Hosea 12:12-14 And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.… Comparison with Deuteronomy 26:5-10 shows that the point in this passage is the contrast between Israel's original low estate in Syria and Egypt - the nation in the former case being represented in its ancestor - and the state of honor to which God raised it, when he brought it out of Egypt by Moses, and settled it in Canaan. The intention is to show the full enormity of Ephraim's ingratitude. I. ISRAEL IS SYRIA. (Ver. 12.) This is viewed as the beginning of Israel's servitude. There was little in Jacob's condition in Padan-Aram to indicate the honor that was afterwards to be put on his descendants. His state was one of: 1. Peril. "Jacob fled into the country of Syria." Or, as in Deuteronomy, "A Syrian ready to perish was my father" (Hosea 26:5). 2. Servitude. He was a serving-man with Laban. He bound himself for terms of years, and wrought for wages. 3. Poverty. When he wished a wife, the only thing he could do was to serve for her. We do well to remember the forlorn, helpless, wretched, and bound state in which we were when grace found us. II. ISRAEL BROUGHT OUT OF EGYPT. (Ver. 13.) Egypt was a continuation of the state in which Israel found himself at Padan-Aram (cf. Deuteronomy 26:5). From this state God delivered him by a prophet. 1. It was God who delivered and preserved him. Moses, though a prophet, was but God's agent. God is the only Savior. 2. A prophet was the instrument of deliverance. This put honor on the prophetic order. It may be cited as a reproof to Ephraim for slighting the prophets now sent to him (ver. 10). The Mediator of our salvation is Christ, the "Prophet like unto Moses ' (Acts 3:22). 3. He was effectually delivered. The Lord: (1) "Brought him forth" - gave him liberty, national existence, laws, privileges, a rich inheritance. (2) Preserved him. Guarded and kept him in the desert, and safely planted him in Canaan. III. ISRAEL'S RECOMPENSE OF GOD'S KINDNESS. (Ver. 14.) 1. Ephraim, instead of showing gratitude, provoked God to most bitter anger by his transgressions. He had persisted in this wrongdoing, notwithstanding warning and entreaty. 2. He had brought reproach on God. "His reproach," i.e. the reproach he brought on God by his wanton behavior (cf. Deuteronomy 32:5, 6). 3. He would accordingly be punished. God would leave him to expiate his blood-guiltiness by suffering. - J.O. Parallel Verses KJV: And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep. |
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