Hosea 6:10

I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled. I HAVE SEEN AN HORRIBLE THING IN THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL - (; ; ). THERE IS THE WHOREDOM OF EPHRAIM - "whoredom," idolatry....

Here God declares that he is the fit judge to take cognizance of the vices of Israel; and this he does, that he might cut off the handle of vain excuses, which hypocrites often adduce when they are reproved. Who indeed can at this day persuade the Papists that all their worship is a filthy abomination, a mere profanation? We see how furiously they rise up as soon as any one by a whisper dares to touch their superstitions. Whence this? Because they wish their own will to stand for reason. Why? Good intention, they say, is the judge; as if this good intention were, forsooth, the queen, who ought to rule in heaven and earth, and God were now excluded from all his rights. This fury and this madness, even at this day, possess the Papists; and no wonder, for Satan dementates men, when he leads them to corrupt and degenerated forms of worship, and all hypocrites have been thus inebriated from t...

4-11 Sometimes Israel and Judah seemed disposed to repent under their sufferings, but their goodness vanished like the empty morning cloud, and the early dew, and they were as vile as ever. Therefore the Lord sent awful messages by the prophets. The word of God will be the death either of the sin or of the sinner. God desired mercy rather than sacrifice, and that knowledge of him which produces holy fear and love. This exposes the folly of those who trust in outward observances, to make up for their want of love to God and man. As Adam broke the covenant of God in paradise, so Israel had broken his national covenant, notwithstanding all the favours they received. Judah also was ripe for Divine judgments. May the Lord put his fear into our hearts, and set up his kingdom within us, and never leave us to ourselves, nor suffer us to be overcome by temptation....

Verse Hosea 6:10. _I HAVE SEEN A HORRIBLE THING_] That is, the idolatry that prevailed in Israel to such a degree that the whole land was defiled....

I HAVE SEEN A HORRIBLE THING - Literally, “what would make one shudder.” God had seen it; therefore man could not deny it. In the sight of God, and amid the sense of His presence, all excuses fail. IN THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL - o: “For what more horrible, more amazing than that this happened, not in any ordinary nation but “in the house of Israel,” in the people of God, in the portion of the Lord, as Moses said, “the Lord’s portion is His people, Jacob is the lot of His inheritance?” In another nation, idolatry was error. In Israel, which had the knowledge of the one true God and had received the law, it was horror.” “There is the whoredom of Ephraim,” widespread, over the whole land, wherever the house of Ephraim was, through the whole kingdom of the ten tribes, “there” was its spiritual adultery and defilement....

EXPOSITION HOSEA 6:1 These three verses have, by the division into chapters, been violently and improperly torn from the preceding chapter, to which they naturally belong. Their connection with the foregoing sentiments is indicated by the ancient versions—Chaldee and Septuagint, the LXX; for example, inserting λέγοντες, as if the reading had been לֵאסֹר: This (1) represents the Israelites exhorting one another in that good time which the prophet encourages them to expect. But (2) it may be regarded as the prophet's own exhortation to the exiles; their affliction urging them to seek the Lord, and their encouragement consisting in the knowledge of his ability and willingness to heal the wounds which his own hand had inflicted....

I HAVE SEEN AN HORRIBLE THING IN THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL,.... Idolatry, the calves set up at Dan and Bethel, which God saw with abhorrence and detestation; or the prophet saw it, and it made his hair stand on end as it were, as the word g signifies, that such wickedness should be committed by a professing people: THERE [IS] THE WHOREDOM OF EPHRAIM; in the house of Israel is the whoredom of Jeroboam, who was of the tribe of Ephraim, and caused Israel to sin, to go a whoring after idols; or the whoredom of the tribe of Ephraim, which belonged to the house of Israel, and even of all the ten tribes; both corporeal and spiritual whoredom, or idolatry, are here meant: ISRAEL IS DEFILED; with whoredom of both kinds; it had spread itself all over the ten tribes; they were all infected with it, and polluted by it; see Hosea 5:3. g שערוריה a שער "pilus"....

CHAPTER 6:4-11 Divine Mourning over Ephraim and Judah _ 1. What shall I do to thee? (Hosea 6:4) _ 2. Their transgression (Hosea 6:7) Hosea 6:4. The Lord grieves and mourns over the condition of the people whom He loves. After the brief glimpse given of their great future of glory we are brought back into the days of Moses. The Lord grieves and mourns over His people whom He loves, who today are still beloved for the Father's sake Romans 9:1. But while He loved them, their love was like the morning cloud, like the dew, vanishing soon away. The morning cloud looks beautiful, gilded by the rays of the rising sun, but it quickly di

HOSEA 6:4 TO HOSEA 7:2. ISRAEL'S MORAL CONDITION HOPELESSLY CORRUPT. The shallow expressions of loyalty by the fickle people mean nothing, and cannot avert Yahweh's inevitable judgment. He looks for real loyalty, not for a hollow ritual of sacrifices (Hosea 6:4). Examples of the anarchy and crime that prevail, involving even the priests in the charge of murder and immorality, are given, demonstrating Israel's utter corruption, Judah also (Hosea 6:11_ a_, if this is not a gloss) being involved (Hosea 6:7_ a)._ Every attempt to heal the disease only reveals how deep-seated and

WHOREDOM. idolatry. See note on Hosea 1:2....