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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Hosea 13:7 - 13:7
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“And I became like a lion to them; as a leopard by the wayside do I lie in wait. Hos 13:8. I fall upon them as a bear robbed of its young, and tear in pieces the enclosure of their heart, and eat them there like a lioness: the beast of the field will tear them in pieces.” The figure of the pasture which made Israel full (Hos 13:6) is founded upon the comparison of Israel to a flock (cf. Hos 4:16). The chastisement of the people is therefore represented as the tearing in pieces and devouring of the fattened flock by wild beasts. God appears as a lion, panther, etc., which fall upon them (cf. Hos 5:14). וָאֱהי does not stand for the future, but is the preterite, giving the consequence of forgetting God. The punishment has already begun, and will still continue; we have therefore from אָשׁוּר onwards imperfects or futures. אָשׁוּר, from שׁוּר, to look round, hence to lie in wait, as in Jer 5:26. It is not to be changed into 'Asshur, as it is by the lxx and Vulgate. סְגוֹר לִבָּם, the enclosure of their heart, i.e., their breast. Shâm (there) points back to ‛al-derekh (by the way).