CRITICAL NOTES.] Hosea 12:1. Feed] To eat or graze. WIND] What is empty and vain; to hunt after nothing, labour in vain. EAST] A fierce and destructive wind, oppressive and violent (Job 27:21); figurative of that destruction which sinners bring upon themselves. INCREASETH] _i.e._ continually, mult... [ Continue Reading ]
CRITICAL NOTES.] Hosea 12:3.] Jacob was their forefather; they should imitate his good, not his bad qualities. They are descendants, but their ways contrast with his (Micah 2:7). He secured the birth-right and the blessing with it; wrestled with God and prevailed in prayer. He wrestled in the womb... [ Continue Reading ]
CRITICAL NOTES.] Hosea 12:5. Lord] A name which implies constancy, by which God is distinguished and ever remembered (Exodus 3:15; Psalms 135:13). _HOMILETICS_ THE MEMORIAL NAME.—_Hosea 12:5_ When Jacob felt the power of his antagonist he asked, “Tell me, I pray thee, thy name.” To those who ne... [ Continue Reading ]
TRUE CONVERSION TO GOD.—_Hosea 12:6_ CRITICAL NOTES.] Hosea 12:6. Turn] Lit. thou shalt turn, so turn as to enter into vital fellowship with God (Isaiah 10:22). THOU] who wishest to be a true descendant, pray and act as Jacob. “_Therefore_” to this God, who rules heaven and earth, Israel had onl... [ Continue Reading ]
CRITICAL NOTES.] Hosea 12:7. Merchant] Marg. a Canaanite, a heathen, unlike Israel, to whom Canaanites were a reproach (Ezekiel 16:3). OPPRESS] Lit. deceive. Men whose trade is deceit, whose balances are unjust, cannot love mercy and do judgment. HOSEA 12:8. EPH. SAID, in a spirit of disregard to... [ Continue Reading ]
_HOMILETICS_ CRITICAL NOTES.] Hosea 12:10. By prophets] who left no means untried, speaking in metaphors and methods adapted to rouse the attention (Numbers 12:6; Numbers 12:8; Joel 2:28). GOD’S METHOD OF TEACHING THE PEOPLE.—_Hosea 12:10_ Hosea 12:10 expands Hosea 12:9, and further proves that... [ Continue Reading ]
CRITICAL NOTES.] Hosea 12:11. Vanity] The question strengthens the affirmation. All was to no purpose. Warnings unheeded, altars as numerous as heaps of stones gathered out of the field, and scenes of solemn history were corrupted and ruined. HOSEA 12:12. JACOB] was a _fugitive_ and a _servant_,... [ Continue Reading ]