Hosea 13:1-16 – The Lord as Saviour and King

Ephraim once had moments of faithfulness. Joshua was an Ephraimite; Samuel ministered in Ephraim; Ephraim helped oppose wickedness in Judges. Yet Ephraim later exalted itself and fell into Baal worship.

This fall is seen most clearly in Jeroboam, who was also from Ephraim and was the northern kingdom’s first king.

Jeroboam began well, serving Solomon faithfully. Because of Solomon’s idolatry, God gave Jeroboam the ten northern tribes, and we see this in 1 Kings 11. Jeroboam didn’t seize the kingdom; God handed it to him. But after receiving it, Jeroboam created a false religion—golden calves, new altars, new feasts—and led Israel into deeper sin. Thus Hosea’s words apply: Ephraim trembled, Ephraim rose, but Ephraim died in Baal worship.

Hosea 13:2-3 describes their idolatry:

And now they sin more and more, and have made them 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 men that sacrifice kiss the calves.

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.

Let the men who pretend to worship God go ahead and kiss their golden calves — that’s the kind of worship they’ve chosen.

These molten images made“according to their own understanding” are examples of man‑made religion—people inventing gods from their imagination. Because of this, Israel will vanish like morning cloud, early dew, chaff in the wind, and smoke from a chimney—images of emptiness and disappearance.

Since God never revealed an image of Himself, any attempt to represent Him becomes man‑made religion—people inventing a god from their imagination and shaping it with their hands. This pattern appears throughout history: human wisdom replacing divine revelation.

Hosea 13:2 describes Israel’s idolatry: molten images “according to their own understanding.” Paul contrasts this in 1 Corinthians 1, where man’s wisdom stands against God’s wisdom.

Idolatry always reflects its makers. Whether carved statues or philosophical ideas, gods formed by human understanding mirror human values and desires. True worship requires God revealing Himself, not man imagining Him.

Therefore, Hosea says Israel will vanish like morning cloud, early dew, chaff in the wind, and smoke from a chimney—images of emptiness and disappearance. Their man‑made religion has no substance, and their nation will blow away under judgment.

Yet even here God declares hope. Hosea 13:4 declares that hope:

Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me.

God recalls their history—He brought them out of Egypt, sustained them in the wilderness, and revealed Himself as their only Saviour. Though judgment’s certain, God promises future restoration. Israel will one day know only Him, and He’ll be their King and Saviour when He returns.

God taught Israel His identity through His names:

– Jehovah — I AM, the eternal One in Exodus 3.

– Jehovah‑Jireh — The Lord who provides in Genesis 22.

– Jehovah‑Rapha — The Lord who heals in Exodus 15.

– Jehovah‑Nissi —The Lord our banner, giving victory only when they obeyed in Exodus 17.

– Jehovah‑M’Kaddesh — The Lord who sanctifies in Exodus 31.

– Jehovah‑Rohi — The Lord my shepherd in Psalm 23, leading Israel from the wilderness to green pastures, to Canaan.

– Jehovah‑Shalom — The Lord who sends peace in Judges 6.

– Jehovah‑Sabaoth — The Lord of hosts in Isaiah 1.

– Jehovah‑Yasha — The Lord who saves in Isaiah 49 and Hosea 13:4. This is the root of the names Joshua, Yeshua, and Jesus—all meaning salvation.

These names show God’s character: Provider, Healer, Victor, Sanctifier, Shepherd, Peace‑giver, Commander, and Saviour. Hosea 13 uses them to remind Israel of who God has always been.

When Hosea 13:4 declares, “Thou shalt know no God but Me; for there is no Saviour beside Me,” this’s Israel’s future salvation. Jeremiah 31 says that under the new covenant all Israel shall know the Lord. Hosea says the same: Israel will know only Jehovah, who is Jesus Christ in the flesh.

When Israel is saved, salvation flows to the nations, Isaiah 45 says. That’s prophecy. The mystery revealed later to the apostle Paul is how salvation goes to the nations while Israel’s still unsaved.

Now it may be that you’re thinking, “Come on, you’ve told us about this rejection, judgment and restoration over and over again.” Well, that’s true, but we need to see that this message consumes the prophetic books of the Bible and runs like a drumbeat through Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Amos, Micah, and the rest of the prophets.

Multiple independent studies estimate that between 27% and one third of the Bible is prophecy and that prophecy is about this very subject, Israel’s rejection of God, His judgment, and His restoration.

This includes:

The 17 Old Testament prophetic books, prophetic sections in historical books such as Deuteronomy 28–30, and 1st and 2nd Samuel, Kings and Chronicles. It includes prophetic Psalms, Jesus’ prophetic teaching (Matthew 24–25) and Revelation.

So, roughly, a staggering one in every four verses of the Bible is prophetic.

Now, how much of that prophecy deals with Israel’s rejection, judgment, and restoration?

Well, the vast majority of Old Testament prophecy follows this pattern:

Israel forsakes God (and falls into idolatry, injustice and false worship). God announces covenant judgment, like the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles, then God remembers His promises to Abraham & David and promises future restoration – return to the land, a new covenant, Messiah and kingdom.

This pattern dominates: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Micah, Zephaniah, Zechariah and Malachi.

These books are almost entirely structured around Israel’s rejection, judgment and restoration.

Even the historical books (Samuel, Kings, Chronicles) contain large prophetic sections built on the same pattern.

If we include prophetic sections in non‑prophetic books, the theme appears in well over one‑third of the Bible.

This is not an exaggeration — it’s the central foundation of the Old Testament prophets and a major framework of the New Testament.

The prophets are covenant enforcers.

Their job was to expose Israel’s sin, announce covenant curses, remind Israel of God’s promises and foretell the future restoration under the Messiah.

Israel repeatedly broke the covenant, and that’s why the prophetic books are largely devoted to explaining why judgment is coming and how restoration will follow.

So yes, we do labour over that theme because God does.

That theme is central to understanding life on planet Earth in the past, today and in the future.

Sadly, the majority of Christians today are ignorant of this.

If we don’t understand at least the basics of God and His dealings with Israel, we can never properly understand our own salvation and redemption in this dispensation of grace we live in today.

This is why we want to communicate these facts and, in so doing, be able to offer a much clearer picture of the Book of Romans that’s so essential for us to know as Christians.

So let’s put this into perspective.

We have this enormous weight of prophecy over 35% of the Bible, relating to the nation of Israel, and that weight of prophecy surrounds another period of the Bible that was never prophesied.

God always knew that this period would be a reality, but it was hidden in Him, hidden from all mankind, since before the foundation of the world.

That period, although made up of 2000 years, is tiny compared to the weight of prophecy that surrounds it. That period is the mystery that was revealed to the apostle Paul by the risen Christ Himself. It’s the now-revealed mystery of the Church, the Body of Christ, the New Creature, salvation to all men, Jew and Gentile, through grace by faith alone, without Israel, without covenants and without the law.

That mystery, now revealed, is the dispensation of grace that you and I live in today, and the one and only reason we can enjoy what that dispensation offers, salvation through faith alone, is because Israel failed to recognise the Messiah when He came.

They rejected their promised kingdom that was then at hand and ready for them to walk into. They did the same thing they’d always done, turned from God to their own understanding.

And before we start to develop a holier-than-thou attitude towards the Jewish people for their continual rejection of God, we need to take a look in a mirror because not one person on this planet could or would have done anything different to the Jews. That’s why salvation only comes by God’s grace through faith, because human works fall far short of God’s required standard.

The prophets taught plainly that Israel must be saved, and that God Himself will save them. When Israel is restored, God’s glory fills the earth, He dwells with them, and the nations are blessed. Yet Israel today is not saved and has rejected the Messiah.

Still, God sent Paul to preach salvation to all the nations. This is the mystery of Christ—salvation going to both Jews and Gentiles while national Israel remains in unbelief.

Now back to Hosea 13, but first, Joshua 24 records a formal covenant made in Shechem, near Ephraim, where Israel vowed to serve the Lord alone.

Joshua commands them: “Fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and truth, and put away the gods your fathers served.”

He challenges them to choose whom they’ll serve, declaring, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

The people agree, remembering God’s deliverance from Egypt and His preservation in the wilderness. Joshua warns them that God is holy and jealous; if they forsake Him for strange gods, He will judge them. They insist, “We will serve the Lord,” and Joshua makes them witnesses to their own promise.

He establishes statutes and ordinances, sealing the covenant in Shechem.

This covenant is crucial to Hosea 13.

Hosea 13:5 recalls Israel’s beginning:

I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought.

In Exodus, Israel had nothing—no food, no water, no idols—and God revealed Himself through miracles.

He fed them with manna, as Exodus 16:15 reveals. Moses said, “This is the bread which the Lord hath given you.” God told them He’d do it, then He did it. That is how Israel learned who He was.

Hosea shows that Israel will again be scattered, again be in a “wilderness” before the kingdom, and God will again reveal Himself. This is why future prophecy includes miracles before Christ returns—God repeats what He did at Israel’s first birth.

In Hosea 13:6, God says,

According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me.

Once Israel entered the pasture—the promised land—and was filled, “their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me.” This repeats the warning of Deuteronomy 6:10–12: when God gives abundance and says Beware lest you forget Him.

Proverbs 30:8–9 echoes the danger of both poverty and riches—either can lead a person away from God.

Because Israel forgot Him, God says He will meet them “as a lion… a leopard… a bear”.

Hosea 13:7–8 reads,

Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe them:

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 wild beast shall tear them.

The “caul” refers to the membrane or covering around the heart — the inner layer that protects vital organs.

Here, it represents the innermost affections, emotions, and self‑confidence of a person.

When God says He’ll “rend” the caul of their heart, He’s saying He’ll tear open their inner security, exposing their deepest thoughts and destroying the false confidence that kept them from repentance.

These images reflect covenant curses in Leviticus 26:22, where God promised to send wild beasts as judgment.

Israel’s suffering is not random; it’s covenant reckoning.

Hosea 13:9 summarises the tragedy:

O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help.

God was their helper. Psalm 121 says the Lord keeps Israel and never slumbers. Hosea’s marriage picture shows the same truth: Israel left the One who helped her.

Yet God continually promises hope in Hosea 13:10-11,

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 gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath.

Israel’s earthly kings failed, especially Jeroboam, whom God gave in anger and later removed in wrath, as 1 Kings 11–14 shows. God Himself will be their King when He returns.

Hosea 13:12 says,

The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is hid.

Israel’s sin is “bound up”—like evidence sealed in a bag. Job said the exact same thing in  Job 14:17,

My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity.

God has preserved Israel’s guilt as evidence for judgment — not forgotten, not forgiven yet — but waiting for the day when He’ll expose it, punish it, and ultimately cleanse it through His mercy. Judgment must come.

Hosea 13:13 describes the “sorrows of a travailing woman,” pointing to the future “time of Jacob’s trouble” that Jeremiah 30:7 talks about. It reads,

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.

In that tribulation, Israel will cry out like a woman in labour, says Isaiah 26:16–18, confessing they’ve failed and seeking deliverance. God promises resurrection in Isaiah 26:19,

Thy dead men shall live… with my dead body shall they arise.

Isaiah 26:20 promises,

Those who trust Him will be hidden until indignation [the tribulation] passes.

Then Hosea 13:14 declares:

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.

Hosea 13:14 contains one of the most remarkable promises of God’s love and future grace toward Israel.

After chapters of judgment on the northern tribes—idolatry, exile, loss of king, and removal from the land—God suddenly speaks hope:

“I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death.”

This is astonishing because the nation’s been condemned, yet God remembers His covenant with their fathers and His promise to restore them to their land.

Hosea 13:14 reveals the voice of the Lord Jesus, the One who defeats death. God says, “O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction.”

This anticipates Christ’s death and resurrection, the only way God can destroy death and redeem Israel. The verse doesn’t explain how this will happen, but hindsight shows it required the cross.

Ezekiel 37 expands this promise. The dry bones prophecy represents “the whole house of Israel.” They confess, “Our bones are dried, our hope is lost.”

God answers: “I will open your graves and bring you into the land of Israel.”

This is a national resurrection, resurrection of the nation of Israel. When God raises them and puts His Spirit in them, as Ezekiel 37:14 states, then they will know Him.

This is new‑covenant language, matching Ezekiel 36 where God gives Israel a new heart and Spirit. Resurrection and restoration to the land occur together.

Hosea 6:1–2 gives the same pattern: Israel says, “He hath torn, and He will heal us… after two days will He revive us; in the third day He will raise us up.” Again, resurrection is tied to national healing and future life in God’s presence.

Paul explains the mechanics of resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15. Christ is “the firstfruits” of resurrection. Since death came by man, resurrection must also come by man—this is why God became flesh. Christ’s resurrection is the basis for all future resurrection, including Israel’s.

Paul says, “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” Every resurrection—yours, Israel’s, and the final resurrection—is possible only because Christ conquered death.

Paul also gives the order of resurrection: Christ first, then “they that are Christ’s at His coming.”

Christ’s coming for Israel occurs at the end of the tribulation, when He returns to establish the kingdom. At that moment, Israel is raised, restored, and placed in their land. After the kingdom, “then cometh the end,” when the dead are raised for final judgment, as stated in Revelation 20.

Hosea 13:14 fits perfectly into this timeline.

God promises to ransom Israel from the grave and redeem them from death. Their resurrection happens when Christ returns, just as Ezekiel and Hosea foretold.

Paul shows how Christ’s resurrection makes this possible. And God seals the promise with the words: “Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.” He’ll not change His mind. Israel will be raised, restored, and redeemed exactly as He declared.

In 1 Corinthians 15, some believers questioned resurrection because Christians were dying and remaining dead.

Paul explains that resurrection has a timing: Christ rose first, then “they that are Christ’s at His coming,” and “then cometh the end.”

Resurrection doesn’t happen immediately when believers die; it happens when Christ returns. When we die as believers we will be with the Lord but the redemption of our bodies to immortality will occur at Christ’s return in the air to catch up the church that has both died before and is living at that time. That’s not His second coming. He doesn’t touch the earth at His next appearance. That’s the rapture.

Paul shows that Christ must reign until all enemies are under His feet, and the last enemy destroyed is death, as 1 Corinthians 15:24–26 states. Christ defeated death at the cross, but death will only be destroyed in the future kingdom.

Isaiah 25 describes that kingdom.

On Mount Zion, the Lord prepares a feast for all people – Isaiah 25:6. This mountain is identified in Isaiah 24:23 as Jerusalem, where the Lord reigns. In that kingdom, God removes the veil over the nations and swallows up death in victory – Isaiah 25:7–8.

He wipes away tears and removes Israel’s reproach. The people say, “This is our God; we have waited for Him.”

This is Christ reigning on earth, defeating His enemies, and bringing salvation to Israel.

Revelation 20–21 shows the final sequence.

Christ reigns for 1,000 years with Israel. At the end of that period, the Great White Throne judgment occurs, where the dead are raised and judged. Then death and hell are cast into the lake of fire – Revelation 20:14. Only after this destruction of death does Revelation 21 describe the new heaven, new earth, and New Jerusalem descending.

God dwells with His people, wipes away all tears, and declares, “there shall be no more death” – Revelation 21:4.

This can’t happen earlier, because death still exists during the kingdom. Only after the second death is destroyed can death be gone forever.

Israel’s resurrection occurs when Christ returns to establish the kingdom, just as Ezekiel 37 and Hosea 6 describe.

Ezekiel 37 says God will open Israel’s graves, raise them, give them His Spirit, and place them in their land.

Hosea 6 says He’ll heal and revive them on the “third day.” Paul explains how this is possible: Christ is the firstfruits of resurrection, and all resurrection—ours, Israel’s, and the final resurrection—comes through Him – 1 Corinthians 15:20–23.

Paul’s order is clear: Christ first, then His people at His coming, then the end, when death is destroyed. Only then does the promise of “no more death” become reality.

Hosea’s prophecy fits this timeline: God will redeem Israel from death when Christ returns, and He’ll not change His mind—“repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.”

Many Christians assume sin and death were eliminated at the cross, but Paul teaches that Christ’s work began the solution, not its completion.

Sin still exists, and people still die. The end—when death is destroyed—comes only after Christ returns and reigns – 1 Corinthians 15:24–26. He defeated death at the cross, but He’ll destroy it in the kingdom.

Hosea condemns the northern tribes for rebellion; their removal by Assyria has already happened. But Hosea also promises their future salvation, which has not yet happened. Christ has come once, but He’s not yet raised Israel from their graves or brought them into their land. Paul says, “All Israel shall be saved” in Rom. 11:26, but only after this present time.

Hosea 13:15  then prophesies the dreadful destruction of Israel and Samaria by the cruel Assyrians (“an east wind”). It reads,

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 spoil the treasure of all pleasant vessels.

Ephraim—“fruitful”—will be struck by an east wind, the wind of the Lord, drying up their springs and their riches. This east wind appears throughout Scripture as God’s action: dividing the Red Sea in Exodus 14, withering Jonah’s plant in Jonah 4. It symbolises God’s judgment and His coming from the east.

Hosea 13:16 says,

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.

This declares that Samaria will become desolate for rebelling against God.

The northern tribes will fall by the sword of Assyria. Even though God promises future resurrection, the covenant requires judgment first. Faithful Israelites in Ephraim would have to flee and trust God as their refuge, knowing He would save the remnant.

This verse contains disturbing language: infants dashed to pieces and pregnant women ripped up.

Passages like this, and Psalm 137:9, are often used to accuse God of cruelty.

But Scripture shows these acts were committed by wicked men, not commanded or performed by God.

Psalm 137 describes Babylon’s violence against Israel and asks God to repay Babylon as they did to Israel. It’s an appeal to covenant justice, not a divine instruction to kill children.

Hosea 13:16 predicts what Assyria will do to Samaria.

God’s not wielding the sword; He’s withdrawing protection because Israel rejected Him.

Hosea 10:14–15 recalls Shalman, an Assyrian commander, who “dashed the mother upon the children.”

Amos 1:13 condemns the Ammonites for ripping open pregnant women. God judges these nations for such cruelty; He doesn’t endorse their actions.

Even Israel’s own king, Menahem, committed these atrocities, as 2 Kings 15:16 states. God calls him evil and later removes Israel’s kings entirely. The question is not “Why does God do this?” but “Why does God allow wicked men to act?”

Hosea’s message is that Israel’s covenant rebellion caused God to step back, allowing enemies to do what they naturally do.

Judgment comes because Israel refused repentance and rejected God’s protection.

God’s justice is righteous and impartial.

Human judgment is flawed because we’re sinners ourselves. Scripture teaches that none are righteous. God doesn’t judge based on personal status—He judges deeds.

When He allows judgment, it’s because a nation has continually rejected His long‑suffering.

And yet God’s justice is never the final word.

Jeremiah writes in Lamentations 3:31–33, “The Lord will not cast off forever… yet will He have compassion”.

Paul says in Romans 11:2, “God hath not cast away His people”.

Israel’s suffering under Assyria was real, but temporary. God promises future restoration, resurrection, and salvation. Hosea’s harsh imagery reflects the reality of human evil and the seriousness of covenant judgment—but also the certainty that God’s mercy will prevail after justice is fulfilled.

Hosea ends with both justice and hope.

The northern kingdom will fall, but God will keep His promise to redeem them, raise them, and restore them, after judgment, in His future kingdom, when Christ destroys death itself.

May God bless you with the knowledge of the sure and certain hope of Resurrection and the glorification of these sin-affected human bodies.