Hosea 12:5

Even. The first half of v. 5 is a phrase in apposition with the pronoun “he” in the closing clause of v. 4. Thus the thought of the passage is: “And there He, even the Lord God of hosts, spake with us” (“with him” according to some MSS of the LXX and the Syriac). Some have interpreted this passage to mean that when God told Jacob that his name would no more be Jacob but Israel, He spoke not only to the patriarch but through him, representatively, to all his descendants. This interpretation would explain why Hosea tells his people that in Bethel the Lord “spake with us” (v. 4). Lord God of hosts. See on Jer. 7:3. The covenant and the promise were confirmed to Israel by Him who has the power and the authority to do so, the Lord God of hosts, the Lord God of the armies of heaven, the One who guides and controls all events, and who rules the whole universe (see Ps. 103:19). The word “hosts” is specially appropriate in relation to Jacob, because of the angel hosts that met him before he wrestled with God (see on Gen. 32:2). Memorial. That is, God’s “memorial name,” the name by which Israel was to remember Him (see Ex. 3:15; Ps. 135:13). To encourage the Lord’s people to have full confidence in God and His power to save, the prophet adds the clause, “the Lord is his memorial.” When a person’s name is mentioned, immediately memory recalls what kind of character he has, whether he is good or bad, whether he is to be trusted or despised. So it is with God; His name recalls to our mind His character, His attributes, His dealings with the children of men. God is here challenging His people to consider that His name is a precious memory to them of what He is to them and what He has done for them; that His name is freighted with the recollections of past blessings and so ought to be an assurance to His people that His ways are best. The unchangeableness of God, who not only accepted Jacob but blessed and prospered him, is held out to the patriarch’s descendants as a guarantee of like blessings in case they turn to the Lord and bring forth fruits meet for repentance. Because Bethel has just been mentioned (v. 4), it may be that this use of the term “memorial” is an allusion to one of the pillars Jacob set up at that place (see Gen. 28:18, 19; 35:9-15).