Hosea 8 - Introduction
VIII. A continuation of the same indictment along a new line of illustration. Jehovah bids the prophet put the trumpet to his lips and blow a shrill blast, announcing the approach of disaster.... [ Continue Reading ]
VIII. A continuation of the same indictment along a new line of illustration. Jehovah bids the prophet put the trumpet to his lips and blow a shrill blast, announcing the approach of disaster.... [ Continue Reading ]
EAGLE. — The image of swiftness (Jeremiah 4:13; Jeremiah 48:40). So Assyria shall come swooping down on Samaria, to which Hosea, though with some irony, gives the name “House of Jehovah,” recognising that the calf was meant to be symbolic in some sense of Israel’s God. (See, however, Note on Hosea 9... [ Continue Reading ]
Should be rendered, _To me they cry, My God, we know Thee, we Israel. _... [ Continue Reading ]
CAST OFF. — Jehovah’s reply to Israel’s hollow repentance. The word “cast off” means a scornful loathing of what is putrescent or obscene. “The thing that is good” is the name of God, which is the salvation of Israel (Aben Ezra).... [ Continue Reading ]
SET UP KINGS. — It is possible that the prophet alludes to the history of the northern kingdom as a whole. Though the revolt of the Ten Tribes received Divine sanction (1 Kings 11:9), it was obviously contrary to the Divine and prophetic idea which associated the growth of true religion with the lin... [ Continue Reading ]
THY CALF... HATH CAST THEE OFF. — Rather, _is loathsome,_ Nothing can exceed the scorn of this outburst. The last clause should be rendered, _How long are ye unable to attain purity?_ The attribution of consuming fire to God is not peculiar to the prophet. (Comp. Hebrews 12:29.)... [ Continue Reading ]
It is best to abandon the Masoretic punctuation, and translate, _For it_ (_i.e.,_ the calf) _is from Israel_ (not of Divine origin); _as for it, an artificer made it, and it is no god. Yea, the calf of Samaria shall be shattered to fragments_ (literally, _become splinters_ or _fine dust_)_. _... [ Continue Reading ]
WIND... WHIRLWIND. — The great law of Divine retribution, the punishment for sin being often a greater facility in sinning — indifference to God becoming enmity, forgetfulness of duty or truth becoming violent recoil from both. “Wind” expresses what is empty and fruitless, and the pronoun “it” refer... [ Continue Reading ]
VESSEL WHEREIN IS NO PLEASURE — _i.e._, worthless (comp. Jeremiah 48:38; Psalms 31:13; 2 Timothy 2:20); a vessel devoted to vilest uses, or smashed up as worthless.... [ Continue Reading ]
GONE UP TO ASSYRIA. — The word thus translated is elsewhere used for “going up” to the sanctuary of the Lord. (See Note on Hosea 7:11.) _Wild ass_ is the image of untamed waywardness (Job 39:5, _sea._) it is described by Wetzstein as inhabiting the steppes, a creature of dirty yellow colour, with lo... [ Continue Reading ]
There is much difference of opinion as to the interpretation of this verse. Much depends on the reference of the word “them.” We prefer to regard it as referring to Ephraim rather than to the nations (_i.e.,_ Assyria and Egypt). Render, _I will gather them_ (_Israel_)_ together, so that in a short t... [ Continue Reading ]
MANY ALTARS. — Multiplication of altars was condemned in the law (Deuteronomy 12:5 _seq._). The narrative in Joshua 22 shows that unity of altar and sanctuary was essential to the unity of the nation. The last clause should be rendered, _he had altars for sinning._ The worship of God was degraded in... [ Continue Reading ]
The rendering should be, _though I write for him a multitude of my precepts._ The tense “I write” is imperfect, and represents the continuous process — the prophetic teaching as well as the ancient Mosaic law. In the wild lust for a foreign religion the pure and spiritual Mosaic worship and the reli... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SACRIFICE FLESH... — Should be, “They sacrifice the sacrifices of my gifts — flesh, and eat it.” Clear reference to the Mosaic institute. Ye shall go back to Egypt, says the prophet, and there learn again the bitter lessons of the past — either the positive return to Egypt or the disastrous han... [ Continue Reading ]
TEMPLES. — The word here used for temple is used sixty times for Jehovah’s temple. The building of these temple-palaces was a distinct sin against the unity of the Godhead. JUDAH HATH MULTIPLIED FENCED CITIES. — Referred to by Sennacherib, in the inscription relating to the campaign of 701 B.C. “Fo... [ Continue Reading ]