2 As they called H7121 them, so they went H1980 from them: H6440 they sacrificed H2076 unto Baalim, H1168 and burned incense H6999 to graven images. H6456
When Ephraim H669 spake H1696 trembling, H7578 he exalted H5375 himself in Israel; H3478 but when he offended H816 in Baal, H1168 he died. H4191 And now they sin H2398 more and more, H3254 and have made H6213 them molten images H4541 of their silver, H3701 and idols H6091 according to their own understanding, H8394 all of it the work H4639 of the craftsmen: H2796 they say H559 of them, Let the men H120 that sacrifice H2076 kiss H5401 the calves. H5695
That this is a rebellious H4805 people, H5971 lying H3586 children, H1121 children H1121 that will H14 not hear H8085 the law H8451 of the LORD: H3068 Which say H559 to the seers, H7200 See H7200 not; and to the prophets, H2374 Prophesy H2372 not unto us right things, H5229 speak H1696 unto us smooth things, H2513 prophesy H2372 deceits: H4123 Get you out H5493 of the way, H1870 turn aside H5186 out of the path, H734 cause the Holy One H6918 of Israel H3478 to cease H7673 from before H6440 us.
Then all the men H582 which knew H3045 that their wives H802 had burned incense H6999 unto other H312 gods, H430 and all the women H802 that stood by, H5975 a great H1419 multitude, H6951 even all the people H5971 that dwelt H3427 in the land H776 of Egypt, H4714 in Pathros, H6624 answered H6030 Jeremiah, H3414 saying, H559 As for the word H1697 that thou hast spoken H1696 unto us in the name H8034 of the LORD, H3068 we will not hearken H8085 unto thee. But we will certainly H6213 do H6213 whatsoever thing H1697 goeth forth H3318 out of our own mouth, H6310 to burn incense H6999 unto the queen H4446 of heaven, H8064 and to pour out H5258 drink offerings H5262 unto her, as we have done, H6213 we, and our fathers, H1 our kings, H4428 and our princes, H8269 in the cities H5892 of Judah, H3063 and in the streets H2351 of Jerusalem: H3389 for then had we plenty H7646 of victuals, H3899 and were well, H2896 and saw H7200 no evil. H7451
And the LORD H3068 God H430 of their fathers H1 sent H7971 to them by H3027 his messengers, H4397 rising up betimes, H7925 and sending; H7971 because he had compassion H2550 on his people, H5971 and on his dwelling place: H4583 But they mocked H3931 the messengers H4397 of God, H430 and despised H959 his words, H1697 and misused H8591 his prophets, H5030 until the wrath H2534 of the LORD H3068 arose H5927 against his people, H5971 till there was no remedy. H4832
Yet the LORD H3068 testified H5749 against Israel, H3478 and against Judah, H3063 by H3027 all the prophets, H5030 and by all the seers, H2374 saying, H559 Turn H7725 ye from your evil H7451 ways, H1870 and keep H8104 my commandments H4687 and my statutes, H2708 according to all the law H8451 which I commanded H6680 your fathers, H1 and which I sent H7971 to you by H3027 my servants H5650 the prophets. H5030 Notwithstanding they would not hear, H8085 but hardened H7185 their necks, H6203 like to the neck H6203 of their fathers, H1 that did not believe H539 in the LORD H3068 their God. H430 And they rejected H3988 his statutes, H2706 and his covenant H1285 that he made H3772 with their fathers, H1 and his testimonies H5715 which he testified H5749 against them; and they followed H3212 H310 vanity, H1892 and became vain, H1891 and went after H310 the heathen H1471 that were round about H5439 them, concerning whom the LORD H3068 had charged H6680 them, that they should not do H6213 like them. And they left H5800 all the commandments H4687 of the LORD H3068 their God, H430 and made H6213 them molten images, H4541 even two H8147 calves, H5695 and made H6213 a grove, H842 and worshipped H7812 all the host H6635 of heaven, H8064 and served H5647 Baal. H1168
And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing H7043 for him to walk H3212 in the sins H2403 of Jeroboam H3379 the son H1121 of Nebat, H5028 that he took H3947 to wife H802 Jezebel H348 the daughter H1323 of Ethbaal H856 king H4428 of the Zidonians, H6722 and went H3212 and served H5647 Baal, H1168 and worshipped H7812 him. And he reared up H6965 an altar H4196 for Baal H1168 in the house H1004 of Baal, H1168 which he had built H1129 in Samaria. H8111
And the LORD H3068 said H559 unto Samuel, H8050 Hearken H8085 unto the voice H6963 of the people H5971 in all that they say H559 unto thee: for they have not rejected H3988 thee, but they have rejected H3988 me, that I should not reign H4427 over them. According to all the works H4639 which they have done H6213 since the day H3117 that I brought them up H5927 out of Egypt H4714 even unto this day, H3117 wherewith they have forsaken H5800 me, and served H5647 other H312 gods, H430 so do H6213 they also unto thee. Now therefore hearken H8085 unto their voice: H6963 howbeit H389 yet protest H5749 solemnly H5749 unto them, and shew H5046 them the manner H4941 of the king H4428 that shall reign H4427 over them.
And Moses H4872 called H7121 unto all Israel, H3478 and said H559 unto them, Ye have seen H7200 all that the LORD H3068 did H6213 before your eyes H5869 in the land H776 of Egypt H4714 unto Pharaoh, H6547 and unto all his servants, H5650 and unto all his land; H776 The great H1419 temptations H4531 which thine eyes H5869 have seen, H7200 the signs, H226 and those great H1419 miracles: H4159 Yet the LORD H3068 hath not given H5414 you an heart H3820 to perceive, H3045 and eyes H5869 to see, H7200 and ears H241 to hear, H8085 unto this day. H3117
For G3754 we are G2070 unto God G2316 a sweet savour G2175 of Christ, G5547 in G1722 them that are saved, G4982 and G2532 in G1722 them that perish: G622 To G3739 the one G3303 we are the savour G3744 of death G2288 unto G1519 death; G2288 and G1161 to the other G3739 the savour G3744 of life G2222 unto G1519 life. G2222 And G2532 who G5101 is sufficient G2425 for G4314 these things? G5023
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Hosea 11
Commentary on Hosea 11 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 11
Ho 11:1-12. God's Former Benefits, and Israel's Ingratitude Resulting in Punishment, Yet Jehovah Promises Restoration at Last.
Ho 11:5 shows this prophecy was uttered after the league made with Egypt (2Ki 17:4).
1. Israel … called my son out of Egypt—Bengel translates, "From the time that he (Israel) was in Egypt, I called him My son," which the parallelism proves. So Ho 12:9 and Ho 13:4 use "from … Egypt," for "from the time that thou didst sojourn in Egypt." Ex 4:22 also shows that Israel was called by God, "My son," from the time of his Egyptian sojourn (Isa 43:1). God is always said to have led or brought forth, not to have "called," Israel from Egypt. Mt 2:15, therefore, in quoting this prophecy (typically and primarily referring to Israel, antitypically and fully to Messiah), applies it to Jesus' sojourn in Egypt, not His return from it. Even from His infancy, partly spent in Egypt, God called Him His son. God included Messiah, and Israel for Messiah's sake, in one common love, and therefore in one common prophecy. Messiah's people and Himself are one, as the Head and the body. Isa 49:3 calls Him "Israel." The same general reason, danger of extinction, caused the infant Jesus, and Israel in its national infancy (compare Ge 42:1-43:34; 45:18; 46:3, 4; Eze 16:4-6; Jer 31:20) to sojourn in Egypt. So He, and His spiritual Israel, are already called "God's sons" while yet in the Egypt of the world.
2. As they called them—"they," namely, monitors sent by Me. "Called," in Ho 11:1, suggests the idea of the many subsequent calls by the prophets.
went from them—turned away in contempt (Jer 2:27).
Baalim—images of Baal, set up in various places.
3. taught … to go—literally, "to use his feet." Compare a similar image, De 1:31; 8:2, 5, 15; 32:10, 11; Ne 9:21; Isa 63:9; Am 2:10. God bore them as a parent does an infant, unable to supply itself, so that it has no anxiety about food, raiment, and its going forth. Ac 13:18, which probably refers to this passage of Hosea; He took them by the arms, to guide them that they might not stray, and to hold them up that they might not stumble.
knew not that I healed them—that is, that My design was to restore them spiritually and temporally (Ex 15:26).
4. cords of a man—parallel to "bands of love"; not such cords as oxen are led by, but humane methods, such as men employ when inducing others, as for instance, a father drawing his child, by leading-strings, teaching him to go (Ho 11:1).
I was … as they that take off the yoke on their jaws … I laid meat—as the humane husbandman occasionally loosens the straps under the jaws by which the yoke is bound on the neck of oxen and lays food before them to eat. An appropriate image of God's deliverance of Israel from the Egyptian yoke, and of His feeding them in the wilderness.
5. He shall not return into … Egypt—namely, to seek help against Assyria (compare Ho 7:11), as Israel lately had done (2Ki 17:4), after having revolted from Assyria, to whom they had been tributary from the times of Menahem (2Ki 15:19). In a figurative sense, "he shall return to Egypt" (Ho 9:3), that is, to Egypt-like bondage; also many Jewish fugitives were literally to return to Egypt, when the Holy Land was to be in Assyrian and Chaldean hands.
Assyrian shall be his king—instead of having kings of their own, and Egypt as their auxiliary.
because they refused to return—just retribution. They would not return (spiritually) to God, therefore they shall not return (corporally) to Egypt, the object of their desire.
6. abide—or, "fall upon" [Calvin].
branches—that is, his villages, which are the branches or dependencies of the cities [Calvin]. Grotius translates, "his bars" (so La 2:9), that is, the warriors who were the bulwarks of the state. Compare Ho 4:18, "rulers" (Margin), "shields" (Ps 47:9).
because of their own counsels—in worshipping idols, and relying on Egypt (compare Ho 10:6).
7. bent to backsliding—Not only do they backslide, and that too from Me, their "chief good," but they are bent upon it. Though they (the prophets) called them (the Israelites) to the Most High (from their idols), "none would exalt (that is, extol or honor) Him." To exalt God, they must cease to be "bent on backsliding," and must lift themselves upwards.
8. as Admah … Zeboim—among the cities, including Sodom and Gomorrah, irretrievably overthrown (De 29:23).
heart is turned within me—with the deepest compassion, so as not to execute My threat (La 1:20; compare Ge 43:30; 1Ki 3:26). So the phrase is used of a new turn given to the feeling (Ps 105:25).
repentings—God speaks according to human modes of thought (Nu 23:19). God's seeming change is in accordance with His secret everlasting purpose of love to His people, to magnify His grace after their desperate rebellion.
9. I will not return to destroy Ephraim—that is, I will no more, as in past times, destroy Ephraim. The destruction primarily meant is probably that by Tiglath-pileser, who, as the Jewish king Ahaz' ally against Pekah of Israel and Rezin of Syria, deprived Israel of Gilead, Galilee, and Naphtali (2Ki 15:29). The ulterior reference is to the long dispersion hereafter, to be ended by God's covenant mercy restoring His people, not for their merits, but of His grace.
God, … not man—not dealing as man would, with implacable wrath under awful provocation (Isa 55:7-9; Mal 3:6). I do not, like man, change when once I have made a covenant of everlasting love, as with Israel (Nu 23:19). We measure God by the human standard, and hence are slow to credit fully His promises; these, however, belong to the faithful remnant, not to the obstinately impenitent.
in the midst of thee—as peculiarly thy God (Ex 19:5, 6).
not enter into the city—as an enemy: as I entered Admah, Zeboim, and Sodom, utterly destroying them, whereas I will not utterly destroy thee. Somewhat similarly Jerome: "I am not one such as human dwellers in a city, who take cruel vengeance; I save those whom I correct." Thus "not man," and "in the midst of thee," are parallel to "into the city." Though I am in the midst of thee, it is not as man entering a rebellious city to destroy utterly. Maurer needlessly translates, "I will not come in wrath."
10. he shall roar like a lion—by awful judgments on their foes (Isa 31:4; Jer 25:26-30; Joe 3:16), calling His dispersed "children" from the various lands of their dispersion.
shall tremble—shall flock in eager agitation of haste.
from the west—(Zec 8:7). Literally, "the sea." Probably the Mediterranean, including its "isles of the sea," and maritime coast. Thus as Ho 11:11 specifies regions of Africa and Asia, so here Europe. Isa 11:11-16, is parallel, referring to the very same regions. On "children," see Ho 1:10.
11. tremble—flutter in haste.
dove—no longer "a silly dove" (Ho 7:11), but as "doves flying to their windows" (Isa 60:8).
in their houses—(Eze 28:26). Literally, "upon," for the Orientals live almost as much upon their flat-roofed houses as in them.
12. Maurer joins this verse with the twelfth chapter. But as this verse praises Judah, whereas Ho 12:2 censures him, it must belong rather to the eleventh chapter and a new prophecy begins at the twelfth chapter. To avoid this, Maurer translates this verse as a censure, "Judah wanders with God," that is, though having the true God, he wanders after false gods.
ruleth with God—to serve God is to reign. Ephraim wished to rule without God (compare 1Co 4:8); nay, even, in order to rule, cast off God's worship [Rivetus]. In Judah was the legitimate succession of kings and priests.
with the saints—the holy priests and Levites [Rivetus]. With the fathers and prophets who handed down the pure worship of God. Israel's apostasy is the more culpable, as he had before him the good example of Judah, which he set at naught. The parallelism ("with God") favors Margin, "With THE Most Holy One."