Hosea 2:13

I will visit upon her the days of Baalim To -visit" is to examine or take notice of, whether in a favourable sense or the reverse. -Baalim" should rather be the Baalim (the various local Baals). Hosea has referred to the holydays of Jehovah (Hosea 2:11); now he complains of the holydays of the Baalim, which, there is reason to think, are, in name at least, the same holydays as those of the more spiritual worshippers of Jehovah (new moons, sabbaths, and festal assemblies), but differing from these in the total absence of a spiritual element. They are in fact nothing better than sensual merry-makings and displays of finery such as the heathen loved at the turning-points of the agricultural year. But what does Hosea mean by -the Baalim"? Certainly not, as some have supposed, statues of a god distinct from Jehovah called Baal a view which is opposed by Hosea 2:19, -I will take away the names(not, the name) of the Baalim out of thy mouth". The comparison of another Semitic religious vocabulary will here, as so often, facilitate our exegesis. With the Phœnicians the word Baal, -lord", was an appellative term for a god, and was used as well for any local as for the national deity. It occurs in the phrase -Melkart, Baal of Tyre" in the bilingual inscription on two candelabra known as Melitensis prima; and if we only had Canaanitish and Israelitish inscriptions we should doubtless find that the Canaanitish and popular Israelitish usage was identical with that of the Phœnicians. What Hosea does mean by -the Baalim" is the varieties of the one national deity specially worshipped in different Israelitish localities, such as Baal-Hamon, Baal-Hazor, Baal-Shalisha, Baal-Tamar, &c. In spite of the name Baal (see on Hosea 2:16) it was Jehovah who was worshipped at the -high places," just as in Mohammedan Syria it is Allah who, in name at least, receives the adoration of the fellâhîn. But the worship was, from Hosea's point of view, a purely nominal one, just as the worship of Allah by the fellâhînis mixed up with many most un-Mohammedan elements. The Israelites of the north looked upon the Baalim as the givers of their bread and their water, their oil and their -drinks"; in short, as in no essential respect different from the heathen Baalim of the Canaanites. This was, no doubt, a backsliding from the spiritual truths which seem to be involved in the revelation of Sinai. But it was a backsliding which can be accounted for; it is not to be traced, as the older writers on the Old Testament naïvely traced it, to a peculiar wickedness in the primitive Israelites. A fusion of the religion brought by the Israelites from Sinai with the religion found by them in Canaan, was, humanly speaking, inevitable; partly because from prehistoric times the Hebrews, equally with the Canaanites had used the term Baal, -lord", as an appellative for a deity, and partly because, like the Cuthæan colonists of the cities of Samaria, they thought it essential to learn -the manner (rather, religion) of the god of the land" (2 Kings 17:26), since the national prosperity seemed to depend on the favour of the territorial deities.

burned incense The word will also cover the burning of sacrifices upon the altar, as Leviticus 1:9; Leviticus 1:17, &c. Comp. Psalms 66:15 -incense [or, the sweet smoke] of rams."

her earrings and her jewels Rather, her nose-ring (as only one ring is mentioned, and there is no evidence that Hebrew ladies had a store of these articles), as Genesis 24:47, and her necklace (as Proverbs 25:12). Popular religious ideas required such ornaments for holy days. See Exodus 3:21-22 (comp. Hosea 2:18), and Korán, Sura xx. 61 -on the day of ornament" (i.e. at the festival).