Hosea 12:9-14 - He will repay him for his disgraceful deeds

12:9,10

The Lord then introduces Himself, reminding them that He brought them out of Egypt. “I will make you live in tents again”, this is a reminder to them of the time in the wilderness and the Feast of Booths (Lev 23:43). This time the wilderness would be the exile the nation would endure. The Hebrews wandered through the wilderness because they had failed to enter the Promised Land when they should have done. They had again failed to “enter the Promised Land”. Although they lived in geographic Israel, they did not live by the Laws of God. Living in the Promised Land is not just a matter of geographic location, but a matter of knowing God and walking with Him. The same applies to us today. We must never view the gospel as just about “things”, it is about knowing God.

12:11

NIV and ESV translate the first part of this quite differently, NIV says:  “Is Gilead wicked? Its people are worthless!”, whereas ESV has “If there is iniquity in Gilead, they shall surely come to nothing:” Whatever the correct translation, the key point is the link between wickedness and futility. Going against God’s ways never produces anything good in the end. Maybe Gilgal was a place great activity, with many altars, and bulls being sacrificed there, but this would prove equally worthless. Man’s efforts in godless activities may look superficially impressive, but they ultimately amount to nothing at all.

12:12-14

God now reminds them of Israel’s history. Jacob served for two periods of seven years in order to get a wife (he actually ended up with two, but didn’t really want the first). Jacob worked to gain his wife. God likens this to how He rescued Israel from Egypt. He used a prophet (Moses) to bring her up out of Egypt, and to care for her. The caring for her was the giving of the Law, instructing her on how to live. But Ephraim had rejected all this, and do would experience the Lord’s anger and suffer her due punishment.