Hosea 11:4

I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them. I DREW THEM WITH CORDS OF A MAN - parallel to "bands of love;" not such cords as oxen are led by, but humane methods, such as men employ when inducing others, as, for instance, a father drawing his child by leading-strings, teaching him to go () I WAS TO THEM AS THEY THAT TAKE OFF THE YOKE ON THEIR JAWS, AND I LAID MEAT UNTO THEM - as the humane farmer occasionally loosens the straps under the jaws, by which the yoke is bound on the neck of oxen, and lays food before them to eat. An appropriate image of God's deliverance of Israel from the Egyptian yoke, and of His feeding them in the wilderness. This view seems better than Pusey's 'I was to them (in their sight, I was regarded by them) a...

The Prophet states, first, that this people had not been severely dealt with, as either slaves, or oxen, or asses, are wont to be treated. He had said before, that the people of Israel were like a heifer, which shakes off the yoke, and in wantonness loves only the treading of corn. But though the perverseness of the people was so great, yet God shows here that he had not used extreme rigour: _I have drawn him, _he says, _with human cords and lovely bands _By the cords of man, he means humane government. “I have not,” he says, “treated you as slaves, but dealt with you as with children; and I have not regarded you as cattle, I have not driven you into a stall; but I have only drawn you with lovely bands.” The sum of the whole is, that the government which God had laid on the people was a certain and singular token of his paternal favour, so that the people could not complain of too much r...

1-7 When Israel were weak and helpless as children, foolish and froward as children, then God loved them; he bore them as the nurse does the sucking child, nourished them, and suffered their manners. All who are grown up, ought often to reflect upon the goodness of God to them in their childhood. He took care of them, took pains with them, not only as a father, or a tutor, but as a mother, or nurse. When they were in the wilderness, God showed them the way in which they should go, and bore them up, taking them by the arms. He taught them the way of his commandments by the ceremonial law given by Moses. He took them by the arms, to guide them, that they might not stray, and to hold them up, that they might not stumble and fall. God's spiritual Israel are all thus supported. It is God's work to draw poor souls to himself; and none can come to him except he draw them. With bands of love; t...

Verse Hosea 11:4. _I DREW THEM WITH CORDS OF A MAN_] This is a reference to _leading strings_, one end of which is held by the child, the other by the nurse, by which the little one, feeling some support, and gaining confidence, endeavours to walk. God, their heavenly Father, made use of every means and method to teach them to walk in the right and only safe path; for, as the _Targum_ says, "As beloved children are drawn I drew them by the strength of love." _THAT TAKE OF THE YOKE ON THEIR JAWS_] I did every thing that mercy could suggest, and justice permit, to make their _duty_ their _delight_ and _profit_. There appears to be here an illusion to the _moving and pulling forward_ the _collar_ or _yoke of beasts_ which have been hard at work, to let in the cool air between it and their neck, so as to refresh them, and prev

I DREW THEM WITH THE CORDS OF A MAN - o: “Wanton heifers such as was Israel, are drawn with ropes; but although Ephraim struggled against Me, I would not draw him as a beast, but I drew him as a man, (not a servant, but a son) with cords of love.” “Love is the magnet of love.” : “The first and chief commandment of the law, is not of fear, but of love, because He willeth those whom He commandeth, to be sons rather than servants.” : “Our Lord saith, ‘No man cometh unto Me, except the father who hath sent me, draw him.’ He did not say, lead ‘him,’ but ‘draw him.’ This violence is done to the heart, not to the body. Why marvel? Believe and thou comest; love and thou art drawn. Think it not a rough and uneasy violence: it is sweet, alluring; the sweetness draws thee. Is not a hungry sheep drawn, when the grass is shewn it? It is not, I ween, driven on in body, but is bound tight by longing. S...

EXPOSITION In Hosea 11:1 Jehovah enumerates the benefits conferred on Israel all along from the time of their departure out of Egypt. But parallel with this enumeration runs the history of Israel's ingratitude. HOSEA 11:1 WHEN ISRAEL WAS A CHILD, THEN I LOVED HIM, AND CALLED MY SON OUT OF EGYPT. Driver uses this verse to exemplify the principle that when the reference is to what is past or certain, rather than to what is future or indefinite, we find the predicate or the apodosis introduced by וַּ, though not with nearly the same frequency as לperfect and _vav _causes (1) with subject or object pre-fixed; (2) after time-determinations. The life of a nation has its stages of rise, progress, and

I DREW THEM WITH CORDS OF A MAN, WITH BANDS OF LOVE,.... As Ephraim is compared to a heifer in the preceding chapter, here he is said to be drawn; but not with such cords and bands as cattle are, but with such as men are; in a rational and gentle way, in a kind, loving, tender, humane, friendly, and fatherly way and manner; so the Lord drew Israel on in the wilderness, till he was brought to Canaan's land, by bestowing kind favours upon them, and by making precious promises to them. So the Lord deals with his spiritual Israel; he draws them out of the present state and circumstances, in which they are by nature, to himself, and to his Son, and to follow after him, and run in the ways of his commandments; and which he does not by force and compulsion against their wills, nor by mere moral persuasion, but by the invincible power of his grace, sweetly working upon them, and attracting them;...

Hosea 11:1. _When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt._ God's love was very early love. He began with the nation of Israel when it was a mere handful of men in Egypt. There he multiplied them; and, in due time, he called them out from among the heathen. God's love to some of us manifested itself at a very early period of our lives, when we were yet children. It is among our most joyous memories that we have known the Lord from our youth up. Happy man, happy woman, of whom God can say, as he said concerning his ancient people, «When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.» Hosea 11:2. _As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images._ The nation of Israe

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

THE DIVINE FATHER'S LOVE FOR ISRAEL. In Israel's youth Yahweh loved him, and called him from Egypt to be His son, but he proved disloyal, sacrificing to the Baalim (Hosea 11:1 f.). Yet it was Yahweh who guided and protected him as a father, and healed him in sickness (Hosea 11:3). The figure now changes (but see notes). Yahweh has treated Israel as a humane master who gently leads and eases the yoke for the tired team of oxen (Hosea 11:4). The ungrateful son must return to Egypt be exiled; his cities shall be given up to the sword, because of incurable idolatry (Hosea 11:6 f.). Here the prophet movingly expresses Yahweh's love for His people: How shall I giv