Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly: therefore shall he leave his blood upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him.
Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly - "Him," i:e., God.
Most bitterly - literally, with bitternesses - i:e., with most grievous provocations.
Therefore shall he leave his blood upon him - not take away the guilt and penalty of the innocent blood shed By Ephraim in general, and to Moloch in particular.
And his reproach shall his Lord return unto him - Ephraim's dishonour to God in worshipping idols, God will repay to him. That God is "His Lord" by right of redemption and special revelation to Ephraim only aggravates his guilt, instead of giving him hope of escape. God does not give up His claim to them as His, however they set aside His dominion.
Remarks: (1) Ephraim, by following after the alliances of idolaters and the worship of their idols, "fed on wind:" nay worse, not only were they as empty and unsatisfying as the wind would be to the hungry, but they were also hurtful and deadly, as is the scorching "east wind" (Hosea 12:1). Instead of having God as their shelter, they exposed themselves to the fatal blast by "increasing lies:" for the inevitable result of all that is false in intention, opinion, words, deeds, dealings, worship, and hopes, is "desolations." Instead of renewing their covenant with God, they made a covenant with the Assyrians; and then, with characteristic fickleness, they tried to escape from the obligations of their covenant, by applying to Egypt for help. They who deal falsely with God are little to be trusted in their dealings with men. Most justly, therefore, God executed His judgments on them by the hands of the world-powers through whom they had hoped to escape them.
(2) Not even Judah was blameless, though less guilty than Israel (Hosea 12:2). God therefore admonishes the former, and declares His purpose to the latter of "recompensing them according to their doings." Their apostasy stood in marked contrast to their godly forefather, "Jacob," by whose name, therefore, He calls them (Hosea 12:2). Jacob showed a presage of his faith from infancy, taking his brother by the heel in the womb (Hosea 12:3). His descendants were more like Esau, the creature of sense and self-indulgence, than like Jacob their ancestor, the man of faith, who all through life sought spiritual blessings. Jacob "by his strength had power with God." But it was not inherent strength, but strength derived from the divine angel with whom he wrestled. The angel of Yahweh was overcome, because he wished to be overcome. Instead of "pleading against Jacob with His great power, He put strength in him" (Job 23:6). Jacob's conscious weakness made him cast himself with his whole weight upon Almighty strength. So he became an "Israel," or prince with God, having such power with Him that God would deny him nothing that he asked of real blessing. Let us imitate his pattern, and, feeling our own nothingness, take hold of Christ, our Elder Brother and our All in all, wrestling with Him in prayer, determined not to let Him go until He bless us; though, indeed, He is more willing to give than we to ask: and when we ask aright, it is He who, by His Spirit, prompts the prayer of all-conquering faith.
(3) Jacob not only wrestled and "made supplication unto" the Lord,. but also "wept." Tears were the indication of one whose words of prayer were no reigned words, but whose heart was deeply moved with the sense of his great needs, and whose feelings were excited to vehement and longing desires. Therefore, at Bethel "he found God," because God first "found him," and moved him so to weep and supplicate. And there God spake, not only with him, but "with us," whosoever of us follow the unconquerable faith of his tearful prayers. God, through his case, admonishes us, if we would find Him, to 'cling to God in faith, rising, in proportion to our fears, so fast that, if God would cast us into hell, He should (as one said) Himself go with us; so should hell not be hell to us' (Pusey).
(4) The "memorial" or character by which the Lord desires to be remembered by His people is "Yahweh, the God of hosts, the Lord." As YAHWEH (H3068), He is now still the same unchangeable God such as He manifested Himself to Jacob. And He is as all-powerful as He is all-gracious, for He is "the Lord, the God of hosts," having all the powers of heaven and earth at His command. "Therefore," as the practical inference, God speaks to each individual soul as He spake to Israel, "Turn thou to thy God." Israel after the flesh could claim God as their God: so all the spiritual Israel can equally regard God as their God in the covenant of grace. What consolation it is calculated to impart, that we should, in turning to God, regard as ours Him who is as unchangeably faithful to His promises as He is all-powerful in fulfilling them! At the same time, as a proof of our sincerity, let us, while we "wait on our God," be careful to "keep mercy and justice" toward our fellow-man (Hosea 12:6). Above all, let our waiting on God be not by fits and starts, but "continually." "Men ought always to pray, and not to faint" (Luke 18:1). Even unfaithful Ephraim had intervals of goodness, but their "goodness was as a morning cloud, and as the early dew" that soon "goeth away" (Hosea 6:4). But it is special to the believer to wait on God patiently (Psalms 40:1), and "continually:" whereas of the hypocrite Job asks (Job 27:10), "Will he delight himself in the Almighty? Will he always call upon God?" (5) In sad contrast to God's command to "keep mercy and judgment" stood Ephraim's "deceit" as a "merchant," whereby he was no longer entitled to the honourable title of "Israel," but rather to be named "Canaan." How much of deceit is practiced by so-called Christians of the trading world, who are "Christians" in nothing else but the name! Yet all the while, like Ephraim, saying, "I am become rich ... none iniquity shall be found in me" (Hosea 12:8), they think that their success is a proof of their integrity; and that because God does not immediately punish their dishonest cleverness, that God approves of their ways. None are more blind to their spiritual danger than those eager in pursuing gain. The conventional tricks of trade, and the alleged difficulty of competing with others except by practicing the usual frauds, are made the excuses for usages which, whatever else they gain, end in the eternal loss of the soul! In regard to spiritual riches, the soul is never so poor as when it is satisfied with its own imaginary riches. Let us beware of boasting of or trusting in riches of our own making, whether earthly or heavenly, and let us make Christ our treasure, both for time and for eternity.
(6) Notwithstanding Ephraim's sin, God has still merry in store for the nation; "and will yet make" His ancient people "to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast." As the former observance of the feast of tabernacles reminded them of the contrast between their fixed homes in Canaan and their shifting tent-life in the wilderness, thus calling forth their joyful thanksgivings to the gracious God who had led them through the latter to the former, so shall Israel hereafter recall with adoring thankfulness her weary state of unsettled restlessness for ages, as bringing into brighter contrast her then existing blessedness in her settled habitations and in her own land. Such shall be still more the feeling of the redeemed in their "everlasting habitations," when this tabernacle-scene shall be looked back upon in the light of eternity. The feast of tabernacles was a scene of joy following five days after the day of atonement, which was one of sorrow. So our being dead spiritually with Christ, our great Atonement, must precede the joy of living with Him. And as the law was read publicly in that feast, so shall the holiness of the law of God be then first realized, fully by "the spirits of just men made perfect."
(7) On Israel's part there was nothing but "iniquity" and "vanity" (Hosea 12:11): they were wedded to idols and to idolatrous altars, worthless as the heaps in the furrows of the field: whereas on their ancestor Jacob's part there was such strong faith toward God that, rather than marry an idolatress, he was content to be a fugitive and a servant in Syria (Hosea 12:12). His honest poverty was a tacit reproof to their dishonestly-gained riches. His end proved that the "blessing of the Lord maketh rich, and addeth no sorrow with it:" he returned to his land with "two bands:" whereas their end should be the loss of all their boasted wealth, "reproach," and exile for ages from their own land. A man or a nation never dishonours the Lord without being sooner or later repaid in kind. "His reproach shall his Lord return unto him" (Hosea 12:14). Let us remember that if we will not have God for our God in service, we must have Him in spite of ourselves as our Lord to judge and punish us. Let us rather prove His love than His avenging justice!