This is a new discourse by the Prophet, separate from his former
discourses. We must bear in mind that the Prophets did not literally
write what they delivered to the people, nor did they treat only once
of those things which are now extant with us; but we have in their
books collected summaries and... [ Continue Reading ]
But after having said that they were full of perfidiousness and
cruelty, he adds, _By cursing, and lying, and killing, etc_. , אלה,
_ale, _means to swear: some explain it in this place as signifying to
forswear; and others read the two together, אלה וכחש, _ale
ucachesh, _to swear and lie, that is to... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet now expresses more clearly the dispute which he mentions
in the first verse; and it now evidently appears, that it was not a
judgment expressed in words, for God had in vain tried to bring the
people to the right way by threats and reproofs: he had contended
enough with then; they remain... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet here deplores the extreme wickedness of the people, that
they would bear no admonitions, like those who, being past hope,
reject every advice, admit no physicians, and dislike all remedies:
and it is a proof of irreclaimable wickedness, when men close their
ears and harden their hearts a... [ Continue Reading ]
The copulative is to be taken here for an illative, _Fall, therefore,
shalt thou_. Here God denounces vengeance on refractory men; as though
he said, “As ye pay no regard to my authority, when by words I
reprove you, I will not now deal with you in this way; but I will
visit you for this contempt of... [ Continue Reading ]
Here the Prophet distinctly touches on the idleness of the priests,
whom the Lord, as it is well known, had set over the people. For
though it could not have availed to excuse the people, or to extenuate
their fault, that the priests were idle; yet the Prophet justly
inveighs against them for not ha... [ Continue Reading ]
Here the Prophet amplifies the wickedness and impiety of the people,
by adding this circumstance, that they the more perversely wantoned
against God, the more bountiful he was to them, yea, when he poured
upon them riches in full exuberance. Such a complaint we have before
noticed: but the Prophets,... [ Continue Reading ]
This verse has given occasion to many interpreters to think that all
the particulars we have noticed ought to be restricted to the priests
alone: but there is no sufficient reason for this. We have already
said, that the Prophet is wont frequently to pass from the people to
the priests: but as a hea... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet here again denounces on both a common punishment, as
neither was free from guilt. _As the people_, he says, _so shall be
the priest_; that is “I will spare neither the one nor the other;
for the priest has abused the honor conferred on him; for though
divinely appointed over the Church f... [ Continue Reading ]
I now return to that passage of the Prophet, in which he says, _They
shall eat and shall not be satisfied_, and again, _They shall play the
wanton and shall not increase; because Jehovah have they left off to
attend to_. The Prophet here again proclaims the judgment which was
nigh the Israelites. An... [ Continue Reading ]
The verb לקח _lakech, _means to take away; and this sense is also
admissible that wine and wantonness take possession of the heart; but
I take its simpler meaning, to take away. But it is not a general
truth as most imagine, who regard it a proverbial saying, that
wantonness and wine deprive men of... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet calls here the Israelites the people of God, not to honor
them, but rather to increase their sin; for the more heinous was the
perfidy of the people, that having been chosen, they had afterwards
forsaken their heavenly Father. Hence _My people_: there is here an
implied comparison betwee... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet shows here more clearly what was the fornication for which
he had before condemned the people, — that they worshipped God under
trees and on high places. This then is explanatory, for the Prophet
defines what he before understood by the word, fornication; and this
explanation was especia... [ Continue Reading ]
He then who worships not God, shall have at home an adulterous wife,
and filthy strumpets as his daughters, boldly playing the wanton, and
he shall have also adulterous daughters-in-law: not that the Prophet
speaks only of what would take place; but he shows that such would be
the vengeance that God... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet here complains that Judah also was infected with
superstitions, though the Lord had hitherto wonderfully kept them from
pollutions of this kind. He compares Israel with Judah, as though he
said, “It is no wonder that Israel plays the wanton; they had for a
long time shaken off the yoke;... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet compares Israel here to an untamable heifer. Some render
it, “A straying heifer”, and we may render it, “A wanton
heifer.” But to others a defection seems to have been more
especially intended, because they had receded or departed from God:
but this comparison is not so apposite. They re... [ Continue Reading ]
As if wearied, God here bids his Prophet to rest; as though he said,
“Since I prevail nothing with this people, they must be given up;
cease from thy work.” God had set Hosea over the Israelites for this
end, to lead them to repentance, if they could by any means be
reformed: the duty of the Prophet... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet, using a metaphor, says here first, that their drink had
become putrid; which means, that they had so intemperately given
themselves up to every kind of wickedness, that all things among them
had become fetid. And the Prophet alludes to shameful and beastly
excess: for the drunken are so... [ Continue Reading ]
If this rendering be approved, _The wind hath bound her in its wings_,
the meaning is, that a sudden storm would sweep away the people, and
thus would they be made ashamed of their sacrifices. So the past tense
is to be taken for the future. We may indeed read the words in the
past tense, as though... [ Continue Reading ]