Hosea 13:13

"The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him: he is an unwise son; for it is time he should not tarry in the place of the breaking forth of children."

The astounding versality of Hosea is seen in the multiple figures used to portray the wickedness of Israel. Israel (of Ephraim) is a half-baked cake, a stubborn heifer, an ungrateful son, an unfaithful and adulterous wife, etc., etc. Here Israel is at once a travailing woman unable to give birth, and a foolish, unnatural son incapable of performing his own natural function in the process of birth.

"The place of the breaking forth of children ..." is a reference to the womb. The most instructive and perceptive of the many comments on this which were reviewed is the following by Harper:

"The figure represents the woman (come to term) but unable to perform the act. But with the privilege of a Hebrew poet, Hosea suddenly shifts from the mother to the child that is to be born. (He is an unwise son). The child is represented as failing to do the part assigned to him by nature; and in this failure he shows himself unwise and foolish. The result will be that, instead of an occasion for rejoicing, viz. a new birth, there will rather be an occasion for grief, for the parturition will be fatal to both mother and son. Not only is there no new being in the world; that one which did exist is taken away. Israel, in order to continue life, must be born again,' without such new birth, old Israel must perish."[26]

In the final sentence of the quotation just noted, the conception of the new birth is dramatically presented, since it is Ephraim which was compared to the fetal infant unable to be born. This absolute requirement of being "born again" was made mandatory for all mankind by the Saviour in John 3:1-5. It is amazing indeed to find the concept in the prophecy of Hosea. Indeed, he did speak the words of God.