131 When Ephraim speaketh tremblingly, He hath been lifted up in Israel, When he becometh guilty in Baal he dieth. 2 And now do they add to sin, And make to them a molten image of their silver, By their own understanding—idols, A work of artizans—all of it, Of them they say, who 'are' sacrificers among men, 'The calves let them kiss.' 3 Therefore they are as a cloud of the morning, And as dew, rising early, going away, As chaff tossed about out of a floor, And as smoke out of a window. 4 And I 'am' Jehovah thy God from the land of Egypt, And a God besides Me thou dost not know, And a Saviour—there is none save Me.
5 I—I have known thee in a wilderness, In a land of droughts. 6 According to their feedings they are satiated, They have been satiated, And their heart is lifted up, Therefore they have forgotten Me, 7 And I am to them as a lion, As a leopard by the way I look out. 8 I do meet them as a bereaved bear, And I rend the enclosure of their heart.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Hosea 13:1-8
Commentary on Hosea 13:1-8
(Read Hosea 13:1-8)
While Ephraim kept up a holy fear of God, and worshipped Him in that fear, so long he was very considerable. When Ephraim forsook God, and followed idolatry, he sunk. Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves, in token of their adoration of them, affection for them, and obedience to them; but the Lord will not give his glory to another, and therefore all that worship images shall be confounded. No solid, lasting comfort, is to be expected any where but in God. God not only took care of the Israelites in the wilderness, he put them in possession of Canaan, a good land; but worldly prosperity, when it feeds men's pride, makes them forgetful of God. Therefore the Lord would meet them in just vengeance, as the most terrible beast that inhabited their forests. Abused goodness calls for greater severity.