Hosea 13:4

Hos 13:4 Yet I [am] the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for [there is] no saviour beside me.

Ver. 4. Yet I am the Lord thy God, &c.] Yet for all the sorrow; and though I thus threaten thee: "for since I spake against thee, I do earnestly remember thee still," &c., Jer 31:20. It is easy to observe all along this chapter, an interchange of menaces and mercies, as in the preceding verse and this, so Hos 13:8-9; Hos 13:13-14; Hos 13:16; Hos 14:1, to show how soon the Lord repents him of the evil, and how ready to show mercy to the worst that return. If men could but find a penitent heart, he would easily find a pitying heart; like as David would have been friends with Absalom after all the unkindness, would he have been but better at last. To reduce Ephraim it was, that this chapter, like checquer work, is made up of promises and threatenings; that the tartness of the one might make him the better to taste the sweetness of the other.

Yet I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt] See the note on Hos 12:9. He was their God before, Gen 17:7, but then he mainly manifested himself so to be, when he brought them thence with a strong hand, and so declared himself to be Jehovah, Exo 6:2; yea, I am ready to show thee the like mercy still; for "I remember" (saith he) "the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown," Jer 2:2.

And thou shalt know no God but me] i.e. Effectually acknowledge, worship, serve, love, none save me, Deu 13:2 Gal 5:9. Thou shalt experience none other. It is a blessed thing to be ignorant of false worship; and not to be insighted into, or versed in, the depths of Satan, Rev 2:24. Thou shalt not inquire how these nations worshipped their gods, Deu 12:30. Ahaz got hurt by seeing the altar at Damascus: many that will needs see the Popish service are insnared thereby.

For there is no Saviour beside me] This is a title that God much glorieth in; see Isa 60:16; Isa 63:1 Act 5:31; and we should go often to him in this name, as Jer 14:8, since "he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto him," Heb 7:25, to save them perpetually, and perfectly, εις το παντελες. He is a sole Saviour, a thorough Saviour, a Saviour in solidum; and doth not his work to the halves, as Papists make it. How blasphemous is that direction of theirs to dying men, to say, Join, Lord, mine obedience with those things which Christ suffered for me.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES.]

Hos_13:4. Yet] Another contrast between the idolatry of Israel and the mercy of God to them (cf. Hos_12:10).

HOMILETICS

GOD THE ONLY SAVIOUR.—Hos_13:4

The people may be worthless, and driven away like smoke, but God is the same as of old. None else should be their Saviour. They should know and worship no other but Jehovah.

I. This character of God is declared in his word. Since we cannot know God but by revelation, how precious is that volume in which all manifestations of him are embodied. We are constantly reminded of his attributes and relations. The knowledge of them is of supreme consequence, and repeatedly set before us, that we may not forget. “There is one God; and there is none other god but he.” “I am the Lord, and there is none else: there is no god beside me.” “Thou shalt have none other gods but me.” “Is there a god besides me? Yea, there is no god; I know not any.” “I am the Lord, that is my name; and my glory will I not give to another; neither my praise to graven images.”

II. This character of God is displayed in his providence. “The Lord thy God from the land of Egypt.” Israel are not only reminded of God’s revelations previously given, but of his character displayed in his providence towards them. The events of their history are briefly stated, and their own experience testifies to the truth of God’s word. He had guided and provided for them unceasingly, and saved when there was no strange God among them. Men have abundant proofs in their own lives that God alone can save. In sickness and distress, in domestic and national history, the goodness of God has been displayed. The sinner and the saint have been delivered from dangers, and can declare this. “Ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me?”

III. In proportion as we know this character of God are we obligated to him. “Thou shalt know no God but me.” It is not enough to acknowledge God as a Saviour. His claims and glory must not be shared with another. He has natural and moral rights over us. We owe duties and homage to him. We must evince our belief, and express our regard, by constant obedience to his law, studious efforts to do and delight in his will, in enjoyments and sufferings, and recognizing his presence in his word, providence, and grace. We are forbidden to indulge in atheism, polytheism, and idolatry. We must know and fear God only. We must love and serve him, with all our heart, soul, and strength.

NO SAVIOUR BESIDE GOD.—Hos_13:4

There is no Saviour beside me.

I. What the words imply. That God is—

1. A powerful Saviour, proved from the nature of redemption and the events of providence. No sins can limit his grace, no enemy baffle his skill. Save to the uttermost (Heb_7:25).

2. A constant Saviour. Present with Israel in Egypt, the wilderness, and the land of Canaan. Present with us in every time of need.

3. An only Saviour. No other could do what he did for Israel. No other can pardon our sins, renew our hearts, and save our souls. There is salvation in none other, “for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

II. What the words forbid. They forbid—

1. The worship of images. We are not to make any likeness of things in heaven above, earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth. God is the object of supreme worship and affection; incapable of representation to the senses, like false deities of men.

2. The worship of God by images. We dishonour God when we attempt to worship him “in gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device” (Act_17:29).

3. All hypocrisy and formality in worship. Excessive use of forms and ceremonies is forbidden. God is a spirit, and all worship must be in spirit and in truth. Is he the only Saviour? Then let us thank him and trust him more. In private and in public, let us earnestly and constantly look to him. “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 13

Hos_13:4. Thy God. The claims of God are enforced by reference to that particular event by which the Hebrews were separated from the nations, to remind them, and the world by them, that the character of God is displayed in the agency of his providence, and that in proportion to our knowledge of that character are our obligations to him. Each individual is here addressed, that each may feel that he has means of knowing, and constantly surrounded with motives for personally loving God.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

13:4-5 there is no other savior: The Lord had proved this to Israel during the Exodus and the wilderness wandering.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

He calleth them to repentance, and reproveth their ingratitude.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(Hos 12:9; Isa 43:11).

no saviour--temporal as well as spiritual.

besides me-- (Isa 45:21).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 4. I am the Lord thy God] This was the first discovery I made of myself to you, and the first commandment I gave; and I showed you that besides me there was no Saviour. There is a remarkable addition in the Septuagint here: "But I am Jehovah thy God, who stretched out the heavens and created the earth. And I showed them not to thee, that thou shouldest walk after them. And I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt," &c. This might have been once in the Hebrew text.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Prophet now repeats the sentence which we have noticed in the last chapter for the sake of amplifying the sin of the people. For had they never known sound doctrine, had they never been brought up in the law, there would have been some colour for alleviating their fault; because they might have excused themselves by saying, that as they had never known true religion, they had gone astray according to the common practice of men; but as they had from infancy been taught sound doctrine, as God had brought them up as it were in his own bosom, as they had learned from their first years what it was to worship God purely, when they thus retook themselves to the superstitions of the heathens, what could there be for an excuse for them? We then see the bearing of the complaint, when God says, that he had been the God of Israel from the land of Egypt

I am then, he says, Jehovah your God. By calling himself Jehovah, he glances at all their fictitious gods; as though he said “I am doubtless justly, and in mine own rights your God; for I am of myself — I am the Creator of the world, no one can take away my power: but whence have these their divinity, except from the madness of men?” He says further, I am thy God, O Israel; that is, “I have manifested myself to thee from the land of Egypt, from thy very nativity. When I redeemed thee from Egypt I brought thee out as it were from the womb to the light of life; for Egypt was to thee like the grave. Thou didst then begin to live, and to be some sort of people, when I stretched forth my hand to thee.”

And now also ought to be noticed what I have said before, that the people were redeemed on this condition, that they should devote themselves wholly to God. As we are at this day Christ’s, and no one of us ought to live according to his own will, for Christ died and rose again for this end, that he might be the Lord of the living and of the dead: so also then, the Israelites had been redeemed by God, that they might offer themselves wholly to Him. And since God ruled by this right over the people of Israel, how shameful and inexcusable was their defections when the people wilfully abandoned themselves to the superstitions of the Gentiles?

A God, he says, besides me thou oughtest not to know These words the Prophet had not before used. This sentence, then, is fuller, for it more clearly explains the import of what he had said, that God had purchased Israel for himself by bringing them out of Egypt, and that is, that Israel ought to have been content with this one Redeemer, and not to seek for themselves other gods. A God, then, besides me thou shalt not know. For if this one God was sufficient for redeeming his people, what do the people now mean, when they wander, and seek aid here and there? For they ought to render to God the life received from him, which they now enjoy, and ought to acknowledge to be sufficiently safe under his protection. We now then see why this was added, Thou shalt not know a God besides me

A reason, confirmatory of this, follows: For no one, he says, is a Saviour except me The copulative ו, vau, ought to be regarded here as a causative, For no one, etc., or, Surely no one is a Saviour except me. And this is a remarkable passage; for we learn that the worship of God does not consist in words, but in faith, and hope, and prayer. The Papists of the present day think that they do not profane the worship of God, though they fly to statues, though they pray to dead men, though they look here and there for the accomplishment of their hopes. How so? Because they ever retain the only true God, that is, they do not ascribe the name of God to Christopher or to Antony. The Papists think themselves free from all blame, since God retains his own name. But we see how differently the matter is regarded by the Lord. “I am,” he says, “the only true God.” How is this? “Because I am the only Saviour: feign not to thyself another God, for thou shalt find none that will save thee.” Then God puts an especial value on the honour that is due to him from hope and prayer; that is, when our soul recumbs on him alone, and when we seek and hope for salvation from no other but from him. We see then how useful is the doctrine contained in this passage, in which the Prophet clearly shows, that the Israelites acted absurdly and shamefully when they formed another god for themselves, for no Saviour, except the one true God, can be found.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(4) The LXX. have an addition which was not found by Jerome in any Hebrew copy of his day, and was pronounced by him to be spurious: “I am the Lord thy God, that establisheth the heavens and createth the earth, whose hands have fashioned all the host of heaven; but I did not show them to thee that thou shouldest go after them, and I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know,” &c.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4. Yet I am the Lord thy God] Hosea persistently refuses to recognize that the god whom the Israelites worship is really Israel’s God, Jehovah. The use of an idolatrous symbol has so unspiritualized the object of their worship that the mere retention of the name Jehovah gives them no claim upon Hosea’s sympathy. The prophet therefore introduces Jehovah as expostulating with the Israelites for the abandonment of their hereditary religion.

thou shalt know no god but me] Rather, thou knowest, &c.; the experience of history bore witness to Jehovah’s help, and his alone. Comp. Deu_32:12. Hosea however does not deny the existence of other gods besides Jehovah; only their equality to Him in power. It was only by degrees that the truth involved in the revelation of Jehovah was fully realized. See Introduction.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Yet I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt,.... Which brought thee out from thence, as the Targum; and ever since, from that time to this, had shown a regard unto them, as the Lord their God, both in the wilderness, as later mentioned, and in the land of Canaan, where they had been continued, and followed with instances of goodness to that day, and yet find sinned in so gross a manner; which argued great ingratitude in them, and forgetfulness of the Lord, and his mercies:

and thou shalt know no God but me; they ought to have known, acknowledged, and worshipped no other god, as was enjoined them in the law: or, "thou knowest not" (b); they did not know any other, which they in their own consciences were obliged to confess, if appealed to; however, they should know no other; by sad experience they would find that there was no other that could be of any service to them; their images and idols being unable to help them:

for there is no saviour besides me; that could save them out of their troubles, and deliver them out of their distresses; no other that is, or can be, the author, either of temporal or of spiritual and eternal salvation.

(b) "non novisti, vel cognovisti", Liveleus, Drusius, Rivet.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Yet - , (literally, and) I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt God was still the same God who had sheltered them with His providence, ever since He had delivered them from Egypt. He had the same power and will to help them. Therefore their duty was the same, and their destruction arose, not from any change in Him, but from themselves. “God is the God of the ungodly, by creation and general providence.”

And thou shalt - (i. e., oughtest to) know no God but Me, for (literally, and) there is not a Saviour but me “To be God and Lord and Saviour are incommunicable properties of God. Wherefore God often claimed these titles to Himself, from the time He revealed Himself to Israel. In the song of Moses, which they were commanded to rehearse, He says, “See now that I, I am He, and there is no God with Me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal; neither is there any that can deliver out of My hand” Deu 32:39. Isaiah repeats this same, “Is there a God besides Me? yea there is no God; I know not any” Isa 44:8; and “There is no God else besides Me, a just God and a Saviour; there is none else. Look unto Me and be ye saved, for I am God and there is none else” Isa 45:21, Isa 45:2; and, “I am the Lord, that is My Name; and My glory will I not give to another; neither My praise to graven images” Isa 42:8. : “That God and Saviour is Christ; God, because He created; Saviour, because, being made Man, He saved. Whence He willed to be called Jesus, i. e., Saviour. Truly “beside” Him, “there is no Saviour; neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved” Act 4:12. “It is not enough to recognize in God this quality of a Saviour. It must not be shared with “any other.” Whoso associates with God any power whatever to decide on man’s salvation makes an idol, and introduces a new God.”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Yet, though thou hast so revolted, and chosen other gods, it is not occasioned by any change in me,

I am what I was,

the Lord, the mighty God, the everlasting God, Jehovah. Thy God from the land of Egypt; thy God who alone brought thee out of Egypt, and who hath maintained thy lot; the calves and Baal were not known amongst you then. And since I alone brought thee out of Egypt, and saved thee with wonderful salvations many times since, why dost thou seek gods thou needest not, gods that cannot help?

Thou shalt know no god but me; I forbade thee to know any other god but me, in gratitude thou shouldst know no other; if there were any other, in point of interest thou shouldst have known, i.e. worshipped, trusted, and obeyed, none but me. And finally, by woeful experience thou shalt know that calves and Baal are no gods, they cannot save thee nor themselves; thou shalt know I am God alone, who can destroy those who would not obey me.

For there no saviour beside me; when thy idols cannot save thee out of the hands of those I deliver thee up to, then thou shalt see, what now thou wilt not, that there is no saviour but me; none who can deliver from all evil, and who can enrich with all blessings, who can pardon sin and save the sinner.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

4-8. Love — Ingratitude — Destruction. The conduct of Israel was the more shocking because Jehovah had always proved himself ready to be their helper and friend.

I am Jehovah — Here the emphasis is upon the assistance rendered by Jehovah to Israel throughout their entire history (compare Hos_12:9).

Thou shalt know — Better, R.V. margin, “knowest.” The prophet appeals to present and past experiences.

No god but me — Israel found no god able to help and to save besides the one who delivered them out of Egypt; the entire history revealed him and him alone as saviour and friend. Indeed, there is no other deliverer. How serious has been the mistake of the people (Hos_2:5 ff.).

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 4, 5. These verses make it evident that the punishment inflicted on Israel could not reasonably be accounted too severe; such had been the goodness of Jehovah and the gross ingratitude of Israel.

Yet I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt. The prophet here commences a recital of God"s favors to Israel from ancient times, all which they forgot, ungratefully and impiously turning aside from the worship of Jehovah. Jehovah had been Israel"s God long before, but never before had the evidence of his power and love to his people been so signal and conspicuous as at the period of the Exodus and onward. And thou shalt know no god but me. The use of dte in the imperfect is to connect the future with the past. It may be rendered either

(1) "Thou knowest," viz. a God of such wonderful attestation thou knowest or findest not beside me the opposite of the statement, "Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them"; (Deu_13:3) or

(2) "Thou shouldest not know or recognize any god beside me. So Kimchi: "Thou shouldest not know other gods, nor serve them beside me, for ye see there is no helper Beside me." Likewise Rashi: "Thou shouldest not rebel against me." Also Aben Ezra: "How hast thou turned to kiss the calf, which does not save nor satisfy, and hast left him who has been thy God from ancient days, who has helped thee and knows all thy necessities." The word yjilWz (from lWz, which, as the cognate Arabic signifies, "to go forth or away") is synonymous with yTilBi.

The only Savior.

The prophets were in the habit of appealing to the past history of Israel as a nation when they would urge the people to repent of present sin, and would encourage them to seek Divine favor and acceptance. Certainly the records of the past proved that only in returning and in rest had the people ever been saved, and that when they had turned elsewhere than to Jehovah they had only met with disappointment and misery.

I THE VANITY AND INSUFFICIENCY OF ALL EARTHLY HELPERS.

1. As Israel, when seeking help and deliverance from the deities of the heathen, ever found such a refuge vain, so will all men who look elsewhere than to the Most High experience certain and bitter disappointment. "The idols of the heathen have ears, but they hear not... they that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.

2. Even the best-intentioned of human friends and counselors are powerless to aid and save. The lesson has to be learned afresh by every generation that the help of man is vain. "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put your confidence in princes.

II THE SOLE SUFFICIENCY OF GOD AS A MIGHTY SAVIOR.

1. He has wisdom to devise appropriate means of deliverance. Many an instance in Israel"s history might have been quoted, in order to produce this conviction. And we, as Christians, have the one supreme evidence of God"s infinite wisdom in the provision of spiritual and eternal salvation in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is the wisdom as well as the power of God.

2. The heavenly King has the disposition to deliver. Salvation is not only his prerogative; it is his delight. Mercy and compassion animate him in his treatment of the children of men. "God so loved the world," etc. There is no pity like Divine pity.

3. For an all-sufficient authority and efficacious power to rescue man from sin and death we must look above. The Eternal is "mighty to save." And in appointing his Son to be the Savior, he has laid help upon One who is mightySo strong to deliver, So good to redeem, The weakest believer That hangs upon him. T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thou shalt know - I forbad thee to know any other God but me, in gratitude thou shouldest know no other.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

"And yet I am Jehovah thy God from the land of Egypt hither; and thou knowest no God beside me, and there is no helper beside me. Hos 13:5. I knew thee in the desert, in the land of burning heats." As in Hos 12:10, a contrast is drawn here again between the idolatry of the people and the uninterrupted self-attestation of Jehovah to the faithless nation. From Egypt hither Israel has known no other God than Jehovah, i.e., has found no other God to be a helper and Saviour. Even in the desert He knew Israel, i.e., adopted it in love. ידע, to know, when applied to God, is an attestation of His love and care (compare Amo 3:2; Isa 58:3, etc.). The ἁπ. λεγ. תּלאוּבת, from לאב, Arab. lâb, med. Vav, to thirst, signifies burning heat, in which men famish with thirst (for the fact, compare Deu 8:15).

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

General Information:

Yahweh is speaking of his people as if they had been a flock of sheep that he found wandering in the wilderness. He says that he claimed them there for his own.

I knew you in the wilderness

Yahweh claimed the Hebrew people as his own special people, and he took care of them there.

When you had pasture, then you became full

The image of sheep is continued with this expression.

your heart became lifted up

Becoming arrogant is spoken of as one's heart being lifted up. AT: "you became proud" (See:Metaphor)

translationWords

Yahweh

God

Egypt

Savior

know

desert

heart

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

And I am the Lord your God and you should not have rebelled against Me

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.