Hosea 12:1 - Meaning and Application

In these verses, Ephraim is convicted of folly for depending on Egypt and Assyria when he was in trouble (Hosea 12:1). He is said to feed on wind, which means he filled himself with empty hopes of help from people while he was at odds with God. When those hopes failed, he kept chasing the same thing, like someone running after the east wind. That wind cannot be caught, and even if it could, it would not nourish anyone.

This matches the earlier warning, “He sows the wind,” and then reaps the whirlwind (Hosea 8:7). Here the thought is that those who trust creatures instead of God make fools of themselves. They spend great effort on lies and then gather more disappointment for themselves. The more they stack up false hopes, the farther they move from the mercy they really need.

Ephraim tried to secure Assyria with a formal alliance, signed and sworn, but it would not hold. He also tried to win Egypt by sending olive oil there as a gift. The gift was given, the effort was made, but Egypt proved useless in the end. So the oil and the labor were wasted.

Judah is also charged, and so is Jacob, which includes both Ephraim and Judah (Hosea 12:2). The Lord had a case against Judah too, because even if they had once “ruled with God” and been faithful with the saints, they were now drifting away. Or, if those words point to their right order in worship and rule, their worship and kingship still did not excuse their other sins. Being right in some things does not keep people from correction in the things where they are wrong.

This is like Christ’s words to some of the seven churches in Asia, where he approved much in them and still said, “I have something against you.” God sees sin even in his own people, and he will deal with it. So the seed of Jacob, though near to God, would still be punished for the evil ways and deeds found among them.

Both Ephraim and Judah are then reminded of their father Jacob, from whom they came and whose name they bore with honor. They are meant to feel shame for falling so far from such an honored ancestor. At the same time, they are meant to be encouraged to return to the God of their father Jacob, since God had once shown mercy to him. The Lord had called them Jacob when he warned of judgment, but he still seemed to ask, “How can I give them up?” His old love for that name was still in view.

First, they are reminded of Jacob’s struggle with Esau in the womb, when he took his brother by the heel (Hosea 12:3; Genesis 25:26). It was an early sign of courage and a desire for the covenant blessing, the birthright that Esau wrongly despised as if it were nothing. But Jacob’s later descendants, by joining themselves to the nations and making leagues with them, had brought that honor down into the dust. In that early struggle, Jacob was given the promise of rule, and God declared his love for him, but their sin had put both God’s favor and their place of honor at risk.

They are also reminded of Jacob’s wrestling with the angel. The point is that their father had power with God by the strength God gave him, not by his own natural strength (Job 22:6). The angel he wrestled with is called God, so this is understood to be the Son of God, the angel of the covenant, God’s messenger and representative. God was, in a sense, both opposing Jacob and helping him at the same time, as providence pressed him and grace carried him through.

This was especially true in Jacob’s prayer for rescue from Esau and for blessing. He prevailed over the angel, because he wept and pleaded. There was both great courage and deep tenderness in him, as he wrestled like a strong man and wept like a child. Prayers and tears are the weapons by which God’s people have won their greatest victories. In that struggle, Jacob became Israel, that is, a prince with God, but his descendants were no longer worthy of the name, because they had lost close fellowship with God by turning from their duty to him.

They are also reminded of Jacob’s meeting with God at Bethel, where “God found him” and spoke with him there (Hosea 12:4). God first met him at Bethel when he was on the way to Padan-aram (Genesis 28:10), and again after his return (Genesis 35:9 and following).

It is likely that this refers to both places. At both times, God spoke to Jacob and renewed his covenant with him, and the prophet could rightly say, “There he spoke with us,” meaning the whole family line that came from Jacob. In both meetings at Bethel, God spoke not only to Jacob, but also about his descendants, saying, “Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth” (Genesis 28:14) and “This land I will give to your descendants” (Genesis 35:12). In that way, God made a covenant with Jacob and with his offspring after him.

They are rightly blamed for this history, because in the very place their father Jacob called Bethel, meaning “house of God,” they set up one of the calves and worshiped it. In doing so, they turned Bethel into Beth-aven, meaning “house of sin” or “house of wickedness.” There God had spoken to them great and precious promises, but they despised them and lost the benefit of them.

Two lessons are drawn from these stories about Jacob for the instruction of his descendants. First, this teaches us something. From what passed between God and Jacob, we learn that the Lord God of hosts is the God of Israel. He was the God of Jacob, and this is his memorial through all the generations of Jacob’s family (Hosea 12:5). What a shame, then, for those who forgot the memory of their church, left the God of their fathers, and traded the Lord of hosts for Baals.

Only those are truly counted as God’s people who keep up a memorial of God, the kind of memorial he himself has appointed, by which he makes himself known and calls us to remember him. Here are two memorial names by which he is set apart from all others and should be known and worshiped by us. One points to his self-existence. He is Jehovah, much the same as “I AM,” the one who was, is, and is to come, infinite, eternal, and unchanging. Jehovah is his special memorial name. The other points to his rule over all things. He is the God of hosts, with all the armies of heaven and earth at his command, using them however he pleases.

Jacob saw Mahanaim, which means “two camps” or “two hosts,” around the time he wrestled with the angel (Genesis 32:1-2), and there he learned to call God the God of hosts. He passed that name on to us as part of God’s memorial. God’s names, titles, and qualities are his memorials. There is no need for images to serve that purpose. What God revealed to one person becomes his memorial to many, even to all generations.

Second, there is a lesson of appeal here (Hosea 12:6). If this is so, that Jacob your father had fellowship with the Lord God of hosts, and this is still his memorial, then let those who have wandered from God turn back to him. Therefore, “turn to your God.” He who was the God of Jacob is the God of Israel, and he is your God. You have wrongly and unkindly turned away from him, so return to him in repentance and faith. Turn to him as your own God, to love him, obey him, and depend on him.

Let those who have turned to him also walk with him in all holy living and godliness. “Keep mercy and judgment” means show kindness to the poor and needy, and give everyone what is due to them. Be kind to all. Do wrong to no one. “Keep piety and judgment” may also be the sense, meaning live righteously and godly in this present world. Be devout and be honest. Do not practice these things only now and then, but be careful, steady, and sincere in them.

Let those who walk with God be encouraged to live by trusting him. “Wait on your God continually” means look to him in believing hope for every help and supply you need. Those who live in line with God may also live with confidence and comfort in him, if they do not spoil it themselves. Let our eyes always be on the Lord, and let us keep a holy calm and peace of mind under the shelter of his power and the favor of his love. When the future is uncertain, we should wait without anxiety, keeping our spirits steady by faith. This is what it means to wait on God as our covenant God, and we must do it continually.