Hosea 4:16

slideth back as a backsliding heifer Rather, is stubborn like a stubborn heifer. A favourite figure of the prophets, Hosea 11:4; Jeremiah 31:18; comp. Deuteronomy 32:15.

now the Lord will feed them as a lamb in a large place Israel in the weakness of captivity is compared to a lamb in a large pasture-ground, which is an object of attack to all the wild beasts prowling about so most commentators explain. But -a large place" is everywhere else an image for prosperity (see Psalms 18:19; Psalms 31:8; Psalms 118:5), and Isaiah in describing a happy future says, -in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures (Isaiah 30:23)." It is much safer, therefore, following Ewald and Hitzig, to take the passage as an incredulous exclamation or question, this being so, should the Lord feed them as a lamb in a large meadow! In fact, a prophet would hardly have said that Jehovah shepherded His people during the Dispersion (see Ezekiel 34:11-14), and in the very next verse Jehovah exclaims, -Let him alone." On the other hand, the clause, thus translated, fits most naturally into the context, -Israel is a stubborn heifer, how then should it expect to be treated as kindly as a lamb?"