Ephraim was a merchant. In his hand were balances of deceit, and he loved to extort (v. 7). Ephraim said, “I have surely become rich; / I have found wealth for myself. / In all my labors / They will find with me / No iniquity, which would be sin” (v. 8). In Ephraim’s hands were two kinds of balances: one that weighed light for buying and one that weighed heavy for selling.
Gilead was iniquity (6:8). They were altogether vanity. In Gilgal (the focus of idolatry) they sacrificed bullocks. Indeed their altars were like heaps in the furrows of a field (12:11). This was a figure of speech to describe Israel’s stubborn unchastity.
Ephraim provoked Jehovah to bitter anger. Therefore, his Lord would leave his bloodshed upon him and would recompense him with his own reproach (v. 14).
When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling. He exalted himself in Israel, but he trespassed through Baal and died. Now they sinned more and more and made molten images for themselves out of their silver, idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of craftsmen. They asked those who sacrificed to kiss the calves (idols). Therefore, they would be like a morning cloud and like dew that departs early, like chaff driven by a storm wind from the threshing floor, and like smoke from a window vent (13:1-3). These too are figures used by Hosea to describe the vanity of the sinful life of Israel.
After they became full, their heart was exalted. Therefore, they forgot Jehovah (v. 6). Thus Jehovah would be to them like a lion; like a leopard Jehovah would watch them along the way. Jehovah would meet them like a bear robbed of her cubs, He would tear away the covering of their heart, and He would devour them there like a lioness. The beast of the field would tear them to pieces (vv. 7-8). This is Hosea’s poetic writing.
It was their destruction that Israel was against Jehovah, against their help. Their king could not save them in all their cities. Jehovah gave them a king in His anger and took away the king in His overflowing wrath (vv. 9-11). The king given by Jehovah in His anger might have been Saul, who was eventually taken away by Jehovah in His overflowing wrath.
The iniquity of Ephraim was bound up; his sin was laid up in store. The pains of a woman giving birth would come upon him. He was an unwise son; for he should not have delayed at the time the children broke forth (vv. 12-13).
Verses 15 and 16 say that even if Samaria should be fruitful among his brothers, an east wind would come, a wind of Jehovah coming up from the wilderness, and his spring would become dry, and his fountain would be dried up. The enemy would plunder the treasure of every desirable vessel. Samaria would be guilty, for she rebelled against her God. They would fall by the sword. Their children would be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women would be ripped up.
Finally, 14:1b says that Israel had fallen by his iniquity.