Hosea 7:15

Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do they imagine mischief against me. THOUGH I HAVE BOUND AND STRENGTHENED THEIR ARMS - when I saw their arms as it were relaxed with various disasters, I bound them, so as to strengthen their sinews: image from surgery, (Calvin). Maurer translates, 'I instructed them' to war (Psalms 18:34; Psalms 144:1, "The Lord teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight") - namely, under Jeroboam II (2 Kings 14:25). Grotius better explains, 'Whether I chastised them (margin) or strengthened their arms, they imagine mischief against me.' [The English version, after the Hebrew commentators, seems to have confounded yaasar, to...

God again reproaches the Israelites for having in a base manner abused his goodness and forbearance. Some consider the verb יסר, _isar, _as meaning, “to chastise,” because God had disciplined the Israelites; and, as I have said yesterday, it is often taken in this sense. But as it signifies sometimes “to bind,” it seems a fitter metaphor for this place. _I have bound and strengthened their arms; _as though God had said, that he had caused their arms not to be enervated. For we know that the strength of the arm depends on the structure of the nerves. Except the bones were bound together by the nerves, a dissolution would immediately follow. Hence God says, _I have bound and strengthened their arms; _which two things combine for the same end, and the notion of chastising seems not to me to be in any way suitable to the context. The meaning is, that the Israelites had hitherto continued, be...

8-16 Israel was as a cake not turned, half burnt and half dough, none of it fit for use; a mixture of idolatry and of the worship of Jehovah. There were tokens of approaching ruin, as grey hairs are of old age, but they noticed them not. The pride which leads to break the law of God leads to self-flattery. The mercy and grace of God are the only refuge to which obstinate sinners never think of fleeing. Though they may howl forth their terrors in the form of prayers, they seldom cry to God with their hearts. Even their prayers for earthly mercies only seek fuel for their lusts. Their turning from one sect, sentiment, form, or vice, to another, still leaves them far short of Christ and holiness. Such are we by nature. And such shall we prove if left to ourselves. Create in us a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within us....

Verse 15. _THOUGH I HAVE BOUND AND STRENGTHENED THEIR ARMS_] Whether I dealt with them in _judgment_ or _mercy_, it was all one; in all circumstances they rebelled against me....

THOUGH I HAVE BOUND - Rather, (as in the E. M) “And I have chastened, I have strenghened their arms, and they imagine mischief against Me.” God had tried all ways with them, but it was all one. He chastened them in love, and in love He strengthened them; He brought the enemy upon them, (as aforetime in the days of the Judges,) and He gave them strength to repel the enemy; as He raised up judges of old, and lately had fulfilled His promise which He had made to Joash through Elisha. But it was all in vain. Whatever God did, Israel was still the same. All only issued in further evil. The prophet sums up in four words all God’s varied methods for their recovery, and then sets over against them the one result, fresh rebellion on the part of His creatures and His people. THEY IMAGINE - Or “devise mischief against Me.” The order in the Hebrew is emphatic, “and against Me they devise evil;” i. e...

EXPOSITION This chapter may be divided into three sections. In the first section, including Hosea 7:1, the prophet reproves with much but deserved severity the depraved morals of king and princes. In the second section, consisting of Hosea 7:8, he rebukes their sinfulness, silliness, pride, and stupid obstinacy, notwithstanding the many manifest tokens of decay. Otherwise the first section deals with the internal corruption of the northern kingdom, and the second exposes their sinful and harmful foreign policy. The third section, continuing from the twelfth verse to the end of the chapter, that is, Hosea 7:12, threatens the infliction of punishment incurred by their gross wicked. Hess and base ingratitude to God....

THOUGH I HAVE BOUND [AND] STRENGTHENED THEIR ARMS,.... As a surgeon sets a broken arm and swathes and binds it, and so restores it to its former strength, or at least to a good degree of strength again, so the Lord dealt with Israel; their arms were broken, and their strength weakened, and they greatly distressed and reduced by the Syrians in the times of Jehoahaz; but they were brought into a better state and condition in the times of Joash and Jeroboam the second; the former retook several cities out of the hands of the Syrians, and the latter restored the border of Israel, and greatly enlarged it; and as all this was done through the blessing of divine Providence, the Lord is said to do it himself. Some render it, "though I have chastised, I have strengthened their arms" u; though he corrected them for their sins in the times of Jehoahaz, and suffered their arms to be broken by their...

CHAPTER 7 The Moral Depravity of Israel _ 1. Their moral depravity (Hosea 7:1) _ 2. Mingling with heathen nations (Hosea 7:8) Hosea 7:1. All the gracious efforts of the Lord to heal Israel resulted in a greater manifestation of the iniquity of Ephraim. Instead of turning to Him in true repentance and self-judgment their evil heart turned away from Jehovah, and they continued in their downward course. They did not consider that the Lord would remember all their evil deeds and punish them for it. The king and the princes, the political heads were as corrupt as the priests, they were pleased with the impenitence and wickedness of their subjects. Then follows a graphic description of their moral depravity. They w

HOSEA 7:8 TO HOSEA 8:3. POLITICAL DECAY THE OUTWARD SIGN OF ISRAEL'S MORAL DECAY. The attempts to cure national ills and secure safety by foreign aid, instead of by turning to Yahweh, are foredoomed to failure; Yahweh Himself frustrates them and will bring the misguided people to punishment and ruin (Hosea 7:8). Their doom is sealed, for they have been disloyal to Yahweh; they do not turn to Him with a true heart, but use heathen devices (cut themselves, Hosea 7:14 _mg._, see p. 110) when they appeal to Him. Their shallow hearts are incapable of real and acceptable repentance; therefore their princes shall fall by the sword, and this shall be their derision i

THOUGH. HAVE BOUND. Though I, even I, have warned (or instructed). Compare Psalms 18:34; Psalms 144:1....