The Mystery of Ephraim

The Prophecy of Hosea is primarily to the house of Ephraim. Being the chief of the ten tribes, Ephraim is often used in place of Israel when referring to northern ten tribes. Elsewhere on this site Ephraim and Manasseh has been established as the United States. So although Hosea may refer to situation in his time, the encrypted message of Ephraim and Israel today is specially meant primarily for the United States and secondarily its European allies.

“The anger of the Lord shall not return, until He has executed and till He has performed the thoughts of His heart; in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly” Jeremiah 23:20; “In latter days you will understand it fully,” that is, it means as a whole, “you wouldn’t fully understand these prophecies until you’re are living in the latter days after God had executed his judgement in anger and pertformed the thoughts of his heart!”

More on (1) Ephraim / The United States; (2) Ephraim and Manasseh

Hosea 13

¹ When Ephraim spoke, trembling, he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died. — “when Ephraim spoke,” as the mightiest of the northern tribes, “there was trembling”

— and he died; death is the penalty of sin. Ephraim “died” spiritually; because of their worshipping of Baal, and this came into use in Israel in Ahab’s time as his his wife Jezebel, daughter to Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, prevailed with him to take her country idol and add to Jeroboam’s calves.

— for the other tribes were so much weaker that they could not hold out against the top dog; he exalted himself in Israel, assuming the leadership and enforcing his will; that was yesterday, but today, when America sneezes the world catches a flu!

— and when the United States went to war with Russia through a proxy, her allies, Europe, went into multiple layers of darkess!

² And now they sin more and more, and have made for themselves molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen. They say of them, “Let the sacrificers of men kiss the calves!”

— and they sin more and more; since the times of Jeroboam, and also of Ahab, adding other deities to the calves, as follows; increasing the number of their idols, and their idolatrous sacrifices, rites, and ceremonies: Easters, Christmas and then Halloweens; and from evil to more evils;

— they stop not, but run into greater absurdities; such as in Admah or as in Zeboiim (Sodom and Gomorrah, Deuteronomy 29:23) and grosser and weirdier abominations.

³ Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney. — and as the early dew it passeth away; as soon as the heat of the sun is felt, when the earth is left dry;

— so these people, though they seemed to be in great prosperity, and to be very fruitful in children, and in substance, and promised themselves much more; yet in a little time their land would become desolate, and they stripped of all that was dear and valuable to them these metaphors are used in Hosea 6:4.

⁴ “Yet I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but Me; for there is no savior besides Me.

⁵ “I knew thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought. — I did know thee in the wilderness; where there were no food nor drink, where scorpions, serpents, and beasts of prey; there the Lord knew them, and showed a fatherly affection and care of them;

— in the land of great drought; in the parched sands, where were no refreshing showers, no rivers or springs of water, to suffice so many cattle and men; where thou wentest as it were through flames and on sands, scorching as embers of a fire, a place fit for none but fiery serpents;

— and fed them with manna and quails, and guided and directed them in the way, and protected and preserved them from their enemies, and from all hurt and danger; so the Targum explains it, “I sufficiently supplied their necessities in the wilderness.”

⁶ According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten Me. — they were filled, their hearts exalted, elated with plenty, grew proud and haughty;

— they attributed their fullness not to God, but to their own merit; put their trust and confidence in their affluence; and thought themselves safe, secure, and out of any danger.

— their heart was exalted; “If we have to use force, it is because we are America; we are the indispensable nation. We stand tall and we see further than other countries into the future, and we see the danger here to all of us.” Madeleine Albright saw US as an ‘indispensable nation.’

— growing proud and haughty, their pride thumbed against God’s face; “Only the United States [that is, not God’s] had the power to guarantee global security: without our presence or support, multilateral endeavors would fail.” ~ this phase, or with small variation, used by numerous American politicians.

⁷ Therefore I will be unto them as a lion; as a leopard by the way will I observe them. — by this and the following metaphors are set forth the severity of God’s judgements upon them for their arrogance, and utter destruction;

— the lion makes his onset more openly, the leopard more secretly; both express the various ways God would take in his judgement to chastise these people for their sins; to execute his purpose with great wrath and fury, to their utter ruin;

— see a parallel Scripture: Hosea 5:14, “For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah; I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him.”

— or in Jeremiah 5:6, “Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased;”

— or Habakkuk 1:8 “Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. And their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from afar; they shall fly as the vulture that hasteneth to eat.”

⁸ I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion; the beast of the field shall tear them. — God will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps; a fierce bear, but especially when deprived of its whelps; or when sensing its whelps are in danger;

— and there will I devour them like a lion; in their cities and houses, when taken by the enemy; the wild beast shall tear them, and then they will utterly destroy them; which literally is one of God’s sore judgements, as in AD70; but that was for Judah;

— but for Israel, it could re-occured at the endtime, where Israel would fall into captivity first, then after 150 years, Judah would join the fall; and together, for another 40 years; (for more, see Ezekiel 4 – 190/40 Years of captivity and A Sword from the South!).

⁹ “O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in Me is thine help. — thou hast destroyed thyself; after these menaces it might seem God had destroyed them, but thou thyself hast done it by thy sins.

¹⁰ I will be thy King. Where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities, and thy judges of whom thou saidst, ‘Give me a king and princes’? — I will be thy King, so the Lord’s offer still holds good; where is any other king that may save any of your cities? Who else could deliver you from the power of the Assyrians?

¹¹ I gave thee a king in Mine anger, and took him away in My wrath. — the first king of all Israel, king Saul was given at the request of the people; in doing so, in fact, they rejected God as their King.

¹² “The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is hid. — the day of reckoning would certainly come, for the sin of Ephraim was neither forgotten nor blotted out;

— unrepented sin is an evergrowing store of the wrath of God, hid out of sight in the depths of his divine judgements, but of which nothing will be lost, nothing will be left unpunished; hence the Targum says, “the sins of the house of Ephraim are treasured up; they are reserved to punish all their offences.”

¹³ The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him. He is an unwise son, for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of children. — the sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him; the travail-pangs are violent, sudden, irresistible upon Ephraim, or the ten tribes;

— that is, afflictions and calamities, which are often compared to the pains and sorrows of a woman in childbirth; see Isaiah 13:8; the Targum says, “distress and trouble shall come upon them, as pains on a woman with child.”

¹⁴ I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O death, I will be thy plagues! O grave, I will be thy destruction! Repentance shall be hid from Mine eyes.”

— God’s plan of redemption would be carried out; in the very midst of a proclamation of wrath and punishment; then they would have a most glorious promise of the victory gained through redemption; as in Ezekiel 37: God’s counsel for mankind established before the foundation of the world.

¹⁵ Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an east wind shall come; the wind of the Lord shall come up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up; He shall despoil the treasure of all pleasant vessels.

— an east wind shall come; from the Assyrian, Shalmaneser; the Targum says, “now will I bring against him a king strong as a burning wind;”

— Rashi: A king, strong as the east wind, shall come up by the word of the Lord from the way of the desert; he shall plunder: that king shall plunder the treasures of all coveted vessels; (more at the end).

¹⁶ Samaria shall become desolate, for she hath rebelled against her God. They shall fall by the sword, their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up. — Samaria is the abominable name for Ephraim; according to these unspeakable cruelties, things which are often done by extreme enemies;

— cities are sacked and plundered; and which Shalmaneser might have provoked into such extremes by the treachery of the king of Israel, and the city of Samaria holding out a three years’ siege;

— but why does Ephraim deserve all these unspeakable cruelties? Oh wait, perhaps the answer is in the next or last chapter?

Hosea 14

¹ O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. — for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity; or “though thou art fallen” into sin, and into ruin, temporal and spiritual; from a state of great prosperity and happiness, both civil and religious, into great calamities;

— yet return, consider from whence thou art fallen; be restored, notwithstanding thy fall, and the low state in which thou art in; the Targum says, “return to the fear of the Lord.”

² Take with you words, and turn to the Lord; say unto Him, “Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously, so will we offer the calves of our lips. — so will we render the calves of our lips, literally, “and we will render as bullocks our lips,”

— namely, the confession of guilt and the promise to amend our ways; the Targum says, “turn to the worship of the Lord, and say, let it he with thee to forgive sins, and may we be received as good, and the words of our lips be accepted with thee as bullocks for good pleasure upon the altar.”

³ Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses, neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, ‘Ye are our gods’; for in Thee the fatherless findeth mercy.” — we will not ride upon horses; to seek for help elsewhere; or go to Egypt for them, nor Assyria, as they had done;

⁴ “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for Mine anger is turned away from him. — I will deliver them from a backsliding heart and way, all the calamities brought upon them by their unfaithfulness to the Lord; and they shall not seek it in vain.

⁵ I will be as the dew unto Israel; he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. — the Targum says, “my Word shall be as dew to Israel;”

— he shall grow as the lily; or like a great sunflower; to which the church and people of God are sometimes compared; the Targum says, “they shall shine as the lily.”

⁶ His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. — some render “as incense” called “lebonah” in Hebrew, from whence the mountain is thought to have its name, frankincense growing upon it;

— so the Targum says, “and their smell as the smell of the incense of spices.”

⁷ They that dwell under his shadow shall return. They shall revive as the corn and grow as the vine; the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon. — the Targum says, “and they shall be gathered out of the midst of their captivity, they shall dwell under the shadow of their Messiah;”

⁸ Ephraim shall say, ‘What have I to do any more with idols?’ I have heard him, and observed him; I am like a green fir tree. From Me is thy fruit found.” — I have heard him; says the Lord; Ephraim bemoaning himself, repenting of his sins; and confessing them;

— his prayers for pardon and this is what his idols he once served could not do, who had ears, but heard not; but the Lord not only heard, but answered and granted his request; the Targum says, “I by my Word will receive the prayer of Israel, and will have mercy on him.”

⁹ Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? Prudent, and he shall know them? For the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them; but the transgressors shall fall therein. — who is wise, and who shall understand these things? namely, all that the prophet has written by way of warning, rebuke, admonition, and correction; prudent, and he shall know them?

— for the ways of the Lord, particularly in the manner in which he deals with his children on earth, are right, and the just shall walk in them, finding their delight in doing the Lord’s will; but the transgressors shall fall therein;

— Rashi: who is wise and will understand these: who among you is wise and will ponder to put his heart to all these and return to Me? And the rebellious shall stumble on them: i.e. because of them, because they did not walk in them.

— and as the Targum says of Ephraim earlier, “return to the fear of the Lord . . . and I will have mercy on him.”

“The anger of the Lord shall not return, until He has executed and till He has performed the thoughts of His heart; in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly” Jeremiah 23:20; “In latter days you will understand it fully,” or even “you will understand it fully in the latter days.”

~~~

Wikipedia: an east wind (Hosea 13:15) is a wind that originates in the east and blows in a westward direction; and thus a strong king from the east, from areas of Jordan, Iraq and Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, will come.

Second, the descendants of Esau: Edom, Idumea and Mount Seir; where and who are they?

Unto the men of the East with the Ammonites, and will give them in possession, that the Ammonites may not be remembered among the nations, Ezekiel 25:10 — this prophecy against Ammon and the Ammonites has no promise of restoration.

And finally, Revelation 9: fifth angel; came out of the smoke locusts; to kill only those men who have not the seal of God in their foreheads; breastplates like breastplates of iron; sixth angel: “Loose the four angels who are bound in the great river Euphrates;” to slay a third part of men; the army of horsemen was two hundred thousand thousand; And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared, Revelation 16:12.

And finally, the East wind shall come to Ephraim (Hosea 13:15); the context is Ephraim (Hosea 13:12), the United States (Manasseh is UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand).

The Message Bible prophesies of tornadoes rampaging through the house of Ephraim

13-15 “When birth pangs signaled it was time to be born,
    Ephraim was too stupid to come out of the womb.
When the passage into life opened up,
    he didn’t show.
Shall I intervene and pull them into life?
    Shall I snatch them from a certain death?
Who is afraid of you, Death?
    Who cares about your threats, Tomb?
In the end I’m abolishing regret,
    banishing sorrow,
Even though Ephraim ran wild,
    the black sheep of the family.

15-16 “God’s tornado is on its way,
    roaring out of the desert.
It will devastate the country,
    leaving a trail of ruin and wreckage.
The cities will be gutted,
    dear possessions gone for good.
Now Samaria has to face the charges
    because she has rebelled against her God:
Her people will be killed, babies smashed on the rocks,
    pregnant women ripped open.” Hosea 13:13-16 (The Message Bible)

THE END ~~~

~ by Joel Huan on December 15, 2022.

Posted in Minor Prophets