Hosea 13:6-8

Hosea 13:6-8. According to their pasture, &c. As I was their shepherd, and provided pasture for them, so they were fully fed; they had an abundant plenty of all things. And their heart was exalted The consequence of their having this plenty was, that from thence they grew proud and high-minded. Therefore they have forgotten me They so abused my kindness to them, as to make it the occasion of their ingratitude; “for in the pride of their heart, which the miraculous supply of their wants for so long a time produced in them, they forgot their benefactor.” Therefore I will be unto them as a lion That suddenly seizes upon and tears his prey: that is, I will utterly consume them from being a nation, and give them up into the hands of such enemies as will show them no mercy; as a leopard by the way That lies in wait by the way; will I observe them Watch for them, that I may be sure to take them, or watch all opportunities to destroy them. I will meet them as a bear, &c. In the greatest fury imaginable; bereaved of her whelps A circumstance which adds a particular degree of fierceness. “They never venture to fire upon a young bear when the mother is near: for if the cub drop, she becomes enraged to a degree little short of madness; and if she get a sight of the enemy, will only quit her revenge with her life.” Cook’s Voyage, vol. 3. page 307. And will rend the caul of their heart The seat of the blood, with which wild beasts love to glut themselves. The wild beast shall tear them The Assyrian shall prove as a wild beast to them. The word תבקעם , here used, signifies, shall cleave them, or rip them. Bishop Horsley renders it, shall tear them limb from limb; observing, “The verb expresses a violent distraction and severing of united parts in any manner: and is to be differently rendered with regard to the particular agent and patient. When the agent is a wild beast, and the patient the beast’s prey, it must be tearing limb from limb: tearing, by itself, is inadequate.”