SEV Biblia, Chapter 13:9
¶ Te perdiste, oh Israel, mas en mí está tu ayuda.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Hosea 13:9
Verse 9. O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself] These evils come not by my immediate infliction; they are the consequences of thy own crimes. In the above terrifying figures of the ferocious beasts, the prophet only shows what they would meet with from the hand of the Assyrians in the war, the famine, and the captivity; God being represented as doing what he only permits to be done. But in me is thine help.] "Though thou hast destroyed thyself, yet in me alone can thy help be found"-Newcome. And others read, And who will help thee? reading ym mi, who, for yb bi, in me. Though this is countenanced by the Syriac, yet there is no evidence of it in any of the MSS. yet collated, nor do I think it to be the true reading.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 9. O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself , etc.] Though the Lord was a lion, a leopard, and a bear to them, yet their destruction was not owing to him, but to themselves; he was not chargeable with it, but they only; the fault and blame was theirs; their own sins brought it on them, and provoked him to such righteous wrath and vengeance before expressed: this is said to clear the Lord from any imputation of this kind, and to lay it where it should be It may be rendered, “it hath destroyed thee” f277 ; either the calf, as Kimchi, and the worshipping of that, their idolatry; or their king, as others, taking it from the following verse by way of anticipation; or rather it may refer to all their sins before observed, their idolatry, luxury, and ingratitude. Gussetius thinks the word yb has the signification of “burning”, as in ( Isaiah 3:24); and renders it, “burning in me hath destroyed thee, [even] in him who is thy help”; that is, by their sins they had made God their enemy, who is a consuming fire, and whose burning wrath destroyed them, in whom otherwise they would have had help. Now though this may primarily regard the destruction of the civil state and kingdom of Israel for their sins, yet it may be applied to the spiritual and eternal state of men. Man is a lost, ruined, and undone creature; he is depraved and corrupted in his whole nature, soul and body; the image of God in him is marred and spoiled; there is no holiness in him, nor any righteousness upon him; no will nor power to that which is good; though he has not lost the natural liberty of his will, he has lost the moral liberty of it, and is a slave to his lusts, and a vassal to Satan; he has no true knowledge of that which is good, no inclination to it, nor strength to perform it he is dead in sin, and dead in law; he is under the curse of it, and in the open way to everlasting ruin and destruction; and is in himself both helpless and lifeless; and he is a self-destroyed creature; his destruction is not owing to Satan only, though he was an instrument of the ruin of mankind; nor to the first parents of human nature only, in whom all men naturally and federally were, in whom they sinned, and with whom they fell; but to their own actual sins and transgressions. However, their destruction is not to be charged upon God, or ascribed to any decree of his, which is no cause of man’s damnation, but sin only; nor to any sentence of condemnation passed by him, or the execution of it, which both belong to him as a righteous Judge; but to themselves and their sins, as is owned both by good men, who under true and saving convictions acknowledge their damnation would be just, if God should execute it on them; and by bad men, even the damned in hell; this will be the never dying worm, the remorse of a guilty conscience, that they have brought all this ruin on themselves; but in me [is] thine help ; not in themselves, not in any creature, but in the Lord alone; the Word of the Lord, as the Targum; the essential Word, the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, on whom his divine Father has laid the help of his people; and who has helped them, and saved them from their sins, the cause of their destruction, and from wrath, which they deserved by reason of them; and has brought them out of a wretched state, a pit wherein is no water, into a comfortable, glorious, and happy one, and delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies; and helps them to what they want, to holiness, righteousness, and strength; to all supplies of grace here, and glory hereafter. Some render the particle as causal, “for in me”, etc. and so make it to be a reason either proving that God could not be the cause of their destruction, because in him was their help, and in him only; or that their destruction was owing to themselves; “for in” or “against me, against thine help”; thou hast transgressed and rebelled; so Jarchi.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Judah and Israel reminded of the Divine favours. (Hos. 12:1-6) The provocations of Israel. (Hos. 12:7-14)
Hos. 12:1-6 Ephraim feeds himself with vain hopes of help from man when he is at enmity with God. The Jews vainly thought to secure the Egyptians by a present of the produce of their country. Judah is contended with also. God sees the sin of his own people, and wil reckon with them for it. They are put in mind of what Jacob did, an what God did for him. When his faith upon the Divine promise prevaile above his fears, then by his strength he had power with God. He is Jehovah, the same that was, and is, and is to come. What was revelation of God to one, is his memorial to many, to all generations Then let those who have gone from God, be turned to him. Turn thou to the Lord, by repentance and faith, as thy God. Let those that ar converted to him, walk with him in all holy conversation and godliness Let us wrestle with Him for promised blessings, determined not to giv over till we prevail; and let us seek Him in his ordinances.
Hos. 12:7-14 Ephraim became a merchant: the word also signifies Canaanite. They carried on trade upon Canaanitish principles covetously and with fraud and deceit. Thus they became rich, an falsely supposed that Providence favoured them. But shameful sins shal have shameful punishments. Let them remember, not only what a might prince Jacob was with God, but what a servant he was to Laban. The benefits we have had from the word of God, make our sin and folly the worse, if we put any slight upon that word. We had better follow the hardest labour in poverty, than grow rich by sin. We may form judgment of our own conduct, by comparing it with that of ancien believers in the like circumstances. Whoever despises the message of God, will perish. May we all hear his word with humble, obedient faith __________________________________________________________________
Original Hebrew
שׁחתך 7843 ישׂראל 3478 כי 3588 בי בעזרך׃ 5828
