Again poetry is dispelled by prose, and the infidelity of both kingdoms forces itself on the prophet's mind. Such prose is all the more wearisome to an idealist, because the history of the patriarch Jacob seems to lift up a standard which ought to be dear to his descendants. O that Israel would yet... [ Continue Reading ]
_wind … the east wind_ Note the climax; the parching east wind combines the ideas of destructiveness and emptiness. Comp. Job 15:2; Job 27:21, and note on Hosea 13:15. _lies and desolation_ Rather, LIES AND VIOLENCE. But the Septuagint reads, -lies and falsehoods" more plausibly, as the other combi... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jacob_ Here used for the northern kingdom, to prepare the way for the etymological allusion in Hosea 12:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
_He took his brother by the heel_ As if Jacob meant, The Supplanter. The same verb is used by Esau in an unfavourable sense in Genesis 27:36; but Hosea here evidently means to edify his people by the allusion. Observe that Jacob is described as the head and representative of his family (comparing th... [ Continue Reading ]
Two episodes (for a third, see Hosea 12:12) in the history of Jacob are applied to the spiritual wants of his descendants. Jacob in the very womb seemed ambitious of the blessing, and when a grown man, he wrestled with the angel for a still higher blessing than before. But, as we are led to interpre... [ Continue Reading ]
_he had power over_ Rather, HE CONTENDED WITH. _he wept_, &c. (The subject is Jacob, not the angel.) This feature is not given in Genesis 32; it is however well adapted to the hortatory object of Hosea. The Septuagint has, -they wept", &c. _he found him in Beth-el_ (The subject is Jehovah.) Two vis... [ Continue Reading ]
_Even the Lord God of hosts_, &c. The Hebrew runs more abruptly, -And Jehovah" &c., i.e. -and the name of Him who spoke with Jacob is Jehovah." -Jehovah" to the prophets conveys the ideas of almightiness, unchangeableness, and faithfulness (comp. Isaiah 41:4; Malachi 3:6). -God of Hosts" is a title... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore turn thou to thy God_ Lit., -And thou return thou _in_thy God"; i.e., such being the character of God, who lets Himself be won by wrestling prayer, return thou to thy God, and rest in Him. (For this condensed expression there is no exact parallel.) And how is this -return" or repentance t... [ Continue Reading ]
_He is a merchant_, &c. Rather, CANAAN! IN HIS HAND ARE DECEITFUL BALANCES; HE LOVETH TO EXTORT. The geographical term -Canaan" simply means -lowland", and therefore might be, and was, applied to Phœnicia (Isaiah 23:11) as well as to other lowland parts of Palestine; -Canaanite" too became a synonym... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Ephraim said_ Better, EPHRAIM INDEED SAID, SURELY I HAVE BECOME RICH, I HAVE GOTTEN ME WEALTH: ALL MY PROFITS SHALL BRING ME NO INIQUITY THAT WERE A SIN. Ephraim congratulates himself on his riches, and with callous conscience maintains that they have been won quite honestly; or if he be not ab... [ Continue Reading ]
Not Israel, but Canaan should he be called; for his ideal is Canaan's. The end justifies the means, and his end is to become rich! But how bitterly will he be disappointed. He must in short begin his history over again, and repeat his wilderness-wanderings. Or to speak more plainly, idolatry must be... [ Continue Reading ]
_And I_ Rather, FOR I. It is explanatory of the vague hint of an inexorable doom. _thy God from the land of Egypt_ Who is therefore ever ready to help you (Isaiah 46:3), but who will also, if necessary, punish you as He did of old (comp. Numbers 14:26-30). _will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacle... [ Continue Reading ]
It is not for want of warnings that this calamity comes upon the Israelites. In the most various ways has Jehovah spoken, not _to_, but BY THE PROPHETS. _Visions … similitudes_ A prophetic vision is, properly speaking, an intuition of some divinely revealed truth clothed in -outward and visible sign... [ Continue Reading ]
The ruin of two famous centres of idolatry, representing together the entire northern kingdom. _Is there iniquity_, &c. More probably, IF GILEAD IS (GIVEN TO) IDOLATRY, MERE VANITY SHALL THEY (THE GILEADITES) BECOME, i.e. apostacy from Him who is the only source of life leads to sure destruction; -t... [ Continue Reading ]
_fled into the country of Syria_ Comp. Genesis 27:43; Genesis 28:2. Hosea's phrase, THE FIELD OF ARAM, is the exact equivalent of -Padan-Aram" (rather Paddan-Aram) in the latter passage; the Assyrian _padânu_has for one of its meanings -field" (also -park"). _served for a wife_, &c. Comp. Genesis 2... [ Continue Reading ]
As Ewald remarks, -this is probably the oldest instance of a spiritualizing of the ancient history, though the way to it had been long prepared by the conception, so familiar to Hosea himself (chaps, 1 3), of the community of Israel as Jehovah's bride." The verses however come in very abruptly, and... [ Continue Reading ]
_by a prophet_ i.e. Moses (comp. Deuteronomy 34:10). Hosea contrasts the helplessness and the hardships of Jacob-Israel with the wonderful deliverance and preservation of his descendants. Comp. Isaiah 51:2, -I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him." Note the double use of the term Isr... [ Continue Reading ]
This verse would be less abrupt if it immediately followed Hosea 12:11, of which it might be taken to furnish a fuller justification. _provoked_ Rather, HATH PROVOKED. _therefore shall he leave his blood_ Rather, AND HIS BLOODSHED WILL HE CAST; i.e. Jehovah will bring sudden retribution upon him f... [ Continue Reading ]