Hosea 12:7-14

ISRAEL’S UNHOLY AMBITION AND BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT, Hosea 12:7-14.

Israel’s sole ambition had been to accumulate material wealth, even by the use of the most shameful means. This ill-gotten gain, the prophet says, will avail nothing, for Jehovah is about to reduce Israel to poverty (7-9). The latter part of the section is obscure, due perhaps to a disarrangement of the verses. They seem to contain a complaint of Jehovah because the people disregarded and rejected the prophets whom he had raised up. This obstinacy makes the judgment inevitable (10-14).