Hosea 4:1
CONTROVERSY] i.e. a lawsuit: cp. Isaiah 3:13; Isaiah 3:14.... [ Continue Reading ]
CONTROVERSY] i.e. a lawsuit: cp. Isaiah 3:13; Isaiah 3:14.... [ Continue Reading ]
CONDEMNATION OF THE PRIESTHOOD An arraignment against Israel as a whole, because of all manner of wickedness against God and man. Prophet and priest, who ought to have taught them better, are only too like them in character, and must share their doom. In Hosea 4:15 there is an appeal to Judah not t... [ Continue Reading ]
BY SWEARING] RV 'There is nought but swearing.' BREAK OUT] commit acts of violence. BLOOD TOUCHETH BLOOD] The whole land is covered with the blood of the murdered, a strong expression to denote the frequency of murder: cp. Isaiah 28:8. 3. The whole land (with its animal and vegetable life) is pollu... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PROPHET] i.e. the class of prophets who said what they knew would please their hearers: cp. 1 Kings 22:11; Isaiah 30:10; Jeremiah 5:31. MOTHER] i.e. the nation: see on Hosea 2:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
LACK OF KNOWLEDGE] The priests should have instructed the people in God's law (i.e. His moral teaching), and were therefore responsible for their ignorance. Instead of that they had wilfully refused even to learn themselves. THY CHILDREN] i.e. the whole body of priests, who only sinned worse as they... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY EAT UP] RV 'they feed on.' The priests enriched themselves with the sin-offerings, and with this aim encouraged instead of checking sin: cp. Ezekiel 34. SET THEIR HEART] i.e. took delight in, because it paid so well.... [ Continue Reading ]
LIKE.. PRIEST] Priest and people had sinned alike, and would be punished alike.... [ Continue Reading ]
EAT.. ENOUGH, ETC.] Greed and lust were both violations of God's natural laws, and would therefore have an un natural result.... [ Continue Reading ]
HEART] here probably as the seat of 'the understanding' (RV). 12. Cp. Jer 11:27. Idols were frequently made out of stumps and stems of trees, and were not only worshipped, but sometimes used for oracular purposes. Such a thing proved how senseless the people had become. WHOREDOM is here faithlessn... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL NOT PUNISH] They have no right to ask Jehovah to punish sins in their daughters or their brides, which in another form they commit themselves in their impure rites.... [ Continue Reading ]
LET.. OFFEND] Hosea appeals to Judah not to imitate Israel's sins. GILGAL (that of Benjamin: cp. 1 Samuel 13:8) and BETHEL ('house of God,' here contemptuously called BETHAVEN, 'house of vanity,' i.e. idolatry) were two of the most important Israelitish sanctuaries: see Amos 4:4; Amos 4:5. The latte... [ Continue Reading ]
SLIDETH BACK.. HEIFER] RV 'hath behaved himself stubbornly like a stubborn heifer,' as yet not fully trained to bear the yoke, which jibs instead of going obediently forward. NOW THE LORD WILL FEED THEM, etc.] better, 'now would the Lord feed them,' etc. He would gladly have treated them as docile l... [ Continue Reading ]
EPHRAIM] i.e. Israel. LET HIM ALONE] a general exhortation to any who might seek to meddle with idolatrous Israel.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEIR DRINK IS SOUR] RM 'their carouse is over.' Hosea is referring to some idolatrous festival. WITH SHAME.. GIVE YE] RV 'dearly love shame,' with reference probably to licentious practices connected with idolatrous feasts.... [ Continue Reading ]
WINGS] RM 'skirts': a curious metaphor to express the completeness of their punishment. They would be carried off without reprieve by the wind of judgment. THEY.. SACRIFICES] RM 'Their altars shall be put to shame,' i.e. by being destroyed.... [ Continue Reading ]