God’s Anger against Israel
The chapter opens with a memory of Ephraim's former prominence: when he spoke, others trembled. But that status ended in guilt and death because the people embraced Baal. Instead of repenting, they sin more and more, manufacturing idols from silver according to human skill and honoring the work of their own hands. The result is transience. They will be like morning mist, early dew, chaff swirling from the threshing floor, and smoke leaving a window. Against all of that man-made religion, the LORD sets His own claim: He has been Israel's God since Egypt, and apart from Him there is no Savior.
W1hen Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; 2Now they sin more and more 3Therefore they will be like the morning mist, 4Yet I am the LORD your God
The second part of the section returns to the wilderness, where God knew Israel in the land of drought and dependency. But once the people found pasture and were filled, satisfaction turned into self-exaltation and then into forgetfulness of God. That inward betrayal now reshapes the way judgment is described. The One who once cared for them will confront them like a lion, lurk like a leopard, and attack like a bear robbed of her cubs. The language is deliberately shocking: the covenant Lord is no tame guardian for a people that has grown fat on His gifts and then abandoned Him.
5I knew you in the wilderness, 6When they had pasture, 7So like a lion I will pounce on them; 8Like a bear robbed of her cubs I will attack them,