Hosea 4:1

Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. In this chapter he reproves the people and priests for their sins in the eleven years interregnum which followed Jeroboam's death; hence, there is no mention of the king or his family; and in Hosea 4:2 bloodshed and other evils usual in a civil war are specified. YE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL - the ten tribes. No allusion is made in this chapter to the King, as there is in Hosea 5:1. Thus, as the first three chapters seem to have been written in the reign of Jeroboam II., so this chapter belongs to the period of anarchy which followed on his death. Israel's "rulers" are spoken of in t...

This is a new discourse by the Prophet, separate from his former discourses. We must bear in mind that the Prophets did not literally write what they delivered to the people, nor did they treat only once of those things which are now extant with us; but we have in their books collected summaries and heads of those matters which they were wont to address to the people. Hosea, no doubt, very often descanted on the exile and the restoration of the people, forasmuch as he dwelt much on all the things which we have hitherto noticed. Indeed, the slowness and dullness of the people were such, that the same things were repeated daily. But it was enough for the Prophets to make and to write down a brief summary of what they taught in their discourses. Hosea now relates how vehemently he reproved the people, because every kind of corruption so commonly prevailed, that there was no sound part in th...

1-5 Hosea reproves for immorality, as well as idolatry. There was no truth, mercy, or knowledge of God in the land: it was full of murders, 2 Kings 21:16. Therefore calamities were near, which would desolate the country. Our sins, as separate persons, as a family, as a neighbourhood, as a nation, cause the Lord to have a controversy with us; let us submit and humble ourselves before Him, that he may not go on to destroy....

CHAPTER IV _The prophet charges his people with their enormous sins_, 1, 2; _in consequence of which they are threatened with heavy_ _judgments_, 3-5. _God himself is then introduced complaining of the ignorance and_ _obstinacy of Israel; and as their priests had a large share in_ _the common guilt, it is declared that they shall be visited_ _with a proportionable share of the common ruin_, 6-11. _The sins of idolatry and divination are then particularly_ _reproved_, 12-14; and Judah admonished to beware of these sins, which wo

HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD, YE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL - The prophet begins here, in a series of pictures as it were, to exhibit the people of Israel to themselves, that they might know that God did not do without cause all this which He denounced against them. Here, at the outset, He summons, the whole people, their prophets and priests, before the judgment seat of God, where God would condescend, Himself to implead them, and hear, if they had ought in their defense. The title “children of Israel” is, in itself, an appeal to their gratitude and their conscience, as the title “Christian” among us is an appeal to us, by Him whose name we bear. Our Lord says, “If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the work’s of Abraham” John 8:39; and Paul, “let every one that nameth the name of Christ, depart from iniquity”...

EXPOSITION HOSEA 4:1 A new and distinct division of the book commences with this fourth chapter and continues till the close. What had previously been presented in figure and symbol is now plainly and literally stated. The children of Israel are summoned in the first verse of this chapter to hear the charge preferred against them and the sentence pronounced. Having convened, as it were, a public assembly and cited the persons concerned, the prophet proceeds to show cause why they are bound to give an attentive hearing. In God's controversy with the people of the land the prophet acts as his ambassador, accusing the people of great and grievous sins, and vindicating the justice of God's judgments in their punishment. The _ki_ with which the last clause of the verse commences may be either causal or recitative, and may thus specify either the ground or sub

HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD, YE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL,.... The people of the ten tribes, as distinct from Judah, Hosea 4:15, the prophet having finished his parables he was ordered to take up and deliver, and his explanations of them, and concluded with a gracious promise of the conversion of the Jews in the latter day, enters upon a new discourse, which begins with reproof for various sins; since what had been delivered in parables and types had had no effect upon them, they are called upon to hear what the Lord would say to them by the prophet, in more clear and express terms; silence is ordered, and attention required to what follows: FOR THE LORD HATH A CONTROVERSY WITH THE INHABITANTS OF THE LAND; the land of Israel; against him they had sinned, before him they stood guilty; he had something, yea, many things, against them; a charge is brought into open court, the indictment i

II. THE MESSAGE OF EXPOSTULATION, JUDGMENT, AND MERCY CHAPTER 4 The Lord's Controversy with His People _ 1. The condition of the people (Hosea 4:1) _ 2. The loss of their priestly relation (Hosea 4:6) 3. Israel's idolatry (Hosea 4:12) Hosea 4:1. This chapter begins with a terse description of the condition of the professing people of God. First, we have the negative side--no truth, no mercy, no knowledge of God. And there was no truth, because they had rejected the Word of the Lord, hence the result no mercy and no knowledge of God. It is so still whenever and wherever the Word of God is set aside. Then follows the pos

THE UTTER CORRUPTION OF THE NATION TRACED TO IRRELIGION. (The text of Hosea 4:15 is hopelessly corrupt. Marti regards Hosea 4:3 as an insertion and Hosea 4:5_ a_ as foreign to their present context.) The complete lack of knowledge of God in the land (_cf. Hosea 4:6_, Hosea 5:4; Hosea 6:3) has, as its inevitable consequence, widespread moral corruption yet let none reprove, for the people is as the priestling and the prophet as the priest ...

THE LORD. Hebrew. _Jehovah_. App-4. children. sons. A CONTROVERSY. a judicial inquiry and cause. Compare Hosea 12:2.Isaiah 1:18, and Isaiah 3:13; Isaiah 3:14.Jeremiah 25:31.Micah 6:2. MERCY. lovingkindness, or grace. KNOWLEDGE: or, acknowledgement. See note on Hosea 2:20. Compare...