Reverse exodus

In Hosea 13:15, the prophet says of Ephraim, “Though he flourishes among the reeds, an east wind will come, the wind of the LORD coming up from the wilderness; and his fountain will become dry and his spring will be dried up; it will plunder his treasury of every precious article.”

This is a picture of a reverse exodus. In Exodus 14:21, an “east wind” dries up the waters of the yam suph , the “Sea of Reeds” (cf. 15:22) and opened a path of dry land through the sea. Hosea uses “east wind” and “reeds” and “dry,” but the image is not of deliverance but of withering destruction. Instead of a Rock flowing like a fountain, Ephraim will be dried up. Instead of plundering, Ephraim will be plundered.