Hosea

Hosea 13: No Savior besides the LORD

Begin in prayer

Before we hear that the LORD alone is the Savior, let us ask Him to teach us to trust no one else. Ask Him to show us what He promises about death.

I myself am Yahweh; and besides me there is no savior.

Isaiah 43:11

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word. Show us that You alone are the Savior, and that You promise to ransom Your people from death. Show us Jesus, who rose. Make us more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

Ephraim was once great in Israel, but when he became guilty with Baal, he died. They keep sinning more and more, making idols of silver, and they kiss the calves. The LORD says they will be like morning mist, like dew, like chaff and smoke that pass away. But He is the LORD their God from Egypt, they may know no god but Him, and besides Him there is no savior. He knew them in the dry wilderness, yet when they were filled they became proud and forgot Him. So He will meet them like a lion, a leopard and a bear, and they will ask where their king is now. Then comes a promise, “I will ransom them from the power of Sheol”, and the chapter ends with Samaria bearing her guilt.

As you read Hosea 13, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

The LORD alone is the Savior, and He promises to ransom His people from death.

Ephraim was the leading tribe of the north, so his fall stands for the fall of the whole kingdom. Verse 4 repeats the first commandment, that there is no god but the LORD, and no savior but Him. Israel's kings could not save her, and the king the LORD gave in His anger was taken away (verses 10 and 11). He cared for them in the dry wilderness, but when they were filled, they grew proud and forgot Him (verses 5 and 6). The lion, leopard and bear in verses 7 and 8 picture the LORD's judgment, and verse 16 is hard to hear. Samaria fell to Assyria about 722 years before Christ. Verse 14 stands apart from the judgment around it, for the LORD promises to ransom His people from the grave and from death. The same verse ends with the words “Compassion will be hidden from my eyes”, so His promise and His warning stand side by side. Paul takes up these words in 1 Corinthians 15, and says Christ gives His people the victory over death (verses 54 to 57).

How does Hosea 13 show us that the LORD alone is the Savior, and that He promises to ransom His people from death?

Only the LORD can save, and no king or idol can.

He says there is no savior besides Him (verse 4). The king they asked for could not save them in all their cities (verse 10). Idols made by craftsmen are the work of men's hands (verse 2).

Israel forgot the LORD when she was full, so judgment comes.

In the wilderness He cared for them, and they were filled, and then they forgot Him (verses 5 and 6). He will meet them like a lion, and lurk like a leopard by the path (verse 7). Samaria will bear her guilt, for she rebelled against her God (verse 16).

The LORD promises to ransom His people from death.

He says He will ransom and redeem them from the power of the grave (verse 14). Paul says God gives His people the victory over death through Christ, who rose (1 Corinthians 15 verses 54 to 57). Jesus is the Savior besides whom there is none.

Memorise

I will ransom them from the power of Sheol. I will redeem them from death! Death, where are your plagues? Sheol, where is your destruction?

Hosea 13:14

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, do I trust Jesus alone to save me, and not myself or anything else?

Israel trusted her kings and her calves, and none of them could save her, for the LORD said, “besides me there is no savior”. Then He said, “I will ransom them from the power of Sheol”.

The LORD kept that promise in Jesus. Jesus died for His people and bore their sin on the cross. He rose on the third day, and Paul says God gives His people the victory over death through Him. He paid the price for His people in full, and the grave could not hold Him.

So come to Him. Turn from your sin and put your trust in Jesus, the only Savior. He does not reject anyone who comes, and He forgives them.

Parent's note

Tell your children that only the LORD can save, and that Jesus rose from the dead to ransom His people from death. Parents, please explain verses 2, 8 and 16 yourself, since they speak of human sacrifice and of violence against mothers and babies. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God that He alone saves, and that Jesus rose from the dead, and bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so let each one say a short prayer if they want to.

Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in the same way partook of the same, that through death he might bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might deliver all of them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

Hebrews 2:14-15

Lord God, thank You that You alone are the Savior. Thank You that Jesus rose from the dead and frees His people from the fear of death. Please bring each one of us to trust Him alone. Amen.