PART II., HOSEA 4-14. A series of addresses which give a summary of Hosea's prophetic teaching. The period presupposed seems to be the time of anarchy which followed the death of Jeroboam II (_c._ 743 B.C.). But there is no reason to suppose that the sections are arranged in chronological order. In... [ Continue Reading ]
THE JOYLESS DISCIPLINE OF EXILE. The delirious joy of the popular nature-religion shall soon be exchanged for the sorrows of exile. In her own land Israel had treacherously ascribed to the Baalim the crops given by Yahweh; therefore, in a strange land, she shall lose all opportunity of sacrificing t... [ Continue Reading ]
THE NEMESIS OF AN IMPURE WORSHIP (_cf. Hosea 4:11_). Israel in unspoilt youth had appeared to Yahweh like grapes in the wilderness, but at the very first of the Canaanite shrines which they reached, Baal-Peor, they polluted themselves (Hosea 9:10). The consequent nemesis was barrenness [12] (Hosea 9... [ Continue Reading ]