Ephraim's Fall From Glory
Ephraim was once feared and is now dying, with idols made by craftsmen and prosperity that bred forgetting. Our Father says he will meet them like a bear robbed of her cubs. A line about ransoming from the grave flashes past, then it closes in appalling violence.
13 1When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he was exalted in Israel. But he became guilty through Baal, and he died.
2And now they sin more and more, making molded idols for themselves—silver images shaped by their own skill, all of them the work of craftsmen. To these they say, "Let those who sacrifice kiss the calves!" 3Therefore they will be like the morning mist, like the dew that fades early away, like chaff swirling from the threshing floor, and like smoke from a window.
4But I am your Father, who brought you from the land of Egypt; you acknowledge no Father but me, and besides me there is no savior. 5It was I who knew you in the wilderness, in the land of burning drought. 6When I fed them they were satisfied; they were satisfied, and their heart grew proud; therefore they forgot me. 7So I have become like a lion to them; like a leopard I lurk beside the road. 8I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs; I will tear open the covering of their heart. There I will devour them like a lion, as a wild beast would rip them apart.
9Israel, you bring destruction on yourself by being against me—against your helper. 10Where now is your king, that he may save you in all your cities? Where are your rulers, of whom you said, "Give me a king and princes"? 11I gave you a king in my anger, and in my wrath I took him away.
12The guilt of Ephraim is sealed away; his sin is stored up. 13The pangs of childbirth come for him, but he is an unwise son; for when the time arrives, he does not come out at the opening of the womb. a a v13 The picture is of a baby who refuses to come out at birth — Ephraim is too foolish to respond to the crisis calling for repentance.
14From the power of the grave I will ransom them; from death I will redeem them. Where, O Death, are your plagues? Where, O the grave, is your destruction? Relenting is hidden from my eyes. b b v14 When Jesus rose from the grave, our Father turned these very words into a shout of victory — Paul echoes them: "Death, where is your sting?" The grave could not hold the children our Father came to ransom.
15Though he flourishes among the reeds, an east wind will come—a wind of our Father rising from the wilderness. His spring will fail and his fountain run dry; the east wind will plunder his treasury of every precious thing. 16Samaria will bear her guilt, because she has rebelled against her Father. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.
