IX. It is now harvest and vintage-time — the period of annual vintage festivals, as at Shechem and Shiloh, to which the neighbouring villages gathered. The corn is being reaped, the wine-press is trodden, and the vats are overflowing. But behind this bright picture there looms to the prophet’s gaze... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR JOY. — Better, _to exultation. “_The harlot’s hire on every corn-floor” expresses in bold imagery the prophet’s scorn for the idolatrous corruption of the people. The bounteous yield of the harvest is called the “harlot’s hire,” which lures Jehovah’s faithless bride to worship the false deity fr... [ Continue Reading ]
WINEPRESS. — Read _wine-vat_ (with margin), into which the _tîrôsh,_ new wine (“ grape-juice “), flowed from the winepress. (Comp. Isaiah 5:2.) For “fail in her” read _deceive her,_ with LXX. and Vulgate.... [ Continue Reading ]
Canaan, the land of Jehovah, is holy, Assyria unholy (Amos 7:17), where there was no temple or sacred ordinances. Since meat was not a divinely sanctioned food, except in connection with a Jehovah festival, it became in the land of exile unclean. This became true in the eyes of Hosea of all eating.... [ Continue Reading ]
OFFER — _i.e.,_ pour out as a libation. A better rendering is to be obtained by abandoning the Hebrew accentuation: _And their sacrifices will not be pleasing to Him; it shall be to them as bread of sorrow_ — _i.e.,_ funeral food, which defiles for seven days those who partake of it. Another referen... [ Continue Reading ]
See Note on Hosea 2:11.... [ Continue Reading ]
Translate, _Behold if they have gone from the desolation_ (_i.e.,_ Palestine laid waste by the invader), _Egypt shall gather them, Memphis bury them_ — Memphis, the vast city and necropolis of Ptah, where Apis and Ibis, kings and men, lay by thousands mummied, the religious shrine of Egyptian faith... [ Continue Reading ]
The latter part of the verse should be translated _Crazed is the prophet, mad the inspired one, because of the multitude of thy iniquity, while persecution is increased._ The prophet is crazed either in the depraved public opinion that Hosea scornfully describes, or, he is driven mad, distracted, by... [ Continue Reading ]
PROPHET. — Many hold that here (as in the previous verse) this word is used in a bad sense (false prophet), and standing contrasted with “the watchman of Ephraim” (or true prophet, Hosea himself, Jeremiah 6:17; Ezekiel 3:17). They would render: — “The watchman of Ephraim is with my God.” But the ver... [ Continue Reading ]
For the reference to Gibeah, see Judges 19.... [ Continue Reading ]
GRAPES IN THE WILDERNESS. — Rich dainties to the desert traveller. So had Jehovah regarded His people at the commencement of their national history in the wilderness. FIRSTRIPE. — The early fig that ripens in June, while the rest come to maturity about August (Isaiah 28:4; Micah 7:1; Jeremiah 24:2)... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM THE BIRTH... — Or rather, _so that there shall be no childbirth, nor pregnancy, nor conception — _an ascending climax. Progeny was the glory of ancient Israel (Genesis 22:17; Deuteronomy 7:13; Psalms 127:5; Proverbs 17:6).... [ Continue Reading ]
The LXX. suggest a doubt as to the validity of our text. They render “Ephraim, even as I saw, gave their children for a prey.” The reference to Tyre is very obscure. Some would render the Hebrew word for “meadow” by “resting-place,” and interpret, “I look on Ephraim even as I look on Tyre, planted i... [ Continue Reading ]
Better universal childlessness than that the off-spring should be exposed to so terrible a fate. Compare this with our Lord’s words: “Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare,” &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
GILGAL. — On Gilgal as a seat of idolatrous worship, see Hosea 4:15. “My house” here, and in Hosea 8:1 (“Jehovah’s house”), is interpreted by Wünsche and Nowack, with considerable show of reason, to mean the “holy land,” Canaan. This interpretation is confirmed by the use of the Assyrian word _Bîtu,... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHALL BEAR NO FRUIT. — Ephraim, whose very name signifies fruitfulness.... [ Continue Reading ]
WANDERERS. — Strangely confirmed from Assyrian monuments and the entire subsequent history of the bulk of Israel; and Israel still wanders, not coalescing with any nation, unless they lose their ancient faith by corruption into idolatry, or conversion to Christianity. (See Pusey.)... [ Continue Reading ]