II. (1-23) Gives the explanation of the strange enigma of the first chapter. Hosea’s domestic misery and his symbolically named children pass out of sight, and Jehovah is represented as taking up the language of the prophet, and uttering His terrible and yearning cry over Israel, who had been unfai... [ Continue Reading ]
PLEAD WITH YOUR MOTHER... — Contend, or plead in judgment. Let the awakened conscience of the present generation rise up in judgment with the nation as a whole. By “mother” we are to understand the nation Israel, viewed as a collective abstract; and by the “children” (Hosea 2:4) the inhabitants who... [ Continue Reading ]
SET HER... — Reduce Israel to the destitute exposed condition in which she struggled into being in Egyptian bondage, and endured the wanderings and terrors of the wilderness. Probably we have here an allusion to the custom of female infanticide, which still prevails very widely in the East, as it di... [ Continue Reading ]
HER CHILDREN. — The children are like their mother: not only are they born of doubtful parentage, but are personally defiled. Not only is idolatry enshrined in the national sanctuary and the royal palace, but the people love to have it so. They endorse the degradation of their mother.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEIR MOTHER HATH PLAYED... — We might render, with Ewald, _yea, their mother hath played_... This would more easily account for the change of person (“your “... “their “), which is, however, very frequent in Hebrew prophecy. The next “for” introduces a parenthetical clause — “her lovers”_ — _a... [ Continue Reading ]
(6-7) Contains a brief introductory prelude, summarizing the general contents of Hosea 2:8. Jehovah addresses the adulterous wife: “I will erect impassable barriers that shall pierce and mangle her flesh. The path of evil shall be a path of thorns.” HEDGE UP... AND MAKE A WALL. — In accordance with... [ Continue Reading ]
Translate in the _present_ tense: _and she knows not that it is I who gave, &c._ This yearning of Jehovah over the results of his chastisements is a wonderful anticipation of Luke 15. CORN, AND WINE... — Corn, wine, and oil are here mentioned as the chief indigenous products of Canaan (Genesis 27:28... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE WILL I RETURN, AND TAKE... — The Hebrew form of saying, “Therefore I will take _back.”_ Jehovah resumes all that had been misappropriated. The king of Assyria (Tiglath-pileser, 734 B.C.) was the agency whereby this was to be accomplished. (Comp. Isaiah 10:5.) The raiment (wool and flax) wa... [ Continue Reading ]
MIRTH... CEASE. — The mirth is here indicative of the general character of the ceremonial — certainly not in itself a bad sign. David danced before the Lord, and justified the act. No one was to appear with sad countenance before Jehovah, any more than before an earthly potentate. (Comp. Nehemiah 2:... [ Continue Reading ]
DESTROY. — For this read, with margin, _make desolate._ The vine and fig tree are employed as the symbol of possession and peace (1 Kings 4:25; Isaiah 36:16, &c.). The desolation may be by fire or drought. MAKE THEM A FOREST. — The LXX. render _make them a testimony,_ reading in the Hebrew text _l’‘... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DAYS OF BAALIM. — The plural Baalim refers to the worship of the same deity in different places, with distinguishing local characteristics. Thus there was a Baal-Zephon, a Baal-Hermon, a Baal-Gad, &c. (See W. R. Smith, _Old Testament in the Jewish Church,_ p. 229.) “The days of Baalim” mean the... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE. — This word does not make God’s gentle treatment a consequence of the sin of Israel. Some prefer to render by _nevertheless,_ but the Hebrew word _lakhçn_ is sometimes used in making strong transitions, linked, it is true, with what precedes, but not as an inference. (Comp. Isaiah 10:24.)... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM THENCE — _i.e.,_ away from thence, meaning, as soon as she has left the wilderness of exile and discipline. The valley of Achor (or trouble) was associated with the disgrace and punishment which befel Israel on her first entrance into Palestine (Joshua 7:25), but it would in later days be regar... [ Continue Reading ]
BAALI. — The husband of the bride was frequently called her “lord” (Isaiah 54:5; Exodus 21:22; 2 Samuel 11:25; and Joel 1:8, in the Heb.). But such a name, as applied to Jehovah, was henceforth to be strictly avoided, on account of its idolatrous associations.... [ Continue Reading ]
MAKE A COVENANT... — There shall be harmony without corresponding to the moral harmony within. The brute creation shall change from hostility to man. (Comp. Hosea 2:12; so also Isaiah 11:6.) Wars with foreign foes shall not desolate Israel’s borders.... [ Continue Reading ]
Then Jehovah, turning again to the wife of His youth, says to her, “_I will betroth thee”_ (as at the first, when maiden undefiled). Three times is this phrase repeated. “Righteousness” and “judgment” indicate the equitable terms on which God would accept the penitent; and lest this thought should c... [ Continue Reading ]
(21-23) WILL HEAR. — More correctly, _I will answer_ (the prayer of) _the heavens._ A sublime personification! Heaven pleads with Jehovah, the earth pleads with heaven, and the products of the soil plead with the earth. To all these prayers an answer is vouchsafed. Jehovah answers the heavens with t... [ Continue Reading ]
St. Paul considers this great prediction to be truly fulfilled when, by the acceptance of the Divine hope of Israel, both Jews and Gentiles shall be called the children of the living God (Romans 9:25).... [ Continue Reading ]