Already the future of northern Israel has been irradiated for Hosea by short gleams of hope (Hosea 11:8-11; Hosea 13:14); now at length hope becomes victorious over fear. True, Israel has not yet -returned", and Hosea is obliged to repeat his exhortation. But he evidently feels persuaded that Israel... [ Continue Reading ]
_return … for thou hast fallen_ To -stumble" or to -fall" means to be visited by a calamity (as Hosea 4:3; Hosea 5:5). Experience has shown the Israelites, to quote Jeremiah (Hosea 2:19), -what an evil and bitter thing it is to forsake Jehovah their God.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Take with you words_ It is one of the most undoubtedly ancient of the religious laws of the Pentateuch that -none shall appear before Jehovah empty" (Exodus 23:15; Exodus 34:20). What gift then will be most acceptable from the Israelites to their heavenly King? The answer that will naturally rise t... [ Continue Reading ]
Israel here renounces those sins against the theocracy of which Jehovah's prophet had specially accused him, viz. trust in Assyria (Hosea 5:13; Hosea 7:11; Hosea 8:9) and reliance on horses and chariots (Hosea 1:7; Hosea 10:13, alluding no doubt to the Egyptian alliance, comp. Isaiah 30:16; Isaiah 3... [ Continue Reading ]
_their backsliding_ i.e. the damage which their -backsliding" has brought upon them. _love them freely_ Or, -spontaneously", i.e. without receiving any gifts but those mentioned in Hosea 14:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
Jehovah, in answer, describes the blessings which He will give. The imagery reminds us of the Song of Songs; notice especially the references to the lily and to Lebanon.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will be as the dew_ Rather, AS THE NIGHT-MIST, i.e. the masses of vapour (Hebr. _tal_) brought by the damp westerly winds of summer (see on Hosea 6:4). -In the strict scientific sense of the word, this is rain, and not dew at all, since the vapour becomes condensed in the air before touching the... [ Continue Reading ]
_They that dwell … as the corn_ Rather, ONCE MORE SHALL THEY THAT DWELL UNDER HIS SHADOW BRING CORN TO LIFE (i.e. in prosaic language, cultivate corn). A contrast to the lamentation for the corn in Hosea 7:14. -His shadow", i.e. Israel's; Jehovah is presumably still the speaker. For the idea, comp.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ephraim_(_shall say_), _What have I to do any more with idols_ So the Targum and the Syriac. The objection is that the ellipsis is unique, and hence Archbishop Seeker proposed to follow the Septuagint (reading _lo_for _li_), and render, EPHRAIM WHAT HATH HE TO DO, &c. Prof. Robertson Smith is dissa... [ Continue Reading ]
An epilogue or conclusion to the prophecy, unspecializing it, as it were, and extracting the general moral lesson which underlies it all. The tone and language of it remind us of the Book of Proverbs (Proverbs 11:5; Proverbs 15:19). The term -the righteous" occurs nowhere else in Hosea. _Who is wis... [ Continue Reading ]