Having Made His Appeal For Repentance Hosea Now Indicates That Ephraim Are So Confident In Themselves That Their Only Hope Will Be After They Have Been ‘Brought Down A Peg Or Two' (Hosea 12:8-14).
This passage opens with Ephraim's boast about their own righteousness. The whole attitude is in contrast with Hosea 12:7. There they were depicted as traders who were dishonest and shady in their behaviour. Here Ephraim boast about their absolute honesty. They are confident that no fault can be found in them. YHWH therefore emphasises that because they are altogether false (Hosea 12:11) He will bring them out of their rich houses into tents, as in wilderness days (Hosea 12:9), and will force them to go into a foreign country where they will have to engage in basic labour for what they want, acting as servants to others (Hosea 12:12). However, YHWH stresses alongside this that He will finally bring about their restoration through the work of His prophets.
Analysis of Hosea 12:8-14.
a And Ephraim said, “Surely I have become rich, I have found wealth for myself, in all my labours they will find in me no iniquity that was sin” (Hosea 12:8).
b But I am YHWH your God from the land of Egypt, I will yet again make you to dwell in tents, as in the days of the solemn feast. I have also spoken to the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and by the ministry of the prophets have I used illustrations (Hosea 12:9-10).
c Is Gilead wicked? They are altogether false. In Gilgal they sacrifice bullocks, yes, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the field' (Hosea 12:11).
b And Jacob fled into the field of Aram, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep, and by a prophet YHWH brought Israel up out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved (Hosea 12:13).
a Ephraim has provoked to anger most bitterly, therefore will his blood be left on him, and his reproach will his Lord return to him (Hosea 12:14).
Note that in ‘a' we have Ephraim's view of themselves, and in the parallel we have Hosea's view of them. In ‘b' their downward descent is described followed by prophetic activity, and in the parallel we have a similar situation. Central in ‘c' is YHWH's view of Israel in terms of the falsity of Gilead on the east side of Jordan and the falsity of Gilgal and its multiplied altars on the west side of Jordan.