Charles Spurgeon Commentary Hosea 13:1

"When Ephraim spake, there was trembling; he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died." — Hosea 13:1 (ASV)

When Ephraim spoke trembling, he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died.

A modest, humble, trembling heart is often by far the sounder heart, but when we begin to sin, and to sin boastfully, and to wrap ourselves in the robe of self-complacency, then death is very near to us: When Ephraim spoke trembling, he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died.

When Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel; (Hosea 13:1).

When we are little in our own esteem, when we are full of fears concerning ourselves, when we dare not think of boasting, then it is that we grow: When Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel.

But when he offended in Baal, he died.

It is when, like Ephraim, we turn aside to other gods, when our heart goes astray from the Lord, that there is death—death to our joys, death to our confidence, death to our usefulness. No one knows what destruction there is, even in the least sin, to the most joyful believer.

It is like the hot breath of the Sirocco, which scorches up every green thing. If, before this terrible blast, everything is like Eden, behind it all is as a desert.

Let us read the whole verse again that we may lay to heart the lesson it teaches us: When Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died.