two and thirty thousand, and two hundred.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Hosea 13
Commentary on Hosea 13 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 13
The same strings, though generally unpleasing ones, are harped upon in this chapter that were in those before. People care not to be told either of their sin or of their danger by sin; and yet it is necessary, and for their good, that they should be told of both, nor can they better hear of either than from the word of God and from their faithful ministers, while the sin may be repented of and the danger prevented. Here,
Hsa 13:1-4
Idolatry was the sin that did most easily beset the Jewish nation till after the captivity; the ten tribes from the first were guilty of it, but especially after the days of Ahab; and this is the sin which, in these verses, they are charged with. Observe,
Hsa 13:5-8
We may observe here,
Now all this teaches us,
Hsa 13:9-16
The first of these verses is the summary, or contents, of all the rest (v. 9), where we have,
Now, in the rest of these verses, we may see,