Hosea 13:1 - Meaning and Application

Idolatry was the sin that most easily trapped the Jewish nation until after the captivity. The ten tribes were guilty of it from the start, but especially after the days of Ahab. That is the sin charged against them in these verses.

Notice, first, the help God gave them to keep them from idolatry, which is described in Hosea 13:4. God did everything proper to keep them close to himself. What more could he have done? He made himself known to them as the Lord their God and took them as his own people in a special way. By his word and his works, all the way from the land of Egypt, he kept saying, “I am the Lord your God.” He told them this from heaven at Mount Sinai, that he was the Lord, their God, who brought them out of Egypt. He kept saying it and proving it through his prophets and his providences, his guiding actions in history.

He also gave them a law forbidding them to worship any other god: “You shall know no God but me.” That means they were not only to refuse other gods, but also not to become familiar with their customs and worship. It is a happy kind of ignorance not to know what we should not meddle with. Scripture praises those who have not known “the deep things of Satan.” God also gave them a strong reason for this command: “There is no savior besides me.” Whatever we take as our god, we expect to be our savior too, the one who makes us happy here and hereafter. Since we owe loyalty where we have protection, we owe worship where we have salvation.

Second, consider the honor Ephraim had while he stayed away from idolatry, as Hosea 13:1 says. While Ephraim spoke with trembling, or acted with reverent fear toward God, he was exalted in Israel. Some understand this to mean that he behaved before God as Jacob did, with tears and prayers, not speaking proudly or harshly against God and his prophets. As long as he kept a holy fear of God, he stood high among the tribes. Jeroboam, who came from that tribe, lifted up himself and his family. Others take the phrase to mean that when Ephraim spoke, people around him trembled and stood in awe.

The lesson is clear. Those who humble themselves, especially before God, will be lifted up. People who speak with modesty, with caution about themselves, and with respect for others, often gain honor. But Ephraim soon lost himself. “When he offended in Baal” means that when he turned to idol worship, he died. His honor faded fast and was buried in the dust. Baal stands here for all idolatry. When Ephraim forsook God and worshiped images, the nation received its death wound and never truly recovered. Turning away from God is death for any person or people.

Third, look at the sad growth of their idolatry in Hosea 13:2. “Now they sin more and more.” Once he began to offend in Baal, the restraint was broken, and he kept getting worse. He wanted more idols, became more attached to the ones he already had, and grew even more foolish in worshiping them. The way of idolatry, like the way of other sins, goes downhill. Once people leave God, they often keep sinning more and more.

They made molten images, proudly making gods they could shape however they wanted. These may have been small copies of the calves, like silver shrines made for Diana. The devoted supporters of calf worship may even have carried little images of the gods they served. They made them from their silver, so they had no doubt they owned them, since they paid for them with their own money or melted down their own silver for the purpose. They spared no expense in serving their idols, giving them the best they had.

They also made them according to their own understanding, according to their own taste. They decided what shape their idol should have and made it that way, a god after their own judgment. Or they made it in their own likeness, in the form of a man. And when they made their idols in human form, they themselves became like stocks and stones in heart and mind, because those who make idols become like them, and so does everyone who trusts in them. It was all the work of craftsmen. These images did not claim, like Diana’s image in Acts 19:35, to have fallen from Jupiter. No, the workers likely put their own names on them, showing plainly whose work it was. See Hosea 8:6 and Isaiah 44:9.

Though these idols were the work of human hands, they were still loved deeply by those who worshiped them. The people said, “Let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves.” Either the priests called the people to give this honor, or the worshipers, who could not come close themselves, told the priests to kiss the calves for them, as their representatives. They were so fond of these idols that they wanted their highest honor shown to them. Even though they were only calves, if the people treated them as gods, they and their proxies paid them this respect. They kissed the calves as a sign of worship, affection, and loyalty. In contrast, we are told to kiss the Son, to receive him as our Lord and our God.

Fourth, there are threats of judgment for this idolatry. The Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God, and he will not give his glory to another. So all who worship images will be put to shame, especially Ephraim, as Psalm 97:7 says. Because they loved kissing their calves so much, God would give them painful proof of their foolishness, as Hosea 13:3 says. They hoped to find safety and satisfaction in idol worship and thought their prosperity would be secured by it. But God tells them they will be disappointed and swept away in their wickedness.

This is illustrated by four comparisons. They will be like the morning cloud, which seems to promise rain for dry land. They will be like the early dew, which seems to promise the same. But both disappear, and the day turns out as dry and hot as before. So their show of religion was brief and empty, as Hosea 6:4 says. They had disappointed God’s expectation from them, and it is right that their prosperity should vanish the same way. Their hopes in idols will also fail, and so will the hopes of all who make this world their idol.

They are like chaff, light and worthless, driven away by the wind from the threshing floor, as in Psalm 1:4, Psalm 25:5, and Job 21:18. Indeed, they are like the smoke from a chimney.

They are like smoke, foul and offensive (see Isaiah 65:5), and they will be blown away like smoke from a chimney, quickly scattered and gone (Psalm 68:2). The point is clear: nowhere except in God can we find lasting comfort that is truly solid and secure.