◄ Hosea 12:2 ►
The LORD also brings a charge against Judah. He will punish Jacob according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds.
Study Bible
The LORD has a charge to bring against Judah.
This phrase indicates a legal accusation, suggesting a courtroom setting where God is the judge. The term "charge" implies that Judah is being held accountable for its actions. Historically, Judah was the southern kingdom, distinct from Israel (the northern kingdom), and often fell into idolatry and disobedience despite having the temple in Jerusalem. This charge reflects God's covenant relationship with His people, where disobedience leads to divine discipline. The prophets frequently warned Judah of impending judgment due to their unfaithfulness, as seen in Isaiah and Jeremiah.

He will punish Jacob according to his ways
"Jacob" here symbolizes the entire nation of Israel, both Judah and the northern kingdom. The use of "Jacob" recalls the patriarch whose life was marked by struggle and transformation, reflecting the nation's own spiritual journey. The phrase "according to his ways" suggests that the punishment is a direct consequence of their actions, emphasizing the principle of sowing and reaping found throughout Scripture (Galatians 6:7). This reflects God's justice, where the people's behavior determines their fate, as seen in the blessings and curses outlined in Deuteronomy 28.

and repay him according to his deeds.
This phrase underscores the concept of divine retribution, where God repays individuals and nations based on their actions. It echoes the biblical theme of justice, where God is portrayed as a righteous judge who cannot overlook sin. The idea of repayment is consistent with the wisdom literature, such as Proverbs, which teaches that one's actions have consequences. This principle is also evident in the New Testament, where Jesus speaks of rewards and punishments based on one's deeds (Matthew 16:27). Theologically, this highlights God's holiness and the seriousness of sin, calling for repentance and a return to covenant faithfulness.

Persons / Places / Events
1. The LORD
The sovereign God of Israel, who is just and righteous, bringing charges against His people for their unfaithfulness.

2. Judah
The southern kingdom of Israel, representing the people who are being called to account for their actions.

3. Jacob
Refers to the patriarch Jacob, whose name is often used to represent the nation of Israel as a whole. Here, it symbolizes the collective behavior of the Israelites.

4. Israel
The northern kingdom, often used interchangeably with Jacob, representing the broader community of God's chosen people.

5. Hosea
The prophet through whom God delivers His message, calling Israel to repentance and warning of impending judgment.
Teaching Points
Divine Justice
God is just and holds His people accountable for their actions. This serves as a reminder that our deeds have consequences, and we must live in accordance with His will.

Call to Repentance
Like Israel, we are called to examine our lives and turn back to God. Repentance is a continual process of aligning ourselves with His righteousness.

Covenant Faithfulness
The relationship between God and His people is based on a covenant. We are reminded to remain faithful to our commitments to God, just as He is faithful to us.

Personal Reflection
Each believer is encouraged to reflect on their own life and actions, considering how they align with God's standards and seeking His guidance for correction.

Community Accountability
The charge against Judah and Jacob highlights the importance of communal responsibility. As a body of believers, we must support and hold each other accountable in our walk with God.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the concept of divine justice in Hosea 12:2 challenge or affirm your understanding of God's character?

2. In what ways can the account of Jacob's transformation inspire personal change and repentance in your life?

3. How do the charges against Judah and Israel in Hosea relate to the modern church's need for accountability and faithfulness?

4. What practical steps can you take to ensure that your deeds align with God's will, as emphasized in Hosea 12:2 and Romans 2:6?

5. How can you encourage and support others in your community to live faithfully according to God's covenant, as seen in the prophetic messages of Hosea and other scriptures?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Genesis 32
The account of Jacob wrestling with God, which highlights the struggle and transformation of Jacob, paralleling Israel's need for repentance and change.

Amos 2:4-5
Another prophetic book where God brings charges against Judah for their sins, emphasizing the consistency of God's justice.

Jeremiah 2:9
God’s charges against Israel for their unfaithfulness, showing a pattern of divine judgment and the call to return to righteousness.

Romans 2:6
Paul speaks of God repaying each person according to their deeds, echoing the principle of divine justice found in Hosea.
Sermons
Worthless Soul-FoodD. Thomas
People
Aram, Assyrians, Hosea, Jacob
Places
Aram, Assyria, Bethel, Egypt, Gilead, Gilgal
Topics
Acts, Bring, Cause, Charge, Controversy, Deeds, Dispute, Doings, Indictment, Jacob, Judah, Lay, Punish, Punishment, Recompense, Repay, Requite, Returneth, Reward
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Hosea 12:2-5

     8672   striving with God

Library
Everybody's Sermon
Now it struck me that God is every day preaching to us by similitudes. When Christ was on earth he preached in parables, and, though he is in heaven now, he is preaching in parables to-day. Providence is God's sermon. The things which we see about us are God's thoughts and God's words to us; and if we were but wise there is not a step that we take, which me should not find to be full of mighty instruction. O ye sons of men! God warns you every day by his own word; he speaks to you by the lips of …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 4: 1858

The Pilgrim's Progress
FROM THIS WORLD TO THAT WHICH IS TO COME. THE SECOND PART. DELIVERED UNDER THE SIMILITUDE OF A DREAM. WHEREIN IS SET FORTH THE MANNER OF THE SETTING OUT OF CHRISTIAN'S WIFE AND CHILDREN, THEIR DANGEROUS JOURNEY, AND SAFE ARRIVAL AT THE DESIRED COUNTRY. By JOHN BUNYAN. 'I have used similitudes.'--Hosea 12:10. London: Printed for Nathaniel Ponder, at the Peacock in the Poultry, near the Church, 1684. THE AUTHOR'S WAY OF SENDING FORTH HIS SECOND PART OF THE PILGRIM. Go now, my little book, to every …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

The Holy War,
MADE BY SHADDAI UPON DIABOLUS, FOR THE REGAINING OF THE METROPOLIS OF THE WORLD; OR, THE LOSING AND TAKING AGAIN OF THE TOWN OF MANSOUL. THE AUTHOR OF 'THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS.' 'I have used similitudes.'--Hosea 12:10. London: Printed for Dorman Newman, at the King's Arms in the Poultry; and Benjamin Alsop, at the Angel and Bible in the Poultry, 1682. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. Bunyan's account of the Holy War is indeed an extraordinary book, manifesting a degree of genius, research, and spiritual …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

The Twofold Wrestle --God's with Jacob and Jacob's with God
'And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee: I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which Thou hast shewed unto Thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Gen. xxxi. 11
Of no less importance and significance is the passage Gen. xxxi. 11 seq. According to ver. 11, the Angel of God, [Hebrew: mlaK halhiM] appears toJacob in a dream. In ver. 13, the same person calls himself the God of Bethel, with reference to the event recorded in chap. xxviii. 11-22. It cannot be supposed that in chap xxviii. the mediation of a common angel took place, who, however, had not been expressly mentioned; for Jehovah is there contrasted with the angels. In ver. 12, we read: "And behold …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

The Unity of the Divine Essence in Three Persons Taught, in Scripture, from the Foundation of the World.
1. Scripture, in teaching that the essence of God is immense and spiritual, refutes not only idolaters and the foolish wisdom of the world, but also the Manichees and Anthropomorphites. These latter briefly refuted. 2. In this one essence are three persons, yet so that neither is there a triple God, nor is the simple essence of God divided. Meaning of the word Person in this discussion. Three hypostases in God, or the essence of God. 3. Objection of those who, in this discussion, reject the use of …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Concerning Worship.
Concerning Worship. [780] All true and acceptable worship to God is offered in the inward and immediate moving and drawing of his own Spirit which is neither limited to places times, nor persons. For though we are to worship him always, and continually to fear before him; [781] yet as to the outward signification thereof, in prayers, praises, or preachings, we ought not to do it in our own will, where and when we will; but where and when we are moved thereunto by the stirring and secret inspiration …
Robert Barclay—Theses Theologicae and An Apology for the True Christian Divinity

The Wonderful.
Isaiah ix:6. HIS name shall be called "Wonderful" (Isaiah ix:6). And long before Isaiah had uttered this divine prediction the angel of the Lord had announced his name to be Wonderful. As such He appeared to Manoah. And Manoah said unto the angel of Jehovah, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honor. And the angel of Jehovah said unto Him "why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is Wonderful" (margin, Judges xiii:17-18). This angel of Jehovah, the Person who …
Arno Gaebelein—The Lord of Glory

"But if we Walk in the Light, as He is in the Light, we have Fellowship one with Another, and the Blood of Jesus Christ His
1 John i. 7.--"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." Art is the imitation of nature, and true religion is a divine art, that consists in the imitation of God himself, the author of nature. Therefore it is a more high and transcendent thing, of a sublimer nature than all the arts and sciences among men. Those reach but to some resemblance of the wisdom of God, expressed in his works, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Motives to Holy Mourning
Let me exhort Christians to holy mourning. I now persuade to such a mourning as will prepare the soul for blessedness. Oh that our hearts were spiritual limbecs, distilling the water of holy tears! Christ's doves weep. They that escape shall be like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity' (Ezekiel 7:16). There are several divine motives to holy mourning: 1 Tears cannot be put to a better use. If you weep for outward losses, you lose your tears. It is like a shower …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

The Prophet Hosea.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. That the kingdom of Israel was the object of the prophet's ministry is so evident, that upon this point all are, and cannot but be, agreed. But there is a difference of opinion as to whether the prophet was a fellow-countryman of those to whom he preached, or was called by God out of the kingdom of Judah. The latter has been asserted with great confidence by Maurer, among others, in his Observ. in Hos., in the Commentat. Theol. ii. i. p. 293. But the arguments …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

The Eighth Commandment
Thou shalt not steal.' Exod 20: 15. AS the holiness of God sets him against uncleanness, in the command Thou shalt not commit adultery;' so the justice of God sets him against rapine and robbery, in the command, Thou shalt not steal.' The thing forbidden in this commandment, is meddling with another man's property. The civil lawyers define furtum, stealth or theft to be the laying hands unjustly on that which is another's;' the invading another's right. I. The causes of theft. [1] The internal causes …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

The Tenth Commandment
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.' Exod 20: 17. THIS commandment forbids covetousness in general, Thou shalt not covet;' and in particular, Thy neighbour's house, thy neighbour's wife, &c. I. It forbids covetousness in general. Thou shalt not covet.' It is lawful to use the world, yea, and to desire so much of it as may keep us from the temptation …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

There is a Blessedness in Reversion
Blessed are the poor in spirit. Matthew 5:3 Having done with the occasion, I come now to the sermon itself. Blessed are the poor in spirit'. Christ does not begin his Sermon on the Mount as the Law was delivered on the mount, with commands and threatenings, the trumpet sounding, the fire flaming, the earth quaking, and the hearts of the Israelites too for fear; but our Saviour (whose lips dropped as the honeycomb') begins with promises and blessings. So sweet and ravishing was the doctrine of this …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

Prayer
But I give myself unto prayer.' Psa 109: 4. I shall not here expatiate upon prayer, as it will be considered more fully in the Lord's prayer. It is one thing to pray, and another thing to be given to prayer: he who prays frequently, is said to be given to prayer; as he who often distributes alms, is said to be given to charity. Prayer is a glorious ordinance, it is the soul's trading with heaven. God comes down to us by his Spirit, and we go up to him by prayer. What is prayer? It is an offering …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

The Prophet Amos.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. It will not be necessary to extend our preliminary remarks on the prophet Amos, since on the main point--viz., the circumstances under which he appeared as a prophet--the introduction to the prophecies of Hosea may be regarded as having been written for those of Amos also. For, according to the inscription, they belong to the same period at which Hosea's prophetic ministry began, viz., the latter part of the reign of Jeroboam II., and after Uzziah had ascended the …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Hosea
The book of Hosea divides naturally into two parts: i.-iii. and iv.-xiv., the former relatively clear and connected, the latter unusually disjointed and obscure. The difference is so unmistakable that i.-iii. have usually been assigned to the period before the death of Jeroboam II, and iv.-xiv. to the anarchic period which succeeded. Certainly Hosea's prophetic career began before the end of Jeroboam's reign, as he predicts the fall of the reigning dynasty, i. 4, which practically ended with Jeroboam's …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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