131 When E'phraim spoke, men trembled; he was exalted in Israel; but he incurred guilt through Ba'al and died. 2 And now they sin more and more, and make for themselves molten images, idols skilfully made of their silver, all of them the work of craftsmen. Sacrifice to these, they say. Men kiss calves! 3 Therefore they shall be like the morning mist or like the dew that goes early away, like the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor or like smoke from a window. 4 I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt; you know no God but me, and besides me there is no savior.
5 It was I who knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought; 6 but when they had fed to the full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me. 7 So I will be to them like a lion, like a leopard I will lurk beside the way. 8 I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs, I will tear open their breast, and there I will devour them like a lion, as a wild beast would rend them.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Hosea 13:1-8
Commentary on Hosea 13:1-8
(Read Hosea 13:1-8)
While Ephraim kept up a holy fear of God, and worshipped Him in that fear, so long he was very considerable. When Ephraim forsook God, and followed idolatry, he sunk. Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves, in token of their adoration of them, affection for them, and obedience to them; but the Lord will not give his glory to another, and therefore all that worship images shall be confounded. No solid, lasting comfort, is to be expected any where but in God. God not only took care of the Israelites in the wilderness, he put them in possession of Canaan, a good land; but worldly prosperity, when it feeds men's pride, makes them forgetful of God. Therefore the Lord would meet them in just vengeance, as the most terrible beast that inhabited their forests. Abused goodness calls for greater severity.