Hosea 10:4

They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field. THEY HAVE SPOKEN WORDS - mere empty words. SWEARING FALSELY IN MAKING A COVENANT - breaking their engagement to Shalmaneser (), and making a covenant with So, though covenants with foreigners were forbidden. THUS JUDGMENT SPRINGETH UP AS HEMLOCK - i:e., divine judgment shall spring up as rank and as deadly as hemlock in the furrows (, "Lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;" ; , "Ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteo...

_They have spoken words, they have uttered words_. Some give this explanation, that they daringly followed their own counsels, as the despisers of God are wont to settle and determine what comes to their minds according to their own will; for they deign not to inquire of God what is right. Thus they take the meaning to be; but I view it to be different, that is, that they spoke words, or very freely testified, that they would be the best and the most faithful worshipers of God. Then it follows, _By swearing falsely_. Some refer this to covenants. I will explain the words one by one; for I shall hereafter speak of the real meaning of the Prophet. Then he says, that _they swore falsely_, that is, according to some because there was in them much levity and changeableness. And, indeed, I confess it to be true, that they procured for themselves grievous punishments by their perjuries; but the...

1-8 A vine is only valuable for its fruit; but Israel now brought no fruit to perfection. Their hearts were divided. God is the Sovereign of the heart; he will have all, or none. Were the stream of the heart wholly after God, it would run strongly, and bear down all before it. Their pretences to covenant with God were false. Even the proceeding of justice was as poisonous hemlock. Alas, how empty a vine is the visible church even at this day! But all earthly prosperity is but a collection of bubbles, soon destroyed like foam upon the water. Sinners will in vain seek shelter from that Judge, whom they now despise as a Saviour....

Verse Hosea 10:4. _THEY HAVE SPOKEN WORDS_] Vain, empty, deceitful _words_. _SWEARING FALSELY_] This refers to the alliances made with strange powers, to whom they promised fidelity without intending to be faithful; and from whom they promised themselves protection and support, notwithstanding God was against them, and they knew it. All their words were vain, and in the end as _bitter as gall_. _JUDGMENT SPRINGETH UP AS HEMLOCK_] As our land lies without cultivation, so that we have nothing but noxious weeds instead of crops; so we have no administration of justice. What is done in this way is a perversion of law, and is as hurtful to society as hemlock would be to animal life. All this may refer to the anarchy that was in the kingdom of Israel before Hoshea's reign, and which lasted, according to Archbishop Usher, nine

THEY HAVE SPOKEN WORDS - The words which they spoke were eminently “words;” they were mere “words,” which had no substance; “swearing falsely in making a covenant, literally, swearing falsely, making a covenant, and judgments springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.” : “There is no truth in words, no sanctity in oaths, no faithfulness in keeping covenants, no justice in giving judgments.” Such is the result of all their oaths and covenants, that “judgment springeth up,” yea, flourisheth; but, what judgment? Judgment, bitter and poisonous as hemlock, flourishes, as hemlock would flourish on ground broken up and prepared for it. They break up the ground, make the “furrows.” They will not have any chance self-sown seed; they prepare the soil for harvest, full, abundant, regular, cleared of all besides. And what harvest? Not any wholesome plant, but poison. They cultivate injusti...

EXPOSITION The concluding thought of the last chapter is the commencing one of this; while the sad subject of Israel's guilt being resumed continues in the first section (Hosea 10:1) of the chapter, and that of their punishment in the second section (Hosea 10:9), with a solemn caution to make a better use of the future than they had clone of the past. HOSEA 10:1 ISRAEL IS AN EMPTY VINE. The comparison of Israel to a vine is frequent; but the epithet _boqeq _is variously rendered; (1) as "empty." Thus Aben Ezra explains it as "empty in which there is no strength to bring forth fruit, nor fruit;" and thus also Kimchi explains it: "An empty vin

THEY HAVE SPOKEN WORDS, SWEARING FALSELY IN MAKING A COVENANT,.... Those are other crimes they were guilty of, for which the wrath of God could not be awarded from them by a king, if they had one, or by any other. They had used vain and idle words in their common talk and conversation; and lying and deceitful ones to one another in trade and commerce, in contracts and promises; and so had deceived and overreached one another: they had belched out many "oaths of vanity" u: or vain oaths and curses; their mouths had been full of cursing and bitterness; and they made covenants with God, and their king, and with other kings and princes, and with one another, and had not kept them; and now for these things God had a controversy with them: THUS JUDGMENT SPRINGETH UP AS HEMLOCK IN THE FURROWS OF THE FIELD; either the judgment of God, his wrath and vengeance for the above sins, rose up and spre...

Hosea 10:1. _Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself:_ Not to his God. It matters not how much fruit we bear if it is for self, we are really fruitless. A thing which is good in itself may lose all its goodness because stained with a selfish motive. We are to live unto God; and we must always be watchful about this; otherwise we may be doing much, and doing nothing. «Israel is an empty vine. He bringeth forth fruit unto himself.» Hosea 10:1. _According to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images._ It is a very sad thing when, the more men received from God, the more they sin. But just in proportion as the land of Israel was fat and fertile, in that proportion did they set

CHAPTER 9:10-11:11 RETROSPECT, ISRAEL'S FAILURE AND RUIN _ 1. Israel once beloved, now fugitive wanderers (Hosea 9:10) _ 2. Their guilt and punishment (Hosea 10:1) 3. Exhortation and rebuke (Hosea 10:12) 4. The mercy of a merciful God (Hosea 11:1) Hosea 9:10. Like a wayfaring man who finds grapes and figs in the desert and delights in them, so the Lord found Israel in the desert and they were His pleasure when He led them out of Egypt. But they requited His love by going after Baal-peor, one of the filthiest gods of heat

GOD'S ANNIHILATING JUDGMENT ON THE MIXED CULTUS. With the land's abounding prosperity Israel has multiplied altars in the service of the mixed cultus; these Yahweh will destroy (Hosea 10:1 f.) Their puppet-kings they shall find utterly impotent (Hosea 10:3), and their idle, lying words, which never result in performance, shall yield a bitter crop of judgment (Hosea 10:4,? a gloss). Samaria (_i.e._ the northern kingdom) shall find the calves of Beth-Aven (Bethel, _cf._ Hosea 4:15; Hosea 5:8 *) a source of terror rather than of help, their glory departed, and the idols them