Hosea 13 - Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Bible Comments
  • Hosea 13:1 open_in_new

    Ephraim — The ten tribes, of which Ephraim was the chief. Spake trembling — Humbled himself before God. Exalted himself — The kingdom flourished. When he offended — So soon as they sinned, taking Baal to be their God. He died — They lost their power and glory.

  • Hosea 13:2 open_in_new

    Of them — Of the idols. Let the man — Let all that bring their offerings to these idols, worship and adore, and shew they do so by kissing the calves.

  • Hosea 13:4 open_in_new

    Thou shalt know — I forbad thee to know any other God but me, in gratitude thou shouldest know no other.

  • Hosea 13:6 open_in_new

    Their pasture — When they were come into Canaan, and had abundance of all things, they ran into luxury. Was exalted — They grew proud.

  • Hosea 13:10 open_in_new

    Thy king — I would have been thy king to govern and save thee, but thou refusedst me in both: yet I will be thy king to punish thee. Thy judges — Where are they now? And princes — Necessary to assist the king.

  • Hosea 13:12 open_in_new

    Is bound up — As sins unpardoned; for to loose sins is to forgive, and to bind sins is to charge them upon the sinner, Matthew 16:19. Hid — Not from God, but laid up with God against the day of recompense.

  • Hosea 13:13 open_in_new

    The sorrows — The punishment of his sins will overtake him suddenly, with great anguish. An unwise son — A foolish son, who endangers himself and his mother. He should not stay — As a child that sticks in the birth, so is Ephraim, one while will, another while will not return to God; and thus dies under the delay.

  • Hosea 13:14 open_in_new

    Ransom — By power and purchase, by the blood of the lamb of God, and by the power of his Godhead. Them — That repent and believe. From the grave — He conquered the grave, and will at the great day of the resurrection open those prison — doors, and bring us out in glory. From death — From the curse of the first death, and from the second death, which shall have no power over us. Thy plagues — Thus I will destroy death. I will pull down those prison — walls, and bring out all that are confined therein, the bad of whom I will remove into other prisons, the good I will restore to glorious liberty. Repentance shall be hid — I will never, as a man that repenteths, change my word and purpose, saith the Lord. What a glorious promise is this, which is interposed in the midst of all these judgments!

  • Hosea 13:15 open_in_new

    He — Ephraim. His brethren — Either the rest of the tribes, or the nations who by league are become as his brethren. An east — wind — An enemy as pernicious to his estate as the east — wind is to fruits. Of the Lord — A mighty enemy, called here the wind of the Lord, the usual superlative in Hebrew. The wilderness — Which lay south — east from Canaan. The south — east winds in that country were of all, most hot and blasting. He — The Assyrian army. Shall spoil — Shall carry away all desirable vessels and furniture.