Hosea 3:4

For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: FOR THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL SHALL ABIDE MANY DAYS WITHOUT A KING ... WITHOUT A SACRIFICE, AND WITHOUT AN IMAGE, AND WITHOUT AN EPHOD, AND WITHOUT TERAPHIM. The long period here foretold was to be one in which Israel should have no civil polity, king, or prince, no sacrifice to Yahweh, and yet no idol or false god, no ephod nor teraphim. Exactly describing the state of the Jews for the last 18 centuries, and of the ten tribes of Israel since the Assyrian captivity, seven centuries earlier: separate from idols, yet without any legal sacrifice to Yahweh, whom they profess to worship, and without being acknowledged by Him as His Church. So Kimchi, a Jew, explains it. Judah, though no longer retaining her independen...

He afterwards adds_, For many days shall the children of Israel abide _He says, for many days, that they might prepare themselves for long endurance, and be not dispirited through weariness, though the Lord should not soon free them from their calamities. “Though then your exile should be long, still cherish,” he says, “strong hope in your hearts; for so long a trial must necessarily be made of your repentance; as you have very often pretended to return to the Lord, and soon after your hypocrisy was discovered; and then ye became hardened in your wilful obstinacy: it is therefore necessary that the Lord should subdue you by a long chastisement.” Hence he says, _The children of Israel shall abide without a king and without a prince _ But it may still be further asked, What is the number of the days of which the Prophet speaks, for the definite number is not stated here; and we know that t...

4-5 Here is the application of the parable to Israel. They must long sit like a widow, stripped of all joys and honours; but shall at length be received again. Those that would seek the Lord so as to find him, must apply to Christ, and become his willing people. Not only are we to fear the Lord and his greatness, but the Lord and his goodness; not only his majesty, but his mercy. Even Jewish writers apply this passage to the promised Messiah; doubtless it foretold their future conversion to Christ, for which they are kept a separate people. Though the first fear of God arise from a view of his holy majesty and righteous vengeance, yet the experience of mercy and grace through Jesus Christ, will lead the heart to reverence so kind and glorious a Friend and Father, and to fear offending him....

Verse Hosea 3:4. _MANY DAYS WITHOUT A KING_] Hitherto this prophecy has been literally fulfilled. Since the destruction of the temple by the Romans they have neither had _king_ nor _prince_, nor any _civil_ _government_ of their own, but have lived in different nations of the earth as _mere exiles_. They have neither _priests_ nor _sacrifices_, nor _urim_ nor _thummim_; no _prophet_, no _oracle_, no _communication_ of any kind from _God_. _WITHOUT AN IMAGE EPHOD - TERAPHIM_] The _Septuagint_ read, Ουδε ουσης θυσιας, ουδε οντος θυσιαστηριου, ουδε ἱερατειας, ουδε δηλων: "Without a sacrifice, without an altar, without a priesthood, and without oracles;" that is, the _urim_ and _thummim_. The _Vulgate,_ _Arabic_, and _Syriac_ read nearly the same. Instead of מצבה matstseb

FOR THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL SHALL ABIDE MANY DAYS - The condition described is one in which there should be no civil polity, none of the special temple-service, nor yet the idolatry, which they had hitherto combined with it or substituted for it. “King and prince” include both higher and lower governors. Judah had “kings” before the captivity, and a sort of “prince” in her governors after it. Judah remained still a polity, although without the glory of her kings, until she rejected Christ. Israel ceased to have any civil government at all. “Sacrifice” was the center of worship before Christ. It was that part of their service, which, above all, foreshadowed His love, His atonement and sacrifice, and the reconciliation of God by His blood, whose merits it pleaded. “Images,” were, “contrariwise,” the center of idolatry, the visible form of the beings, whom they worshipped instead of God. The...

EXPOSITION This short chapter contains two sections, of which the first, comprising Hosea 3:1, is a symbolic representation; and the second, consisting of Hosea 3:4 and Hosea 3:5, gives the explanation. The prophet bestows his affections on a worthless wife, who, notwithstanding his tender love to her, proves utterly unfaithful and lives in adultery. He does not cast her off, but, in order to reclaim her and bring her to repentance, he places her in a position of restraint, where she is obliged to renounce all intercourse with her paramours. Thus it was with Israel. They had had multiplied experience of God's loving-kindness and tender mercies, but in spite of all his benefits, great and manifold, they were alike ungrateful and

FOR THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL SHALL ABIDE MANY DAYS WITHOUT A KING, AND WITHOUT A PRINCE,.... Without any form of civil government, either regal or without any civil magistrate, either superior or subordinate, of their own; being subject to the kings and princes of other nations, as the ten tribes were from their captivity by Shalmaneser, to the coming of Christ, which was about seven hundred years; and from that time the tribes of Judah and Benjamin have had no kings and princes among them, for the space of nineteen hundred years, which may very well be called "many days". This answers to the harlot's abiding for the prophet many days, in the parable: AND WITHOUT A SACRIFICE; the daily sacrifice, which has ceased as long as before observed; and any other sacrifice of slain beasts, as the passover lamb, c. the Jews not thinking it lawful to offer sacrifice in a strange land, or any where b...

CHAPTER 3 ISRAEL'S PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE _ 1. The past (Hosea 3:1) _ 2. The present (Hosea 3:4) 3. The future (Hosea 3:5) Hosea 3:1. The command here is not that the Prophet should enter into relation with another woman, but it concerns the same Gomer, the unfaithful wife. It seems she left the prophet and lived in adultery with another man. “And Jehovah said unto me, Go again, love a wife, who is beloved of her friend and who is an adulteress; just as Jehovah loves the children of Israel, who have turned towards other gods, and love raisin cakes” (correct translation; used in the idolatrous worship). She is not called “thy wife,

The prophet, bidden yet again to love a woman, who is loved by another and is an adulteress, in this respect imitating Yahweh's love for His unfaithful people, buys her out of slavery and subjects her to a purifying seclusion (Hosea 3:1). In the same way Israel shall be deprived for a time of her civil and religious institutions (? in exile), in order to return later under Yahweh, a purified and happy people. The reference is still to Gomer, though this is denied by Marti, who regards the piece as a later addition to the Book. [8] According to the usual interpretation, after her unfaithful conduct had led to her repudiation by her husband, Gomer had sold herself voluntarily into bondage to one of her paramours. The prophet, however, who has been led to see in his domestic tragedy a parable of God's relation with Israel, is taught to forgive and redeem his wife by seeing God's readiness t...

ISRAEL. Not merely Judah, but the twelve tribes. Not "British" or any other "Israel". MANY DAYS. All the days of the present Dispensation; "many" implying length of time; "days" implying the _i_. limitation. WITHOUT. Note the Figure of speech _Anaphora_ (App-6), emphasizing each point, now fulfilled before our eyes. WITHOUT. KING. Having rejected Messiah (John 19:15). This cannot therefore be interpreted now of any People which has. king. AND. Note the Figure of speech _Polysyndeton_ strengthening the emphasis on each point. PRINCE. ruler. Hebrew. _sar,_ as in Hosea 8:4. SACRIFICE. Hebrew. _zabach._ App-43. Includes all sacrifices where there is shedding of blood. AN IMAGE. Hebrew. _mazzebah =_ any u