Hosea 12:10-13

10, 11. In manifold ways Jehovah sought to warn the people.

By the prophets This is better than R.V. “unto” (compare Amos 2:11; Jeremiah 7:25).

Visions One of the means whereby the prophets received divine revelations (Numbers 12:6; see on Obadiah 1:1). (Compare the articles “Vision” and “Prophecy and Prophets” in Hastings’s Dictionary of the Bible.)

Similitudes Literally, I have made comparisons, that is, have spoken in similes and parables (Hosea 7:4 ff.; Hosea 9:10; compare Isaiah 5:1-7). To all these warnings Israel remained deaf; the result is ruin, and no one but Israel is to blame.

Gilead See on Hosea 6:8.

Gilgal See on Hosea 4:15. Both were religious centers; both were seats of corruption; and both will be destroyed for their sins. It has been claimed sometimes that the two centers are intended to represent the entire kingdom Gilead the territory east of the Jordan, Gilgal the territory west of that river. Whether this is so or not, the fate of the two cities will be the fate of the entire nation.

Is there iniquity in Gilead R.V., “Is Gilead iniquity?”

Surely they are vanity R.V., “they are altogether false.” Neither translation reproduces the sense of the original, which should be rendered, “If Gilead is worthless (that is, morally), nothing but vanity (nothingness) shall they (the Gileadites) become.” Those who disregard Jehovah’s warnings and remain moral and religious apostates can expect nothing but utter destruction. In a similar manner Gilgal must reap that which it has sown. Sacrifice bullocks. “Bullocks marks the sumptuousness of offerings.” That this passage proves that “the sacrificing of bullocks at Gilgal must have seemed to the prophet wrong in itself” is at least doubtful (see Introduction, p. 32f.). It is quite conceivable that he condemned Gilgal and its worship only because of the corruption prevalent there (Hosea 4:11 ff; Hosea 9:15).

Are as heaps The tense is the prophetic perfect, equivalent to “shall be.”

Heaps Heaps of stones piled up in the fields, which are entirely worthless. In the original there are two plays upon words: between Gilgal (Heap-town) and heaps, and between sacrifice and altars.

Hosea 12:12-13 present a contrast between the fortunes of the patriarch Jacob and those of the nation Israel. The latter experienced wonderful manifestations of the divine mercy. Jacob fled into the country of Syria [“field (territory) of Aram”] Which to him was a strange country (Genesis 27:43). On the other hand, Israel was delivered from a strange country and restored to the land of its forefathers (13).

Israel served The patriarch Jacob, here called Israel (Genesis 32:28), had to render service; the nation, on the contrary, was freed from servitude and bondage.

Kept sheep Jacob had to endure the hardships of a shepherd’s life, Israel was the flock under the tender care of a loving shepherd.

For a wife Genesis 29:18-20. Though this may have been an adequate reward, it is insignificant when compared with the countless blessings held out to Israel by Jehovah.

By a prophet Moses (compare Deuteronomy 34:10); and from the time of Moses, Jehovah continued to raise up prophets to exercise a shepherd’s care over Israel (Amos 2:11).