Hosea 6 - Introduction
_AN EXHORTATION TO REPENTANCE. A COMPLAINT OF THEIR UNTOWARDNESS AND INIQUITY._ _Before Christ 780._... [ Continue Reading ]
_AN EXHORTATION TO REPENTANCE. A COMPLAINT OF THEIR UNTOWARDNESS AND INIQUITY._ _Before Christ 780._... [ Continue Reading ]
COME, AND LET US RETURN, &C.— Almost all the ancients connect this with the preceding chapter, by the words, _And they shall say,—Come,_ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTER TWO DAYS, &C.— In the style of Scripture, captivity, oppression, servitude, are frequently represented under the name of death; and a deliverance from these evils is called a _resurrection,_—a _return to light,—to life,—new life,_ &c. We have examples of this in Ezekiel, Daniel, and many other... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN SHALL WE KNOW, IF, &C.— _Let us meet together, therefore, and studiously inquire after the knowledge of the Lord._ Houbigant. The captives of Babylon promise themselves that the Lord will come to them, and appear like the brightness of the morning, in the midst of the dark night of their exile;... [ Continue Reading ]
O EPHRAIM! WHAT SHALL I DO, &C.— This is the answer of the Lord to the prayer or promises of Judah and Israel. _YOUR GOODNESS_— חסד _chesed._ The various senses of this word are well enumerated by Vitringa upon Isaiah 40:6. But the general radical meaning of the word is by none so well developed, as... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE HAVE I HEWED THEM— Or, _Therefore have I cut them down._ Houbigant reads, _Certainly I have done what it pleased me to your prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth; and light shall arise from my judgments upon thee:_ "That light which you hoped for, of the approaching morning,... [ Continue Reading ]
I DESIRED MERCY, AND NOT SACRIFICE— Or, _Rather than sacrifice._ See Matthew 9:13. I think the word חסד _chesed,_ which we translate _mercy,_ is used here in a comprehensive sense; signifying both piety towards God, and philanthropy, I can find no single word to answer to it, but _charity._ For _cha... [ Continue Reading ]
LIKE MEN— It should be rendered, _Like Adam._ As Adam transgressed a plain command; so the Israelites transgressed the plainest and the easiest precepts. As Adam's crime was not to be excused by any necessity or want; so the Israelites, secure under the protection of Jehovah, had they continued fait... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IS POLLUTED WITH BLOOD— "It is now no longer what it ought to be, a city of refuge, but the city of bloodshed and slaughter.... [ Continue Reading ]
SO THE COMPANY OF PRIESTS MURDER, &C.— _So the company of priests meet together, and murder the traveller at Shechem; that they may execute their wickedness._ The prophet seems to mean that wickedness by which those men of the kingdom of Israel who worshipped the true God were prohibited from going... [ Continue Reading ]
ALSO, O JUDAH— _But for thee, O Judah, a harvest is prepared, then when I shall bring back the captivity of my people._ Houbigant. See ch. Hosea 2:15; Hosea 2:21. Harvest-work is cut out for Judah at the season of bringing back the captivity. The tribe of Judah is in some extraordinary way to be an... [ Continue Reading ]