Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt.
Ver. 1. Ephraim feedeth on wind] Slender feeding; unless Ephraim were of the chameleon kind: quippe nec cor auro satiatur nec corpus aura. Wind fills, but feeds not, Isaiah 55:10. Ephraim had sowed the wind, Hosea 8:7, but to what profit? He that ministereth seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, would here, surely, neither give bread for food, nor multiply their seed sown, 2 Corinthians 9:10, but send them to the gods that they had chosen, and to their confederates whom they so relied upon, from whom they should reap the whirlwind. See Trapp on " Hos 8:7 " Wind, we know, bloweth up storms and tempests; so doth idolatry and creature confidence, the tempest of God's wrath that will never be blown over.
And followeth after the east wind] Which if he catch, a great catch he is like to have of it. Eurus est ventus urens et exsiccans. The east wind is noted in Scripture for pernicious and harmful to fruits and herbs, Gen 41:6 Ezekiel 7:10; Eze 29:17 Hosea 13:15; violent it is also, and spareth not men, John 4:8. The Seventy render it, καυσωνα, a burning blast, as they do the former words, Ephraim is an evil spirit, by a mistake of the points. Job speaketh of some that fill their bellies with the east wind; they think to do so, but it proves otherwise; they snuff up the wind with the wild ass, but it tumors them only, and proves pestilential. It is very dangerous for men to follow after their own conceits and counsels. It may be worse to them upon their deathbeds, when they are launching into the main of immortality, than any rough east wind (Euroaquilo), or than any Euroclydon, that wind mentioned Acts 27:14, that hath its name from stirring up storms, and is by Pliny called navigantium pestis, the mariner's misery, una eurus notusque ruunt (Virg.). An empty body meeting with tempests will have much ado to bear up. If Ephraim first feed upon wind, and then fall under the east wind, it must needs go hard with him. The godly man, who is filled with all the fulness of God, Ephesians 3:19, shall have him for a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall, Isaiah 25:4. His prayer is that of Jeremiah, Jeremiah 17:17, "Be not thou a terror unto me, O Lord: thou art my hope in the day of evil." If the wind be not got into the earth, and stir not there, storms and tempests abroad cannot make an earthquake; no more can afflictions, or death, a heart attack, where there is peace with God. Such a man's mind, immota manet, is as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed.
He daily increaseth lies and desolation] This being the fruit and consequence of those; for flagitium et flagellum sicut acus et filum, sin and punishment are inseparable companions. "Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me," Hosea 7:13. See Trapp on " Hos 7:13 " To heap up lies is to hasten desolation. "A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall perish," Proverbs 19:9. They tell us of a threefold lie, i.e. a merry lie, an officious lie, and a pernicious lie. But the truth is, every lie is pernicious; and a man should rather die than lie. He that lieth in jest may go to hell for it in earnest. Jacob told his father an officious threefold lie, and scarce ever had a merry day after it, Genesis 27:19. God followed him with one sorrow upon another, to teach him and us what an evil and a bitter thing it is to cumulate lies, as here, and how it ensnares and ensnarles us.
And they do make a covenant with the Assyrian, and oil is carried into Egypt] That is, all precious and pleasant substance was carried for a present, to make room for them. Oil is instanced, as the chief staple commodity of the land, see Eze 27:17 and in Egypt very scarce. This sin of theirs in seeking to other nations, and relying on the arm of flesh, is often reproved and threatened throughout this prophecy, see Hosea 5:13 ; Hosea 7:11 ; Hosea 9:8 ; Hosea 10:4 ; Hos 11:5 to teach God's ministers to continue crying out against the prevailing sins of the people, and never give over, till they see a reformation wrought among them. "The Cretians are always liars," &c. "Rebuke them sharply," saith the apostle, Titus 1:12,13; yea, be instant and constant, in season and out of season, using the same liberty in beating down sin that men do to commit it. Chrysostom told his hearers at Antioch that till they stopped their swearing he would never stop preaching against it.