Hos 12:1 | KingComments | STEP | After the beautiful Hosea 11, in which we find so much love and promise from God for His people, this chapter focuses again on the sin of Israel. In a renewed attempt to make the people aware of their sinful condition, Hosea speaks about their father Jacob. Different events in Jacob’s life should make the people think. The prophets are also mentioned. They have spoken on behalf of God. Moses is the most important of them. He led them out of Egypt. He is also a picture of the Lord Jesus, Who will deliver His people in the last days from all the powers that oppress them. Ephraim makes a tremendous effort to keep himself standing between Assyria and Egypt, the political superpowers of those days. The foolishness of this is indicated by the prophet by saying that Ephraim “feeds on wind”. Now, how can you feed on something as elusive as wind? The pursuit of wind indicates how vain the hope is that rests on people. How unteachable is the people – and that goes for every human being – who, despite the disappointment that the search for help with people always brings, look for help with people the next time. This pursuit not only gives no advantage, but even has a major disadvantage: it works its own downfall. That is why it is not only the feeding on the wind, which indicates the futility of the efforts, but is also referred to as the east wind. This east wind, or sirocco, is the scorching wind from the wilderness, which, like a scourge, strikes down upon the harvest and destroys it (cf. ). Israel’s persistent attempts to seek help from neighboring countries are also evidenced by the fact that they are working on it “continually”. Earlier, the complaint has been made that they keep on making covenants ( ). They make a covenant with Assyria and also try to get Egypt on their hand by supplying them with oil. Their whole policy is to play off these superpowers against each other ( ). In this we can also observe the unreliability of Israel. Sometimes they deal with Egypt, sometimes with Assyria, as it suits them.

‏ Hosea 12:1

Introduction

After the beautiful Hosea 11, in which we find so much love and promise from God for His people, this chapter focuses again on the sin of Israel. In a renewed attempt to make the people aware of their sinful condition, Hosea speaks about their father Jacob. Different events in Jacob’s life should make the people think.

The prophets are also mentioned. They have spoken on behalf of God. Moses is the most important of them. He led them out of Egypt. He is also a picture of the Lord Jesus, Who will deliver His people in the last days from all the powers that oppress them.

The Folly of Political Covenants

Ephraim makes a tremendous effort to keep himself standing between Assyria and Egypt, the political superpowers of those days. The foolishness of this is indicated by the prophet by saying that Ephraim “feeds on wind”. Now, how can you feed on something as elusive as wind? The pursuit of wind indicates how vain the hope is that rests on people. How unteachable is the people – and that goes for every human being – who, despite the disappointment that the search for help with people always brings, look for help with people the next time.

This pursuit not only gives no advantage, but even has a major disadvantage: it works its own downfall. That is why it is not only the feeding on the wind, which indicates the futility of the efforts, but is also referred to as the east wind. This east wind, or sirocco, is the scorching wind from the wilderness, which, like a scourge, strikes down upon the harvest and destroys it (cf. Hos 13:15).

Israel’s persistent attempts to seek help from neighboring countries are also evidenced by the fact that they are working on it “continually”. Earlier, the complaint has been made that they keep on making covenants (Hos 10:4). They make a covenant with Assyria and also try to get Egypt on their hand by supplying them with oil. Their whole policy is to play off these superpowers against each other (2Kgs 17:3-4). In this we can also observe the unreliability of Israel. Sometimes they deal with Egypt, sometimes with Assyria, as it suits them.