The Bible

 

Hosea 12

Study

   

1 Ephraim's food is the wind, and he goes after the east wind: deceit and destruction are increasing day by day; they make an agreement with Assyria, and take oil into Egypt.

2 The Lord has a cause against Judah, and will give punishment to Jacob for his ways; he will give him the reward of his acts.

3 In the body of his mother he took his brother by the foot, and in his strength he was fighting with God;

4 He had a fight with the angel and overcame him; he made request for grace to him with weeping; he came face to face with him in Beth-el and there his words came to him;

5 Even the Lord, the God of armies; the Lord is his name.

6 So then, come back to your God; keep mercy and right, and be waiting at all times on your God.

7 As for Canaan, the scales of deceit are in his hands; he takes pleasure in twisted ways.

8 And Ephraim said, Now I have got wealth and much property; in all my works no sin may be seen in me.

9 But I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt; I will give you tents for your living-places again as in the days of the holy meeting.

10 My word came to the ears of the prophets and I gave them visions in great number, and by the mouths of the prophets I made use of comparisons.

11 In Gilead there is evil. They are quite without value; in Gilgal they make offerings of oxen; truly their altars are like masses of stones in the hollows of a ploughed field.

12 And Jacob went in flight into the field of Aram, and Israel became a servant for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.

13 And by a prophet the Lord made Israel come up out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was kept safe.

14 I have been bitterly moved to wrath by Ephraim; so that his blood will be on him, and the Lord will make his shame come back on him.

   

Commentary

 

Prophet

  

The idea of a "prophet" is very closely tied to the idea of the Bible itself, since the Bible was largely written by prophets. At a lower level, prophets represent people who teach from the Bible. At a higher level, they represent the Lord as He reveals himself through the Bible. Viewed in a abstract way, prophets represent the holy parts of the Bible themselves, and also represent doctrine drawn from the Bible. The reason we say "largely written by prophets" and "the holy parts of the Bible" is that not all of the books currently included in the Bible have a complete and continuous internal sense. Some -- like Job, Ruth, and Song of Solomon -- are wonderful literary pieces that got included, but which lack the systematic meanings for words and phrases. Others -- the Acts and Epistles, primarily -- are really doctrinal works, the first attempt by others to extract meaning from Jesus' life and words.