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The Book of Hosea Chapter 13:1–16 13:1 When Ephraim spoke, trembling, He exalted himself in Israel; But when he offended through Baal worship, he died. (NKJVTM) I have chosen the NKJV ‘when Israel spoke with trembling’ rather than the NET ‘when Israel spoke there was terror’ because it makes better sense in the context. When Israel walked in the fear of God (a holy trembling at the awesomeness of God is implied, worship characterised by true piety) he was exalted as a true ‘prince with God’ (the meaning of ‘Israel’). However, the same nation or even the same person who has once been exalted by reason of their being a true worshipper of God may even then fall from grace. Ephraim turned to idols, and this is what brought about his destruction (Heb 6:4–6; 2 Pet 3:17).
13:2 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 kiss the calves!” (NKJVTM) ‘Even now’ at the time of the prophet’s message, when God had faithfully appealed to them and warned them again and again of the consequences of their sin, they continued to defy him. The verse shows that further to the introduction of national idols by Jeroboam, the people were now making their on private idols, the work of men’s hands, and adhering to pagan religion. They urged each other on to pagan worship—the phrase ‘Let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves’ could be paraphrased (as in the GNB) as an instruction to others: ‘Sacrifice to them (the idols), worship the (golden) calves!’ But the Psalmist says something similar, that idol worshippers become like their idols, dumb and blind and useless (Ps 115:4–8).
13:3 Therefore they will disappear like the morning mist, like early morning dew that evaporates, like chaff that is blown away from a threshing floor, like smoke that disappears through an open window. Because of its sin Israel would be removed from the land, as swiftly and as fully as when the morning mist evaporates before the rising sun, or the dew evaporates from the grass, or the smoke from a fire vanishes up the chimney.