Hosea 13

Hosea 13:1-16 . EPHRAIM'S SINFUL INGRATITUDE TO GOD, AND ITS FATAL CONSEQUENCE; GOD'S PROMISE AT LAST.

This chapter and the fourteenth chapter probably belong to the troubled times that followed Pekah's murder by Hoshea (compare Hosea 13:11 , 2 Kings 15:30 ). The subject is the idolatry of Ephraim, notwithstanding God's past benefits, destined to be his ruin.

1. When Ephraim spake trembling--rather, "When Ephraim (the tribe most powerful among the twelve in Israel's early history) spake (authoritatively) there was trembling"; all reverentially feared him [JEROME], (compare Job 29:8 Job 29:9 Job 29:21 ).
offended in Baal--that is, in respect to Baal, by worshipping him ( 1 Kings 16:31 ), under Ahab; a more heinous offense than even the calves. Therefore it is at this climax of guilt that Ephraim "died." Sin has, in the sight of God, within itself the germ of death, though that death may not visibly take effect till long after. Compare Romans 7:9 , "Sin revived, and I died." So Adam in the day of his sin was to die, though the sentence was not visibly executed till long after ( Genesis 2:17 , 5:5 ). Israel is similarly represented as politically dead in Ezekiel 37:1-28 .

2. according to their own understanding--that is, their arbitrary devising. Compare "will-worship," Colossians 2:23 . Men are not to be "wise above that which is written," or to follow their own understanding, but God's command in worship.
kiss the calves--an act of adoration to the golden calves (compare 1 Kings 19:18 , Job 31:27 , Psalms 2:12 ).

3. they shall be as the morning cloud . . . dew--( Hosea 6:4 ). As their "goodness" soon vanished like the morning cloud and dew, so they shall perish like them.
the floor--the threshing-floor, generally an open area, on a height, exposed to the winds.
chimney--generally in the East an orifice in the wall, at once admitting the light, and giving egress to the smoke.

4. ( Hosea 12:9 , Isaiah 43:11 ).
no saviour--temporal as well as spiritual.
besides me--( Isaiah 45:21 ).

5. I did know thee--did acknowledge thee as Mine, and so took care of thee ( Psalms 144:3 , Amos 3:2 ). As I knew thee as Mine, so thou shouldest know no God but Me ( Hosea 13:4 ).
in . . . land of . . . drought--( Deuteronomy 8:15 ).

6. Image from cattle, waxing wanton in abundant pasture (compare Hosea 2:5 Hosea 2:8 Deuteronomy 32:13-15 ). In proportion as I fed them to the full, they were so satiated that "their heart was exalted"; a sad contrast to the time when, by God's blessing, Ephraim truly "exalted himself in Israel" ( Hosea 13:1 ).
therefore have they forgotten me--the very reason why men should remember God (namely, prosperity, which comes from Him) is the cause often of their forgetting Him. God had warned them of this danger ( Deuteronomy 6:11 Deuteronomy 6:12 ).