Hosea 1 - Introduction
Hosea and his Wife. A Parable for the Israelites... [ Continue Reading ]
Hosea and his Wife. A Parable for the Israelites... [ Continue Reading ]
On the heading, see Introduction.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea_ If we render the Hebrew text thus, the words are a heading to the first part of the book, viz. chaps 1 3; they are apparently taken thus by the LXX., the Vulg., and perhaps the Targ. and the Peshito. It would however be better to translate with the Vu... [ Continue Reading ]
_Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim_ Various attempts have been made to extract a meaning from these names, which by its appropriateness to the circumstances of the Israelites might favour the view that the events related are fictitious and not real. Gomer may plausibly be interpreted -perfection" (i.e.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Call his name Jezreel_ The child of guilt; therefore not Israel but Jezreel (or, more exactly, Izreel). The name is referred to for its historical associations (comp. on Hosea 2:22). It points both backward and forward backward to the massacre of Ahab's family by Jehu (2 Kings 9:10.), and forward t... [ Continue Reading ]
_the bow of Israel_ The bow, the symbol of power (Genesis 49:24; Jeremiah 49:35). _in the valley of Jezreel_ It seemed fitting that this -battlefield of Palestine" (as the valley of Jezreel had already become, see on Judges 6:33) should be the scene of so momentous an event, fitting also that where... [ Continue Reading ]
_bare a daughter_ The nation being personified sometimes as A man, sometimes as a woman. _Lo-ruhamah_ i.e., Uncompassionated. _but I will utterly take them away_ Rather, THAT I SHOULD FORGIVE THEM.... [ Continue Reading ]
_But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah_ Grave as are the charges brought against Judah by the prophets, it appears to have been some degrees better off religiously than Israel; probably, as it was a poorer country, its nature-worship was less extravagantly sensuous than that of the north. Ho... [ Continue Reading ]
The birth of a Son _Lo-ammi_ i.e. not my people. Observe the climax in the names. -Jezreel" announces the judgement; Lo-ruhamah, the withdrawal of Jehovah's affection; Lo-ammi, the treatment of Israel as a foreign people. _I will not be your God_ Lit., -I will not be for (or, to) you", i.e. perhaps... [ Continue Reading ]
There is a great difference among authorities as to the way in which these verses and Hosea 2:1 should be connected with the context. (_a_) Those who consult a Hebrew Bible will most probably find the first chapter of Hosea closed at Hosea 1:9, and the second opened with _v'hâyâh_-and it shall come... [ Continue Reading ]
10 2:1. Predicted alteration of Names _Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be_ However sad the present prospects of Israel may be, a glorious future is in store for him. So our translators mean us to interpret the passage, confounding the province of the translator with that of the exposi... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together_ Thus the schism of north and south shall be healed (comp. Isaiah 11:13; Ezekiel 37:22) a schism to which by implication Hosea denies the Divine sanction, on the ground (we may suppose) that Jehovah being one, His peop... [ Continue Reading ]