Hosea 13:8

I will meet them as a bear [that is] bereaved of her whelps,.... Which is a fierce cruel creature at any time, but especially when this is its case, being very fond of its whelps; and having taken a

I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them.

I will meet them; I know their haunts, their walks, I will not fail to meet them there. As a bear bereaved of her whelps; robbed of her whelps, newly taken away, which makes her mad with rage; so great rage is proverbially expressed. . Will rend the caul of their heart; first kill, next tear in pieces, pull out the very heart: it is probable this fierce creature may by instinct hasten to tear up the prey, that it may drink the blood before it run to waste. There will I devour them, where I find them and seize them, like the hungry and fearless lion, which feasts on his prey where he caught it, draws it not into his den, but devoureth it immediately. Like a lion; an old lion, that hath his great teeth, his grinders, and hath still whelps, ; fierce and terrible, that will either call in his whelps to divide the prey, or drag the prey to his den for them: and what hope of any thing to be spared, when you fall into such hands? The wild beast shall tear them: it is said of the lion, that he calls by his roaring the wild beasts together to the prey when he hath taken it; so you shall be devoured by the whole troop of wild beasts. Or it may be a general threat added to those particular ones before, every wild beast shall prey upon them. All this God executed on them by the Assyrians, who in their fierceness, cruelty, greediness, and courage answered the character here given to them: the particular resemblances I leave to any, who may easily suit them.

Hosea 13:8 I will meet them as a bear [that is] bereaved [of her whelps], and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them.Ver. 8. I mill meet them as a bear bereaved of her whelps] Surgit hic oratio. The bear is more cruel than the lion, for the lion is said to spare the prostrate; but the bear falleth foul upon all, yea, upon dead carcases. See Amos 5:9 cf. 2 Samuel 17:8 Proverbs 17:12. See also what work the two bears made upon the forty-two children, 2 Kings 2:24. And will rend the caul of their heart] The pericardium, that fat heart of theirs, Hosea 13:6, that hoof upon their hearts which the Word could not pierce through, that filthy foreskin that grew to their uncircumcised hearts. There will I devour them like a lion] Once more like a lion ( ìáéà), ut immanis leo, for the word is not the same as before; as a lion, that is, in heart, and that loves to suck the blood, and the fat that is about the heart. "There will I devour them," that is, in their cities and houses, where they hold themselves safest; as the lions dealt by those mongrel colonies that made a mixture of religions, 2 Kings 17:25. The wild beast shall tear them] When they but stir anywhere abroad; so that there shall be no safety, no peace to him that goes out, or to him that cometh in, 2 Chronicles 15:5, but “ crudelis ubique Luetus, ubique pavor, et plurima mortis imago. ” "Let us therefore have grace, whereby we may serve God with reverence and godly fear: for even our God" (and not the God of the Jews only) "is a consuming fire," Hebrews 12:28-29, is a devouring lion, is a furious leopard, a raging bear; yea, put all the dreadfulness of all the creatures in the world together, it is all to be found in the wrath of God, even the quintessence of all. Hence that of the Psalmist, "Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath," Psalms 90:11; as who should say, Let a man fear thy displeasure never so much, he is sure to feel thee much more, if once he fall into thy fingers. Now a fearful man can fancy vast and terrible fears, as ramping lions, ravenous leopards, fire, sword, racks, scalding lead, burning pitch, running bell metal, all this in extremity, and that to all eternity: and yet all these are but as a painted fire in comparison of the unconceivable and unsupportable wrath of God. The membranous sac, consisting of an outer fibrous and an inner serous layer, which encloses the heart and the commencements of the great vessels. Also applied to the sac enveloping or enclosing the heart or corresponding organ in certain invertebrates. ŒD

(8) The same imagery is continued to describe the destructive wrath of the Lord. “The caul of the heart” means here the covering of the heart, not the pericardium, but the breast in which the claws of the beast are fastened.

Verse 8. As a bear - bereaved] This is a figure to denote excessive ferocity. 2 Samuel 17:8, where a remarkable instance is given. And will rend the caul of their heart] Every savage beast goes first to the seat of the blood when it has seized its prey; as in this fluid they delight more than in the most delicate parts of the flesh. There will I devour them like a lion] לביא labi, the old strong lion; drinking the blood, tearing the flesh, and breaking the bones to extract the marrow. The wild beast shall tear them] Probably this refers to the chakal or jackal, who frequently hunts down the prey, which the lion takes the liberty to devour, while the jackal stands by, and afterwards picks the bones. Hence he has been called the lion's PROVIDER, and the lion's waiting-man.

8. as a dear] A striking but uncommon comparison. Comp. Lamentations 3:10. the caul of their heart] Rather, the enclosure of their heart, i.e., not the pericardium, which is what the Authorized Version appears to have supposed, but the breast. as a lion] Most render, as a lioness; but this is at any rate uncertain. There is nothing as in Job 4:11 specially to suggest the female. The masculine undoubtedly occurs in Psalms 57:5 (Hebr.). The root-idea is probably voracity; but unfortunately there is no cognate in Assyrian. The numerous words for lion in Hebrew are as trouble-some to express in English, as the translators of the Sept. found them in Greek (Sept. here has σκύμνοιδρυμοῦ).

As a bear bereaved of her whelps - The Syrian bear is fiercer than the brown bears to which we are accustomed. It attacks flocks 1 Samuel 17:34, and even oxen .

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.