X. (1) EMPTY in the English version is wrong, being inconsistent with what follows. (Comp. LXX. and Vulg.) Read _luxuriant._ The metaphors of the vintage (comp. also Genesis 49:22, and _Introduction_ to Hosea 9) are still prevalent in the mind of the prophet. Wünsche has powerfully illustrated this... [ Continue Reading ]
THEIR HEART IS DIVIDED is the rendering of the LXX., Raschi, Aben-Ezra, and most ancient versions. But modern expositors prefer to translate “Their heart is treacherous (_smooth_)_.”_ The rest of the verse should run thus: — _Now shall they suffer punishment. He shall break_ (_the horns of_)_ their... [ Continue Reading ]
TO US. — Better, _as for a king, what will he do for us?_ The prophet having witnessed a succession of Israelite kings overthrown, and anarchy as its consequence, predicts yet another time of confusion and helplessness, a full vindication of the threatenings of the prophet Samuel. (Comp. 1 Samuel 8:... [ Continue Reading ]
JUDGMENT — _i.e.,_ Divine judgments shall prevail not as a blessing, but as a curse; not as a precious harvest, but as a poisonous plant (poppy or hemlock) in the ridges of the field.... [ Continue Reading ]
It is hard to express the sarcastic force and concentrated scoff of the original: “calves,” literally, _she calves,_ the feminine form to express contempt, the plural in allusion to the scattered worship in numerous shrines throughout Israel (or, perhaps, a _pluralis majestatis_ of mockery). The nex... [ Continue Reading ]
Translate, _Even that_ (_i.e.,_ the calf) _shall be carried_ (in triumphant state) _to Assyria, an offering to King Jareb._ (See Hosea 5:13, _Excursus._)... [ Continue Reading ]
FOAM... WATER. — One of the most striking images in the prophecy. The word _qetseph,_ rendered “foam” — _Speaker’s Commentary_ reads “bubble” — properly signifies “chip” or “fragment.” Translate: _Like a chip on the waters’ surface._ The king is tossed on the raging seas of political life like a hel... [ Continue Reading ]
AVEN. — On Beth-Aven, see Note on Hosea 4:15. The “thorn and thistle” are part of the first curse upon apostate Adam (Genesis 3:18), and the prophet not only predicts utter ruin for king and calf, temple and shrine, but the future desolation which should conceal all. Meanwhile, the people shall desi... [ Continue Reading ]
O ISRAEL... GIBEAH. — Thou didst commence thy obscene transgressions long before the disruption of the kingdom of Rehoboam, even at Gibeah. Gibeah is emblematic of gross and cruel sensuality, in allusion to Judges 19:20, just as Sodom is used for unnatural vice. THERE THEY STOOD. — Or rather, _rema... [ Continue Reading ]
Translate (see Margin; so Jerome), _When I desire, I will chastise them, and peoples shall be gathered against them, when I chastise them for their two iniquities_ (_i.e.,_ the two calves which had been the source of heresy and treason against Jehovah).... [ Continue Reading ]
HEIFER. — Translate, _Ephraim is a trained heifer, which loves to thresh._ Here the idea may be that Ephraim loves the easy and free work of treading out the corn, and so becomes fat and sleek; or the act of treading and threshing may point to the rough treatment which Ephraim has in her pride dealt... [ Continue Reading ]
In their despair come some characteristic gleams of hope on the desolation; the eternal law which makes reaping a consequence of sowing will still apply. The mercy of God will be the harvest of a sowing to the Spirit. (Comp. Galatians 6:8; Romans 8:7; and Micah 6:8.) The very soil of the soul is fal... [ Continue Reading ]
THY WAY. — By a slight change of the Hebrew word thus rendered it acquires the sense, _thy chariots,_ a reading followed by the LXX. and Ewald, Kuinöl, and Nowack. It establishes a good parallelism, and harmonises with prophetic teaching (Hosea 14:3; Isaiah 2:7). The Masoretic text gives, however, a... [ Continue Reading ]
Then comes the crash of the thunder-peal. The prophet seems to hear the advance of the invading army, and see the fall of Samaria’s fortress. SHALMAN. — The references in the margin are not to the same historic event. The allusion is very obscure. Schrader (_Keilinschriften,_ 2nd ed., pp. 440-2) sug... [ Continue Reading ]
KING... CUT OFF. — The close of the kingdom (721 B.C.), already more than once referred to (comp. Hosea 10:7), is here prophesied. Translate, _So shall He do to you at Bethel._ IN THE MORNING. — Should be, _in the early morning_ Hoshea was utterly cut off, leaving neither root nor branch.... [ Continue Reading ]