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Hosea Chapter
Seven
New King James Version (NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 7
This
chapter either begins a new sermon, discourse, or prophecy, or it is a
continuation of the former; at least it seems to be of the same argument with
the latter part of it, only it is directed to Israel alone; and consists of
complaints against them because of their manifold sins, and of denunciations of
punishment for them. They are charged with ingratitude to God, sinning in a
daring manner against mercy, and with falsehood, thefts, and robberies, Hosea 7:1; with
want of consideration of the omniscience of God, and his notice of their sins,
which surrounded them, Hosea 7:2; with
flattery to their king and princes, Hosea 7:3; with
adultery, which lust raged in them like a heated oven, Hosea 7:4; with
drunkenness, aggravated by drawing their king into it, Hosea 7:5; with
raging lusts, which devoured their judges, made their kings to fall, and
brought on such a general corruption, that there were none that called upon the
Lord, Hosea 7:6; with
mixing themselves with the nations of the earth, and so learning their ways,
and bringing their superstition and idolatry into the worship of God, so that
they were nothing in religion, like a half baked cake, Hosea 7:8; with
stupidity and insensibility of their declining state, Hosea 7:9; with
pride, impenitence, and stubbornness, Hosea 7:10; with
folly, in seeking to Egypt and Assyria for help, and not to the Lord; for which
they would be taken as birds in a net, and sorely chastised, Hosea 7:11; with
ingratitude, hypocrisy, and deceitfulness; for all which they are threatened
with destruction, Hosea 7:13.
Hosea 7:1 “When I would
have healed Israel, Then the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered, And the
wickedness of Samaria. For they have committed fraud; A thief comes in; A band
of robbers takes spoil outside.
YLT 1`When I give healing to
Israel, Then revealed is the iniquity of Ephraim, And the wickedness of
Samaria, For they have wrought falsehood, And a thief doth come in, Stript off
hath a troop in the street,
When I would have healed Israel,.... Or rather,
"when I healed Israel"F11כרפאי
"dum curo", Junius & Tremellius; "dum medeor",
Piscator, Zanchius, Calvin; "quando sanavi, vel sano", Schmidt. ; for
this is not to be understood of a velleity, wish, or desire of healing and
saving them, as Jarchi; nor of a bare attempt to do it by the admonitions of
the prophets, and by corrections in Providence; but of actual healing them; and
by which is meant, not healing them in a spiritual and religious sense, as in Hosea 6:1; but in a
political sense, of the restoring of their civil state to a more flourishing
condition; which was done in the times of Jeroboam the son of Joash, as Kimchi
rightly observes; who restored the coast of Israel, from the entering of
Hamath, unto the sea of the plain, 2 Kings 14:25;
then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of
Samaria; some refer this to the times of Jeroboam the first, and that the
sense is, that the Lord having cured Israel of the idolatry introduced by
Solomon, quickly a new scene of idolatry broke out in Ephraim, or the ten
tribes, of which Samaria was the metropolis; for Jeroboam soon set up the
calves at Dan and Bethel to be worshipped; but it does not appear that Israel
was corrupted with the idolatry of Solomon, and needed a cure then; nor was
Samaria built in Jeroboam's time: others apply it to the times of Jehu, who,
though he slew the worshippers of Baal, and broke his images, and destroyed him
out of Israel, yet retained the worship of the calves at Dan and Bethel, 2 Kings 10:25; so,
though they were healed of one sort of idolatry, another prevailed. It is
right, in both these senses, that the iniquity of Ephraim, and wickedness or
wickednesses of Samaria, are taken for the idolatrous worship of the golden
calves; but then it respects the times of Jeroboam the second, the son of
Joash, in whose days Israel was prosperous; and yet these superstitious and
idolatrous practices of worship were flagrant and notorious, were countenanced
by the king and his courtiers that dwelt at Samaria, as is clear from Amos 7:10; which
was an instance of great ingratitude to the Lord;
for they commit falsehood; among themselves, lying
to one another, and deceiving each other; or to God, deal falsely with him, are
guilty of false worship, worshipping idols, which are vanities and lies:
and the thief cometh in, and the troop of robbers spoileth
without; which may be interpreted either of their sins, their sins in
general, both private and public; and their sins of theft and robbery in
particular; both such as were committed in houses by the thief privately
entering there, and by a gang of robbers in the streets, or on the highway: so
the Targum,
"in
the night they thieve in houses, and in the day they rob on the plain,'
or
fields: or else of punishment for their sins; and then the words may be
renderedF12וגנב יבוא
פשט גדוד בחוץ "ideo fur ingreditur", Munster. So some in
Drusius. , "therefore the thief entereth in, and the troop" or
"army spreads without"; this thief was Shallum, who came in to kill
and to steal; he slew Zachariah the son of Jeroboam, after he had reigned six
months, and usurped the kingdom, and so put an end to the family of Jehu,
according as the Lord had threatened, 2 Kings 8:12; the
troop or army is the Assyrian army under Pul, who came against Menahem, king of
Israel, of whom he exacted a tribute, and departed, 2 Kings 15:19; so
Cocceius.
Hosea 7:2 2 They
do not consider in their hearts That I remember all their wickedness; Now
their own deeds have surrounded them; They are before My face.
YLT 2And they do not say to
their heart, [That] all their evil I have remembered, Now compassed them have
their doings, Over-against My face they have been.
And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all
their wickedness,.... That is, the people of the ten tribes, and the inhabitants
of Samaria, whose iniquity and wickedness are said to be discovered, and to be
very notorious: and yet "they said not to their hearts"F13ובל יאמרו ללבבם
"et non dicebant ad cor suum", Cocceius; "et non dicunt cordi
suo", Schmidt. , as in the original text; they did not think within
themselves; they did not commune with their own hearts; they did not put
themselves in mind, or put this to their consciences, that the Lord saw all
their wicked actions, their idolatry, falsehood, thefts, and robberies, and
whatsoever they were guilty of; that the Lord took notice of them, and put them
down in the book of his remembrance, in order to call them to an account, and
punish them for them:
now their own doings have beset them about; or,
"that now their own doings", &c.F14עתה
סבבום מעלליהם "quod
circumdent ipsos opera eorum", Schmidt. ; they do not consider in their
hearts that their sins are all around them, on every side, committed by them
openly, and in abundance, and are notorious to all their neighbours, and much
more to the omniscient God: and that
they are before my face; so the Targum,
"which
are revealed before me;'
were
manifest in his sight, before whom all things are; but this they did not
consider, and therefore went on in that bold and daring manner they did. Some
understand these clauses of the punishment of their sins, which should surround
them on every side, that they should not be able to escape, like persons
closely besieged in a city, that they cannot get out; alluding to the future
siege of Samaria, when it would be a plain case, though they did not now think
of it, that all their sins were before the Lord, and were observed by him.
Hosea 7:3 3 They
make a king glad with their wickedness, And princes with their lies.
YLT 3With their wickedness they
make glad a king, And with their lies -- princes.
They make the king glad with their wickedness,.... Not any
particular king; not Jeroboam the first, as Kimchi; nor Jehu, as Grotius; if
any particular king, rather Jeroboam the second; but their kings in general, as
the Septuagint render it, in succession, one after another; who were highly
delighted and pleased with the priests in offering sacrifice to the calves, and
with the people in attending to that idolatrous worship, by which they hoped to
secure the kingdom of Israel to themselves, and prevent the people going to
Jerusalem to worship: it made them glad to the heart to hear them say that God
was as well pleased with sacrifices offered at Dan and Bethel, as at Jerusalem:
and the princes with their lies; with their idols and
idolatrous practices, which are vanity and a lie; though some interpret this of
their flatteries, either of them, or their favourites; and of their calumnies
and detractions of such they had a dislike of.
Hosea 7:4 4 “They
are all adulterers. Like an oven heated by a baker— He ceases stirring the
fire after kneading the dough, Until it is leavened.
YLT 4All of them [are]
adulterers, Like a burning oven of a baker, He ceaseth from stirring up after
kneading the dough, till its leavening.
They are all adulterers,.... King, princes,
priests, and people, both in a spiritual and corporeal sense; they were all
idolaters, given to idols try, eager of it, and constant in it, as the
following metaphors show; and they were addicted to corporeal adultery; this
was a prevailing vice among all ranks and degrees of men. So the Targum,
"they
all desire to lie with their neighbours' wives;'
see
Jeremiah 5:7;
as an oven heated by the baker; which, if understood of
spiritual adultery or idolatry, denotes their eagerness after it, and fervour
in it, excited by their king, or by the devil and his instruments, the priests
and false prophets; and if of bodily uncleanness, it is expressive of the heat
of that lust, which is sometimes signified by burning; and is stirred up by the
devil and the corrupt hearts of men to such a degree as to be raised to a
flame, and be like a raging fire, or a heated oven; see Romans 1:27;
who ceaseth from raising; that is, the
baker, having heated his oven, ceaseth from raising up the women to bring their
bread to the bake house; or he ceaseth from waking, or from watching his oven;
he lays himself down to sleep, and continues in it:
after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened; having
kneaded the dough, and put in the leaven, he lets it alone to work till the
whole mass is leavened, taking his rest in the mean while: as the former clause
expresses the vehement desire of the people after adultery, spiritual or
corporeal, this may signify their continuance in it; or rather the wilful
negligence of the king, priests, and prophets, who, instead of awaking them out
of their sleep on a bed of adultery, let them alone in it, until they were all
infected with it.
Hosea 7:5 5 In
the day of our king Princes have made him sick, inflamed with wine; He
stretched out his hand with scoffers.
YLT 5A day of our king! Princes
have polluted themselves [with] the poison of wine, He hath drawn out his hand
with scorners.
In the day of our king,.... Either his birthday,
or his coronation day, when he was inaugurated into his kingly office, as the
Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi; or the day on which Jeroboam set up the calves,
which might be kept as an anniversary: or, "it is the day of our
king"F15יום מלכנו
"dies regis nostri", V. L. Calvin, Tigurine version, Tarnovius,
Cocceius, Schmidt. ; and may be the words of the priests and false prophets,
exciting the people to adultery; and may show by what means they drew them into
it, saying this is the king's birthday, or coronation day, or a holy day of his
appointing, let us meet together, and drink his health; and so by indulging to
intemperance, through the heat of wine, led them on to adultery, corporeal or
spiritual, or both:
the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine: that is, the
courtiers who attended at court on such a day to compliment the king upon the
occasion, and to drink his health, drank to him in large cups, perhaps a bottle
of wine at once; which he pledging them in the same manner, made him sick or
drunk: to make any man drunk is criminal, and especially a king; as it was also
a weakness and sin in him to drink to excess, which is not for kings, of all
men, to do: or it may be rendered, "the princes became sick through the
heat of wine"F16החלו שרים חמת מיין
"argotarunt principes a calore vini", Liveleus; "morbo afficiunt
se calore ex vino", Tarnovius. , so Jarchi; they were made sick by others,
or they made themselves so by drinking too much wine, which inflamed their
bodies, gorged their stomachs, made their heads dizzy, and them so
"weak", as the wordF17"Quem infirmant principes aestu
a vino", Cocceius; "infirmum facerunt", Munster;
"infirmant", Schmidt. also signifies, that they could not stand upon
their legs; which are commonly the effects of excessive drinking, especially in
those who are not used to it, as the king and the princes might not be, only on
such occasions:
he stretched out his hand with scorners; meaning the
king, who, in his cups, forgetting his royal dignity, used too much familiarity
with persons of low life, and of an ill behaviour, irreligious ones; who,
especially when drunk, made a jest of all religion; scoffed at good men, and
everything that was serious; and even set their mouths against the heavens;
denied there was a God, or spoke very indecently and irreverently of him; these
the king made his drinking companions, took the cup, and drank to them in turn,
and shook them by the hand; or admitted them to kiss his hand, and were all
together, hail fellows well met. Joseph Kimchi thinks these are the same with
the princes, called so before they were drunk, but afterwards
"scorners".
Hosea 7:6 6 They
prepare their heart like an oven, While they lie in wait; Their baker[a] sleeps all
night; In the morning it burns like a flaming fire.
YLT 6For they have drawn near,
As an oven [is] their heart, In their lying in wait all the night sleep doth
their baker, Morning! he is burning as a flaming fire.
For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles they lie
in wait,.... The prince, people, and scorners before mentioned, being
heated with wine, and their lust enraged, they were ready for any wickedness;
for the commission of adultery, lying in wait for their neighbours' wives to
debauch them; or for rebellion and treason against their king, and even the
murder of him, made drunk by them, whom they now despised, and waited for an
opportunity to dispatch him:
their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a
flaming fire; as a baker having put wood into his oven, and kindled it, leaves
it, and sleeps all night, and in the morning it is all burning, and in a flame,
and his oven is thoroughly heated, and fit for his purpose; so the evil
concupiscence in these men's hearts, made hot like an oven, rests all night,
devising mischief on their beds, either against the chastity of their
neighbours' wives, or against the lives of others, they bear an ill will to,
particularly against their judges and their kings, as Hosea 7:7; seems to
intimate; and in the morning this lust of uncleanness or revenge is all in a
flame, and ready to execute the wicked designs contrived; see Micah 2:1. Some by
"their baker" understand Satan; others, their king asleep and secure;
others Shallum, the head of the conspiracy against Zachariah.
Hosea 7:7 7 They
are all hot, like an oven, And have devoured their judges; All their kings have
fallen. None among them calls upon Me.
YLT 7All of them are warm as an
oven, And they have devoured their judges, All their kings have fallen, There
is none calling unto Me among them.
They are all hot as an oven,.... Eager upon their
idolatry, or burning in their unclean desires after other men's wives; or
rather raging and furious, hot with anger and wrath against their rulers and
governors, breathing out slaughter and death unto them:
and have devoured their judges; that stood in the way of
their lusts, reproved them for them, and restrained them from them; or were on
the side of the king they conspired against, and were determined to depose and
slay:
all their kings have fallen; either into sin, the sin
of idolatry particularly, as all from Jeroboam the first did, down to Hoshea
the last; or they fell into calamities, or by the sword of one another, as did
most of them; so Zachariah by Shallum, Shallum by Menahem, Pekahiah by Pekah,
and Pekah by Hoshea; see 2 Kings 15:1. So
the Targum,
"all
their kings are slain:'
there is none among
them that calleth unto me; either among the kings, when their lives
were in danger from conspirators; or none among the people, when their land was
in distress, either by civil wars among themselves, or by a foreign enemy; such
was their stupidity, and to such a height was irreligion come to among them!
Hosea 7:8 8 “Ephraim
has mixed himself among the peoples; Ephraim is a cake unturned.
YLT 8Ephraim! among peoples he
mixeth himself, Ephraim hath been a cake unturned.
Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people,.... Either
locally, by dwelling among them, as some of them at least might do among the
Syrians; or carnally, by intermarrying with them, contrary to the command of
God; or civilly, by entering into alliances and confederacies with them, as
Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel did with Rezin king of Syria, Isaiah 7:2; or by
seeking to them for help, calling to Egypt, and going to Assyria, as in Hosea 7:11; so Aben
Ezra; or morally, by learning their manners, and conforming to their customs,
especially in religious things: though some understand this as a punishment
threatened them for their above sins, that they should be carried captive into
foreign lands, and so be mixed among the people, and which is Jarchi's sense:
but it is rather to be considered as their evil in joining with other nations
in their superstition, idolatry, and other impieties; and it is highly
offensive to God when his professing people mix themselves with the world, keep
company with the men of it, fashion themselves according to them, do as they do,
and wilfully go into their conversation, and repeat it, and continue therein,
and resolve to do so: for so it may be rendered, "he will mix
himself"F18הוא יתבולל
"miscebit sese", Zanchius. ; it denotes a voluntary act, repeated and
persisted in with obstinacy;
Ephraim is a cake not turned; like a cake that is laid
on coats, if it is not turned, the nether part will be burnt, and the upper
part unbaked, and so be good for noticing; not fit to be eaten, being nothing
indeed, neither bread nor dough; and so may signify, that Ephraim having
introduced much of the superstition and idolatry of the Gentiles into religious
worship, was nothing in religion, neither fish nor flesh, as is proverbially
said of persons and things of which nothing can be made; they worshipped the
calves at Dan and Bethel, and Yet swore by the name of the Lord; they halted
between two opinions, and were of neither; they were like the hotch potch
inhabitants of Samaria in later times, that came in their place, that feared
the Lord, and served their own gods: and such professors of religion there are,
who are nothing in religion; nothing in principle, they have no scheme of
principles; they are neither one thing nor another; they are nothing in
experience; if they have a form of godliness, they deny the power of it; they
are nothing in practice, all they do is to be seen of men; they are neither hot
nor cold, especially not throughout, or on both sides, like a cake unturned;
but are lukewarm and indifferent, and therefore very disagreeable to the Lord.
Some take this to be expressive of punishment, and not of fault; either of
their partial captivity by Tiglathpileser, when only a part of them was carried
captive; or of the swift and total destruction of them by their enemies, who
would be like hungry and half starved persons, who meeting with a cake on the
coals half baked, snatch it up, and eat it, not staying for the turning and
baking it on the other side; and thus it should be with them. So the Targum,
"the
house of Ephraim is like to a cake baked on coals, which before it is turned is
eaten.'
Hosea 7:9 9 Aliens
have devoured his strength, But he does not know it; Yes, gray hairs are
here and there on him, Yet he does not know it.
YLT 9Devoured have strangers his
power, And he hath not known, Also old age hath sprinkled [itself] on him, And
he hath not known.
Strangers have devoured his strength,.... Or his
substance, as the Targum; his wealth and riches, fortresses and strong holds:
these strangers were either the Syrians, who, in the times of Jehoahaz,
destroyed Ephraim or the Israelites, and so weakened them, as to make them like
the dust by threshing, 2 Kings 12:7; or
the Assyrians, first under Pul king of Assyria, who came out against Menahem
king of Israel, and exacted a tribute of a thousand talents of silver, and so
drained them of their treasure, which was their strength, 2 Kings 15:19; and
then under Tiglathpileser, another king of Assyria, who came and took away from
them many of their fortified places, and carried the inhabitants captive, 2 Kings 15:29;
and he knoweth it not; is not sensible how much
he is weakened by such exactions and depredations; or does not take notice of
the hand of God in all this; does not consider from whence it comes, what is
the cause of it, and for what ends;
yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not; or, "old
age has sprinkled itself upon him"F19שיבה
זרקה בו "canities
sparsit se in eo", Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius, Schmidt; "cani
sparsi sunt", Tigurine version; "canities aspergit eum", Junius
& Tremellius, Piscator; so Latin writers: "sparserit et nigras alba
senecta comas". Propert. l. 3. Eleg. 4. "Jam mihi deterior canis
aspergitur aetas". Ovid. de Ponto, l. 1. Eleg. 5. ; or, "gray hairs
are sprinkled on him"; gray hairs, when thick, are a sign that old age is
come; and, when sprinkled here and there, are symptoms of its coming on, and of
a person's being on the decline of life; and here it signifies the weak and
declining state of Israel, through the exactions and depredations of their
neighbours, and that theft utter ruin was near; and yet they did not know nor
consider their latter end, nor repent of their sins and acknowledge them, and
return unto the Lord, and implore his mercy: so carnal professors, who mix with
the men of the world, that are strangers to God and godliness, and everything
that is divine and good, are devoured by them; they lose their time and
substance, and their precious souls, and are not aware of it. The symptoms of
the declining state of the church of God are at this time upon us, and yet not
taken notice of; such as great departures from the faith; a number of false teachers
risen up; great failings off of professors, and of such who have made a great
figure in the church; a small number of faithful men; great coldness and
lukewarmness to spiritual things; little faith on the earth; great neglect of
Gospel worship and ordinances; much sleepiness and drowsiness; great immorality
and profaneness: as also the symptoms of the declining state of the world, and
of its drawing to its period; as wars, and rumours of wars, famine, pestilence,
and earthquakes in divers places; volcanos, burning mountains, eruptions of
subterraneous fire, which portend the general conflagration; and yet these
things are little attended to.
Hosea 7:10 10 And
the pride of Israel testifies to his face, But they do not return to the Lord their God, Nor
seek Him for all this.
YLT 10And humbled hath been the
excellency of Israel to his face, And they have not turned back unto Jehovah
their God, Nor have they sought Him for all this.
And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face,.... See Gill
on Hosea 5:5;
notwithstanding their weak and declining state, they were proud and haughty;
entertained a high conceit of themselves, and of their good and safe condition;
and behaved insolently towards God, and were not humbled before him for their
sins. Their pride was notorious, which they themselves could not deny; they
were self-convicted, and self-condemned:
and they do not return to the Lord their God; by
acknowledgment of their sins, repentance for them, and reformation from them;
and by attendance on his worship, from which they had revolted; so the Targum,
"they
return not to the worship of the Lord their God:'
nor seek him for all this; though they are in this
wasting, declining, condition, and just upon the brink of ruin, yet they seek
not the face and favour of the Lord; they do not ask help of him, or implore
his mercy; and though they have been so long in these circumstances, and have
been gradually consuming for many years, yet in all this time they have made no
application to the Lord, that he would be favourable, and raise their sinking
state, and restore them to their former glory.
Hosea 7:11 11 “Ephraim
also is like a silly dove, without sense— They call to Egypt, They go to
Assyria.
YLT 11And Ephraim is as a simple
dove without heart, Egypt they called on -- [to] Asshur they have gone.
Ephraim also is like a silly dove, without heart,.... Or
understanding; which comes and picks up the corns of grain, which lie scattered
about, and does not know that the net is spread for it; and when its young are
taken away, it is unconcerned, and continues its nest in the same place still;
and, when frightened, flees not to its dove house, where it would be safe, but
flies about here and there, and so becomes a prey to others. Thus Ephraim,
going to Egypt and Assyria for help, were ensnared by them, not having sense
enough to perceive that this would be their ruin; and though they had
heretofore suffered by them, yet still they continued to make their addresses
to them; and instead of keeping close to the Lord, and to his worship and the
place of it, and asking counsel and help of him they ran about and sought for
it here and there:
they call to Egypt; that is, for help; as Hoshea king of
Israel, when he sent messengers to So or Sabacon king of Egypt, for protection
and assistance, 2 Kings 17:4. Such
a foolish part, like the silly doves, did they act; since the Egyptians had
been their implacable enemies, and their fathers had been in cruel bondage
under them:
they go to Assyria; send gifts and presents, and pay tribute to
the kings thereof, to make them easy; as Menahem did to Pul, and Hoshea to
Shalmaneser, 2 Kings 15:19. Some
understand this last clause, not of their sin in going to the Assyrian for
help; but of their punishment in going or being carried captive thither; and so
the Targum seems to interpret it,
"they
go captive, or are carried captive, into Assyria.'
Hosea 7:12 12 Wherever
they go, I will spread My net on them; I will bring them down like birds of the
air; I will chastise them According to what their congregation has heard.
YLT 12When they go I spread over
them My net, As the fowl of the heavens I bring them down, I chastise them as
their company hath heard.
When they shall go,.... That is, to Egypt or Assyria:
I will spread my net upon them; bring them into great
straits and difficulties; perhaps the Assyrian army is meant, which was the
Lord's net, guided, and directed, and spread by his providence, and according
to his will, to take this silly dove in; and which enclosed them on all sides,
that they could not escape; see Ezekiel 12:13.
Hoshea the king of Israel was taken by the Assyrian, and bound and shut up in
prison; Samaria the capital city was besieged three years, and then taken, 2 Kings 17:4;
I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven; though they fly
on high, soar aloft, and behave proudly, and fancy themselves out of all
danger; yet, as the flying fowl, the eagle, and other birds, may be brought
down to the earth by an arrow from the bow, or by some decoy so should they be
brought down from their fancied safe and exalted state, and be taken in the
net, and become a prey to their enemies:
I will chastise them, as their congregation hath heard; what was
written in the law, and in the prophets, were read and explained in the
congregations of Israel on their stated days they met together on for religious
worship; in which it was threatened, that if they did not observe the laws and
statutes of the Lord their God, but neglected and broke them, they should be
severely chastised and corrected with his sore judgments, famine, pestilence,
the sword of the enemy, and captivity: and now the Lord would fulfil his word,
agreeably to what had often been heard by them, but not regarded; see Leviticus 26:1.
Hosea 7:13 13 “Woe
to them, for they have fled from Me! Destruction to them, Because they have
transgressed against Me! Though I redeemed them, Yet they have spoken lies
against Me.
YLT 13Wo to them, for they wandered
from Me, Destruction to them, for they transgressed against Me, And I -- I
ransom them, and they have spoken lies against Me,
Woe unto them, for they have fled from me,.... From the
Lord, from his worship, and the place of it; from obedience to him, and the
service of him; as birds fly from their nests, and leave their young, and
wander about; so they had deserted the temple at Jerusalem, and forsaken the
service of the sanctuary, and set up calves at Dan and Bethel, and worshipped
them; and, instead of fleeing to God for help in time of distress, fled further
off still, even out of their own land to Egypt or Assyria: the consequence of
which was, nothing but ruin; and so lamentation and woes:
destruction unto them, because they have transgressed against me; against the
laws which God gave them; setting up idols, and worshipping them, and so broke
the first table of the law; committing murder, adultery, thefts and robberies,
with which they are charged the preceding part of this chapter, and so transgressed
the second table of the law; and by all brought destruction upon themselves,
which was near at hand, and would certainly come, as here threatened; though
they promised themselves peace, and expected assistance from neighbouring
nations, but in vain, having made the Lord their enemy, by breaking his laws:
though I have redeemed them; out of Egypt formerly,
and out of the hands of the Moabites, Ammonites, Philistines, and others, in
the times of the judges; and more lately in the times of Joash and Jeroboam the
second, who recovered many cities out of the hands of the Syrians. Aben Ezra,
Jarchi, and Kimchi, interpret this of the good disposition of God towards them,
having it in his heart to redeem them now from their present afflictions and
distresses, but that they were so impious and wicked, and so unfaithful to him:
yet they have spoken lies against me; against his
being and providence, being atheistically inclined; or pretending repentance
for their sins, when they were hypocrites, and returned to their former
courses; or setting up idols in opposition to him, which were vanity to him;
attributing all their good things to them, and charging him with all their
evils. Abendana reads the words interrogatively, "should I redeem them,
when they have spoken lies against me?"F20ואנכי
אפדם "et ego redimerem eos?" so some in
Rivet. no, I will not.
Hosea 7:14 14 They
did not cry out to Me with their heart When they wailed upon their beds. “They
assemble together for[b] grain and
new wine, They rebel against Me;[c]
YLT 14And have not cried unto Me
with their heart, but howl on their beds, For corn and new wine they assemble
themselves, They turn aside against Me.
And they have not cried unto me with their heart,.... In their
distress, indeed, they cried unto the Lord, and said they repented of their
sins, and promised reformation, and made a show of worshipping God; as
invocation is sometimes put for the whole worship of God; but then this was not
heartily, but hypocritically; their hearts and their mouths did not go
together, and therefore was not reckoned prayer; nothing but howling, as
follows:
when they howled upon their beds; lying sick or wounded
there; or, as some, in their idol temples, those beds of adultery, where they
pretended to worship God by them, and to pray to him through them; but such
idolatrous prayers were no better than the howlings of clogs to him; even
though they expressed outwardly their cries with great vehemency, as the word
used denotes, having one letter more in it than common:
they assemble themselves for corn and wine: either at
their banquets, to feast upon them, as Aben Ezra; or to the markets, to buy
them, as Kimchi suggests; or rather to their idol temples, to deprecate a
famine, and to pray for rain and fruitful seasons; or if they gather together
to pray to the Lord, it is only for carnal and worldly things; they only seek
themselves, and their own interest, and not the glory of God, and ask for these
things, to consume them on their lust. The Septuagint version is, "for
corn and wine they were cut", or cut themselves, as Baal's priests did,
when they cried to him, 1 Kings 18:28; and
Theodoret here observes, that they performed the Heathen rites, and in idol temples
made incisions on their bodies:
and they rebel against me: not only flee
from him transgress his laws but cast off all allegiance to him and take up
arms, and commit hostilities against him. The Targum joins this with the
preceding clause,
"because
of the multitude of corn and wine which they have gathered they have rebelled
against my word;'
and
to the same sense Jarchi; thus, Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked.
Hosea 7:15 15 Though
I disciplined and strengthened their arms, Yet they devise evil against
Me;
YLT 15And I instructed -- I
strengthened their arms, And concerning Me they think evil!
Though I have bound and strengthened their arms,.... As a
surgeon sets a broken arm and swathes and binds it, and so restores it to its
former strength, or at least to a good degree of strength again, so the Lord
dealt with Israel; their arms were broken, and their strength weakened, and
they greatly distressed and reduced by the Syrians in the times of Jehoahaz;
but they were brought into a better state and condition in the times of Joash
and Jeroboam the second; the former retook several cities out of the hands of
the Syrians, and the latter restored the border of Israel, and greatly enlarged
it; and as all this was done through the blessing of divine Providence, the
Lord is said to do it himself. Some render it, "though I have chastised, I
have strengthened their arms"F21ואני יסרתי חזקתי זרוע־תאם
"castigavi", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Vatablus, Cocceius,
Tarnovius. ; though he corrected them for their sins in the times of Jehoahaz,
and suffered their arms to be broken by their enemies, for their instruction,
and in order to bring them to repentance for their sins; yet he strengthened
them again in the following reigns:
yet do they imagine mischief against me; so ungrateful
were they, they contrived to do hurt to his prophets that were sent to them in
his name, to warn them of their sins and danger, and exhort them to repent, and
forsake their idolatrous worship, and other sins; and they sought by all means
to dishonour the name of the Lord, by imputing their success in the reigns of
Joash and Jeroboam to their idols, and not unto him; and so hardened themselves
against him, and in their evil ways.
Hosea 7:16 16 They
return, but not to the Most High;[d] They are
like a treacherous bow. Their princes shall fall by the sword For the cursings
of their tongue. This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.
YLT 16They turn back -- not to
the Most High, They have been as a deceitful bow, Fall by sword do their
princes, From the insolence of their tongue, This [is] their derision in the
land of Egypt!
They return, but not to the most High,.... To Egypt,
and not to Jerusalem, and the temple there, and the worship of it; to their
idols, and not to him whose name alone is Jehovah, and is the most High all the
earth, the God of gods, and Lord of lords, and King of kings; though they made
some feint as if they would return, and did begin, and take some steps towards
repentance and reformation; but then they presently fell back again, as in
Jehu's time, and did not go on to make a thorough reformation; nor returned to
God alone, and to his pure worship they pretended to, and ought to have done:
or, "not on high, upwards, above"F23לא
על "non supra", Montanus; "non
sursum", De Dieu, Gussetius; "non erecte", Cocceius. ; their
affections and desires are not after things above; they do not look upwards to
God in heaven for help and assistance, but to men and things on earth, on which
all their affection and dependence are placed:
they are like a deceitful bow; which misses the mark it
is directed to; which being designed to send its arrow one way, causes it to go
the reverse; or its arrow returns upon the archer, or drops at his feet; so
these people deviated from the law of God, acted contrary to their profession
and promises, and relapsed into their former idolatries and impieties, and sunk
into earth and earthly things; see Psalm 78:57;
their princes shall fall by the sword: either of
their conspirators, as Zachariah, Shallum, Pekahiah, and Pekah; or by the sword
of the Assyrians, as Hoshea, and the princes with him, by Shalmaneser;
for the rage of their tongue; their blasphemy against
God, his being and providences; his worship, and the place of it; his priests
and people that served him, and particularly the prophets he sent unto them to
reprove them;
this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt; whither they
sent, and called for help; but now, when their princes are slain, and they
carried captive into a foreign land, even those friends and allies of theirs
shall laugh and mock at them. The Targum is,
"these
were their works while they were in the land of Egypt;'
or
rather the words may be rendered, "this is their derision, as of old
in the land of Egypt"F24זו לעגם בארץ מצרים
"haec, seu quae est subsannatio, sicut olim in terra
Aegypti", Schmidt. ; that is, the calves they now worshipped, and to which
they ascribed all their good things, were made in imitation of the gods of
Egypt, their Apis and Serapis, which were in the form of an ox, and which their
fathers derided there; and these were justly to be derided now, and they to be
derided for their worship of them, and ascribing all their good things to them;
and which would be done when their destruction came upon them.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》
New King James
Version (NKJV)