Hosea 10:5

The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Bethaven: for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it. THE INHABITANTS OF SAMARIA SHALL FEAR BECAUSE OF THE CALVES - i:e., shall fear for them. The calves were unable to help themselves, much less them. OF BETH-AVEN - substituted for Bethel in contempt (Hosea 4:15), the house of vanity, for the house of God. FOR THE PEOPLE THEREOF SHALL MOURN OVER IT - singular, the one in Bethel; after the pattern of which the other "calves" (plural) were made. "Calves" in the Hebrew is feminine, 'cow-calves,' to express contempt for their female-like weakness and helplessness. THE PEOPLE THEREOF - namely, of the calf; no l...

I shall first briefly touch on what I have mentioned in reading over the text; that is, that some interpreters expound this verse of the exile of the people. The word גור, _gur, _signifies to be banished: and it means also to fear; but the context, as we shall see, will not allow it to be taken here in the sense of being banished. Some render the other word שכן, _shecan, _to dwell, but they are mistaken. The Prophet simply means that the inhabitants of Samaria were now glorying in their calves, (for the calves we know, were in Dan and Bethel,) but that in a short time the Lord would strike them with terror, and the cause we shall see hereafter. I now come to show the real meaning of the prophet _The inhabitants of Samaria, _he says _shall fear, because of the calves of Bethaven_. The Prophet derides the folly of the people of Israel in worshipping calves, and in thinking that the whole h...

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 10:5. _THE INHABITANTS OF SAMARIA SHALL FEAR_] According to _Calmet_, shall worship the calves of Beth-aven; those set up by Jeroboam, at Beth-el. _Fear_ is often taken for religious reverence. _THE PEOPLE THEREOF SHALL MOURN_] On seeing the object of their worship carried into captivity, as well as themselves. _AND THE PRIESTS THEREOF_] כמרים _kemarim_. The priests of Samaria, says _Calmet_, are here called _kemarim_, that is, _black_ _coats_, or _shouters_, because they made loud cries in their sacrifices. Instead of יגילו _yagilu_, "they shall rejoice;" learned men propose ילילו _yalilu_, "shall howl," which is likely to be the true reading, but it is not supported by any of the MSS. yet discovered. But the _exigentia loci_, the necessity of the place, requires som

THE INHABITANTS OF SAMARIA SHALL FEAR BECAUSE OF - (i. e., for) the calves of Beth-aven He calls them in this place “cow-calves,” perhaps to denote their weakness and helplessness. So far from their idol being able to help “them, they” shall be anxious and troubled for their idols, lest these should be taken captive from them. The “Bethel (House of God)” of the patriarch Jacob, was now turned into “Bethaven, the house of vanity.” This, from its old sacred memories, was a more celebrated place of the calf-worship than Dan. Hosea then gives to the calf of Bethel its precedence, and ranks both idols under its one name, as “calves of the house of vanity.” FOR THE PEOPLE THEREOF SHALL MOURN OVER IT - They had set up the idols, instead of God; so God calls them no longer His people, but “the people of the calf” whom they had chosen for their god; as Moab was called “the people of Chemosh”...

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

THE INHABITANTS OF SAMARIA SHALL FEAR BECAUSE OF THE CALVES OF BETHAVEN,.... Or, "the cow calves" w, as in the original; so called by way of derision, and to denote their weakness and inability to help their worshippers; and so Bethel, where one of these calves was, is here, as elsewhere, called Bethaven; that is, the house of iniquity, or of an idol, by way of contempt; and may take in Dan also, where was the other calf, since both are mentioned; unless the plural is put for the singular: now the land of Israel being invaded by the enemy, the inhabitants of Samaria, which was the metropolis of the nation, the king, nobles, and common people that dwelt there, and were worshippers of the calves, were in pain lest they should be taken by the enemy; or because they were, these places falling into his hands before Samaria was besieged, or at least taken; and these calves being broken to piec...

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