14 For I will be to Ephraim like a lion, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I myself will tear in pieces and go away. I will carry off, and there will be no one to deliver.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
As I have said, the Prophet confirms this truth, that Israel had recourse in vain to false physicians, when they left God. How so? Because the whole world, were it to favor us, could not yet help us, against the will of God and his opposing power. But God here declares that he would be adverse to the Israelites; as though he said, "Provide human aids as much as you please; but will the Assyrian be superior to me in power? Can he hinder me from pursuing you as I have determined?" Thus God shows that he would deal in a new and different manner with the Israelites and the Jews: "I will not," he says, "be any longer like a moth and a worm; I shall come like a lion to you, with an open mouth to devour you: now let the Assyrian king come forth, when I shall thus go armed against you; can he put any hindrance in my way, that I should not execute my vengeance, as it shall seem good to me?" We now then perceive the design of the Prophet. He had said, that God would punish the Israelites and the Jews, by consuming them by degrees, that there might be more time for repentance: but he says that this would be useless, for they would not think that it was done seriously. They would therefore deceive themselves with vain fallacies. What would then at last remain? Even this, "I will," he says, "put on a new form and go to battle: I will be to you as a lion and a young lion; I will rage against you as a fierce wild beast: your grievance shall not now be from moths and worms; but you shall have an open and dreadful contest with the lion and the young lion. What then will the Assyrian king avail you?" And this place teaches, that men, when they attempt to oppose vain helps to the wrath of God, gain only this, that they more and more provoke and inflame his wrath against themselves. After God has first gnawed, he will at length devour; after he has pricked, he will deeply wound; after he has struck, he will wholly destroy. All this we bring on ourselves by our perverse attempts, when we try to seek escapes for ourselves. Except, then, we would willingly kindle God's displeasure, that he may appear as a lion and rage against us with the whole force of his wrath, let us take heed, that we deceive not ourselves by vain reliefs. He therefore says, I, I will take away, or, "tear," or, "tear in pieces;" for srph, shereph, properly means this, and it agrees better with the rest of the context. "I will then, as lions and young lions are wont to do, tear in pieces, limb from limb, the whole people." Then he says, I will go away as a lion, who, after he has enjoyed his prey, departs a conqueror with more courage being not put to flight, for he is moved by no fear. So also the Prophet says, "Let the Assyrian king come, he will not constrain me to retreat, nor will he rescue the spoil from me: and when I shall be satiated with your destruction, I shall not then have any fear on account of the Assyrian king, that I should stealthily flee away, as foxes are wont to do; I will not craftily contend; but I will go forth openly, my violence will be sufficient to put him to flight: I will thus depart of my own accord; for your subsidies will occasion me no fear. I will take away, he says, and none shall rescue." We now comprehend the whole meaning of the Prophet.
For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion - He who would thus strengthen himself by Outward help against God's chastisements, challenges, as it were, the Almighty to a trial of strength. So then God, unwilling to abandon him to himself, changes His dealings, and , "He who had heretofore, in His judgments, seemed but as a tender moth or a weak worm," now shows forth His resistless power, imaged by His creatures in whom the quality of power is most seen. It may again be, that the fiercer animal (literally, the roaring) is associated with the name of Ephraim; that of the younger lion, fierce and eager for prey, yet not full-grown, with that of Judah.
I, I will tear - "It is a fearful thing, to fall into the Hands of the Living God" Hebrews 10:31. The Assyrian was but the rod of God's anger, and the staff, He says, in thine hand is His indignation" Isaiah 10:5. Whatever is done, is done or overruled by God, who gives to the evil his power to do, in an evil way, what He Himself overrules to the end of His wisdom or justice. God, Himself would tear them asunder, by giving the Assyrians power to carry them away. And since it was God who did it, there was no hope of escape. He who was faithful to His word would do it. There is great emphasis on the I, I. God and not man; He, the author of all good, would Himself be the cause of their evil. What hope then is there, when He, who is mercy, becomes the avenger?
I will be - as a lion - כשחל cashshachel, as a panther or lioness.
For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah,.... Being provoked by their above conduct and behaviour in seeking to others, and not to him, for help, he threatens to punish them in a more public and severe manner; not be to them only as a moth and rottenness, but as a lion, and as a young lion, creatures strong and fierce, that destroy and devour all that come into their hands, and from whom there is no deliverance: thus the Lord was both to Israel and Judah, by means of the Assyrians and Babylonians; the former are compared to a lion, that devoured Israel; and the latter to a young lion, that broke the bones of Judah; see Jeremiah 50:17; and last of all by means of the Romans, especially to Judah:
I, even I, will tear and go away; as a lion tears its prey in pieces it seizes upon, and goes away, and leaves it torn, having satisfied itself; and is in no fear of being pursued, or any vengeance taken on him for what he has done; so the Lord would destroy Israel and Judah, and leave them in their ruinous state, none being able to rise up and avenge their cause. The "I" is doubled, to express the certainty of it:
I will take away, and none shall rescue him; as the lion, having glutted itself with its prey, takes the rest away, and carries it to its den, where none dare come and take it from him; so the Lord signifies, that those of Israel and Judah that perished not by the sword of the enemy, or by famine or pestilence, should be carried captive, and none should be able to return them till he pleases: under the wrath and displeasure of God, and under this tearing, rending, and afflictive dispensation, they now are, and will continue till the time of their conversion.
lion--The black lion and the young lion are emblems of strength and ferocity (Psalm 91:13).
I, even I--emphatic; when I, even I, the irresistible God, tear in pieces (Psalm 50:22), no Assyrian power can rescue.
go away--as a lion stalks leisurely back with his prey to his lair.
No help is to be expected from Assyria, because the Lord will punish His people. Hosea 5:14. "For I am like a lion to Ephraim, and like the young lion to the house of Judah: I, I tear in pieces, and go; I carry away, and there is no deliverer. Hosea 5:15. "I go, return to my place, till they repent and shall seek my face. In their affliction they will seek me early." For the figure of the lion, which seizes its prey, and tears it in pieces without deliverance, see Hosea 13:7 and Isaiah 5:29. אשּׂא denotes the carrying away of booty, as in 1-Samuel 17:34. For the fact itself, compare Deuteronomy 32:39. The first clause of Hosea 5:15 is still to be interpreted from the figure of the lion. As the lion withdraws into its cave, so will the Lord withdraw into His own place, viz., heaven, and deprive the Israelites of His gracious, helpful presence, until they repent, i.e., not only feel themselves guilty, but feel the guilt by bearing the punishment. Suffering punishment awakens the need of mercy, and impels them to seek the face of the Lord. The expression, "in the distress to them," recals בּצּר לך in Deuteronomy 4:30. Shichēr is to be taken as a denom. of shachar, the morning dawn (Hosea 6:3), in the sense of early, i.e., zealously, urgently, as the play upon the word כּשׁחר in Hosea 6:3 unmistakeably shows. For the fact itself, compare Hosea 2:9 and Deuteronomy 4:29-30.
Will tear - Divine vengeance by the Assyrians, shall be as a lion tearing his prey.
*More commentary available at chapter level.