Hosea 13:7-8

7, 8. The flock, Israel, despised the good shepherd; now he will transform himself into a beast of prey seeking to devour the sheep.

Lion See on Hosea 5:14.

Leopard Mentioned on account of its fierceness (compare Isaiah 11:6). Leopards are still found in Mount Lebanon, though in small numbers.

Will I observe them R.V., “will I watch by the way,” waiting for the proper moment to spring. “It (the leopard) is specially noted for the patience with which it waits… expecting its prey, upon which it springs with deadly precision” (compare Jeremiah 5:6). Several of the ancient versions and some of the Hebrew manuscripts read, “in the way to Assyria” (Hosea 5:13; Hosea 7:12). This would require only a slight change, but the other is to be preferred,

Bear When the country was covered with more abundant forests than at present bears were more numerous in Palestine; they are still quite numerous in the wilder regions of the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, rarer in the mountains east of the Jordan, and very rare in western Palestine (compare Lamentations 3:10; Van Lennep, Bible Lands, 259ff.).

Bereaved of her whelps And therefore even more ferocious than usual (2 Samuel 17:8; Proverbs 17:12).

The caul of their heart Literally, the inclosure of the heart. In popular language probably equivalent to breast.

There In the very spot where he seizes the prey. There will be no delay.

Like a lion R.V., “lioness.” It is difficult to distinguish between the different words for lion used in Hebrew; the one used here is thought to denote the female, but this is not beyond question.

The wild beast shall tear them The beasts will assist Jehovah in despoiling Israel. “The end of the verse suggests a battlefield, where beasts of prey attack the corpses as the last avengers of God.” Certainly the whole is to be understood as a figurative description of the judgment about to fall.