Hosea 11:12 – 12:6 Ephraim has surrounded me with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit, but Judah still walks with God and is faithful to the Holy One. 12:1 Ephraim feeds on the wind and pursues the east wind all day long; they multiply falsehood and violence; they make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried to Egypt.
2 The LORD has an indictment against Judah and will punish Jacob according to his ways; he will repay him according to his deeds. 3 In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God. 4 He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favor. He met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with us- 5 the LORD, the God of hosts, the LORD is his memorial name: 6 “So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.”
Introduction: A Transition
After a brief respite in chapter 11, in chapter 12 Hosea turned his attention back to naming Israel’s egregious sins—the source of God’s kindled jealousy and the cause of her imminent destruction.
Hosea 12:2 begins a new section in this book and 11:12-12:1 serve as a transition between the old and the new. One of the key differences between this new section and the previous one is Hosea’s shift from recounting places/events (Gibeeah, Peor, Gilgal, Bethel, etc.) in Israel to the people of Israel (Jacob, Moses, Saul, etc.). In both cases Hosea used Israel’s history to explain her present. And in both cases Hosea wanted the Israelites to see that they were bearing the fruit their fathers planted. In other words, by recounting the horrible events that took place at Gibeah, Peor, Gilgal, and Bethel (which we’ve seen), as well as the lives/sins of Jacob, Moses, and Saul (which we’re about to see), Hosea hoped to help the Israelites understand the seriousness of her sin and the justice of God’s coming wrath. Truly, the sins of her past (sins in specific places and of specific people), were coming to maturity in her present.
As we consider Israel’s sin and folly, personified in Jacob’s sin and folly, the main point is this: Our sin is great, but God’s grace is greater still. It’s great enough to rescue, reconcile, and sustain. Let’s pray, then, that God would cause us to look to Him, our only but certain source of salvation.
Foolish Lies and Wind Eating (11:12-21:1)
Think for a moment about the most foolish thing you could do. I’ve pulled off some doozies in my day (pressure tank). I’m sure you have too. But what’s the most foolish thing you could possibly do? I’m not sure it’s even possible to answer that question, but in Hosea 11:12-12:1, Hosea lists two things that would probably be near the top of any biblically informed list. Look with me again at the text.
11:12 Ephraim has surrounded me with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit, but Judah still walks with God and is faithful to the Holy One. 12:1 Ephraim feeds on the wind and pursues the east wind all day long; they multiply falsehood and violence; they make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried to Egypt.
Did you catch the foolishness of Israel? Do you see the two things I have in mind? Israel attempted to deceive the omniscient God and hunt wind for dinner. Those must be two of the most ridiculous things anyone could attempt.
Filled with Lies
In the first half of 11:12 we cannot miss the divine accusation of a collective lifestyle of falsehood. “Ephraim has [not just lied, but] surrounded me with lies.” Indeed, the entire “house of Israel [implied: has surrounded me] with deceit.” Everywhere and always Israel was consumed with consciously manipulating facts to suit her own purposes. In this passage Hosea doesn’t mention what specific lies he had in mind, but the rest of the book clears that up.
The primary lie that Israel had come to believe was the lie that there were things to be desired apart from God. Even good, God-given things like fertility and bountiful harvests and romantic love (each of which Israel had given herself entirely over to) lead to sin when they are pursued for their own sake and above God. And because Israel had fallen into that lie, she chased after those things through whatever means possible. At the time of Hosea’s prophecy she had forsaken God and was looking for them (fertility, harvest, and love) in earthly rulers and nations, in ways opposed to God’s design, and even in other gods.
Here’s the thing, Grace—please learn this now if you haven’t already—if you could have everything you ever wanted—every toy, relationship, piece of candy, sexual exploit, financial gain, athletic accomplishment, disease healed, wardrobe item, 10+ point buck, and social media like—but not have God, you have nothing. Those things—the things Israel had given herself entirely over to, and the things you and I can so easily give ourselves over to as well—can only promise but never deliver. In spite of the lies of the evil one, those things are never the source of our happiness. They can never provide what we go to them for.
On the other end of the spectrum, God plus nothing equals everything. God is glorious beyond measure and above all things. In His great love, God made you and me (and all people) to glorify God and enjoy him forever. This is not merely a job description (what God calls us to do); it is also an ontological reality (who God is and how God designed us to be). In other words, what Israel failed to realize was that glorifying God and enjoying him forever is the only way we will ever be whole, complete, fulfilled, and satisfied. God is God, He made us for God, and, therefore, in him alone can we find that for which we were made and so deeply long.
Israel had forgotten this and fully embraced the lies that anything was more valuable than God and that true satisfaction could be found in anything apart from God. Indeed, Israel’s falsehood multiplied as she continued to convince herself of her lies. Worse still she imagined that she had convinced God as well…utter folly.
Wind Eating
The second primary expression of Israel’s folly mentioned in this passage is the fact that she had committed herself to pursuing and feeding on wind “all day long.” We see this in the first half of 12:1.
Ephraim feeds on the wind and pursues the east wind all day long…
We saw another version of this in Hosea 8:7, “For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.”
Even the youngest child in this room knows two things about wind: 1) It cannot be caught, and 2) It cannot nourish. I remember a classmate of mine in kindergarten trying to convince me that when you add up a lot of zeros, eventually you will get something (albeit a very small something he conceded). That, of course, is ridiculous; the same kind of ridiculousness that convinces someone that if you chase wind for long enough, you will catch it, and if you eat enough wind, eventually it will fill you up.
The point is simple: Israel had given herself entirely over to lies, which meant that she had given herself entirely over to futility. We simply cannot believe things that are not true and live lives of significance. Everything based on a lie will result in vanity.
And the result of all of this (her lies and her commitment to futile pursuits) was (as we read in the second half of 12:1) multiplied violence and covenant unfaithfulness (with God). Israel’s lies and wind-chasing/eating produced the fruit of assaults on one another and unauthorized agreements with pagan nations. She looked to Assyria and Egypt for help rather than God. She imagined Assyria and Egypt could provide for her needs rather than God. She paid tribute to Assyria and Egypt rather than God.
And so we must learn, once again, from Israel’s folly. Grace, give yourself to the truth of God’s Word that you might find the lies that you believe and avoid the multiplied misery we see in Israel. And Grace, give yourself to God, and all other things according to his design, that you might avoid the penalty for treason we see in Israel.
Again, these two verses serve as a transition from one section in the book to another. And, although the point of both sections is the same (describing the unfaithfulness of Israel that kindled God’s jealous love and ensured her destruction), Hosea took a different tact to accomplish his point in this next section; namely pointing to specific people in Israel’s past as examples
The Example of Jacob (12:2-6)
The first of these is Jacob (Israel) and is found in 12:2-6). Let’s turn there now.
2 The LORD has an indictment against Judah and will punish Jacob according to his ways; he will repay him according to his deeds. 3 In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God. 4 He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favor. He met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with us…
To set the context, let me remind you of Jacob’s story. God made a covenant with Abraham (to bless him and multiply his offspring, and to bless the whole world through him). God promised Abraham—a man far too old, and married to a woman far too old, to have kids—that he would have a son. Indeed, he did. Abraham had Isaac. And then his son Isaac had a son, Jacob. And this Jacob is the one to whom Hosea makes reference.
In spite of the fact that Jacob was the descendant of Abraham, and one through whom the promise of God would be kept, he had anything but a spotless life, especially as it related to his brother. Even within his mother’s womb, Jacob was a troublemaker.
Genesis 25:22-26 The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the LORD. 23 And the LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.” 24 When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. 25 The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau. 26 Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob [Jacob means ‘he grasps’].
Throughout his life, Jacob was a constant thorn in Esau, his older brother’s, side. At the end of that same chapter (25), Jacob exploited his brother’s hunger to purchase his birthright. And then by chapter 27 Jacob’s manipulation and deceit were on full display as he tricked his father Isaac into blessing him instead of Esau. He went so far as to put animal fir on his arm and imitate his brother’s cooking techniques to fool their dying, blind father.
As a result of his treachery, Jacob fled Esau for fear of his retribution. In his wanderings, in a passage we read at our Ebenezer service, Jacob had a dream in which he met with God and came away amazed by God’s nature and promises. He awoke from the dream and exclaimed, “How awesome is this place! It is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven” (Genesis 28:17). He named that place Bethel, which means “the house of God.”
Sometime later, Jacob determined to return to his hometown and beg his brother for forgiveness. On his way back he actually wrestled with God (Genesis 32:22-32). That was where his name was changed to “Israel”. In a strange series of events, Jacob found a way to gain another unwarranted blessing from God in this scene.
And that brings us back to our text in Hosea. In order to make His indictment (lawsuit, charge, accusation) against the northern tribes of Israel clear, Hosea drew the Israelite’s attention back to these aspects of Jacob’s—their name’s sake’s—life. God would repay Israel according to her deeds (we learn in v.2), but God wanted to make sure that Israel knew which deeds he held against them and where their only hope of rescue was found.
Israel was a deceiver, just like Jacob. Israel was a manipulator, just like Jacob. Israel sought personal gain through any means available, just like Jacob. Israel fought with God, just like Jacob. God revealed himself to Israel, just like Jacob. Essentially, God said, “I have an indictment against you that goes all the way back to your name’s sake.”
But Grace, that’s not all they had in common. God offered Israel a rescue from her treachery, just like Jacob.
5 the LORD, the God of hosts, the LORD is his memorial name: 6 “So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.”
Both Jacob and Israel deserved nothing but God’s wrath for their sin. And yet, even now, after all they had done, God pleaded with Israel through Hosea to return to God. And in their context that especially meant holding fast to love and justice, rather than the greed and manipulation they had given themselves to.
But how could they do that when it had proven so illusive and undesirable in the past? Where would they find the will and strength to return to God?
Once again, the answer is the grace of God. By his own name, his memorial, covenant name, God would help them do so. They needed God’s grace and he would give it if they sought it with all their hearts.
I love Tim Chester’s thoughts on how God means us to fight for grace with grace. He reminds us that all grace comes from God’s initiative. We would never seek it if God did not take the initiative. And then, most helpfully yet, Chester suggests that God takes the initiative in two ways. First, “God makes Himself weak so He can bless us.” God made Himself weak in that he let Jacob prevail in the wrestling match in order that Jacob could gain God’s blessing. And God made himself weak on the cross so that we could gain God’s blessing.
Second, “God makes us strong so He can bless us.” Again, God made Jacob strong so he could win and the Israelites strong (“by the help of your God”) so she could return to God. And God makes you and I strong, by the power of His Spirit, as we’ll see in a moment, that we might do what he requires of us.
If by God’s grace, Jacob, Israel, and you and I would turn to God and seek his grace, God has promised that in His timing he will rescue his people in a way that he alone, the LORD, the God of hosts, can.
Conclusion: A Contemporary Warning
Having seen a close up of Israel’s sin and folly, personified in Jacob’s sin and folly, the main point remains: Our sin is great (it always has been), but God’s grace is greater still (and it always will be). I’d like to close by briefly mentioning two specific implications of this for you and I today: 1) We’ve already fallen into the same pit of rebellion and nothing but the cross of Jesus can get us out, and 2) After being rescued from the pit by Jesus, nothing but the Word and Spirit of God can keep us from falling back in.
We’ve Already Fallen into the Same Pit of Rebellion and Nothing but the Cross of Jesus Can Get Us Out
As I’ve mentioned countless times already, it can be so easy for you and me to look back at the lying, deceiving, wind-chasing and eating, violent, idolaters of Hosea 11:12-12:6 and think “What fools! Thank you God that I am not like them. Their folly and sinfulness of their actions is so obvious, how could they possibly have been so deceived?”. On one hand that response makes sense. Their sin is obvious and disgusting, they should have recognized that, and we are different from them in a number of ways. On the other hand, however, the Lord Jesus warned us of thinking like that in parable in Luke 18:10-14.
Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Grace, our sins might not look exactly like those of Hosea’s hearers, but the fact remains that every one of us has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Every one of us, apart from the grace of God, stands equally guilty before God. Every one of us, therefore, deserves the same fate that the Israelites were about to experience—divine destruction.
What’s more, our only hope of being rescued from this pit of rebellion is Jesus Christ. We cannot climb out of it on our own and we cannot hold back the wrath of God that we’ve incurred on our own. We need Jesus, the God-man, to save us and reconcile us with God. There is no other way. But thanks be to God that it is a sure and sufficient way. All who look to Jesus, confessing their sin, will find forgiveness and freedom in God.
Nothing but the Word and Spirit of God Can Keep Us from Falling Back In
But that’s not the end of our need or the end of God’s grace; there’s more of both. Our need is not only to be rescued and restored. It is also to be kept and preserved. If we were left to our own wisdom and strength to stay out of the sin-pit Jesus has rescued us from, we’d quickly and eagerly dive right back in…just as the Israelites did time and time again. Truly, nothing but the Word and Spirit of God is sufficient to keep us from falling back into the pit that Jesus saved us from.
The Word of God alone definitively describes the path of life. And therefore the Word of God alone must be our guide for living in a manner pleasing to God. Our common sense cannot safely guide us. Our age and experience cannot safely guide us. And all the wisdom of this age cannot safely guide us. God’s Word alone is the light unto our path and the lamp unto our feet. God’s Word alone is sufficient for life and godliness. God’s Word alone reveals to us who God is, who we are, and what God requires of us. In it, God has given you and me everything that we need to know to glorify and enjoy him forever!
Give yourself to the Word of God, therefore. Read it, pray it, obey it, let your worship be entirely informed by it. Give yourself to it every day, not as a means of earning God’s favor, but as God’s given means of knowing what his favor is and that you have it.
And yet, armed with God’s Word, but without the strength of the Holy Spirit, we’re still doomed. Again, thanks be to God that on account of the cross of Jesus, God’s people (by grace through faith) will never be without the illuminating and sustaining strength of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives inside of all who are trusting in Jesus to strengthen us for all that God requires of us. God’s grace is truly greater than all our needs.
Look not to your own strength, then, but to that which God has provided in the Third Person of the Trinity.
Grace, as we are about to head into Advent, please remember from Hosea, from the Israelites, and from the cross of Jesus: Our sin is great, our need is great, but God’s grace in Jesus Christ is greater still.
“So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.”