Hosea 7 - Introduction
_A REPROOF OF MANIFOLD SINS. GOD'S WRATH AGAINST THE PEOPLE FOR THEIR HYPOCRISY._ _Before Christ 780._... [ Continue Reading ]
_A REPROOF OF MANIFOLD SINS. GOD'S WRATH AGAINST THE PEOPLE FOR THEIR HYPOCRISY._ _Before Christ 780._... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN I WOULD HAVE HEALED, &C.— Some commentators close the foregoing chapter with the former clause of the last verse; and read the present verse thus, _When I would have turned away the captivity of my people, when I would have healed,_ &c.—_and the wickedness of Samaria; that they committed falseh... [ Continue Reading ]
HAVE BESET THEM ABOUT— _Compass them about._... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ARE ALL ADULTERERS— In this and the following verses, Hosea makes a twofold comparison of the Israelites to an _oven,_ and to _dough._ Jeroboam the son of Nebat set fire to his own oven, and put the leaven in his dough; and afterwards went to sleep; leaving an opportunity to the fire to heat hi... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PRINCES, &C.— _The princes began to rage,_ or _to be overheated with wine,_ &c. Houbigant.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEY HAVE MADE READY, &C.— _Their heart burns as an oven; their fury smoketh forth all the night; and in the morn it burneth as a flame of fire._ Houbigant.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ARE ALL HOT AS AN OVEN— The prophet here describes the punishment of their crimes, keeping up the similitude under which he represented those crimes; as much as to say, "Because they have grown hot with wine, &c. like an oven, they shall be burned like an oven with the same fire which they have... [ Continue Reading ]
AMONG THE PEOPLE; EPHRAIM IS A CAKE, &C.— _Among the heathen,_ &c. This similitude of Ephraim to a _cake,_ is accommodated to the Hebrew word בלל _balal,_ rendered _mixed,_ and which properly signifies the ingredients wherewith cakes are made, that they may be baked covered over with ashes and ember... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PRIDE OF ISRAEL, &C.— See chap. Hosea 5:5.... [ Continue Reading ]
EPHRAIM—IS LIKE A SILLY DOVE— Or, one which the fowler easily intercepts by his snares. Ephraim was deceived by the foolish counsels of those men, who are just before said to have their heads _besprinkled with grey hairs;_ who now advised to go to the Egyptians, and now to the Assyrians; in the foll... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL CHASTISE THEM, &C.— _I will then chastise them, when they shall follow the counsel given them._ That is, "I will make those very nations, whose aid they implore, the means of punishing them.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY HAVE NOT CRIED UNTO ME, &C.— _Nor do they cry unto me from their heart: They howl on their beds, for the want of corn and wine. They are enraged, and take counsel_ or _rebel against me._ Houbigant.... [ Continue Reading ]
THOUGH I HAVE BOUND, &C.— _But I will chastise them. I strengthened their arms, yet did they,_ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY RETURN, BUT NOT TO THE MOST HIGH— _They have endeavoured again to be without yoke: They are become like a deceitful bow: Their princes shall fall by the sword. For the wantonness of their tongue, they shall be a derision in the land of Egypt._ Houbigant. Bishop Horsley translates the first clau... [ Continue Reading ]