Because Ephraim Have Offended So Deeply, And Have Rejected Their Deliverer, Judgment Upon Them Is Inevitable (Hosea 13:1-16).
The crimes of Israel are again laid bear. They are guilty of idolatry (Hosea 13:1-2), ingratitude (Hosea 13:5-6), trusting in false leaders (Hosea 13:10-11) and complacency (Hosea 13:13), and above all of not recognising their true Deliverer and Saviour (Hosea 13:4). Thus they must face up to the curses of wild beasts (Hosea 13:7-8; compare Leviticus 26:22)), plagues and destruction (Hosea 13:14; compare Leviticus 26:16; Leviticus 26:21; Deuteronomy 28:22), desert winds (Hosea 13:15), the sword (Hosea 13:16; compare Leviticus 26:25; Deuteronomy 28:22) and the loss of women and children (Hosea 13:16).
Analysis of Hosea 13:1-16.
a When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling, he exalted himself in Israel, but when he offended in Baal, he died (Hosea 13:1).
b And now they sin more and more, and from their silver have made for themselves molten images, even idols according to their own understanding, all of them the work of the craftsmen. They say of them, “Let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves” (Hosea 13:2).
c Therefore they will be as the morning cloud, and as the dew which passes early away, as the chaff which is driven with the whirlwind out of the threshing-floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney' (Hosea 13:3).
d Yet I am YHWH your God, from the land of Egypt, and you shall know no god but me, and besides me there is no saviour (Hosea 13:4).
e I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of great drought. According to their pasture, so were they filled, they were filled, and their heart was exalted, therefore have they forgotten me (Hosea 13:5-6).
f Therefore am I to them as a lion, as a leopard will I watch by the way, I will meet them as a bear which is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the enclosure of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lioness, the wild beast will tear them (Hosea 13:7-8).
g It is your destruction, O Israel, that you are against me, against your help (Hosea 13:9).
f Where now is your king, that he may save you in all your cities? And your judges, of whom you said, “Give me a king and princes?” I have given you a king in my anger, and have taken him away in my wrath. The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up, his sin is laid up in store (Hosea 13:10-12).
e The sorrows of a travailing woman will come on him, he is an unwise son, for it is a time when he should not linger, in the place of the breaking forth of children (Hosea 13:13).
d Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol, shall I redeem them from death? O death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your destruction? Compassion will be hid from my eyes (Hosea 13:14).
c Though he be fruitful among his brothers, an east wind will come, the breath of YHWH coming up from the wilderness, and his spring will become dry, and his fountain will be dried up, he will make ruination of the treasure of all goodly vessels (Hosea 13:15).
b Samaria will bear her guilt, for she has rebelled against her God (Hosea 13:16 a).
a They will fall by the sword, their infants will be dashed in pieces, and their women with child will be ripped up (Hosea 13:16 b).
Note that in ‘a' Ephraim was to die, and in the parallel they will die horribly in war. In ‘b' they sinned more and more and submitted themselves to idols, and in the parallel they are to bear their guilt for their rebellion against God. In ‘c' they will evaporate and will be blown away with the wind, and in the parallel an east wind from YHWH will dry them up. In ‘d' YHWH proclaims Himself as their Deliverer and only Saviour, and in the parallel He indicates that He will now not deliver or save them because of their rebellion. In ‘e' they were known by God in the land of great drought (as His son - Hosea 11:1; Hosea 11:3-4), and in the parallel they are to be left dying in the womb. In ‘f' wild beasts will hunt them down and savage them, and in the parallel their king is unable to save them in their cities from their enemies (who are like wild beasts), because YHWH has removed their king. Centrally in ‘g' their destruction lies in the fact that they are against YHWH their Help.