HOSEA'S MARRIAGE AND ITS LESSONS 1. A general heading. Hosea 1:2. The prophet's marriage with Gomer, the birth of her three children, and the symbolical meaning attached to them. HOSEA 1:1 TO HOSEA 2:1. The future material and religious prosperity of the people. 1. A general heading, perhaps the w... [ Continue Reading ]
PLEAD] addressed to Gomer's sons. The people Israel in this acted allegory are sometimes the sons, as in Hosea 2:1, but more generally the wife. When _as_ here distinguished we may suppose that the prophet is appealing to those willing to hear to remonstrate with the faithless majority. There is a s... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DISCIPLINE AND RESTORATION OF FAITHLESS ISRAEL The unfaithful conduct of Gomer and the prophet's gentle treatment of her are regarded as an analogue of the nation's faithlessness and God's gentle correction, a proof of the love which will triumph in the end. But the acted parable and its interp... [ Continue Reading ]
LO-RUHAMAH] i.e. 'not pitied.' BUT.. AWAY] RV 'that I should in any wise pardon them.' 7. The verdict on the kingdom of Judah is in the earlier portions of the book more favourable than in the later; cp. Hosea 5:10; Hosea 5:14, etc. This prophecy was fulfilled by the destruction of Sennacherib's ar... [ Continue Reading ]
LOVERS] i.e. the Baalim.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY PREPARED FOR BAAL] RM 'made into the _image of_ Baal.' How absurd and how insulting to use God's gift in this way!... [ Continue Reading ]
LO-AMMI] i.e. 'not my people.' By their sin and perfidy Israel had ceased to act as God's people. They had refused the responsibilities of their calling, and could not expect its privileges. 10. Here, as elsewhere, Hosea cannot bear to dwell upon God's punishments without looking beyond them to His... [ Continue Reading ]
HER LOVERS] The idols would be ashamed, unable to help their devotees, when the land was laid waste. 11. Jehovah would put an end to her religious feasts of all kinds. New moons and sabbaths were the most distinctive feasts in connexion with the worship of Jehovah in the N. (1 Samuel 20:5; 2 Kings 4... [ Continue Reading ]
REWARDS] RV 'hire': the bribe for which Israel had worshipped the idols (LOVERS) under the mistaken belief that _they_ gave them these things: see on Hosea 2:5.... [ Continue Reading ]
BAALIM] RV 'the Baalim,' i.e. the images of Baal: cp. Hosea 2:8. The allusion here is to heathen or heathenish festivals looked upon as acts of faithlessness to Jehovah. They are spoken of as past in relation to the future judgment which Hosea has in mind, or because idolatry had from the first been... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE, etc.] 'This being her miserable condition, I will entice her to repent by gentle discipline.' The key to such expressions lies in the tenderness felt by Hosea for his sinning wife (see Intro.). The wilderness] either the land of captivity in which she realises her sin and turns to God, or... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL GIVE] The vineyards destroyed by the enemy (Hosea 2:12) would be restored. ACHOR] i.e. trouble. Achor was the valley where Achan was stoned for his sin (Joshua 7:26). It was on this account called the valley of Achor, or trouble. What is meant by its use here is that, while the Israelites wou... [ Continue Reading ]
ISHI.. BAALI] Both words were used by a wife to her husband. The first, 'my man,' implied a relation of intimacy: the second, 'my lord,' that of servitude, or at least ownership. But the passage seems to imply that Baal, a common name for all heathen gods, had in common practice been used also of Je... [ Continue Reading ]
BAALIM] RV 'the Baalim.' Whether they represented Jehovah or heathen gods, the names with their debasing associations would be utterly discarded.... [ Continue Reading ]
MAKE A COVENANT] Jehovah is here represented poetically as making an agreement with, or laying a command upon, noxious animals, that they will not, it may be supposed, hurt either man or the fruits of his labours: cp. Isaiah 11:9. BREAK THE BOW, etc.] destroy the weapons of warfare no longer needed... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL SOW] With reference to the name Jezreel see on Hosea 1:4. Jehovah promises the renewed increase of the population: cp. Jeremiah 31:27. I will have mercy] a repetition of the promises of Hosea 1:10; Hosea 2:1.... [ Continue Reading ]