Hosea 10:9

O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah: there they stood: the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them. O ISRAEL, THOU HAST SINNED FROM THE DAYS OF GIBEAH - (, notes; Judges 19:1; Judges 20:1.) The days of Gibeah O ISRAEL, THOU HAST SINNED FROM THE DAYS OF GIBEAH - (, notes; Judges 19:1; Judges 20:1.) The days of Gibeah are singled out as a specimen of the whole nation. There they stood...

He here reproaches Israel for having been long inured in their sins, and not for being lately corrupted. This is the substance. He had said in the last chapter that they were deep in their sins, as in the days of Gibeah: we then explained why the Prophet adduced the example of Gibeah, and that was, because the Gibeonites had fallen away from all fear of God, as if not a word about the law had ever been heard among them. We indeed know that they abandoned themselves to filthy and monstrous lusts, like the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorra. Seeing, then, that so great obscenity prevailed openly and with impunity in Gibeah, rightly did the Prophet say that the Israelites were then lost and past hope, as the case was at that time. But now he regards another thing, even this, — that from that time they had not ceased to accumulate evils on evils, and thus to spin, as it were, a continuous rope...

9-15 Because God does not desire the death and ruin of sinners, therefore in mercy he desires their chastisement. The children of iniquity still remained in Israel. The enemies would be gathered against them. It is just with God to make those know what hardships mean, who indulge themselves in ease and pleasure. Let them cleanse their hearts from all corrupt affections and lusts, and be a broken and contrite spirit. Let them abound in works of piety towards God, and of justice and charity towards one another: herein let them sow to the Spirit. Seeking the Lord is to be every day's work, but there are special occasions when to seek him. Christ shall come as the Lord our righteousness, and grant us of it abundantly. If we sow in righteousness, we shall reap according to mercy; a reward not of debt, but of grace. Even the gains of sin yield the sinner no satisfaction. As our comforts, so o...

Verse Hosea 10:9. _THOU HAST SINNED FROM THE DAYS OF GIBEAH_] This is another reference to the horrible rape and murder of the Levite's wife, Judges 19:13-7. _THERE THEY STOOD_] Only one tribe was nearly destroyed, viz., that of _Benjamin_. They were _the criminals, the children of_ _iniquity_; the others were faultless, and _stood_ only for the rights of justice and mercy....

O ISRAEL, THOU HAST SINNED FROM THE DAYS OF GIBEAH - There must have been great sin, on both sides, of Israel as well as Benjamin, when Israel punished the atrocity of Gibeah, since God caused Israel so to be smitten before Benjamin. Such sin had continued ever since, so that, although God, in His longsuffering, had hitherto spared them, “it was not of late only that they had deserved those judgments, although now at last only, God inflicted them.” “There” in Gibeah, “they stood.” Although smitten twice at Gibeah, and heavily chastened, there they were avengers of the sacredness of God’s law, and, in the end, “they stood; chastened but not killed.” But now, none of the ten tribes took the side of God. Neither zeal for God, nor the greatness of the guilt, nor fear of judgment, nor the peril of utter ruin, induced any to set themselves against sin so great. The sin devised by one, diffused...

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

O ISRAEL, THOU HAST SINNED FROM THE DAYS OF GIBEAH,.... This has no respect, as the Targum, and others, to Gibeah of Saul, of which place he was, and the choosing him to be king; but to the affair of the Levite and his concubine at Gibeah in the days of the judges, and what followed upon it, Judges 19:1; suggesting, that the sins of Israel were not new ones; they were the same with what were committed formerly, as early as the history referred to, and had been continued ever since; the measure of which were now filling up: or, as Aben Ezra and Abarbinel interpret it, "thou hast sinned more than the days of Gibeah"; were guilty of more idolatry, inhumanity, and impurity, than in those times; and yet the grossest of sins, particularly unnatural lusts, were then committed: THERE THEY STOOD; either the men of Gibeah continued in their sins, and did not repent of them; and stood i

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

ISRAEL MUST REAP THE RUIN HE HAS SOWN. From the days of Gibeah Israel has sinned, and never progressed since (Hosea 10:9, but see notes); Yahweh comes to punish them, and gather the peoples against them (Hosea 10:10). Israel like a well-broken-in heifer loves to thresh; but the harder tasks (ploughing, harrowing) must precede before the crops can be gathered; the discipline must precede the joy of harvest (Hosea 10:11; Hosea 12 is perhaps a gloss). But Israel has ploughed wickedness and reaped disaster, the tumult of war shall arise in his midst, bringing destruction upon the fortresses, the land and her children ruined, and their king swept away (Ho

SINNED. Hebrew. _chata_. App-44. FROM: or, beyond. the days of Gibeah. See Hosea 9:9 and Judges 19 and Judges 20. Note the Article. THERE THEY STOOD. In battle array. CHILDREN. sons. INIQUITY. Hebrew. _'alvah._ Occurs only here, from Hebrew. _'avah._ App-44. DID NOT OVERTAKE THEM. Supply the Ellipsis: [and shall ye escape?]....