Hosea 2:4

And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms. AND I WILL NOT HAVE MERCY UPON HER CHILDREN - not even her individual members shall escape the doom of the nation collectively, because they are individually guilty....

The Lord now comes close to each individual, after having spoken in general of the whole people: and thus we see that to be true which I have said, that it was far from the mind of the Prophet to suppose, that God here teaches the faithful who had already repented, that they ought to condemn their own mother. The Prophet meant nothing of the kind; but, on the contrary, he wished to check the waywardness of the people, who ceased not to contend with God, as though he had been more severe than just towards their race. Now then he reproves each of them; _your children_, he says, _I will not pity; for they are spurious children _He had indeed said before that they had been born by adultery; but he afterwards received them into favour. This is true; but what I have said must be remembered that the Prophet as yet continues in his reproofs; for though he has mingled some consolation, he yet saw...

1-5 This chapter continues the figurative address to Israel, in reference to Hosea's wife and children. Let us own and love as brethren, all whom the Lord seems to put among his children, and encourage them in that they have received mercy. But every Christian, by his example and conduct, must protest against evil and abuses, even among those to whom he belongs and owes respect. Impenitent sinners will soon be stripped of the advantages they misuse, and which they consume upon their lusts....

Verse Hosea 2:4. _THEY_ BE _THE CHILDREN OF WHOREDOMS._] They are all idolaters; and have been consecrated to idols, whose marks they bear....

I WILL NOT HAVE MERCY UPON HER CHILDREN - God visits the sins of the parents upon the children, until the entailed curse be cut off by repentance. God enforces His own word “lo-ruhamah, Unpitied,” by repeating it here, “lo-arahem,” “I will not pity.” Reproaches, which fall upon the mother, are ever felt with special keenness. Whence Saul called Jonathan 1 Samuel 20:30, “Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman.” Therefore, the more to arouse them, he says, “for they are the children of whoredoms,” evil children of an evil parent, as John the Immerser calls the hypocritical Jews, “ye generation of vipers” Matthew 3:7. “This they were, from their very birth and swaddling-clothes, never touching any work of piety, nor cultivating any grace.” As of Christ, and of those who, in Him,

EXPOSITION HOSEA 2:2 PLEAD WITH YOUR MOTHER, PLEAD: FOR SHE IS NOT THY WIFE, NEITHER AM I HER HUSBAND. In this second chapter the same cycle of events recurs as in the first, with this difference, that what is expressed by symbol in the one is simply narrated in the other. The cycle is the common one of sin: its usual consequences of suffering and sorrow; then succor and sympathy in case of repentance. The persons addressed in the verse before us are those individuals in Israel who had still retained their integrity, and who, notwithstanding surrounding defection and abounding ungodliness, had continued steadfast in their loyalty and love to the Lord. They might be few in number, widely scattered, perhaps unknown to each other, and of comparatively little note; yet they are here called on to raise their voice in solemn warning and earnest prote

AND I WILL NOT HAVE MERCY UPON HER CHILDREN,.... The posterity of the Jews in succeeding ages, until the time of their conversion comes; they persisting in the sins of their forefathers, filling up the measure of their iniquities; remaining in their obstinate rejection of the Messiah, and in the same impenitence and unbelief, and having his blood imprecated upon them: FOR THEY BE THE CHILDREN OF WHOREDOMS; begotten and born in whoredom, spurious and illegitimate; or that commit whoredoms; imitate their parents; are guilty of the same vices; a generation of vipers. So the Targum, "for they are children that commit idolatry;'' retain the traditions of the elders; go about to establish their own righteousness, and reject the Messiah....

CHAPTER 2 Appeal and Punishment for Unfaithfulness The Resumed Relationship _ 1. The appeal and complaint (Hosea 2:1) _ 2. The punishment for Unfaithfulness (Hosea 2:6) 3. The resumed relationship and its great blessing (Hosea 2:14) Hosea 2:1. Who is addressed in the first verse of this chapter? Some think the children of the prophet are meant. The godly in Israel, those who obtained mercy, are addressed, for the Lord acknowledges such still as “Ammi”-my people. The godly are to plead with the rest of Israel their mother, but who is disowned by Jehovah as the wife, on account of her adulterous conduct. Then the Lord th

HOSEA 2:2 (Hebrews 2:4). In this discourse, which seems to be based upon and imply the narrative in Hosea 1, 3, the prophet sets forth the unfaithfulness of the people and land of Israel to her Divine husband, Yahweh. Israel had played the harlot in going after other lovers (the local Baalim) for gifts (the fertility of land, flocks, etc.); the consequent punishment will end in her return to her first husband. The section sub-divides at Hosea 2:13; the first part (Hosea 2:2) predicts severe punishment, and the second (Hosea 2:14) contains a promise of restoration followin

CHILDREN. sons: i.e. the individual members of the nation collectively....