Book of Hosea Chapter 11 Vs. 12

 The Lord's Love for Israel

Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints. Hos. 11:12

compasseth me about... Play the hypocrites with me still; yet give me good words, call themselves my people, and say I am their God and that they worship me and seek me; but they flatter me with their mouths, and lie unto me with their tongues (as Psalm 78:36). So, God upbraids them with this, their sin.

and the house... The same thing in a reiterated phrase, to affect and comprehend the more.

but Judah yet... The people of the two tribes, under the government of the house of David.

yet ruleth with God... That is, I will leave Judah to rule a little while after the destruction of Ephraim. The purpose of this was to give Judah more time to repent and learn the lessons which the destruction of apostate Ephraim could teach her. However, in the period that followed God had to warn Judah many times and plead with her not to follow the way of Ephraim who had been destroyed; and instead of improving, she became more and more corrupt until He had to destroy her also. This was 133 years after the destruction of Ephraim (2Ki. 17:1-41 with 24-25).

While idolaters are vassals and slaves to the devil and to their own superstitious fears, the true worshippers of God, like princes, rule with God. Or rather, keeping to the house of David, retained the government in Theopolitia a government set up of God: when Ephraim made kings and princes, but God did not know it, i.e. did not advise nor approve it.

and is faithful... Retains also purity, at least truth, of worship, and in the holy things of God keeping to his word, and comparatively is faithful: whereas Ephraim is hypocritical and false, Judah adheres to God’s holy prophets, priests, and other saints of God.

Even though God will restore them, He still speaks of their unfaithfulness to Him. They are full of lies and deceit. Judah is the tribe that the Lord Jesus comes from. He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Jesus rules with God the Father. He rules all the world from Jerusalem in the land of Judah.

The verses are a climax, and obviously to be succeeded by a pause. On the brink of his doom, will Israel turn to such a God, at such a call? The next verse, though dependent for its promise on this same exhaustless Love, is from an entirely different circumstance, and cannot have been put by Hosea here.

The Lord’s case against Israel concluded.

A hortatory and didactic tone characterizes the conclusion to Hosea’s prophecy. As in earlier sections Hosea moves from judgment (11:12-13:16) to salvation (Hos. 14:1-9).

A Concluding Indictment

Once more Israel’s guilt is established and her punishment predicted.

The nation’s unfaithfulness.

These verses introduce the final section with a formal accusation (11:12-12:2a) and an announcement of judgment (Hos. 12:2).

The entire nation Judah included had broken her covenant with the Lord. Lies and deceit refer to hypocrisy and unfaithfulness. The latter (mirmâh; cf. see Hos. 12:7) is especially appropriate in light of the following comparison with the patriarch Jacob (cf. Hos. 12:3-4, 12:12). The same term was used to describe Jacob’s deception in stealing Esau’s blessing (cf. Gen. 27:35).

Ironically the nation was unfaithful to the faithful Holy One, who had always demonstrated fidelity to His covenant promises (cf. Hos. 12:9; 13:4-6). Is unruly rûḏ means to stray or roam restlessly, an apt picture of Israel’s wandering off from God to Baal and to foreign nations for help. Holy One is plural here, emphasizing the magnitude of this divine characteristic. In this context God’s holiness refers primarily to His transcendence over fallible people (cf. Hos. 11:9).