Hosea 11

Chapters 4–14 of Hosea rebuke the sins of the northern kingdom of Israel and announce judgment. The preceding chapter, Hosea 10, spoke of judgment on Israel's idolatrous altars and its monarchy. In chapter 11, God reveals Himself as a father who raised Israel as His son, and even in the midst of judgment He confesses a love that cannot let them go.

Outline

• Verses 1–4: God loved Israel as a child and called him out of Egypt. He taught him to walk, took him in His arms and healed him, drew him "with bands of love," lifted the yoke from him, and fed him. Yet the more Israel was called, the farther he went away, sacrificing to Baal and burning incense to idols.
• Verses 5–7: Because they refused to return, the Assyrian will be their king; the sword will fall on their cities and break their bars. The people are bent on backsliding from God.
• Verses 8–9: God confesses that He cannot give up Ephraim as He did Admah and Zeboim; His compassion is kindled within Him. Because He is "God, and not man," He will not destroy them in His fierce anger.
• Verses 10–11: Following the LORD, who roars like a lion, His children come trembling from the west, and from Egypt and Assyria like a bird and a dove. God settles them in their own houses.
• Verse 12: Ephraim and Israel have compassed God about with lies and deceit. The verse also says that Judah is unfaithful to God.

Key Verses

• Hosea 11:1: "And called my son out of Egypt." The Exodus is portrayed as a father calling his son. Matthew 2:15 quotes this verse in connection with the flight into Egypt of the infant Jesus.
• Hosea 11:8: "How shall I give thee up?" Here the heart of God, who has been speaking of judgment, turns within Him; the verse captures the central theme of the whole book of Hosea.
• Hosea 11:9: "For I am God, and not man." The verse shows that God's holiness is revealed not in destruction but in compassion.

People and Places

• Ephraim: The largest tribe of northern Israel. In Hosea the name refers to the northern kingdom as a whole.
• Admah and Zeboim: Cities destroyed along with Sodom and Gomorrah (Deuteronomy 29:23). They are cited as examples of total destruction.
• Judah: The kingdom established in the south after the division of the kingdom.
• Egypt is the land where Israel had been enslaved and from which it came out, and Assyria is the great power that would conquer northern Israel.

Points for Reflection

• In its original context, verse 1 recalls the past event of the Exodus. Matthew, however, quotes it as "fulfilled" in Jesus. Many interpreters explain the citation as typology linking Israel the son with Jesus, the true Son of God. Others read it as a direct prophecy of Jesus.
• The Hebrew text of verses 5 and 12 is ambiguous, and translations differ. Verse 5 is rendered both as "He shall not return into the land of Egypt" and as "He shall return to Egypt." The second half of verse 12 is rendered by some, such as the Korean Revised Version, as a rebuke of Judah, and by others, such as the King James Version, as praise: "Judah yet ruleth with God."
• The Hebrew Masoretic Text numbers verse 12 as Hosea 12:1.
• Some interpreters regard "mine heart is turned within me" in verse 8 as an anthropomorphic expression drawn from human emotion. Others see it as revealing God's real anguish.

In the Korean Church

Verses 1–4 and verse 8 are frequently used as sermon texts proclaiming the love of God the Father, who cannot let go of His wayward children.