Hosea 12:13

And by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt,.... Or, "by the prophet"; the famous and most excellent prophet Moses, who, by way of eminency, is so called; him the Lord sent, and employed,

And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved. And by a prophet - Moses, the highest kind of prophet (Numbers 12:6-8; Deuteronomy 18:15; Deuteronomy 18:18).

By a prophet, by Moses, the Lord brought Israel, your forefathers, out of Egypt; where they had been bondmen two hundred and fifteen years, or near upon it, old slaves, or vassals for some descents. By a prophet was he preserved in the wilderness: see Exodus 2 Exodus 3, &c. Now the drift of the prophet herein to me appears to be this, to prevent their vain pride and boasting of their ancestors, their raiser sheltering themselves under ancestors’ merits against God’ s just displeasure on them for their sins, and the sottish plea of what their fathers did at Beth-el and Gilgal. There are many things which arise on consideration of what their fathers were, suffered, enjoyed, and did, to aggravate their sins and insure them of punishment; but nothing to secure them against judgment to come, or to lessen judgments when they come.

Hosea 12:13 And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved.Ver. 13. And by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt] That is, Gilead served as a sanctuary unto Jacob, when he fled from Laban. In Gilgal also God by Joshua renewed his covenant with your fathers, after he had brought them out of Egypt, by the hand of Moses and Aaron. A horrible thing therefore it is, if well considered, that these two places should now be so impured with idolatry, and become the nurseries of evil, which heretofore were the means of so great comfort to God’ s people. Thus Junius, Polanus, and others. A witty interpretation, but somewhat forced. By Moses, that prophet, by an excellency; as Aristotle is called the philosopher, Cicero the orator, Paul the apostle, Calvin the most learned interpreter, &c. Moses was a famous prophet indeed, and a type of Christ. Confer Deuteronomy 18:15; Deuteronomy 18:18; Deuteronomy 34:10-12 Acts 3:22; Acts 7:35-38. Theodoret calleth him the great ocean of divinity, τοντηςθεολογαις Wκεανον. Bellarmine, God’ s special favourite, than whom antiquity had nihil sapientius, sanctius, mitius, none more wise, meek, and holy; indeed, titles of honour are not worthy of him. Howbeit he was but a mean man at first; Exodus 4:20, "He took his wife and his son and set them upon an ass"; that was the best and the only beast that he had, for aught we read. It was not very likely that so poor a prophet should do so great a deed. But God loves to help his people with a little help, Daniel 11:34, that through weaker means his greater strength may appear. His end here may seem to be the same as before, in setting forth Jacob’ s meanness, to take down the haughtiness of the people, proud of their founders and forefathers. A prophet he is purposely called, and his name concealed: 1. To show that the work was done not by might nor by power, but by God’ s Spirit, Zechariah 4:6 2. To show what God will do for his people by the prayers and for the sake of his prophets, when they are most shiftless and hopeless; 3. To let this unworthy people see how much God had done for them once by a prophet, how little soever now they set by such. This is Cyrus’ observation.

(13) A prophet.—Moses is here referred to, and there is, perhaps, a hint that the Lord would yet again save Israel from worse than Egyptian bondage by the words and warnings of a prophet.

Verse 13. By a prophet (Moses) the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet (Joshua) was he preserved.] Joshua succeeded Moses, and brought the Israelites into the promised land; and when they passed the Jordan at Gilgal, he received the covenant of circumcision; and yet this same place was now made by them the seat of idolatry! How blind and how ungrateful!

13. by a prophet] i.e. Moses (comp. Deuteronomy 34:10). Hosea contrasts the helplessness and the hardships of Jacob-Israel with the wonderful deliverance and preservation of his descendants. Comp. Isaiah 51:2, ‘I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.’ Note the double use of the term Israel in Hosea 12:12 and Hosea 12:13.

By a prophet was he preserved - Or “kept.” Jacob “kept sheep” out of love of God, sooner than unite himself with one, alien from God; his posterity “was kept” like a sheep by God, as the Psalmist

10, 11. In manifold ways Jehovah sought to warn the people. By the prophets — This is better than R.V. “unto” (compare Amos 2:11; Jeremiah 7:25).