Albert Barnes

Thus it will be done to you, O Bethel, because of your great wickedness. When the day dawns, the king of Israel will be utterly cut off.

“So shall Bethel do unto you - God was the judge, who condemned them so to suffer from the enemy. The Assyrian was the instrument of the wrath of God.”

When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son.

“When Israel was a child, then I loved him - God loved Israel, as He Himself formed it, ere it corrupted itself.”

But the more I called Israel, the farther they departed from Me. They sacrificed to the Baals and burned incense to carved images.

“As they called them, so they went from them - The prophet changes his tone, no longer speaking of that one first call of God to Israel as a whole, whereby He brought out Israel as one man, His one son; which one call he…”

It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them in My arms, but they never realized that it was I who healed them.

“I taught Ephraim also to go - Literally, “and I set Ephraim on his feet;” i. e., while they were rebelling, I was helping and supporting them, as a nurse doth her child, teaching it to go with little steps, step by step, “accustoming it…”

Will they not return to the land of Egypt and be ruled by Assyria because they refused to repent?

“He shall not return to Egypt - Some had probably returned already to Egypt; the rest were looking to Egypt for help, and rebelling against the Assyrian, (whose servant their king Hoshea had become), and making alliance with So king of Egypt.”

My people are bent on turning from Me. Though they call to the Most High, He will by no means exalt them.

“And My people are bent to backsliding from Me - Literally, “are hung to it!” as we say, “a man’s whole being “hangs” on a thing.””

I will not execute the full fury of My anger; I will not turn back to destroy Ephraim.

“I will not execute the fierceness of Mine anger - It is the voice of “mercy, rejoicing over judgment.””

Ephraim chases the wind and pursues the east wind all day long; he multiplies lies and violence; he makes a covenant with Assyria and sends olive oil to Egypt.

“Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind - The East wind in Palestine, coming from Arabia and the far East, over large tracts of sandy waste, is parching, scorching, destructive to vegetation, oppressive to man, violent and destructive on the sea Psa…”

In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel, and in his vigor he wrestled with God.

“He took his brother by the heel in the womb - Whether or no the act of Jacob was beyond the strength, ordinarily given to infants in the womb, the meaning of the act was beyond man’s wisdom to declare.”

the LORD is the God of Hosts— the LORD is His name of renown.

“Even the Lord God of Hosts, the Lord is His memorial - The word, here as translated and written Lord, is the special and, so to say, the proper Name of God, that which He gave to Himself, and which declares His Being.”

A merchant loves to defraud with dishonest scales in his hands.

“He is a merchant - Or, indignantly, “a merchant in whose hands are the balances of deceit!” How could they love “mercy and justice,” whose trade was “deceit,” who weighed out deceit with their goods?”

But by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved.

“By a prophet was he preserved - Or “kept.” Jacob “kept sheep” out of love of God, sooner than unite himself with one, alien from God; his posterity “was kept” like a sheep by God, as the Psalmist said, “He led His people like sheep…”

When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he was exalted in Israel. But he incurred guilt through Baal, and he died.

“When Ephraim spake trembling - that is, probably “there was ‘trembling.’” : “Ephraim was once very awful, so as, while he spake, the rest of the tribes were ready to tremble.” The prophet contrasts two conditions of Ephraim, of prosperity, and destruction.”

Therefore they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes, like chaff blown from a threshing floor, like smoke through an open window.

“Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud - There is often a fair show of prosperity, out of God; but it is short-lived. “The third generation,” says the pagan proverb, “never enjoys the ill-gotten gain.””

I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.

“I did know thee in the wilderness - “God so knew them, as to deserve to be known by them. By “knowing” them, He shewed how He ought to be acknowledged by them.””

So like a lion I will pounce on them; like a leopard I will lurk by the path.

“I will be unto them as a lion - They had waxen fat, were full; yet it was, to become themselves a prey. Their wealth which they were proud of, which they abused, allured their enemies.”

You are destroyed, O Israel, because you are against Me—against your helper.

“O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in Me is thy help - This is one of the concise sayings of Hosea, which is capable of many shades of meaning.”

So in My anger I gave you a king, and in My wrath I took him away.

“I gave thee a king in Mine anger - o: “God, when He is asked for ought amiss, sheweth displeasure, when He giveth, hath mercy, when He giveth not.””

Labor pains come upon him, but he is an unwise son. When the time arrives, he fails to present himself at the opening of the womb.

“The sorrows of a travailing woman are come upon him - The travail-pangs are violent, sudden, irresistible. A moment before they come, all is seemingly perfect health; they come, increase in vehemence, and, if they accomplish not that for which they are sent, end in…”

Although he flourishes among his brothers, an east wind will come—a wind from the LORD rising up from the desert. His fountain will fail, and his spring will run dry.

“Though - (literally, “when”) he (shall) be fruitful among his brethren Fruitfulness was God’s promise to Ephraim, and was expressed in his name. It was fulfilled, abused, and, in the height of its fulfillment, was taken away.”

Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled by your iniquity.

“O Israel, return - (now, quite) unto the Lord your God The heavy and scarcely interrupted tide of denunciation is now past.”

I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.

“I will be as the dew unto Israel - Before, He had said, “his spring shall become dry and his fountain shall be dried up” Hos 13:15.”

They will return and dwell in his shade; they will grow grain and blossom like the vine. His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.

“They that dwell under his shadow - that is, the shadow of the restored Israel, who had just been described under the image of a magnificent tree uniting in itself all perfections.”

Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them.

“Who is wise and he shall understand these things? - The prophet says this, not of the words in which he had spoken, but of the substance.”