Hosea 4:4

Yet let no man strive … as they that strive with the priest The view of the meaning of this verse suggested by A.V. may be expressed in the words of Henderson. -All reproof on the part of their friends or neighbours generally would prove fruitless, seeing they had reached a degree of hardihood, which was only equalled by the contumacy of those who refused to obey the priest, when he gave judgment in the name of the Lord, Deuteronomy 17:12." This assumes that the counsel not to strive comes from Jehovah. We might however follow Ewald, who understands the opening words of Hosea 4:4 to mean that the people -will not permit any one, even a prophet, to contend with them, although they themselves do not scruple in the least to quarrel with every one, even with the priest who would admonish them, in spite of the traditional reverence for his office, Deuteronomy 17:8-18; Eccl. 4:17, 18." The comparison at the end of the verse, when explained thus, is no doubt obscurely expressed, but not more so than that in Hosea 5:10, -the princes of Judah are become like those that remove the bound." Still there are objections, viz. (1) that in Hosea 4:6 the second person undoubtedly refers to the priesthood, and why should it be taken differently in Hosea 4:5? and (2) that in Hosea 4:6 the priests are so vehemently denounced, that we can hardly suppose that contending with them would be referred to as a sin in Hosea 4:5. Various conjectures have been proposed for emending the passage. The most plausible is that of Prof. Robertson Smith (The Prophets of Israel,p. 406), who for kim'ribhç-as they that strive with", reads mârû bhî-have rebelled against me." At any rate, we must agree with him and with Mr Heilprin, that the concluding word is a vocative -O priest." The view of the meaning of Hosea 4:4 given in the note before this is based upon this conjecture. -Priest" here = priestly caste, as -a prophet" in Deuteronomy 18:18 = an order of prophets.