Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. Ver. 1. _Come, and let us return unto the Lord, &c._] So sweetly was God's expectation answered, as likewise it was in David, Psalms 27:8. No sooner could God say "Seek ye my face,... [ Continue Reading ]
_After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight._ Ver. 2. _After two days will he revive us_] Whereas some of those who were called upon to "Come and return unto the Lord," might say with those in Jeremiah 18:12, "Nay, for there is no hope," G... [ Continue Reading ]
Then shall we know, [if] we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter [and] former rain unto the earth. Ver. 3. _Then shall we know_] Heb. And we shall know, we shall follow on to know, _Sciemus sectabimurque_ (Vatab... [ Continue Reading ]
O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness [is] as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away. Ver. 4. _O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee, &c._] See how soon the prophet changeth his note. Hitherto he had set forth their repentance in sen... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore have I hewed [them] by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments [are as] the light [that] goeth forth. Ver. 5. _Therefore have I hewed them by my prophets_] Therefore? wherefore? because there is so little stability and solidity in them; because they are... [ Continue Reading ]
For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. Ver. 6. _For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice_] That is, rather than sacrifice: I prefer the marrow and pith of the second table before the ceremony and surface of the first. _ I desired mercy_] Heb. חפעתי... [ Continue Reading ]
_But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me._ Ver. 7. _But they like men_] Heb. like Adam, that archrebel, that old παραβατης, after the similitude of whose transgressions these men had sinned, Romans 5:14, and so deserved in like sort to be pun... [ Continue Reading ]
Gilead [is] a city of them that work iniquity, [and is] polluted with blood. Ver. 8. _Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity_] Another πονηροπολις; such a city there was in Greece, and so called by King Philip, for the naughtiness of the inhabitants. This Gilead was one of those ten cities of... [ Continue Reading ]
And as troops of robbers wait for a man, [so] the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness. Ver. 9. _And as troops of robbers wait for a man_] This verse hath much of the former in it, saith an interpreter. The sum of it is, saith Wigandus, to show, that all the for... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there [is] the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled._ Ver. 10. _I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel_] Now a very den of thieves, as Hosea 6:9, a pantheon of all sorts of idols, a chamber of imagery, an Egyptian temple, gay an... [ Continue Reading ]
Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people. Ver. 11. _Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee_] This is a very difficult text, and much vexed by interpreters. _Et hic nisi Lyra lyrasset, nos omnes delirassemus._ Lyra sets this sense upon the te... [ Continue Reading ]