Hosea 7:9

Strangers have devoured his strength By heavy tribute and desolating invasions. The -strangers" would be Hazael and Benhadad (2 Kings 8:12; 2 Kings 10:32-33; 2 Kings 13:3; 2 Kings 13:7), Pul (2 Kings 15:19-20), and Tiglath-Pileser (2 Kings 15:29), though the two last are really the same person, Pul being the private name of a usurper who took the old royal name of Tiglath-Pileser (as proved by Mr Pinches).

gray hairs are here and there upon him Lit., -are sprinkled upon him." That a state has different stages, analogous to the periods of human life, was a familiar idea; comp. Hosea 11:1; Isaiah 46:4; Psalms 71:18 (where the speaker is probably the personified people, comp. Hosea 7:20 in the Hebrew).