12:1 Ephraim feedeth a on wind, and followeth after the east
wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and they do
make a covenant with the Assyrians, and b oil is carried
into Egypt.
(a) That is, flatters himself with vain confidence.
(b) Meaning presents to get friendship.
12:2 The LORD hath also a controversy with c Judah, and will
punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings
will he recompense him.
(c) Which in those points was similar to Ephraim, but not
in idolatry.
12:3 He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his
strength he had d power with God:
(d) Seeing that God in this way preferred Jacob their
father, Judah's ingratitude was the more to be
abhorred.
12:4 Yea, he had e power over the angel, and prevailed: he
wept, and made supplication unto him: f he found him [in]
Bethel, and there he spake with us;
(e) Read (Ge 32:24-32).
(f) God found Jacob as he lay sleeping in Bethel (Ge 28:12),
and spoke with him there in such a way that the fruit of
that speech appertained to the whole body of the people,
of which we are.
12:7 [He is] g a merchant, the balances of deceit [are] in his
hand: he loveth to oppress.
(g) As for Ephraim, he is more like the wicked Canaanites
than godly Abraham or Jacob.
12:8 And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out
substance: [in] all my labours they shall find none
iniquity in me h that [were] sin.
(h) Thus way the wicked measure God's favour by outward
prosperity, and like hypocrites cannot endure that any
should reprove their doings.
12:9 And I [that am] the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt
will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in i the
days of the solemn feast.
(i) Seeing you will not acknowledge my benefits, I will
bring you again to dwell in tents, as in the feast of
the Tabernacles, which you now condemn.
12:11 [Is there] k iniquity [in] Gilead? surely they are
vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their
altars [are] as heaps in the furrows of the fields.
(k) The people thought that no man dare have spoken
against Gilead, that holy place, and yet the Prophet
says that all their religion was but vanity.
12:12l And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel
served for a wife, and for a wife he kept [sheep].
(l) If you boast of your riches and nobility, you seem to
reproach your father, who was a poor fugitive and
servant.
12:13 And by a m prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt,
and by a prophet was he preserved.
(m) Meaning Moses, by which appears that whatever they
have, it comes from God's free goodness.
