_Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah._ Ver. 1. _Say unto your brethren, Ammi_] Besides the public preaching of this gracious promise, Hosea 1:10, "There it shall be said unto them," &c., charge is here given that this be the subject of their more private discourse also: an... [ Continue Reading ]
Plead with your mother, plead: for she [is] not my wife, neither [am] I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts; Ver. 2. _Plead with your mother, plead_] Here of right begins the second chapter (the former verse being not s... [ Continue Reading ]
Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. Ver. 3. _Lest I strip her naked_] _Deus ideo minatur ut non puniat._ God therefore threateneth, that he may not proceed to punish. Here he doth n... [ Continue Reading ]
And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they [be] the children of whoredoms. Ver. 4. _And I will not have mercy upon her children_] Lo, here another "and" to those four before; and more dreadful than the rest. Like as that in Jeremiah 16:13, where "I will not show you favour," was worse to... [ Continue Reading ]
For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give [me] my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink. Ver. 5. _For their mother hath played the harlot_] Being a "wife of whoredoms," Hosea 1:2... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. Ver. 6. _Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns_] _i.e._ with difficulties and distresses. So God had fenced up Job's way that he could not pass, Job 19:8, he had thrown the c... [ Continue Reading ]
And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find [them]: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then [was it] better with me than now. Ver. 7. _And she shall follow after her lovers_] Follow them hot foot,... [ Continue Reading ]
For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, [which] they prepared for Baal. Ver. 8. _For she did not know_] _i.e._ She would not be known or affected, of this she was willingly ignorant, 2 Peter 3:5. _Ut liberius peccet libenter ignorat,_ as Ber... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax [given] to cover her nakedness. Ver. 9. _Therefore will I return_] _i.e._ I will alter my course, change my stand, change the way of mine administrations, deal... [ Continue Reading ]
And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand. Ver. 10. _And now will I discover her lewdness_] Or her filthiness, baseness, foolishness, saplessness; perhaps the same with her nakedness, Hosea 2:9. _See Trapp on "_ Hos 2:9 _"_ How sham... [ Continue Reading ]
I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. Ver. 11. _I will also cause her mirth to cease_] Idolaters are frolic and jovial, the greatest mirth mongers, the merry Greeks of the world; set altogether upon the merry pin, they... [ Continue Reading ]
And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These [are] my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. Ver. 12. _And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees_] Not her wine and her figs only, _i.e._ he... [ Continue Reading ]
And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD. Ver. 13. _And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim_] That is, I will punish the sins committed... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. Ver. 14. _Therefore, behold, I will allure her_] A strange "therefore." It may very well have "behold" at the heels of it: for the sense is this; because she hath quite forgotten me, and will ne... [ Continue Reading ]
And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. Ver. 15. _I will give her her vineyards from thence_] Or, from thenceforth: either from that... [ Continue Reading ]
And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, [that] thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali. Ver. 16. _And it shall be in that day_] A sweet promise of a thorough reformation, much like that Zechariah 13:2. God will turn to his people a pure language, that they may all call upon th... [ Continue Reading ]
For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name. Ver. 17. _For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth_] So precise she shall be, so circumspect, according to Exodus 23:13, that she should spit out of her mouth those dunghi... [ Continue Reading ]
And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and [with] the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely. Ver. 18. _And in that day will I m... [ Continue Reading ]
And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. Ver. 19. _And I will betroth thee unto me for ever_] This, because it could not be easily believed, is thrice repeated. We believe not (whatever men m... [ Continue Reading ]
I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD. Ver. 20. _I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness_] Tremellius, Drusius, and Tarnovius render it _in fide,_ in faith, and interpret it of _de fide vera et salvifica,_ of that true justifying faith whereby we ar... [ Continue Reading ]
And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; Ver. 21. _And it shall come to pass in that day_] In that time of grace and reconciliation, fitly set forth by the name of a day in regard of, 1.Revelation 2:1,29. Adornation;... [ Continue Reading ]
And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel. Ver. 22. _And the earth shall hear_] That is, shall bear great store of grain, wine, and oil (_vinum pendulum,_ _i.e._ _uvas_). New and fresh oil the word signifies, newly expressed, clear and shining, such a... [ Continue Reading ]
And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to [them which were] not my people, Thou [art] my people; and they shall say, [Thou art] my God. Ver. 23. _And I will sow her unto me in the earth_] Not in the air, as once, when they... [ Continue Reading ]