Hosea Chapter 13 "Ephraim's Glory Vanisheth. A Promise of Mercy." This Bible Study is written by Roger
Christopherson, and made available with written
permission by http://www.theseason.org Hosea 13:1 "When Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died." When "Ephraim" was the larger of the ten tribes of the "House of Israel", and spoke with authority, the other tribes listened and trembled. Ephraim was a Great Nation at one time. However, when Ephraim chased after "Baal worship", which is another way of saying idolatrous worship, the whole nation fell apart. The sins of Ephraim caused the other tribes to follow, and God disowned the whole "House of Israel". Today, these people, the offspring of the ancient House of Israel, don't know who they are, nor where they came from. The only thing they do know of their past is that they are "Caucasian". This word for the race, "Caucasian" ties them into the larger group, which centuries before Christ's birth, came through the Caucasus Mountains to escape from Assyria. These people are the old "House of Israel"; scattered by the Assyrians, then escaping through the Caucasus mountains, migrated into Western Europe nation to the Americas. Ephraim was cut away by God, and this Book of Hosea is written to give the details of what God is going to do to Ephraim and the other tribes of Israel [Christian nations]. Israel is lost to herself, but not to God, and today many are waking up to that truth. Hosea 13:2 "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 key word in this verse is the word, "understanding". This is written to the generation that is living way into the future, in the final generation. It is addressing what these people will become, and today we are that generation. We know that understanding, which is a form of wisdom, comes from our knowledge. Not only do we have much knowledge, but today we have the ability to put that knowledge to work for us. When we go into a store, we see all the applications of our knowledge in use for us. It is also from the gained worldly knowledge, that much of the worship form comes from in most of your churches today. We rely on "reason and understanding", and what we create, to form the idolatry called "church" today. It is not God's way. "Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves." Kissing was fundamental in all heathen idolatry. Kissing has its roots of the Latin "ad-orare", which means "to bring something to the mouth". This form of Kissing the calves, which is the start of creating other forms of worship, started in the tenth century before Jesus Christ's birth. The kingdom became split in two following King Solomon's death. The two new nations, called "Houses", that came out of Solomon's kingdom, were Israel [to the north], and Judah. [see I Kings 12:20-33} I Kings 12:28 tells us how King Jeroboam had two calves made, so the ten tribes of the "House of Israel" would not have to travel to Jerusalem to worship God in the manner God required of them. This was done to keep the influence of the "House of Judah" from influencing the Israelites in the North. It became "easy religion". Hosea 13:3 "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." This is the way that the "get quick, three minute religion" works. The new converts are left with a large void, where all their worldly things once filled their minds and hearts. This "morning dew" is gone when the heat of the sun hits it. The "chaff" has no weight, or anything to hold it, and when the wind comes, it blows it away. The "smoke" rises out of the chimney when the heat is under it, then it blows away. These are three examples God is using to show us what will happen to those converts that have not had God's Word to fill the void of their worldly ways. What are you learning in your services, is it enough to hold you when the evil forces come against you. Watch out for those ministers who hold a portion of the Scriptures back, and say "it is not to be understood". This is the final generation, and all the Scriptures are to be studied. Hosea 13:4 "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." Stop playing religion, for Christianity is not a religion, but a reality. To you and I, that reality is to know God as a person, and not as some strange external force. We know God through His Son, Jesus Christ, who have His life for the purpose of breaking down that barrier of sin that stood between God and all men. Now we can approach our God directly in Jesus Christ's name, and we need no other god or religious form of idolatry. God is telling us, through Hosea's writing, that He wants to be your God, and for you and I to rely wholly upon Him. Hosea 13:5 "I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought." God is reminding us how He took care of our ancient forefathers in the wilderness. He gave a cloud by day, to keep the hot sun off their heads; then by night God gave them a pillar of fire, to warm them in the cold of the desert. God guided them, protected them, fed them with manna, where he took food from His angels to feed them. He showed them miracle after miracle to prove Himself to those stiff- necked ancient forefathers, yet they murmured and grumbled. God loves His children very much, and they take Him so lightly. You can see it in those "poor me faces" moping in the churches of today. They cannot see how God is working in their lives, when the have everything they need. Hosea 13:6 "According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me." When you do everything for your child, and allow them to do nothing in return, your going to spoil them. That is exactly what God is saying happened to the Israelites. He fed them, filled them, and filled their every need, and they became spoiled in their "good times" pastures. Hosea 13:7 "Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe them:" God is saying here, is that this unthankfulness is the way they are going to be, He will be a lion to them. God will not be their shepherd, but as a leopard to them, always watching them. Just like a leopard, watching the paths to the water sources, for it's prey. When they stumble by, Go says He will take them. Hosea 13:8 "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." The time to leave a bear alone is when she is looking after her little cubs. The attack will be as a lion, ripping and tearing as a wild beast. In most places in the Scriptures, the heart refers to the mind, however, that is not the case here. The "caul" is the enclosure, or also called the "Pericardium", which is the sack around the heart. God then is saying, "I'm going to hurt you, and get to your very heart, in order to get your attention to come back to Me." When we get into the ways of the "good life", we over-look God, and our worship and thankfulness to Him. God is going to allow, and watch as we destroy ourselves in all that we do. Much of our physical problems come from our own physical lusts. Hosea 13:9 "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help [that thou art against me, against thy help]." God is our help, even to this day. When we call to Him in repentance and for help, He is there. The word "destroyed" comes from the Hebrew word, "Shahath", which is used for the word "corrupted". Most of the corruption we witness today in all levels of our society, is caused from within. It has been allowed to increase to a point where, it's called "good business", or "a good time", or even "the way we do things" and you can add many other expressions. In short, it's sin and against God's ways, and all men [women] will be held accountable for what they do or say. God is available to you at any time you chose. You can turn to Him, and He will then become your help, and not your judge; if you believe in His Word. Hosea 13:10 "I will be thy king [where now is 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?" As we look over our nation, and in all our cities, do you see anyone, or thing that can save us? No, quite the opposite, crime and murders are so common, it is becoming an accepted fact. Rather then the salvation within our cities, it is becoming the death to our cities. The question is then asked; "where is thy wise council [judges] to find a king or a prince?" meaning to save you. There is only one wise council that can save us, and He is Jesus Christ our Lord. All other council will lead you astray. Hosea 13:11 "I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath." Israel kept begging for a worldly king, like the heathen nations around her. So God gave them King Saul. God was angry then, for He wanted to be their King and protectorate. God guided them through His written word by the prophets. However, Israel was not satisfied, because they wanted a man as a figure head to give orders. They felt it is easier to bow to a man, and give the blame to someone else. They did not have faith and trust [required by God], but eyes and ears to follow as sheep. When idolatry reached it's very heights, under King Joash, when Kings were killing all their brethren and anyone who could challenge them on the throne, God's wrath put an end to it all. God used the Assyrian army to subdue and scatter Israel. Hosea is the prophet that God used to foretell Israel of what God was going to do to them. This is why most of what is written relates directly back to the first three chapters dealing with Hosea, his whoring wife, and their three children with odd names. Hosea 13:12 "The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up ; his sin is hid [laid up in store]." Ephraim's iniquity is tallied up. That means God has a record of all those sins. "His sin is hid", means it is reserved for a certain time in judgment, when their will be a time when all sins will be paid for. As that is, except for those covered, and blotted out by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hosea 13:13 "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." Israel is compared to a child being born in the womb of a woman. Instead of coming and being born on time, he holds back to long, and all sorts of problems are brought about. He spends to much time being "born again", when in the true statement should read, "born from above". Whereby they know where all their blessing flows, and the source of all salvation. Israel simply doesn't know his line of parentage, back to the promise that God gave their father Abraham, of which they are a part of. We are to be knowledgeable of God's plan, and how we are to fit into it. Hosea 13:14 "I will ransom them from the power of the grave [Sheol]; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues [where are thy plagues?]; repentance shall be hid from mine eyes." "Ransom" here is better translated "redeem", from the Hebrew text. God is promising, "I will destroy death". Hebrews 2:14 tells us why Jesus Christ came to this earth. "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." [verse 2:14] Jesus came to destroy sin, the grave, that is death, which is the devil. God said I will never change my mind in accomplishing that. See also [I Corinthians 15:50-58]. Hosea 13:15 "Though he be fruitful among his brethren, and east wind shall come, the wind [breath] of the Lord [Jehovah] shall come up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain of all pleasant vessels." Many manuscripts start off the fourteenth chapter of Hosea with this verse. This "east wind" that comes, in the Hebrew text is "Kadim", and is not a swift scorching wind, but a soft, seducing wind. A wind of deception from the east [eastern religions]. In taking the true meaning, the "Assyrian", for in the final days, Antichrist is called "the Assyrian" as well as many other names by Ezekiel 14th chapter. This is how Antichrist will come; as a soft and soothing wind, bathed in eastern deceptions. When Antichrist comes, the truth of God's Word will be dried up, those springs and fountains flowing from God to us will be gone. Satan's world system will dry up all treasures that the true man of God holds dear. The "treasures of pleasant vessels", refers to the cup of the Holy Communion. How can this be? This is because Antichrist will claim to be the true Christ, and when you take communion with him, as the whole church world will; as Daniel wrote in Daniel 9:27. "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week [with Satan]: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease,..." The sacrifice and oblation is your communion services, and they will stop. This is because all will believe they are with Christ, because of their ignorance of God's Holy Word. Only those with the seal, or true knowledge of God, and His plan, will stand. The Church world of today will follow Satan in ignorance, and never know the difference until it is to late. Hosea 14:16 "Samaria shall become desolate [bear and guilt]; 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." "Samaria" means "Watch tower" in the Hebrew. There will be no watchmen, or people to protect the truth word of God, Kenites are leading the people with their lies. God's truth will be gone, and our land will become desolate which is void of God's word. This is exactly what happened to the ancient "House of Israel" seven hundred years before Christ. Then in the latter days, in our generation, it will happen again in a spiritual sense. The spiritual life of the land will become desolate for the true word of God. It will be swallowed up in a godless one world form of government, where worldly forms of reason, emotions, and false religious form will replace God's Holy Word. "Man will do what is right in the sight of his own eyes." He becomes his own judge, rather than doing what God's word tells us we should do. Children today, are being taught from the heathen school system they teach and guide Children reject the living God, and the environment which is feeding the minds of the youth with emptiness, we are witnessing this verse in action today. However, notice the last phrase, "their infants shall be dashed in peaces." Have you ever seen how the butchers, which call themselves doctors, dismantle, and tare to peaces the innocent body of a unborn infant. They crush it, and dismantle it piece by piece, as they remove it from their mothers womb. It's worse than a wild animal seeking it's prey. We have a soft [eastern wind] word for those seeking to murder their children today. It is called "Choice". Would you select your pet to be slaughtered is such a fashion, never, it's against all laws, as it should be. But to the unborn the "Kenite" law protects the the "wild beast" [doctors], while they practice their butchery. Mothers commit their bodies into the hands of these doctors [wild ones], to allow their knives to slaughter their little ones in the womb. Remember what God said in verse 12? He is keeping a tally of those sins, and all will be accountable directly to Him. Don't allow yourself to be under God's wrath and judgment for such sins committed. Repent your sins to God, in Jesus Christ's name, and ask God's forgiveness . In verse 9, we were told He is always there, waiting for us to come back to Him, and seek His forgiveness so He can be our help, our strength and our God.
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