Hosea 12:2

2 God is bringing charges against Israel. Jacob's children are hauled into court to be punished.

Hosea 12:2 Meaning and Commentary

Hosea 12:2

The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah
The two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, as well as the ten tribes; for though they had ruled with God, and had been faithful with the saints in the first times of the apostasy of Israel; yet afterwards they sadly degenerated, and fell into idolatry likewise, particularly in the time of Ahaz, in which Hosea prophesied; and therefore the Lord had somewhat against them; nor would he spare them, but reprove them by the prophets, and rebuke them in his providences; bring them to his bar, and lay before them their evils, and threaten them with punishment in case of impenitence, as follows: and will punish Jacob according to his ways;
all the posterity of Jacob, whether Ephraim or Judah; those of the ten tribes, or of the two, who all descended from Jacob: or, "will visit according to his ways" ^F19; if right, and agreeably to the mind and word of God, in a way of grace and mercy; but if wrong, crooked, and perverse, then in a way of punishment; for visiting is used both ways: according to his doings will he recompense him;
as they were good or bad; if good, will reward them with a reward of grace; if bad, with vengeance. The Targum paraphrases it,

``according to his right works.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 (wykrdk-dqpl) "ad visitandum juxta vias ejus", Pagninus, Montanus; "visitabit secundum vias ejus", Piscator.

Hosea 12:2 In-Context

1 Ephraim, obsessed with god-fantasies, chases ghosts and phantoms. He tells lies nonstop, soul-destroying lies. Both Ephraim and Judah made deals with Assyria and tried to get an inside track with Egypt.

2 God is bringing charges against Israel. Jacob's children are hauled into court to be punished.

3 In the womb, that heel, Jacob, got the best of his brother. When he grew up, he tried to get the best of God.

4 But God would not be bested. God bested him. Brought to his knees, Jacob wept and prayed. God found him at Bethel. That's where he spoke with him.

5 God is God-of-the-Angel-Armies, God-Revealed, God-Known.