Hosea 2 - Introduction
_THE IDOLATRY OF THE PEOPLE: GOD'S JUDGMENTS AGAINST THEM: HIS PROMISES OF RECONCILIATION WITH THEM._ _Before Christ 786._... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE IDOLATRY OF THE PEOPLE: GOD'S JUDGMENTS AGAINST THEM: HIS PROMISES OF RECONCILIATION WITH THEM._ _Before Christ 786._... [ Continue Reading ]
SAY YE, &C.— Several intepreters join this verse with the foregoing chapter. "When the great day of Jezreel, or the restoration of the Jews, shall be accomplished, you may alter your manner of speaking to those of your brethren and sisters whom I had before disavowed, and you may call them עמי _Ammi... [ Continue Reading ]
PLEAD, &C.— These words are directed to those pious persons who still remained among the ten tribes, and who were required to reprove, and use their best endeavours to reform that general corruption which the nation had contracted by its idolatry. _In the day that she was born,_ &c., Hosea 2:3., all... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MAKE HER AS A WILDERNESS— Hebrew. _And lay her waste like a wilderness._ It may seem harsh to say of a woman, that she shall be laid waste like a wilderness, and reduced to the condition of a parched land. But it is to be observed, that the allegorical style makes an intercommunity of attributes... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL GO, AND RETURN, &C.— After finding that her attachment to idols and idolatrous nations will not avail her, but rather plunge her into misfortunes, she will through divine grace be brought to a sense of her duty, and of the happiness that she enjoyed, while cleaving stedfastly to her God. See... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL ALSO CAUSE, &C.— "There shall be no more numerous and magnificent assemblies in the temples of Jerusalem, to celebrate the solemn festivals of the Lord." These threats were literally executed during the time of the Babylonish captivity. See Calmet.... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL VISIT, &C.— "I will punish her for all the idolatries that she hath committed, from the days of Jeroboam, who set up the worship of false gods." _Days_ being taken for the _sins,_ or so as to include the sins committed in them, and בעלים _Baalim_ being the plural number of בעל _Baal,_ denotes... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE BEHOLD, I WILL ALLURE HER— _Nevertheless, I will allure her, after I have brought her into the wilderness,_ [_to Babylon_], &c. "After having treated her with rigour, and having convinced her of her deviations, I will restore her to my favour and regard." The valley of Achor was near Jeric... [ Continue Reading ]
THENCE— The English word _thence_ renders either _from that place,_ or _from that time,_ or _in consequence of those things;_ and the original word is used in all these various senses. No one of these senses would be inapplicable in this place; but the last seems the most significant. God declares,... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT CALL ME ISHI— Houbigant renders this, _Thou shalt call me, My husband: Thou shalt no more call me, My lord_ or _master._ "Because thou shalt love me, and shalt serve me through affection, and not through fear.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHALL NO MORE BE REMEMBERED BY THEIR NAME— It is in vain to look for a purity of religious worship, answerable to this prophecy, among the Jews returned from the Babylonian captivity. This part of the prophesy, with all the rest, will receive its accomplishment in the converted race in the latt... [ Continue Reading ]
A COVENANT— This covenant with the beasts of the field, the fowls of heaven, and the reptiles of the earth, is the final conversion of the most ignorant and vicious of the Heathen to the true faith. The effect of which must be, that they will all live in peace and friendship with the re-established... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL EVEN BETROTH THEE UNTO ME IN FAITHFULNESS— _By faith._ Houbigant. By that virtue which is the foundation of all religion, and of all other virtues. The _perfect_ accomplishment of this prophesy can belong only to the Christian church.... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL HEAR, &C.— _I will answer, saith the Lord, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the_ [_wants of the_] _earth._ Hosea 2:22. _And the earth shall favour the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel._ This elegant gradation of the prophet admirably denotes the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL SOW HER UNTO ME IN THE EARTH— The myriads of the natural Israel, converted by the preaching of the apostles, were the first seed of the Christian church. And there is reason to believe, that the restoration of the converted Jews will be the occasion and means of a prodigious influx of new... [ Continue Reading ]