It helps of course to post the verse in context......
"But I am Jehovah your God from the land of Egypt;
You knew no God except me,
And besides me there is no savior.
5 I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.
6 They were satisfied with their pastures,
They were satisfied and their heart became proud.
And so they forgot me.
7 I will become like a young lion to them,
Like a leopard lurking along the path.
8 I will come upon them like a bear that has lost its cubs,
And I will rip open their chest.
I will devour them there like a lion;
A wild beast of the field will tear them to pieces.
9 It will destroy you, O Israel,
Because you turned against me, against your helper."
Animals were used in the scriptures as a symbol of their power.
God was going to pounce on his wayward nation like a lion or a leopard...or a she bear that has lost her cubs.
Do you not see the symbolism when you read the context?
Again in context...
Revelation 13: 1-8....
"And I saw a wild beast ascending out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, and on its horns ten diadems, but on its heads blasphemous names. 2 Now the wild beast that I saw was like a leopard, but its feet were like those of a bear, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And the dragon gave to the beast its power and its throne and great authority.
3 I saw that one of its heads seemed to have been fatally wounded, but its mortal wound had been healed, and all the earth followed the wild beast with admiration. 4 And they worshipped the dragon because it gave the authority to the wild beast, and they worshipped the wild beast with the words: “Who is like the wild beast, and who can do battle with it?” 5 It was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and it was given authority to act for 42 months. 6 And it opened its mouth in blasphemies against God to blaspheme his name and his dwelling place, even those residing in heaven. 7 It was permitted to wage war with the holy ones and conquer them, and it was given authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. 8 And all those who dwell on the earth will worship it. From the founding of the world, not one of their names has been written in the scroll of life of the Lamb who was slaughtered."
So, what is this freakish beast? The Bible itself gives the answer. Before the fall of Babylon in 539 B.C.E., the prophet Daniel saw visions also involving ferocious beasts.
Daniel 7:2-8 describes four beasts coming out of the sea, the first resembling a
lion, the second a
bear, the third a
leopard, and “
see there! a fourth beast, fearsome and terrible and unusually strong . . . and it had ten horns.” So yes, this is remarkably similar to the wild beast seen by John in his Revelation, about the year 96 C.E. and the same animals described by the prophet Hosea.
That beast also has the characteristics of a
lion, a
bear, and a
leopard, and it has ten horns. What is the identity of the huge beasts seen by Daniel? He informs us:
“These huge beasts . . . are four kings that will stand up from the earth.” (
Daniel 7:17) So, those beasts represent “kings,” or political powers of the earth.....therefore the beast is not Hosea's God.
