vv.1-3 Israel Has Broken God’s Covenant. Jehovah commands the trumpet to be sounded, announcing imminent and unsparing judgment. The same figures of a sounding trumpet and eagles gathered are used in Matthew 24:28-31, although the trumpet here is not for regathering but for impending judgment. The enemy would come “as an eagle against the house of Jehovah,” a figure of divine vengeance coming swiftly and surely upon its prey, with no way of escape! The reason is that “they have transgressed my covenant, and rebelled against my law.” Israel would cry, “My God, we know thee,” but this was merely an empty profession without reality. Their actions contradicted their profession, for “Israel hath cast off good,” and therefore the enemy would pursue them.

 

 

vv.4-6 Israel’s Self-Appointed Kings and Idolatrous Calf. Israel had established its government independently of Jehovah: “They have set up kings, but not by me.” The entire line of kings after Jeroboam rejected the overtures of Jehovah was actually illegitimate. In the museums of Paris and London you will find more evidence of northern recognition from a worldly point of view (Omri, etc.) but not in the mind of God: “they have made princes, and I knew it not”. They also took their silver and gold and made idols. The calf of Samaria especially provoked Jehovah’s anger. That is a reference to the two golden calves that Jeroboam made, placing one at Bethel and one at Dan (1 Kings 12:28-29), but called “calf of Samaria” because Samaria was the capital city. Israel’s kings from Jeroboam on embraced that sin. It was merely the product of human craftsmanship: “a workman made it, and it is no God.” That idol could not save them: it had “cast” Israel off. Consequently, Jehovah would see to it that the very idol in which Israel trusted would be destroyed: “the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.” We see the anguish of heart: “how long will they be incapable of purity?” The Lord had borne with their idolatry for nearly two centuries.

 

  

vv.7-8 The Consequences of Israel’s Sin. Israel would reap the consequences of its own course in the scourge of captivity: “they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.” Their efforts would produce nothing of lasting value; even if something was produced, “strangers shall swallow it up.” Israel itself would be swallowed up (v.8) and scattered among the Gentiles, becoming “a vessel wherein is no pleasure”, despised even among the nations, but not exterminated.

 

vv.9-10 Seeking Help from Assyria. Instead of looking to Jehovah for deliverance, Ephraim took an independent path. The “wild ass alone by himself” pictures an animal that is untamed, stubborn, independent, and roaming freely in the wilderness. The expression is a picture of Israel’s self-willed independence. The had “hired lovers,” seeking protection among the nations and going up to Assyria. This was a tremendous injury to Jehovah because they had forsaken and forgotten the One who could have delivered them. The Lord could have delivered Israel from the Assyrian just as He did Judah, but since they sought shelter from the nations rather than Jehovah, they would be brought into captivity to the ones they resorted to for help: “straitened under the burden of the king of princes.” 

 

 

vv.11-13 Israel’s Sacrifices Rejected Because of Its Sin. Ephraim had “multiplied altars to sin,” and those altars became occasions for further sin. This was one of Israel’s great transgressions and became the source of increasing evil and sorrow. Jehovah had given them “the manifold things of my law,” but Israel great more distance and unfamiliar with His ways: “they are counted as a strange thing.” Though Israel continued offering sacrifices outwardly to Jehovah, and eating the flesh of those offerings: “Jehovah hath no delight in them.” He would “remember their iniquity and visit their sins”. They would “return to Egypt”, the very condition of captivity from which they had been delivered, but now Assyria would be the land of their captivity.

 

 

v.14 Israel Forgets Its Maker, Judah Trusts in Its Own Strength. Israel and Judah displayed different forms and degrees of departure. “Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples” abandoning the true God in pursuit of idolatry. Judah, meanwhile, “hath multiplied fenced cities,” placing their confidence in human defenses. Neither form of departure was acceptable to Jehovah. Judgment would come on Judah as well as Ephraim, demonstrating that God was not indifferent to their sin.