INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 8 This chapter treats of the sins and punishment of Israel for them, as the preceding; it is threatened and proclaimed that an enemy should come swiftly against them, because of their transgression of the covenant and law of God, Hosea 8:1; their hypocrisy is exposed, Hosea 8:... [ Continue Reading ]
[SET] THE TRUMPET TO THY MOUTH,.... Or, "the trumpet to the roof of thy mouth" t; a concise expression denoting haste, and the vehemence of the passions speaking; they are either the words of the Lord to the prophet, as the Targum, "O prophet, cry with thy throat as with a trumpet, saying;'' Aben... [ Continue Reading ]
ISRAEL SHALL CRY UNTO ME, MY GOD, WE KNOW THEE. In their distress they shall cry to the Lord to help them, and have mercy on them, as they used to do when in trouble, Isaiah 26:16; when the eagle is come upon them, and just ready to devour them; when Samaria is besieged with file Assyrian army, thei... [ Continue Reading ]
ISRAEL HATH CAST OFF [THE THING THAT IS] GOOD,.... Or "rejected [him that is] good" y; that is, God, as Kimchi observes; for there is none good but him, Matthew 19:17; he is the "summum bonum", "the chiefest good" to men, and is essentially, originally, and infinitely good in himself, and the founta... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY HAVE SET UP KINGS, BUT NOT BY ME,.... Not by his authority, order, and command; not by asking advice of him, or his leave, but of themselves, and of their own, accord: this refers to the case of Jeroboam their first king, after their separation from the house of David, and from the tribes of Ju... [ Continue Reading ]
THY CALF, O SAMARIA, HATH CAST [THEE] OFF,.... Or, is the cause of thy being cast off by the Lord, and of being cast out of thine own land, and carried captive into another; the past tense is used for the future, as is common in prophetic writings, to denote the certainty of the thing: or "thy calf... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR FROM ISRAEL [WAS] IT ALSO,.... That is, the calf was from Israel; it was an invention of theirs, as some say; they did not borrow it from their neighbours, as they did other idols, but it was their own contrivance: but this tines not seem to be fact; for the calf, the making of it indeed, was of... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEY HAVE SOWN THE WIND, AND THEY SHALL REAP THE WHIRLWIND,.... The sense is, the Israelites took a great deal of pains in the idolatrous worship of the calves, and made a great stir, bustle, and noise in it, like the wind; were very vainglorious and ostentatious, made a great show of religion a... [ Continue Reading ]
ISRAEL IS SWALLOWED UP,.... Not only their substance, but their persons also, the whole nation of them, their whole estate, civil and ecclesiastic: it notes the utter destruction of them by the Assyrians, so that nothing of them and theirs remained; just as anyone is swallowed up and devoured by a b... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEY ARE GONE UP TO ASSYRIA,.... Or, "though they should go up to Assyria" g; to the king of Assyria, to gain his friendship, and enter into alliance with him; as, when Pal king of Assyria came against them, Menahem king of Israel went forth to meet him, and gave him a thousand talents of silver... [ Continue Reading ]
YEA, THOUGH THEY HAVE HIRED AMONG THE NATIONS,.... That is, lovers, as before; got into confederacies and alliances with the nations about them, thinking thereby to strengthen their hands, and secure themselves and their kingdom; particular regard may be had to the Egyptians, as distinct from the As... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE EPHRAIM HATH, MADE MANY ALTARS TO SIN,.... Not with an intention to commit sin, but to offer sacrifice for sin, and make atonement for it, as they thought; but these altars being erected for the sake of idols, and sacrifices offered on them to them, they sinned in so doing, and were the caus... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE WRITTEN TO HIM THE GREAT THINGS OF MY LAW,.... Which was given by Moses to Israel at the appointment of God, in which were many commands, holy, just, and true; a multiplicity of them, as the Targum, relating to the honour of God, and the good of men; many excellent and useful ones of a moral... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SACRIFICE FLESH [FOR] THE SACRIFICES OF MINE OFFERINGS, AND EAT [IT],.... Or, "as to the sacrifices mine offerings" or "gifts, they sacrifice flesh, and eat it" o; these sacrifices, which, according to the law, should given to God when they offered them, they did not give them to him, they too... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR ISRAEL HATH FORGOTTEN HIS MAKER,.... The Creator and Preserver of everyone of them, and who had raised them up to a state and kingdom, and had made them great and rich, and populous, and bestowed many favours and blessings on them; and yet they forgot him, to give him glory, and to serve and wor... [ Continue Reading ]