_Hear this, O ye priests_ Or rather, _princes_, as Dr. Waterland renders כהנים, a reading which agrees better with the _house of the king_ that follows, and the word admitting of both significations. _For judgment is toward you_ Or, _denounced against you_, as Archbishop Newcome renders it, a transl... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the revolters_ Hebrew, שׂשׂים, _declinantes_, the persons declining, turning aside, and departing out of the way appointed them to walk in, _are profound to make slaughter_ Or, _have gone deep in slaughter_, as שׁחשׂה העמיקו may be properly rendered. The words may be intended either of the slau... [ Continue Reading ]
_I know Ephraim_ I am perfectly well acquainted with the actions of Ephraim, the head of the ten tribes; _and Israel is not hid from me_ And the actions of the other nine tribes are no less known to me. _Now, O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom_ Even now, at this time, thou goest on in thy idolatry,... [ Continue Reading ]
_They shall go with their flocks and herds to seek the Lord_ They shall seek to make their peace with God, and to induce him to be favourable to them by a multitude of sacrifices; but they shall not find their expectations answered. This is spoken of the people of Judah, mentioned in the latter part... [ Continue Reading ]
_They have dealt treacherously against the Lord_ The word בגד, rendered, _to deal treacherously_, signifies properly, a wife's being false to her husband; see Jeremiah 3:20; from whence it is applied to the sin of idolatry, which was being false to the true God, or giving to creatures, or mere imagi... [ Continue Reading ]
_Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah_, &c. The prophet here calls upon the watchmen of Judah and Israel to sound an alarm, and give notice of the approach of the enemy: compare Joel 2:1. It was usual in those days, when a country was invaded, or was on the point of being so, to give notice of it by soundin... [ Continue Reading ]
_The princes of Judah_, &c. The prophet in this chapter passes frequently from the one kingdom to the other, that he might set forth the crimes, and foretel the punishments of both, unless they averted them by their repentance. Instead of _the princes_, Bishop Horsley reads, _the rulers of Judah_, o... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment_ He is delivered over to oppressors by God's just judgment. Such were Pul and Tiglath-pileser, kings of Assyria. Archbishop Newcome distinguishes between these phrases thus: He is _oppressed_ with a heavy weight of calamity; he is crushed, or _broken_ in... [ Continue Reading ]
_When Ephraim, saw his sickness_ When the king of Israel, namely, Menahem, saw himself too weak to contend with Pul, king of Assyria, he sent an embassy to him to make him his ally, and, in order to do it, became his tributary, that _his hand might be with him to confirm his kingdom to him, 2 Kings... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will go and return to my place_ I will withdraw myself from them, and give them up to exile and punishment, till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face: that is, till they confess their sins, and, by a sincere humiliation, and in fervent prayer, implore my favour. The Chaldee paraphrase... [ Continue Reading ]