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Hosea Chapter
Four
New King James Version (NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 4
This
chapter contains a new sermon or prophecy, delivered in proper and express
words, without types and figures, as before; in which the people of Israel are
summoned to appear at the tribunal of God, to hear the charge brought against
them, and the sentence to be pronounced upon them, and which would be executed.
They are charged with sins of omission and commission; with want of truth and
mercy to men, and with ignorance of God; with swearing, lying, murder, theft,
and adultery, Hosea 4:1, the
punishment threatened is the sword, famine, and pestilence; which should affect
the whole land, and all creatures in it, men, beasts, fowls, and fishes, Hosea 4:3, then the
priests and false prophets are threatened with falling into calamities along
with the people, and with rejection from their office, and forgetfulness of
their posterity, and a taking away their glory from them, because of their
striving with the true prophets; their rejection of knowledge; forgetfulness of
the law of God; covetousness, adultery, and drunkenness, Hosea 4:4, then the
discourse is turned to the people again, who are charged with divination and
idolatry, which is spiritual adultery; and therefore, by way of retaliation,
their wives and daughters would be left to commit adultery and fornication, Hosea 4:12, and the
chapter is concluded with advice to Israel not to tempt Judah to sin; or to
Judah not to do the like, after the example of Israel, who were backsliders,
idolaters, left of God and alone; guilty of bribery, and the like shameful
things, and would be suddenly filled with shame, Hosea 4:15.
Hosea 4:1 Hear the word
of the Lord,
You children of Israel, For the Lord brings a charge
against the inhabitants of the land: “There is no truth or mercy Or knowledge
of God in the land.
YLT 1`Hear a word of Jehovah,
sons of Israel, For a strife [is] to Jehovah with inhabitants of the land, For
there is no truth, nor kindness, Nor knowledge of God, in the land,
Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel,.... The
people of the ten tribes, as distinct from Judah, Hosea 4:15, the
prophet having finished his parables he was ordered to take up and deliver, and
his explanations of them, and concluded with a gracious promise of the
conversion of the Jews in the latter day, enters upon a new discourse, which
begins with reproof for various sins; since what had been delivered in parables
and types had had no effect upon them, they are called upon to hear what the
Lord would say to them by the prophet, in more clear and express terms; silence
is ordered, and attention required to what follows:
for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land; the land of
Israel; against him they had sinned, before him they stood guilty; he had
something, yea, many things, against them; a charge is brought into open court,
the indictment is read, an answer must be made: God is the antagonist, that
moves and brings on the controversy in a judicial way, and who can answer him
for one of a thousand? or stand before him, or in court with him, when he marks
iniquity? the charge is as follows,
because there is no truth; none that do or speak
truth; that are true and faithful men, true to their word, and faithful to their
trust; no truth of grace in them, nor truth of doctrine held and received by
them; truth failed from among them, and none were valiant for it; no truth or
civil faith with respect to men, nor any truth of word or worship with respect
to God:
nor mercy: to poor and indigent creatures; no compassion shown them; no
offices of humanity or acts of beneficence exercised towards them; though these
are more desirable by the Lord than, and are preferred by him to, all
ceremonial sacrifices, Hosea 6:6, or no
piety, religion, godliness, powerful godliness, which has the promise of this
life, and that to come:
nor knowledge of God in the land; in the land of Israel,
where God was used to be known; where he had been worshipped; were his word had
been dispensed, and his prophets had been sent, and his saints that knew him,
and his mind and will, formerly had dwelt; but now a company of atheists, at
least that lived as such, and had no true spiritual saving knowledge of God,
and communion with him; they had not true love to him, nor a godly reverence of
him, which this implies; and that was the source of all the wickedness
committed by them, afterwards expressed. The Targum is,
"there
are none that do truth, nor dispense mercy, nor walk in the fear of the Lord,
in the land.'
Hosea 4:2 2 By swearing and lying, Killing
and stealing and committing adultery, They break all restraint, With bloodshed
upon bloodshed.
YLT 2Swearing, and lying, and
murdering, And stealing, and committing adultery -- have increased, And blood
against blood hath touched.
By swearing, and lying,.... Which some join
together, and make but one sin of it, false swearing, so Jarchi and Kimchi; but
that swearing itself signifies, as the Targum interprets it; for it not only
takes in all cursing and imprecations, profane oaths, and taking the name of
God in vain, and swearing by the creatures, but may chiefly design perjury;
which, though one kind of "lying", may be distinguished from it here;
the latter intending "lying" in common, which the devil is the father
of, mankind are incident unto, and which is abominable to God, whether in civil
or in religious things: "and killing, and stealing and committing adultery";
murders, thefts, and adulteries, were very common with them; sins against the
sixth, eighth, and seventh commandments:
they break out; through all the restraints of the laws of
God and man, like an unruly horse that breaks his bridle and runs away; or like
wild beasts, that break down the fences and enclosures about them, and break
out, and get away; or like a torrent of water, that breaks down its dams and
banks, and overflows the meadows and plains; such a flood and deluge of sin
abounded in the nation. Some render it, "they thieve"F15פרצו "latrocinantur, vel latrones agunt",
Schmidt. ; or act the part of thieves and robbers: and the Targum,
"they
beget sons of their neighbours' wives;'
and
so Abarbinel interprets it of breaking through the hedge of another man's wife;
but these sins are observed before:
and blood toucheth blood; which some understand of
sins in general, so called, because filthy and abominable; and of the addition
and multiplication of them, there being as it were heaps of them, or rather a
chain of them linked together. So the Targum,
"and
they add sins to sins.'
Others
interpret it of impure mixtures, of incestuous lusts, or marriages contrary to
the ties of blood, and laws of consanguinity, Leviticus 18:6, or
rather it is to be understood of the great effusion of blood, and frequency of
murders; so that there was scarce any interval between them, but a continued
series of them. Some think respect is had to the frequent slaughter of their
kings; Zachariah the son of Jeroboam was slain by Shallum, when he had reigned
but six months; and Shallum was slain by Menahem when he had reigned but one
month; and this Menahem was a murderer of many, smote many places, and ripped up
the women with child; Pekahiah his son was killed by Pekah the son of Remaliah,
and he again by Hoshea, 2 Kings 15:8.
Hosea 4:3 3 Therefore
the land will mourn; And everyone who dwells there will waste away With the
beasts of the field And the birds of the air; Even the fish of the sea will be
taken away.
YLT 3Therefore mourn doth the
land, And weak is every dweller in it, With the beast of the field, And with
the fowl of the heavens, And the fishes of the sea -- they are removed.
Therefore shall the land mourn,.... Because of the
calamities on it, the devastations made in it; nothing growing upon it, through
a violent drought; or the grass and corn being trodden down, or eaten up, by a
foreign army:
and everyone that dwelleth therein shall languish; that is,
every man, an inhabitant thereof, shall become weak, languish away, and die
through wounds received by the enemy; or for want of food, or being infected
with the wasting and destroying pestilence:
with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; the one shall
die in the field for want of grass to eat, and the other shall drop to the
earth through the infection of the air:
yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away; or
"gathered"F16יאספו
"congregabuntur", V. L.; "collgentur", Montanus, Vatablus,
Drusius, Schmidt. ; to some other place, so as to disappear; or they shall be
consumed and die, as Kimchi interprets it; and as all these creatures are for
the good of men, for sustenance, comfort, and delight, when they are taken
away, it is by way of punishment for their sins. So the Targum,
"the
fishes of the sea shall be lessened for their sins.'
Hosea 4:4 4 “Now
let no man contend, or rebuke another; For your people are like those who
contend with the priest.
YLT 4Only, let no one strive,
nor reprove a man, And thy people [are] as those striving with a priest.
Yet, let no man strive, nor reprove another,.... Or
rather, "let no man strive, nor any man reprove us"F17ואל יוכה איש
"et ne reprehendito quisquam, scil. nos", Schmidt. ; and are
either the words of the people, forbidding the prophet, or any other man, to
contend with them, or reprove them for their sins, though guilty of so many,
and their land in so much danger on that account: so the Targum,
"but
yet they say, let not the scribe teach, nor the prophet reprove:'
or
else they are the words of God to the prophet, restraining him from striving
with and reproving such a people, that were incorrigible, and despised all
reproof; see Ezekiel 3:26 or of
the prophet to other good men, to forbear anything of this kind, since it was
all to no purpose; it was but casting pearls before swine; it was all labour
lost, and in vain:
for thy people are as they that strive with the priest; they are so
far from receiving correction and reproof kindly from any good men that they
will rise up against, and strive with the priests, to whom not to hearken was a
capital crime, Deuteronomy 17:12.
Abarbinel interprets it, and some in Abendana, like the company of Korah, that
contended with Aaron; suggesting that this people were as impudent and wicked
as they, and there was no dealing with them. So the Targum,
"but
thy people contend with their teachers;'
and
will submit to no correction, and therefore it is in vain to give it them.
Though some think the sense is, that all sorts of men were so corrupt, that
there were none fit to be reprovers; the people were like the priests, and the
priests like the people, Hosea 4:9, so that
when the priests reproved them, they contended with them, and said, physician,
heal thyself; take the beam out of your own eye; look to yourselves, and your
own sins, and do not reprove us.
Hosea 4:5 5 Therefore
you shall stumble in the day; The prophet also shall stumble with you in the
night; And I will destroy your mother.
YLT 5And thou hast stumbled in
the day, And stumbled hath also a prophet with thee in the night, And I have
cut off thy mother.
Therefore shall thou fall in the day,.... Either, O
ye people, everyone of you, being so refractory and incorrigible; or, O thou
priest, being as bad as the people; for both, on account of their sins, should
fall from their present prosperity and happiness into great evils and calamities;
particularly into the hands of their enemies, and be carried captive into
another land: and this should be "in the day", or "today"F18היום "hodie", Munster, Montanus, Drusius,
Tarnovius, Rivet; "hoc tempore", Pagninus. So Kimchi and Ben Melech.
; immediately, quickly, in a very short time; or in the daytime, openly,
publicly, in the sight of all, of all the nations round about, who shall
rejoice at it; or in the day of prosperity, while things go well, amidst great
plenty of all good things, and when such a fall was least expected:
and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night: or the false
prophets that are with you, as the Targum, and so Jarchi; either with you, O
people, that dwell with you, teach you, and cause you to err; or with thee, O
priest, being of the same family, as the prophets, many of them, were priests;
now these should fall likewise into the same calamities, as it was but just
they should, being the occasion of them: and this should be in the night; in
the night of adversity and affliction, in the common calamity; or in the night
of darkness, when they could not see at what they stumbled and fell, and so the
more uncomfortable to them; or as the one falls in the day, the other falls in
the night; as certainly as the one falls, so shall the other, and that very
quickly, immediately, as the night follows the day:
and I will destroy thy mother; either Samaria, the metropolis
of the nation; or the whole body of the people, the congregation, as the
Targum, and Kimchi, and Ben Melech, being as a mother with respect to
individuals; and are threatened with destruction because the corruption was
general among prophets, priests, and people, and therefore none could hope to
escape.
Hosea 4:6 6 My
people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected
knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have
forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
YLT 6Cut off have been My people
for lack of knowledge, Because thou knowledge hast rejected, I reject thee from
being priest to Me, And thou forgettest the law of thy God, I forget thy sons,
I also!
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge,.... This is
not to be understood of those who are the Lord's people by special grace; for
they cannot he destroyed, at least with everlasting destruction; God's love to
them, his choice of them, covenant with them, the redemption of them by Christ,
and the grace of God in them, secure them from such destruction: nor can they
perish through want of knowledge; for though they are by nature as ignorant as
others, yet it is the determinate will of God to bring them to the knowledge of
the truth, in order to salvation; and that same decree which fixes salvation as
the end, secures the belief of the truth as the means; and the covenant of
grace provides for their knowledge of spiritual things, as well as other
spiritual blessings; in consequence of which their minds are enlightened by the
Spirit of wisdom and understanding, and they have the knowledge of God and
Christ given them, which is life eternal. But this is to he understood of the
people of the ten tribes of Israel, who were nationally and nominally the
people of God, were so by profession; they called themselves the people of God;
and though they were idolaters, yet they professed to worship God in their
idols; and as yet God's "loammi" had not taken place upon them; he
still sent his prophets among them, to reprove and reform them, and they were
not as yet finally rejected by him, and cast out of their land. These may be
said to be "destroyed", because they were threatened with
destruction, and it was near at hand, they were just upon the brink of it; and
because of the certainty of it, and this "through the lack of
knowledge": either in the people, who were ignorant of God, his mind, and
will, and worship, and without fear and reverence of him, which was the cause
of all the abominations they ran into, for which they were threatened with
ruin; or in the priests, whose business it was to teach and instruct the
people; but instead of teaching them true doctrine, and the true, manner of
worship, taught them false doctrine, and led them into superstition and
idolatry; and so they perished through the default of the priests in performing
their office; which sense is confirmed by what follows:
because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee,
that thou shall be no priest to me; the priests that
Jeroboam made were of the lowest of the people, ignorant and illiterate men, 1 Kings 12:31 and
they chose to continue such; they rejected with contempt and abhorrence, as the
word signifies, the knowledge of God, and of all divine things; of the law of
God, concerning what was to be done, or not to be done, by the people; and of
all statutes and ordinances relating to divine worship, and the performance of
the priestly office: and though there might be some of Aaron's line that
continued in the land of Israel, and in their office; yet these affected the
same ignorance, and therefore the Lord threatens them with a rejection from the
priesthood; or, however, that they should be no priests to him, or in his
account, but should be had in the utmost abhorrence and contempt, The word here
used has a letter in it more than usualF19ואמאסאך;
the last א is superfluous; the reason of the word
being so written. Ben Melech confesses his ignorance of. , which may signify
the utter rejection of them, and the great contempt they were had in by the
Lord; this was to take place, and did, at the captivity by Shalmaneser.
Seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God: which he had
given them, who was their God by profession; and which they had forgot as if
they never had read or learnt it; and so as not to observe and keep it
themselves, nor teach and instruct others in it:
I will also forget thy children; have no regard to them,
take no notice and care of them, as if they were never known by him; meaning
either the people in general, their disciples and spiritual children; or else
their natural children, who should be cut off, and not succeed them in the
priesthood. The words are very emphatic, "I will forget them, even I"F20גם אני "etiam ego",
Pagninus, Montanus, Zanchius, Cocceius, Rivet, Schmidt. ; which expresses the
certainty of it more fully, as well as more clearly points at the justness of
the retaliation.
Hosea 4:7 7 “The
more they increased, The more they sinned against Me; I will change[a] their
glory[b] into
shame.
YLT 7According to their
abundance so they sinned against Me, Their honour into shame I change.
As they were increased, so they sinned against me,.... As the
children of the priests increased and grew up, they sinned against the Lord,
imitating their parents; they were as many sinners as they were persons, not
one to be excepted: this expresses their universal depravity and corruption.
Some understand it of their increase, as in number, so in riches, wealth,
honour, dignity, and authority, and yet they sinned more and more; which shows
their ingratitude. So the Targum,
"as
I have multiplied fruits unto them, &c.'
Therefore will I change their glory into shame, take away
their priesthood from them, so that they shall be no more priests, and as if
they never had been; and reduce them to a state of poverty, meanness, and
disgrace; and cause them to go into captivity with the meanest of the people;
and be in no more honour, but subject to as much scorn and contempt as they.
Hosea 4:8 8 They
eat up the sin of My people; They set their heart on their iniquity.
YLT 8The sin of My people they
do eat, And unto their iniquity lift up their soul.
They eat up the sin of my people,.... That is, the priests
did so, as the Targum, the priests of Jeroboam; they ate up the sacrifices
which the people brought for their sins: and their fault was, either that they
ate that which belonged to the true priests of the Lord, so Jarchi; or they did
that, and had no concern to instruct the people in the right way; all that they
regarded were good eating and drinking, and living voluptuously; and were altogether
careless about instructing the people in the nature of sacrifices, and in the
way of their duty: or this may regard the Bacchanalian feasts, as some think,
which the people made in the temples of idols, and so sinned; and of which the
priests greatly partook, and encouraged them in, and so were partakers not only
of their banquets, but of their sins.
They set their heart on their iniquity: either their
offerings for their iniquity, or their iniquity itself: or, "lift up their
soul"F21ואל עונם
ישאו נפשו "et ad
iniquitatem eorum levaverunt animam suam", Montanus, Pagninus, Tigurine
version; "attollunt", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "et ad
iniquitatem eorum tollunt anumam suam", Schmidt. to it; diligently looking
after it, not caring how much they committed; since the more sin offerings
would be brought which would be to their advantage. Though some think the sin
of whoredom, frequently and impudently committed at these idol feasts, is
meant, which the priests were much addicted to, and very greedy of; they
committed cleanness with greediness, Ephesians 4:19.
Hosea 4:9 9 And
it shall be: like people, like priest. So I will punish them for their ways, And
reward them for their deeds.
YLT 9And it hath been, like
people, like priest, And I have charged on it its ways, And its habitual doings
I return to it.
And there shall be, like people, like priest,.... No
difference between them in their festivals, the one being as greedy of
committing intemperance and uncleanness as the other, and in their common
conversation of life; though the priests ought both to have given good
instructions, and to have set good examples; but instead of that were equally
guilty as the people, and so would be alike in their punishment, as it follows:
and I will punish them for their ways; their evil
ways, as the Targum; their wicked manner of life and conversation, both of the
people and the priests; especially the latter are meant: or, "I will visit
upon him his ways"F23ופקדתי עליו דרכיו "et visitabo
super eum vias ejus", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius, Schmidt. ; upon
everyone of the priests, as well as the people; which visit must be understood
in a way of wrath and vengeance:
and reward them their doings; reward them according to
their doings, as their sins deserve, and as it is explained in the next verse:
or, "I will return their doings to them"F24ומעלליו אשיב לו
"et opera ejus redire faciam", Zanchius. ; bring them back again,
when they seemed to be past and gone, and set them before them, and charge them
with them, and punish for them.
Hosea 4:10 10 For
they shall eat, but not have enough; They shall commit harlotry, but not
increase; Because they have ceased obeying the Lord.
YLT 10And they have eaten, and
are not satisfied, They have gone a-whoring, and increase not, For they have
left off taking heed to Jehovah.
For they shall eat, and not have enough,.... Namely,
the priests; for of them the words are continued, who ate of the sacrifices of
the people, and of feasts made in honour of idols; and yet, either what they
ate did not satisfy or nourish them, or else their appetites were still greedy
after more of the same kind: or this may respect a famine, either at the siege
of Samaria, or in their captivity; when they who had lived so voluptuously
should have so little to eat, that it should not satisfy them: or though, as
others, they eat to the honour of their idols, expecting to be blessed with
plenty by them, they shall not have it:
they shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase; that is,
their offspring; they shall not beget children, so the Targum, Jarchi, and
Kimchi; or the children they beget shall quickly die; yea, though they commit
whoredom in the idol's temple with that view, where the women prostituted
themselves for that purpose:
because they have left off to take heed to the Lord; to his word,
and worship, and ordinances, which they formerly had some regard unto, but now
had relinquished: or, "the Lord they have forsaken", or "left
off to observe"F25את יהוה עזבו לשמר
"Jehovam desierunt observare", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator,
Rivetus, Liveleus; "ad observandum", Schmidt; "reliquerunt
observare", Cocceius; "deseruerunt observare", so some in
Vatablus. ; his ways, his word, and worship. R. Saadiah connects this with the
following words, they have forsaken the Lord to observe fornication and wine;
but wrongly.
Hosea 4:11 11 “Harlotry,
wine, and new wine enslave the heart.
YLT 11Whoredom, and wine, and new
wine, take the heart,
Whoredom and wine, and new wine, take away the heart. Uncleanness
and intemperance besot men, deprive them of reason and judgment, and even of
common sense, make them downright fools, and so stupid as to do the following
things; or they take away the heart from following the Lord, and taking heed to
him, and lead to idolatry; or they "occupy"F26יקח לב "occupant cor",
so some in Calvin and Rivet; "occupavit cor", Schmidt. the heart, and
fill it up, and cause it to prefer sensual lusts and pleasures to the fear and
love of God: their stupidity brought on hereby is exposed in the next verse;
though it seems chiefly to respect the priests, who erred in vision through
wine and strong drink, and stumbled in judgment, Isaiah 28:7.
Hosea 4:12 12 My
people ask counsel from their wooden idols, And their staff informs
them. For the spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray, And they have
played the harlot against their God.
YLT 12My people at its staff
asketh and its rod declareth to it, For a spirit of whoredoms hath caused to
err, And they go a-whoring from under their God.
My people ask counsel at their stocks,.... Or
"at his wood"F1בעצו "in
ligno suo", V. L. Montanus, Calvin; "liguum suum", Pagninus,
Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. , or stick; his wooden image, as the Targum;
their wooden gods, their idols made of wood, mere stocks and blocks, without
life or sense, and much less reason and understanding, and still less divinity.
Reference is here had either to the matter of which an idol was made, being the
trunk of a tree, or a block of wood; as the poetF2Horat. Sermon. l.
1. Satyr. 8. introduces Priapus saying, "olim truncus eram ficulnus,
inutile lignum": or to sticks of wood themselves, without being put into
any form or shape; for so it is reportedF3Alexand. ab Alex. Genial.
Dier. l. 6. c. 26. , that the ancient idolaters used to receive for gods, with
great veneration, trees or pieces of wood, having the bark taken off; particularly
the Carians worshipped for Diana a piece of wood, not hewed, squared, or planedF4Arnobius
adv. Gentes, l. 6. p. 232. : though the first seems rather to be the sense
here; and either was extremely foolish. And yet such was the stupidity of this
people, whom God had formerly chose for his people and had distinguished them
by his favours from others, and they had professed themselves to be his people,
and as yet were not utterly cast off, as to forsake him and his divine oracles,
and all methods of knowing his will; as to ask counsel of such wooden deities
in matters of moment and difficulty, what should be done by them, or concerning
things to come.
And their staff declareth unto them; what methods are to be
taken by them in the present case, or what shall come to pass, as they fancy;
that is, either their idol, made of a staff or stick of wood, or a little image
carried on a staff; such as probably were the teraphim they consulted, instead
of the Urim and Thummim; and imagined they declared to them what they should
do, or what would befall them. Kimchi's father interprets it of the false
prophets on whom they depended, and whose declarations they received as
oracles. Perhaps some respect is had to a sort of divination used among the
Heathens by rods and staves, called "rhabdomancy", which the Jews had
learnt of them; like that by arrows used by Nebuchadnezzar, Ezekiel 21:21. This
was performed by setting up a stick or staff, and as that fell, so they judged
and determined what was to be done. The manner, according to Theophylact on the
place, was this,
"they
set up two rods, and muttered some verses and enchantments; and then the rods
falling through the influence of demons, they considered how they fell, whether
forward or backward, to the right or the left; and so gave answers to the
foolish people, using the fall of the rods for signs.'
The
Jews take this to be forbid by that negative precept, Deuteronomy 18:10,
"there shall not be found among you any that useth divination". So
Jarchi and Baal Hatturim on that text explain a diviner by one that holds his staff;
and the former adds and says, shall I go, or shall I not go? as it is said,
"my people ask counsel at their stocks", &c.; the manner of which
they thus describeF5Moses Kotsensis praecept. neg. 52. ,
"when
they are about to go on a journey, they inquire before they set out, i.e.
whether it will be prosperous or not; and the diviner takes a branch of a tree,
and takes off the bark on one side, and leaves it on the other, and then throws
it out of his hand; if, when it falls, the bark is uppermost, he says, this is
a man; then he casts it again, and if the white is uppermost, this is a woman;
to a man, and after that a woman, this is a good sign, and he goes his journey,
or does what be desires to do: but if the white appears first, and after that
the bark, then he says, to a woman, and after that a man, and he forbears (that
is, to go on his journey, or do what he desired): but if the bark is uppermost
in both (throws), or the white uppermost in both, to a man after a man, and a
woman after a woman, then his journey (as to the success of it) is between
both; and so they say they do in the land of Slavonia.'
And
from the Slavonians, Grotius says, the Germans took this way of divination, of
which TacitusF6De Moribus German. c. 10. gives an account; and it seems
by him that the Chaldeans also had it, from whom the Jews might have it. This
way of divination by the staff is a little differently given in Hascuni:F7Apud
Drusium in Deut. xviii. 10. the diviner measures his staff with his finger, or
with his hand; one time he says, I will go; another time, I will not go; but if
it happens, at the end of the staff, I will not go, he goes not.
For the spirit of whoredom hath caused them to err; a violent
inclination and bias of mind to idolatry, which is spiritual adultery, and a
strong affection for it, stirred up by an evil spirit, the devil; which so
wrought upon them, and influenced them, as to cause them to wander from the
true God, and his worship, as follows:
and they have gone a whoring from under their God; or
"erred
from the worship of their God,'
as
the Targum; from the true God, who stood in the relation of a husband to them;
but, led by a spirit of error, they departed from him, and committed spiritual
adultery, that is, idolatry; which is explained and enlarged upon in the next
verse.
Hosea 4:13 13 They
offer sacrifices on the mountaintops, And burn incense on the hills, Under
oaks, poplars, and terebinths, Because their shade is good. Therefore
your daughters commit harlotry, And your brides commit adultery.
YLT 13On tops of the mountains
they do sacrifice, And on the hills they make perfume, Under oak, and poplar,
and terebinth, For good [is] its shade.
They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains,.... The
highest part of them, nearest to the heavens, where they built their altars to
idols, and offered sacrifice unto them, as we often read in Scripture they did:
and burn incense upon the hills; to their idols, which
was one kind of sacrifice put for all others:
under oaks, and poplars, and elms; and indeed under every
green tree that grew upon them, where there were groves of them raised up for
this purpose; see Jeremiah 2:20,
because the shadow, thereof is good; the shadow of these
trees, of each of them, was large, and preserved them from the sultry heat of
the sun, as well as hid them from the sight of men; they could perform their
idolatrous rites, as well as gratify their impure lusts, with more privacy and
secrecy; and perhaps they thought the gods delighted in such shady places, and
that these were frequented by spirits, and the departed souls of men; in such
places the Heathens, whom the Jews imitated, built their temples, and offered
their sacrificesF7"Lucus in urbe fuit media, laetissimus umbra:
Hic templum Junoni ingens Sidonia Dido Condebat." Virgil. Aeneid. l. 1. .
The "oak" is a very spreading tree; its branches are large, and its
shadow very great: hence the religious Heathens in ancient times used to live
under them, and worship them as gods, and dedicate temples to them, because
they furnished them with acorns for food, and a shelter from the rain, and
other inclemencies of the heavensF8Vid. Chartarii Imagines Deorum,
p. 5. ; particularly the oak was consecrated to Jupiter, as appears from what
Virgil saysF9"Sicubi magna Jovis antiquo robore quercus,
Ingenteis tendat ramos------", Georgic. l. 3. "Altissima quercus erat
Jovis signum", Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 4. c. 12. . The oak at
Dodona is famous for its antiquity, where were a fountain and groves, and a
temple dedicated to the same Heathen deity; and from whence oracles were given
forthF11Vid. Pausan. Attica, sive l. 1. p. 30. Achaica, sive l. 7.
p. 438. Arcadica, sive l. 8. p. 490. & Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 6.
c. 2. . The Druids here in Britain chose to have their groves of oaks; nor did
they perform any of their sacred rites without the leaves of them: hence PlinyF12Nat.
Hist. l. 16. c. 44. says they had their name. The "poplar" mentioned
is the white poplar, as the word used signifies, and which affords a very
hospitable shadow, as the poetF13"Qua pinus ingens albaque
populus, Umbram hospitalem consociare amant Ramis------" Horat. calls it;
and this was a tree also with the Heathens sacred to their gods, particularly
to HerculesF14"Populus Alcidae gratissima", Virgil.
Bucolic. Eclog. 7. Vid. Aeneid. l. 1. "Herculi populus", Plin. Nat.
Hist. l. 12. c. 1. ; because it is said he brought it first into Greece from
the river Acheron, where it grew; and the wood of no other tree would the
Eleans use, in preparing the sacrifices for Jupiter OlympiusF15Pausan.
Eliac. 1. sive l. 5. p. 313. . The "elm" is also a very shady tree;
hence VirgilF16Aeneid. l. 6. calls it "ulmus opaca, ingens":
and under this tree sacrifices used to be offered to idols, as is evident from Ezekiel 6:13, where
the same word is used as here, though it is there rendered an "oak";
but that it is different from the oak appears from these two words being read
together, so that they cannot be names of one and the same tree, Isaiah 6:13, where
it is rendered the "teil tree", as distinct from the oak. Now these
trees being very shady ones, and under which the Gentiles used to perform their
religious rites, the Jews imitated them therein, which is here complained of.
Therefore your daughters shall commit whoredoms, and your spouses
shall commit adultery; or their "sons' wives"F17כלותיכם "nurus vestrae", Montanus, Vatablus,
Piscator, Liveleus, Cocceius, Schmidt, Gussetius. ; either spiritually, that
is, commit idolatry by the example of their parents and husbands; or
corporeally, being left at home while their parents and husbands were
worshipping their idols upon the mountains, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi: and so
this is to be considered as a punishment of the idolatry of their parents and
husbands; that as they commit spiritual adultery against God, or idolatry,
their daughters and wives shall be given up to such vile affections, or by
force shall be made to commit corporeal adultery against them; or rather the
sense is, led by the example of their parents and husbands, whom they see not
only sacrifice to idols in the above places, but commit uncleanness with
harlots there, they will throw off all shame, and commit whoredom with men: for
so the words may be rendered, "hence your daughters", &c.; so
Abarbinel.
Hosea 4:14 14 “I
will not punish your daughters when they commit harlotry, Nor your brides when
they commit adultery; For the men themselves go apart with harlots, And
offer sacrifices with a ritual harlot.[c] Therefore
people who do not understand will be trampled.
YLT 14Therefore commit whoredom
do your daughters, And your spouses commit adultery, I do not see after your
daughters when they commit whoredom, And after your spouses when they commit
adultery, For they with the harlots are separated, And with the whores they do
sacrifice, A people that doth not understand kicketh.
I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredoms, nor
your spouses when they commit adultery,.... Either not punish
them at all, so that they shall go on in sin, and to a greater degree, to the
disgrace and reproach of their parents and husbands; or not as yet, or not so
severely in them, because it was by their example they were led into it.
Jarchi's note is very impertinent, that God threatens them with the disuse of
the bitter waters of jealousy. The words are by some rendered interrogatively,
"shall I not punish your daughters?" &c.F18So Junius
& Tremellius, Piscator, Schmidt. ; verily I will; and not them only, but
their parents and husbands too, who deserve more severe corrections:
for themselves are separated with whores, and sacrifice with
harlots; they separated themselves to Baalpeor, that shameful idol, Hosea 9:10, the
Priapus of the Gentiles, in whose idolatrous worship many obscene rites were
used; these men separated themselves from their wives, as well as from God and
his worship, and from the company and conversation of men, and in private
committed uncleanness with the women that attended, and with the female priests
that officiated at the worship of idols; those "sanctified" ones, as
the word may be rendered; and after that ate of things offered to idols with
them. So the Targum,
"they
associated themselves with whores, and ate and drank with harlots.'
Some
versions understand the latter of catamites, or sodomitical persons, and of the
wickedness practised by them in such places.
Therefore the people that doth not understand; the law, as
the Targum; what is to be done, and what to be avoided; the difference between
the true and false religion; have no knowledge of divine and spiritual things,
at least are very wavering and unsettled in their minds about religion, having
thought little, and know less, of the matter:
shall fall: into idolatry and adultery, led by such examples. So the
Septuagint version, "is implicated with a whore"; or "embraces a
whore", as the Syriac and Arabic versions; see Proverbs 7:22 or
shall fall into calamities, ruin, and destruction; shall be dashed, as the
Targum; so the Arabic interpreter of Mark 9:26, uses the
word: though Aben Ezra and Kimchi say, that in the Arabic language it signifies
to be perplexed and disturbed, so as not to know what to doF19Vid.
R. Sol. Urbin, Ohel Moed, fol. 43. 2. . The first sense seems to be best, of
being scandalized, offended, and stumbling and falling into sin; and which
Abarbinel suggests, and it agrees with what follows concerning Judah.
Hosea 4:15 15 “Though
you, Israel, play the harlot, Let not Judah offend. Do not come up to Gilgal, Nor
go up to Beth Aven, Nor swear an oath, saying, ‘As the Lord lives’—
YLT 15Though a harlot thou [art],
O Israel, Let not Judah become guilty, And come not ye in to Gilgal, nor go up
to Beth-Aven, Nor swear ye, Jehovah liveth.
Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend,.... That is,
though the Israelites, the people of the ten tribes, committed adultery, both
corporeal and spiritual, in their idolatrous worship, as before observed, to
which they had been used ever since the times of Jeroboam the first, and were
hardened therein, and from which there were little hopes of reforming them; yet
let not the men of Judah be guilty of the same crimes, who have as yet retained
the pure worship of God among them; where the house of God is, and the priests
of the Lord officiate, and sacrifices are offered up to him according to his
will, and all other parts of religious service are performed: or the whole
seems to be directed to Israel, as an exhortation to them, that though they had
given into such abominations, yet should be careful not to offend Judah, or
cause them to stumble and fall, and become guilty of the same sins, and so be
exposed to the same punishment; and which would be an aggravation of Israel's
sin, to draw others into it with them:
and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven; to worship
idols in those places; otherwise it might be lawful to go to them on any civil
accounts: Gilgal was upon the borders of the ten tribes, between them and
Judah, where Joshua circumcised the Israelites; kept the first passover in the
land; and where the ark and tabernacle were for a time; and perhaps for these
reasons was chosen for a place of idolatrous worship: Bethaven is the same with
Bethel, the name Jacob gave it, signifying the house of God; but when Jeroboam
set up one of his calves here, the prophets, by way of contempt, called it
Bethaven, the house of iniquity, or the house of an idol; though there was a
place called Bethaven near Bethel, and Ai, as Kimchi observes, and as appears
from Joshua 7:2, yet
Bethel was sometimes so called, as it seems to be here, because of the idolatry
in it; and so the TalmudistsF21T. Hieros Avoda Zara, fol. 43. 1.
say, the place called Bethel is now called Bethaven. Now the question is,
whether Judah or Israel are here addressed; many interpreters carry it in the
former sense, as if the men of Judah were dissuaded from going to these places
for worship, when the temple, the proper place of worship, was in their own
tribe; but the speech seems rather to be directed to the Israelites, to stop going
to these places for worship; for being so near to Judah, they might be the
means of ensnaring and drawing them into the same idolatrous practices:
nor swear, the Lord liveth; or swear by the living
God, so long as they worshipped idols; for it was not well pleasing to God to
have his name used by idolaters, or joined with their idols: especially as they
meant their idol when they swore by the Lord.
Hosea 4:16 16 “For
Israel is stubborn Like a stubborn calf; Now the Lord will let them
forage Like a lamb in open country.
YLT 16For as a refractory heifer
hath Israel turned aside, Now doth Jehovah feed them as a lamb in a large
place.
For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer,.... A heifer
or young cow Israel is compared unto; the rather, because of the object of
their idolatrous worship, the calves at Dan and Bethel: the Septuagint calls
them "heifers": which they are hereby put in mind of, and upbraided
with; as also to express their brutish stupidity in worshipping such idols, in
which they obstinately persisted: and so were like a "refractory" and
"untamed" heifer, as someF23סררה
"refractaria", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Tarnovius, Schmidt;
"indomita", Calvin, Drusius. render it, which will not be kept within
bounds, either within doors or without, but breaks through, and passes over,
all fences and enclosures; as they did, who transgressed the laws of God, and
would not be restrained by them: or like a heifer unaccustomed to the yoke,
which will not submit to it, but wriggles its neck from under it: so the
Israelites would not be subject to the yoke of the law of God, were sons of
Belial, children without a yoke; or like one, though yoked, yet would not draw
the plough, but slid back in the furrows, even though goaded; so they, though
stimulated by the prophets, whose words were as goads and pricks to push them
on, yet would not hearken to them, but pulled away the shoulder, and slid back
from the ways and worship of God; hence called backsliding Israel, Jeremiah 3:6, and
this is either a reason why Judah should not follow their example, because
backsliders, or why they should be punished, as follows:
now, or "therefore"F24ועתה
"quare, ideo, nunc itaque", Schmidt; "igitur nunc",
Coeceius. ,
the Lord will feed them as a lamb in a large place: not that they
were like lambs for the good properties of them, innocence, harmlessness,
meekness, and patience; nor fed as the Lord feeds his lambs, and gathers them
in his arms; but either as a heifer in sheep pasture, in short commons, for
that creature cannot live where sheep and lambs can; or rather as a lamb that
is alone, separate from the flock, not under the care of any shepherd; but
exposed to every beast of prey upon a large common, on a wild desert and
uncultivated place; afraid of every thing it hears and sees; bleating after its
dam, of whose sustenance and nourishment it is destitute; and so is expressive
of the state and condition of Israel in captivity, in the large Assyrian
empire; and dispersed among the nations, where they were weak and helpless,
destitute of all good things, and exposed to all dangers, and to every enemy.
Aben Ezra and Kimchi understand the words in a good sense, that the Lord would
have fed them as lambs in a large place, in an affluent manner, but that they
rebelled and backslided: and to this sense the Targum seems to incline, which
paraphrases the whole verse thus,
"for
as an ox which is fattened and kicks, so Israel rebels because of the multitude
of good things; now the Lord will lead them as a choice lamb in a valley,'
or
plain: and so Noldius, "though Israel is refractory", &c.
notwithstanding the Lord will feed them, &c.; and
indeed the phrase is used in a good sense in Isaiah 30:23, but
there herds and flocks are spoken of, and not a single lamb, as here; though
Kimchi thinks the singular is put for the plural, lamb for lambs.
Hosea 4:17 17 “Ephraim
is joined to idols, Let him alone.
YLT 17Joined to idols [is]
Ephraim, let him alone.
Ephraim is joined to idols,.... That is, the ten
tribes of Israel, frequently so called after their separation from the rest,
because that Jeroboam, by whom the revolt was made, was of that tribe; and
because that tribe was the principal of them, and Samaria, the metropolis of
their kingdom, was in it: and so the Targum here renders it,
"the
house of Israel are joined to idols;'
to
the calves at Dan and Bethel; to Baal, and other idols, they worshipped: the
phrase expresses their strong affection for them, their constant worship of
them, and their obstinate persisting therein, and the difficulty there was of
bringing them off of it; they cleaved to their idols, were glued, and as it
were wedded unto them, and there was no separating of them; as men are, who are
addicted to the lusts of the flesh, to the mammon of unrighteousness, or to
their own self-righteousness, or to any idol they set up in their hearts as
such: hence it follows,
let them alone: which are either the words of the Lord to
the prophet, enjoining him to prophesy no more to them; to reprove them no more
for their sins, since it was all to no purpose, there was no reclaiming them,
so Jarchi and Kimchi; and therefore let them alone, let them go on in their
sins, and in their errors, and in their superstition and idolatry; see Ezekiel 3:26. God
was determined to let them alone himself, and therefore bids his prophet to do
so likewise: and sad is the case with men when he lets them alone, and will not
disturb their consciences any more by jogs and convictions, but gives them up
to a seared conscience, to hardness of heart, and to their own lusts; when he
will not hedge up their way with thorns, or distress them with afflictive
providences, and hinder them from going on in a course of sin and wickedness;
nor give them restraining grace, but suffer them to go on in the broad road,
till they drop into hell; and says of them,
let him that is filthy be filthy still, Revelation 22:11 or
else they are the words of the prophet to the men of Judah, to have nothing to
do with Israel, since they were such backsliders and idolaters; to have no
communion and conversation with them, but let them be alone, and worship alone
for them; since what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness, light
with darkness, Christ with Belial, a believer with an infidel, or the temple of
the living God with idols and idolaters? 2 Corinthians 6:14,
some take them to be the words of the prophet to God concerning Israel,
approving of his righteous judgments, in threatening to feed them as a lamb in
a large place; dismiss him thither, suffer and leave him to feed there. The
Targum interprets it of their sin, and not their punishment,
"they
have left their worship;'
the
service of God.
Hosea 4:18 18 Their
drink is rebellion, They commit harlotry continually. Her rulers dearly[d] love
dishonor.
YLT 18Sour [is] their drink, They
have gone diligently a-whoring, Her protectors have loved shame thoroughly.
Their drink is sour,.... In their stomachs,
having drank so much that they cannot digest it; hence nauseous eructations,
with a filthy stench, are belched out; so it is a charge of drunkenness which
Ephraim or the ten tribes were addicted to, and are accused of, Isaiah 28:1 or
"their drink is gone"F25סר סבאם "recessit potus eorum", Montanus, Drusius;
"recessit vinum eorum", Schmidt. ; it has lost its colour,
brightness, smell, and flavour; it is turned to vinegar; expressive of the
general corruption and depravity of manners and religion among them; see Isaiah 1:22 or
"their drink departeth", or "causeth to depart"; or
"is refractory"F26"Recedere fecit inerum eorum",
Tarnovius; "refractarium est merum eorum", Junius & Tremellius,
Piscator. ; that is, it made them refractory, like a refractory belief, as
before; caused them to depart from God and his worship, and led them into all
sin and irreligion, particularly what follows:
they have committed whoredom continually; corporeal
whoredom, which drunkenness leads to; and spiritual whoredom or idolatry, which
they had committed, and continued in, ever since the days of Jeroboam the son
of Nebat, and increased therein:
her rulers with shame do love, give ye; or "her
shields"F1מגניה "clypei
ejus", Montanus, Vatablus; "scuta ejus", Drusius, Tarnovius;
"cujus clypei", Cocceius. ; those that should have been the
protectors of Israel, compared before to a heifer; and preserved them not only
from their external enemies, but from all innovations in religion; and which we
rightly enough render "rulers", civil and ecclesiastic, kings,
princes, and priests; see Psalm 47:9, these
"loved, give ye", which was a "shame" to them: the sense
is, either they loved gifts and bribes, and were continually saying,
"give, give", when causes were to be tried, and so perverted justice
and judgment, which was very shameful; or they loved wine and strong drink, and
therefore required it to be continually given them, which was very scandalous
in rulers more especially, Proverbs 30:4; or
they loved whoredom, both in a corporeal and spiritual sense, and desired more
harlots and more idols, and added to their old ones, which was very abominable
and ignominious. So the Targum,
"they
turned themselves after fornication they loved, which brought shame unto them;'
and
these may be considered as so many reasons why Judah should have nothing to do
with Israel.
Hosea 4:19 19 The
wind has wrapped her up in its wings, And they shall be ashamed because of
their sacrifices.
YLT 19Distressed her hath wind
with its wings, And they are ashamed of their sacrifices!
The wind hath bound her up in her wings,.... That is,
the wind in its wings hath bound up Ephraim, Israel, or the ten tribes,
compared to a heifer; meaning, that the wind of God's wrath and vengeance, or
the enemy, the Assyrian, should come like a whirlwind, and carry them swiftly,
suddenly, and irresistibly, out of their own land, into a foreign country: the
past tense for the future, as is common in prophecy, because of the certainty
of it; so Jarchi and Joseph Kimchi: but Aben Ezra, David Kimchi, Abarbinel, and
Abendana, render it "she", that is, Israel, "hath bound up the
wind in her wings"F2צרר רוח אותה בכנפיה
"ligavit illa ventum in alis suis", Munster, Calvin, Tigurine
version. ; meaning that they had laboured in vain in their idolatrous worship;
and it was all one as if a than should attempt to gather the wind, and bind it
up in the skirts of his garment, and when he opens them there is nothing to be
found: and to this sense is the Targum,
"the
works of their great men are not right, as it is impossible to bind the wind in
a wing;'
referring
to the sins of their rulers, as before: or rather the sense is, the wind shall
get into the loose skirts of the garments of, he Israelites, which shall be as
a sail to it, as Schmidt observes, and shall carry them into distant lands;
which falls in with the first sense of the words, and is best:
and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices: they of the
ten tribes, the people of Israel; or their shields, their rulers, as Aben Ezra,
shall be filled with shame, being disappointed of the help they expected from
their idols, to whom they offered sacrifices; and the more, inasmuch as they
will find that these idolatrous sacrifices are the cause of their ruin and
destruction. The Targum is,
"because
of the altars of their idols;'
and
so the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, "because of their altars".
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》
New King James
Version (NKJV)