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Hosea Chapter
Nine
New King James Version (NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 9
This
chapter is an address to Israel or the ten tribes, and contains either a new
sermon, or is a very considerable part of the former upon the same subject, the
sins and punishment of that people. It begins with an instruction to them, not
to rejoice in their prosperity, as others did; since it would soon be at an
end, because of their idolatry, which was everywhere committed, and for which
they expected a reward of temporal good things, Hosea 9:1; but, on
the contrary, they are threatened with famine, with want both of corn and wine,
Hosea 9:2; and with
an ejection out of their land into foreign countries; where they should be
obliged to eat things unclean by their law, Hosea 9:3; and
where their sacrifices and solemnities should be no more attended to, Hosea 9:4; yea,
where their carcasses should fall and be buried, while their own country and
houses lay waste and desolate, Hosea 9:6; for,
whatsoever their foolish and mad prophets said to the contrary, who pretended
to be with God, and know his will, and were a snare to them that gave heed unto
them, and brought hatred on them, the time of their punishment would certainly
come, Hosea 9:7; and
their iniquities would be remembered and visited; seeing their corruptions were
deep, like those that appeared in Gibeah, in the days of old, Hosea 9:9; they
acting the same ungrateful part their fathers had done, of whom they were a
degenerate offspring, Hosea 9:10;
wherefore for these, and other offences mentioned, they are threatened with
being bereaved of their children, and drove out of their land, to wander among
the nations, Hosea 9:11.
Hosea 9:1 Do not rejoice,
O Israel, with joy like other peoples, For you have played the harlot
against your God. You have made love for hire on every threshing floor.
YLT 1`Rejoice not, O Israel, be
not joyful like the peoples, For thou hast gone a-whoring from thy God, Thou
hast loved a gift near all floors of corn.
Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people,.... But
rather mourn and lament, since such a load of guilt lay upon them, and they had
so highly provoked the Lord to anger by their sins, and punishment would
quickly be inflicted on them; and though they might be now in prosperity,
through Jeroboam's success against their enemies, who by his victories had
enlarged their border; yet they should not rejoice at it, as other people used
to do on such occasions, by illumination of houses, making fires in the
streets, feasting, and the like, since this prosperity would be but short
lived: or if it was on account of the league made by Menahem with the king of
Assyria, this would not last long; or on account of a good harvest, they need
not so much rejoice as they that rejoice in harvest, since there would quickly
be a famine among them: or rather it may respect rejoicing at their idols, and
in their idolatrous worship, as other people, which is forbidden; such as
instituting plays to the honour of them, making feasts before them, and dancing
about them; whatever others might do, who knew not the true God, had not his
law before them, nor his prophets sent to them to make known his will; who had
been brought up in idolatry, adhered to their gods, and never forsook them; it
ill became Israel to do the like. So the words may be rendered, "rejoice
not, O Israel", at an idolF17אל גיל "super similitudine, seu idolo"
Schmidt. , or idols, "as other people", idolatrous ones; the
word signifies "similitude"F18גיל
signifies a likeness of age, stature, and complexion, in Dan. i. 10. an idol is
the similitude or likeness of anything in heaven or is earth, Exod. xx. 4. or
"likeness", which an idol is:
for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God; playing the
harlot with many lovers; committing adultery with stocks and stones;
worshipping idols, and so departing from God, the true God, they had professed
to be their God, their God in covenant; who stood in the relation of a husband
to them, but they proved treacherous to him, and were guilty of spiritual
adultery, which is idolatry; and therefore had no cause to rejoice as other
nations that never left their gods, but to take shame to themselves, and mourn
over their sad departure; see Hosea 1:3;
thou hast loved a reward upon every corn floor; alluding to
the hire of a harlot, prostituting herself for it on a corn floor, or any where
else, and that for a measure of corn, or for bread: it may point either at
their giving the times of their corn floors to their idols, instead of giving
them to the Lord; or to their ascribing their plenty of corn, and all good
things to their worship of them, which they called their rewards, or hires
their lovers gave them, Hosea 2:5; or to
their erecting of altars on their corn floors; as David erected one to the true
God on the threshing floor of Araunah, 2 Samuel 24:24; and
which they might do, either by way of thanksgiving for a good harvest, which
they imputed to them; or in order to obtain one, but in vain, as follows. The
Targum is,
"for
you have erred from the worship of your God; you have loved to serve idols on
all, corn floors.'
Hosea 9:2 2 The
threshing floor and the winepress Shall not feed them, And the new wine shall
fail in her.
YLT 2Floor and wine-press do not
delight them, And new wine doth fail in her,
The floor and the winepress shall not feed them,.... Though their
expectations from their worship of idols were large, they should find
themselves mistaken; for there would not be a sufficiency of corn on the floor,
nor of wine in the press, to supply them with what was necessary for their
sustenance; either through a blight upon their fields and vineyards, or through
the invasion of an enemy, treading them down, and spoiling and foraging them:
or else supposing a sufficient quantity of corn and wine got in; yet those
blessings should be either turned into curses, or carried off by the enemy,
that they should do then, no good; or if they enjoyed them, yet they should
receive no nourishment from them; but should become lean, and look like starved
and famishing creatures in the midst of plenty; by all which it would appear
that their idols could neither give them a sufficiency of provisions, nor make
those nourishing to them they had:
and the new wine shall fail in her; in the congregation or
land of Israel: or, "shall lie to her"F19יכחש בה "mentietur in
ea", Pagninus, Montanus, Zanchius; "mentietur isti", Junius
& Tremellius, Piscator, Liveleus, Schmidt. ; shall not answer their
expectations, but disappoint and deceive them; whereas they expected great
plenty from the promising prospect of the vines, these by one means or another
should be destroyed, so that they would yield but little, and balk them; see Habakkuk 3:17.
Hosea 9:3 3 They
shall not dwell in the Lord’s
land, But Ephraim shall return to Egypt, And shall eat unclean things in
Assyria.
YLT 3They do not abide in the
land of Jehovah, And turned back hath Ephraim [to] Egypt, And in Asshur an
unclean thing they eat.
They shall not dwell in the Lord's land,.... The land
of Israel, or Canaan; which, though all the earth is the Lord's, was peculiarly
his; which he had chosen for himself, and for this people; where he had his
temple, and caused his Shechinah or divine Majesty to dwell in a very special
manner, and where his worship and service were performed. So the Targum calls
it the land of the Shechinah or majesty of the Lord. Sometimes it is called
Immanuel's land, where the Messiah Immanuel, God with us, was to be born, and
dwell, and where he did. Kimchi wrongly interprets this of Jerusalem only; and
others of Judea; but it designs the whole land of promise, which God save by
promise to the fathers of this people, and put them in the possession of, the
tenure of which they held by their obedience; but they not living according to
will, and in obedience to his laws, who was Lord of the land, sole Proprietor
and Governor of it, he turned them out of it, and would not suffer them to
continue any longer in it; and which was a great punishment indeed, to be
driven out of such a land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and where they
had been favoured with privileges and blessings of every kind;
but Ephraim shall return to Egypt; or the ten tribes; that
is, some of them, who should flee thither for refuge and sustenance; when the
Assyrian should invade their land, and besiege Samaria, they should go thither
again, where their ancestors had formerly been in a state of bondage: this is
prophesied of them, Deuteronomy 28:68;
and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria; that is,
Ephraim or the ten tribes, the far greater part of there, should be taken
captive, and carried into Assyria, and there eat food which by their law was
unclean, as things sacrificed to idols, swine's flesh, and many others; or food
that was not fit for men to eat, which nature abhorred; such bread as Ezekiel
was bid to make and eat, Ezekiel 4:9. This
may be understood even of them that went to Egypt for help against the
Assyrians, or for shelter from them, or for food to eat in the time of famine;
who should be brought back again, and carried into Assyria, and there live a
miserable and an uncomfortable life; who had been used to enjoy corn and wine,
and plenty of all good things, to which these unclean things may be opposed.
Hosea 9:4 4 They
shall not offer wine offerings to the Lord, Nor shall
their sacrifices be pleasing to Him. It shall be like bread of mourners
to them; All who eat it shall be defiled. For their bread shall be for
their own life; It shall not come into the house of the Lord.
YLT 4They pour not out wine to
Jehovah, Nor are they sweet to Him, Their sacrifices [are] as bread of mourners
to them, All eating it are unclean: For their bread [is] for themselves, It
doth not come into the house of Jehovah.
They shall not offer wine offerings to the Lord,.... This is
either a threatening of the cessation of sacrifices, being carried into
Assyria, a strange land, where it was not lawful to offer sacrifice, there
being no temple nor altar to offer in or at; and so as they would not offer to
the Lord when they should, now they shall not if they would: or this respects
not, the future time of their exile, but their present time now, as Kimchi
observes; and so is a reproof of their present sacrifices, which are forbidden
to be observed; because they were offered not in faith, nor in sincerity, but
hypocritically, and before their calves: besides, the future tease is sometimes
put for the present; and this way goes Schmidt;
neither shall their sacrifices be pleasing unto him; unto the
Lord, if they were offered; and is a reason why they should not, because
unacceptable to him, and that for the reasons before mentioned:
their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of
mourners: all that eat thereof shall be polluted; as all that
ate of the bread of such who were mourning for their dead, that partook of
their funeral feasts, or ate bread with them at any time during their mourning,
were defiled thereby, according to the Levitical law, and were unqualified for
service, Leviticus 21:1; so
the sacrifices of these people being offered up with a wicked mind instead of
atoning for their sins, more and more defiled them; and, instead of being
acceptable to God, were abominable to him:
for their bread for their soul shall not come into the house of
the Lord; in the captivity there was no house of the Lord for them to
bring it into; and, when in their own land, they did not bring their offerings
to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, as they should have done, but offered
them before their calves at Dan and Bethel; and which is the thing complained
of, that the bread for their souls, that is, the offerings accompanied with the
"minchah", or bread offering, for the expiation of the sins of their
souls, were not brought into the house of the Lord (the future for the
present); or else, this being the case, their sacrifices were reckoned by the
Lord as no other than common bread, which they ate for the sustenance of their
lives.
Hosea 9:5 5 What
will you do in the appointed day, And in the day of the feast of the Lord?
YLT 5What do ye at the day
appointed? And at the day of Jehovah's festival?
What will ye do in the solemn day, and in the day of the feast of
the Lord? Since their sacrifices now were so disagreeable and displeasing
to the Lord, and so unavailable to themselves, what would they do when in
captivity, "in the solemn day", the seventh day of the week,
appointed by the Lord for rest and religious worship; and in the first day of
the month, which also was to be solemnly observed, by offering sacrifice,
&c. and on feast days of the Lord's instituting, as the feasts of the
passover, pentecost; and tabernacles? seeing those that carried and held them
captive would not allow them time for such solemnities; nor would they be
furnished with proper sacrifices; nor could they be accommodated with a proper
place to offer them at; nor be able, in a strange land, and under hardships and
miseries, to express that joy that is suitable to such occasions: thus should
they learn, by sad experience, the want of those means and opportunities of
serving the Lord, which in their own land they rejected and despised. Jarchi
and Kimchi interpret this of the destruction of Israel, and of punishment inflicted
on them at the time appointed by the Lord; and which would be a solemn time, a
feast with the Lord, to which he should invite their enemies, and they should
spill their blood as the blood of sacrifices; and when he would display the
glory of his justice, truth, and faithfulness, before all the world. And it is
asked, what will you do then? whither will you flee for help? or what sacrifice
can you offer up to the Lord to atone for sin, or appease his wrath? will you
be able to rejoice then? no, your joy will be turned into mourning; see Isaiah 10:3.
Hosea 9:6 6 For
indeed they are gone because of destruction. Egypt shall gather them up; Memphis
shall bury them. Nettles shall possess their valuables of silver; Thorns shall
be in their tents.
YLT 6For, lo, they have gone
because of destruction, Egypt gathereth them, Moph burieth them, The desirable
things of their silver, Nettles possess them -- a thorn [is] in their tents.
For, lo, they are gone, because of destruction,.... That is,
many of the people of Israel were gone out of their own land to others,
particularly to Egypt, because of the destruction that was coming upon them,
and to avoid it; because of the Assyrian army which invaded their land, and
besieged Samaria, and threatened them with entire destruction; and upon which a
famine ensued, and which is thought by Kimchi to be here particularly meant;
Egypt shall gather them up: being dead; for they shall
die there, perhaps by the pestilence, and never return to their own country, as
they flattered themselves; and they shall make preparations for their funeral:
Memphis shall bury them; or they shall be buried
there; which was a principal city in Egypt, here called Moph, in Isaiah 19:13, Noph.
It was the metropolis of upper Egypt, and the seat of the Egyptian kings. In
it, as Plutarch saysF20De Iside & Osir. p. 359. , was the
sepulchre of Osiris; and some say its name so signifies. Near to it were the
famous pyramids, as StraboF21Geograph. l. 17. p. 555. says, supposed
to be built for the sepulchre of them. HerodotusF23Euterpe, sive l. 2. c. 8. 126, 127. places these pyramids
at Memphis, and says there were three of them; the largest had several
subterraneous chambers in it; the next in size had none; the smallest was
covered with Ethiopic marble. Strabo, in the place referred to, speaks of many
pyramids near it, of which three were very remarkable, and expressly says they
were the burying places of the kings. DiodorusF24Bibliothec. l. 1. p
57. agrees with these, as to the number of them, but places them fifteen miles
from Memphis. PlinyF25Nat. Hist. l. 36. c. 12. places them between
Memphis and the Delta, six miles from Memphis; pretty near to which is Strabo's
account, who in the above place says, they stood forty furlongs, or five miles,
from the city. Near it was the lake of Charon or Acherusia, over which he
ferried dead bodies from Memphis to the pyramids, or to the plains of the
mummies, the Elysian fields. Now since this was so famous for the burying
places of kings, there may be an allusion to it in this expression. Here also
were buried their deities, the Apis or ox when it died;
the pleasant places for their silver, nettles shall possess
them; such beautiful edifices as were made for the repositories or
treasure houses for their silver; or were built or purchased at great expense
of silver; or were decorated with it; now should lie in ruins, and be like a
waste, desert, and desolate place, all overrun with nettles, and uninhabited:
briers shall be in their tabernacles; their
dwelling houses, which being demolished, briers shall grow upon the ground
where they stood, and overspread it; another token of desolation. The Targum
interprets it of living creatures, beasts of prey, that should dwell there;
wild cats particularly.
Hosea 9:7 7 The
days of punishment have come; The days of recompense have come. Israel knows! The
prophet is a fool, The spiritual man is insane, Because of the
greatness of your iniquity and great enmity.
YLT 7Come in have the days of
inspection, Come in have the days of recompence, Israel doth know! a fool [is]
the prophet, Mad [is] the man of the Spirit, Because of the abundance of thine
iniquity, And great [is] the hatred.
The days of visitation are come, the days of recompense are come,.... In which
the Lord would punish the people of Israel for their sins, and reward them in a
righteous manner, according as their evil works deserved; which time, being
fixed and appointed by him, are called "days"; and these, because
near at hand, are said to be "come"; and this is repeated for the
certainty of it:
Israel shall know it; by sad experience, that
these days are come; and shall acknowledge the truth of the divine predictions,
and the righteousness of God in his judgments. SchultensF26Animadv.
Philol. in Job, p. 78. , from the use of the phrase in the Arabic language,
interprets it of Israel's suffering punishment; with which agrees the
Septuagint version, "Israel shall be afflicted", or it shall go ill
with him; and to the same purpose the Arabic version:
the prophet is a fool; so Israel said, before
those days came, of a true prophet of the Lord, that he was a fool for
prophesying of evil things, but now they shall find it otherwise. So the
Targum,
"they
of the house of Israel shall know that they who had prophesied to them were
true prophets;'
but
rather this is to be understood of false prophets, who, when the day of God's
visitation shall come on Israel in a way of wrath and vengeance, will appear
both to themselves and others to be fools, for prophesying good things to them,
when evil was at hand:
the spiritual man is mad; he that was truly so,
and prophesied under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, was accounted a
madman for speaking against the idolatry of the times, and foretelling the
judgments of God that would come upon the nation for it; but now it would be
manifest, that not he, but such who pretended to be spiritual men, and to be directed
and dictated by the Spirit of God, when they promised the people peace, though
they walked after the imagination of their hearts, were the real madmen; who
pursued the frenzies and fancies of their own minds, to the deception of
themselves and the people, and called these the revelations of God, and
pretended they came from the Spirit of God:
for the multitude of thine iniquities, and the great hatred; that is,
either those evil days came upon them for their manifold sins and
transgressions, which were hateful to God, and the cause of his hatred of them;
or they were suffered to give heed to those foolish and mad prophets, because
of their many sins, especially idolatry; and because of their great hatred of
God, and of his true prophets, and of his laws and ordinances, of his word,
will, and worship, and of one another, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to
a judicial blindness and hardness of heart, to believe a lie, and whatsoever
those false prophets declared unto them, because they did not like to retain
him in their knowledge, to walk according to his law, and to believe his
prophets. The Targum is,
"but
the false prophets besotted them, so as to increase thy transgression, and
strengthen thine iniquities.'
Hosea 9:8 8 The
watchman of Ephraim is with my God; But the prophet is a fowler’s[a] snare in
all his ways— Enmity in the house of his God.
YLT 8Ephraim is looking [away]
from My God, The prophet! a snare of a fowler [is] over all his ways, Hatred
[is] in the house of his God.
The watchman of Ephraim was with my God,.... Formerly
the watchmen of Ephraim, or the prophets of Israel, were with the true God,
whom the prophet calls his God; as Elijah and Elisha, who had communion and
intimacy with him; had revelations and instructions from him; and were under
the direction and inspiration of his Spirit, and prophesied in his name things
according to his will, and for the good of his people: or "the watchman of
Ephraim should be with my God"; on his side, and promote his
worship and service, his honour and interest; and give the people warning from
him, having heard the word at his mouth: but now they were not with him, nor for
him, nor did as they should: or one that bore this character of a watchman in
the ten tribes, pretended to be such a one, and would be thought to be with
God, and to have his mind and will, and to be sincere for his glory:
but the prophet is a
snare of a fowler in all his ways; the false prophet, the
same with the watchman, instead of guiding and directing Ephraim in the right
way in which he should go, lays snares for him in all the ways he takes, to
lead him wrong, and draw him into sin, particularly into idolatry, both by his
doctrine and example:
and hatred in the house of
his God; and so became detestable and execrable it the house of his own
god, the calf at Bethel, in the temple there: prophesying such things as in the
event prove false, and drawing into such practices as brought on ruin and
desolation. The Targum interprets it, of laying snares for their prophets,
their true prophets; and Kimchi and Jarchi of slaying Zechariah the prophet in
the temple.
Hosea 9:9 9 They
are deeply corrupted, As in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their
iniquity; He will punish their sins.
YLT 9They have gone deep -- have
done corruptly, As [in] the days of Gibeah, He doth remember their iniquity, He
doth inspect their sins.
They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of
Gibeah,.... Not the false prophets and watchmen only; but rather
Ephraim, or the ten tribes, through their means became extremely corrupt in
principle and practice; they had most sadly degenerated, and were deeply sunk
and immersed in all manner of wickedness, and rooted in it, and continued
obstinate and incorrigible, so that there was no hope of reformation among
them; they had got to as great a pitch of wickedness, and were guilty of the
like uncleanness, lewdness, barbarity, and cruelty, as were acted by the men of
Gibeah, with respect to the Levite and his concubine, Judges 19:1; for
Gibeah of Benjamin is here meant, where the people asked a king, and rebelled
against the words of the prophet, as some in Jarchi interpret it:
therefore he will
remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins: that is, God,
my God, as the prophet calls him in Hosea 9:8, will not
forgive and forget their sins; pardon being often expressed by a
non-remembrance of sins; but will make inquiry after them, and visit them in a
way of wrath and vengeance, and punish for them as they deserve: they being
obstinate and impenitent, and persisting in their sins, like the men of Gibeah
and Benjamin.
Hosea 9:10 10 “I
found Israel Like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers As the
firstfruits on the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal
Peor, And separated themselves to that shame; They became an abomination
like the thing they loved.
YLT 10As grapes in a wilderness I
found Israel, As the first-fruit in a fig-tree, at its beginning, I have seen
your fathers, They -- they have gone in [to] Baal-Peor, And are separated to a
shameful thing, And are become abominable like their love.
I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness,.... Not Jacob
or Israel personally, with the few souls that went down with him into Egypt;
for these died in Egypt, and never returned from thence, or came into the
wilderness to be found; nor Israel in a spiritual sense, the objects of
electing, redeeming, and calling grace; though it may be accommodated to them,
who in their nature state are as in a wilderness, in a forlorn, hopeless,
helpless, and uncomfortable condition; in which the Lord finds them, seeking
them by his Son in redemption, and by his Spirit in the effectual calling; when
they are like grapes, not in themselves, being destitute of all good, and
having nothing but sin and wickedness in them; for, whatever good thing is in
them at conversion, it is not found, but put there; but the simile may serve to
express the great and unmerited love of God to his people, who are as agreeable
to him as grapes in the wilderness to a thirsty traveller; and in whom he takes
great delight and complacency, notwithstanding all their sinfulness and
unworthiness; and bestows abundance of grace upon them, and makes them like
clusters of grapes indeed; and such were many of the Jewish fathers, and who
are here intended, even the people of Israel brought out of Egypt into the
wilderness of Arabia, through which they travelled to Canaan: here the Lord
found them, took notice and care of them, provided for them, and protected
them, and gave them, many tokens of his love and affection; see Deuteronomy 32:10;
and they were as acceptable to him, and he took as much delight and pleasure in
them, as one travelling through the deserts of Arabia, or any other desert,
would rejoice at finding a vine laden with clusters of grapes. The design of
this metaphor is not to compare Israel with grapes, because of any goodness in
them, and as a reason of the Lord's delight in them; for neither for quantity
nor quality were they like them, being few, and very obstinate and rebellious;
but to set forth the great love of God to them, and his delight and complacency
in them; which arose and sprung, not from any excellency in them, but from his
own sovereign good will and pleasure; see Deuteronomy 7:6;
I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree at her first
time; the Lord looked upon their ancestors when they were settled as a
people, in their civil and church state, upon their being brought out of Egypt,
with as much pleasure as a man beholds the first ripe fig his fig tree produces
after planting it, or the first it produces in the season, the fig tree bearing
twice in a year; but the first is commonly most desired, as being most rare and
valuable; and such were the Israelites to the Lord at first, Micah 7:1. This is
observed, to aggravate their ingratitude to the Lord, which soon discovered
itself; and to suggest that their posterity were like them, who, though they
had received many favours from the Lord, as tokens of his affection to them,
and delight in them; yet behaved in a most shocking and shameful manner to him:
but they went to Baalpeor: or "went
into Baalpeor"F1המה באו "ingressi sunt", Pagninus, Montanus, Calvin,
Drusius. ; committed whoredom with that idol, even in the wilderness where the
Lord found them and showed so much regard to them; this refers to the history
in Numbers 25:1.
Baalpeor is by some interpreted "the lord" or "god of
opening": and was so called, either from his opening his mouth in
prophecy, as AinsworthF2Annotations on Numb. xxv. 3. thinks, as
Nebo, a god of Babylon, had his name from prophesying; or from his open mouth,
with which this idol was figured, as a Jewish writerF3Racenatensis
in Capito, apud Drusium in loc. observes; whose worshipper took him to be
inspired, and opened their mouths to receive the divine afflatus from him:
others interpret it "the lord" or "god of nakedness";
because his worshippers exposed to him their posteriors in a shameful manner,
and even those parts which ought to be covered; and this is the sense of most
of the Jewish writers. So, in the Jerusalem TalmudF4T. Hieros.
Sanhedrin, fol. 28. 4. , the worship of Peor is represented in like manner, and
as most filthy and obscene, as it is by JarchiF5Perush in Numb. xxv.
3. , who seems to have taken his account from thence; and even MaimonidesF6Moreh
Nevochim, par. 3. c. 45. p. 477. says it was a known thing that the worship of
Peor was by uncovering of the nakedness; and this he makes to be the reason why
God commanded the priests to make themselves breeches to cover their nakedness
in the time of service, and why they might not go up to the altar by steps,
that their nakedness might not be discovered; in short, they took this Peor to
be no other than a Priapus; and in this they are followed by many Christians,
particularly by Jerom on this place, who observes that Baalpeor is the god of
the Moabites, whom we may call Priapus; and so IsidoreF7Origin. l.
8. c. 11. p. 70. says, there was an idol in Moab called Baal, on Mount Fegor,
whom the this call Priapus, the god of gardens; but Mr. SeldenF8De
Dis Syris, Syntagma 1. c. 5. p. 162, 163. See Cumberland's Sanchoniatho, p. 73,
&c. rejects this notion, and contends that Peor is either the name of a
mountain, of which Isidore, just now mentioned, speaks; see Numbers 23:28;
where Baal was worshipped, and so was called from thence Baalpeor; as Jupiter
Olympius, Capitolinus, &c. is so called from the mountains of Olympus,
Capitolinus, &c. where divine honours are paid him; or else the name of a
man, of some great person in high esteem, who was deified by the Moabites, and
worshipped by them after his death; and so Baalpeor may be the same as
"Lord Peor"; and it seems most likely that Peor is the name of a man,
at least of an idol, since we read of Bethpeor, or the temple of Peor, in Deuteronomy 34:6;
and separated themselves unto that shame; they separated
themselves from God and his worship, and joined themselves to that shameful
idol, and worshipped it, thought by many, as before observed, to be the Priapus
of the Gentiles, in whose worship the greatest of obscenities were used, not
fit to be named: so that this epithet of shame is with great propriety given
it, and aggravates the sin of Israel, that such a people should be guilty of
such filthy practices; though Baal, without supposing him to he a Priapus, may
be called "that shame", for Baal and Bosheth, which signifies shame,
are some times put for each other; so Jerubbaal, namely Gideon, is called
Jerubbesheth, Judges 8:35; and
Eshbaal appears plainly to be the same son of Saul, whose name was Ishbosheth, 1 Chronicles 8:33;
and Meribbaal is clearly the same with Mephibosheth 1 Chronicles 8:34;
yea, it may be observed that the prophets of Baal are called, in the Septuagint
version of 1 Kings 18:25; προφητας της αισχυνης,
"the prophets of that shame"; every idol, and all idolatry being
shameful, and the cause of shame, sooner or later, to their worshippers;
especially when things obscene were done in their religious rites, as were in
many of the Heathens in which the Jews followed them; see Jeremiah 3:24;
and their abominations were according as they loved: or, "as
they loved them", the daughters of Moab; for it was through their impure
love of them that they were drawn into these abominations, or to worship idols,
which are often called abominations; or, as Joseph Kimchi reads the words, and
gives the sense of them, "and they were abominations as I loved
them"; that is, according to the measure of the love wherewith I loved
them, so they were abominations in mine eyes; they were as detestable now as
they were loved before.
Hosea 9:11 11 As for Ephraim, their glory shall
fly away like a bird— No birth, no pregnancy, and no conception!
YLT 11Ephraim [is] as a fowl, Fly
away doth their honour, without birth, And without womb, and without
conception.
As for Ephraim, their
glory shall flee away like a bird,.... That is, suddenly,
swiftly, and irrecoverably, and never return more; which some understand of God
their glory, and of his departure from them, as in Hosea 9:12; others
of their wealth and riches, and whatever was glorious and valuable among them,
which should fly away from them in a moment, when taken and carried captive;
rather their numerous posterity, in which they were very fruitful, according to
their name, and in which they gloried, as children are the glory of their
parents, Proverbs 17:6;
which sense agrees with what follows, and which explains the manner of their
fleeing away, and the periods of it:
from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception; that is, some
of them, as soon as they were born; others while in the womb, being abortives;
or, however, when they should, or as soon as they did, come from thence; and
others, as soon as conceived, never come to any thing; or not conceived at all,
as Kimchi interprets it, the women being barren.
Hosea 9:12 12 Though
they bring up their children, Yet I will bereave them to the last man. Yes, woe
to them when I depart from them!
YLT 12For though they nourish
their sons, I have made them childless -- without man, Surely also, wo to them,
when I turn aside from them.
Though they bring up their children,.... Though this be the
case of some, as to be conceived, carried in the womb to the full time, and be
born, and brought up to a more adult age, and appear very promising to live,
and perpetuate the names of their fathers and their families:
yet will I bereave them; their parents of them,
by the sword, famine, pestilence, or by carrying them captive into a foreign
country:
that there shall not be
a man left; in the whole land of Israel, but all shall be destroyed, or
carried captive; or, "from men"F9מאדם
"ab homine", Montanus, Tigurine version, Schmidt; "ut non sint
homines", Pagninus. ; that is, either from being men, as the Targum;
though they are brought up to some ripeness, and a more adult age than others,
yet arrive not to such a time and age as to be called men, as Kimchi observes;
or from being among men, being either taken away by death, or removed from the
society of men to live among beasts, and to he slaves like them:
yea, woe also to them, when I depart from them; withdraw my
presence, favour, and protection from them; or remove my Shechinah from them,
as the Targum; and leave them to the spoil and cruelty of their enemies, which
would be a greater calamity and judgment than the former. The Septuagint, and
so Theodotion, render it, "woe is to them, my flesh is of them";
which some of the ancients interpret of the incarnation of Christ, not
considering that the words are spoken of Ephraim, or the ten tribes; whereas
the Messiah was to spring, and did, from the family of David, and tribe of Judah.
Hosea 9:13 13 Just
as I saw Ephraim like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place, So Ephraim will bring
out his children to the murderer.”
YLT 13Ephraim! when I have looked
to the rock, Is planted in comeliness, And Ephraim [is] to bring out unto a slayer
his sons.
Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, is planted in a pleasant place,.... That is,
either as the city of Tyre, a very famous city in Phoenicia, was situated in a
very pleasant place by the sea, and abounded in wealth and riches, and was well
fortified, and seemed secure from all danger, and from all enemies; so Ephraim
or the ten tribes, the kingdom of Israel, were in like circumstances, equal to
Tyre, as the Targum paraphrases it, in prosperity and plenty; yet as the
prophet in the vision of prophecy saw that Tyre, notwithstanding all its
advantages by power and wealth, by art and nature, would be destroyed, first by
Nebuchadnezzar, and then by Alexander; so by the same prophetic spirit he saw
that Ephraim or the ten tribes, notwithstanding their present prosperity, and
the safety and security they thought themselves in, yet should be given up to
ruin and destruction by the hand of the Assyrians; or it may be rendered thus,
"Ephraim as", or "when I saw it, unto Tyre"F11כאשר ראיתי לצור
"quando vidi usque ad Tyrum", Schmidt. ; reaching unto that place,
and bordering upon it, as part of the ten tribes did; I saw it, I observed it,
took a survey of it, and I perceived it was "planted in a pleasant
place"; like a tree planted in a fruitful soil, well rooted, and in a
flourishing condition; so were they, abounding with all good things, and having
a numerous offspring; from all which they promised themselves much happiness
for ages to come:
but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer; to sacrifice
them to Mo, as some; so the Targum,
"they
of the house of Ephraim have sinned in slaying their children to the service of
idols;'
with
which Jarchi agrees; but rather the sense is, with Kimchi, and others, when
their enemies shall come against them, as the Assyrian army, they shall go out
with their sons to fight with them, and these shall be destroyed and murdered
by them; it will be like leading lambs to the slaughter to be butchered and
devoured by them.
Hosea 9:14 14 Give
them, O Lord—
What will You give? Give them a miscarrying womb And dry breasts!
YLT 14Give to them, Jehovah --
what dost Thou give? Give to them miscarrying womb, and dry breasts.
Give them, O Lord: what wilt thou give them?.... The
prophet foreseeing the butchery and destruction of their children, his heart
ached for them; and, to show his tender affection for this people, was desirous
of putting up a supplication for them; but was at a loss what to ask, their
sins were so many, and so aggravated, and the decree gone forth for their
destruction: or, "give them what thou wilt give them"F12תן להם מה
תתן "da eis quod daturus es", Junius &
Tremellius, Vatablus, Grotius; "da illis id quod dabis", Schmidt. ;
so Jarchi, Kimchi, and Abarbinel, what thou hast threatened before to give
them, Hosea 9:11; do not
give them to be butchered and murdered before the eyes of their parents by
their enemies; but rather let them die in the womb, or as soon as born; so it
follows:
give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts; the latter
being a sign of the former, as physicians observe; or the words may be rendered
disjunctively, give them one, or the other; that is, to the wives of the people
of Israel, if they conceive, let them miscarry, prove abortive, rather than bring
forth children to be destroyed in such a cruel manner by murderers; or if they
bear them to the birth, and bring them forth, let their breasts be dried up,
and afford no milk for their nourishment; and so die for lack of it, rather
than fall into the hands of their merciless enemies: thus, of two evils, the
prophet chooses and prays for the least. Some interpret this as a prediction of
what would be, or an imprecation of it; but it rather seems a pathetic wish,
flowing from the tender affection of the prophet, judging such a case to be
preferable to the former; see Luke 23:29; though
the other sense seems best to agree with what follows, and which is favoured by
the Targum,
"give
thou, O Lord, the recompence of their works; give them a miscarrying womb and
dry breasts.'
Hosea 9:15 15 “All
their wickedness is in Gilgal, For there I hated them. Because of the
evil of their deeds I will drive them from My house; I will love them no more.
All their princes are rebellious.
YLT 15All their evil [is] in
Gilgal, Surely there I have hated them, Because of the evil of their doings,
Out of My house I do drive them, I add not to love them, all their heads [are]
apostates.
Ah their wickedness is in Gilgal,.... A place
in the ten tribes, where the covenant of circumcision was renewed in Joshua's
time; the first passover was kept in the land of Canaan, and the people of
Israel ate the firstfruits of the land; where the tabernacle was for a while,
and sacrifices were offered up to the Lord: but now things were otherwise; all
manner of iniquity was committed in it, especially idolatry; for which it was
chosen by idolaters, because it had formerly been famous for religious worship:
here, though not to the exclusion of other places, as Dan and Bethel, was the
above sin committed; here it begun and spread itself, and had the measure of it
filled up; here began the first departure from the Lord, rejecting him, and
asking a king in the days of Samuel, as Kimchi and Abarbinel observe; and here
were high places and altars erected for idolatry; and this is now the reason of
the above threatenings of God, and the predictions of the prophet. Grotius
thinks there is a mystical sense in the words, and that they have reference to
the sin of the Jews in crucifying Christ on Golgotha; which, in the Syriac
language, is the same with Gilgal; but both the people spoken of, and the
place, are different:
for there I hated them; or "therefore"F13כי "ideo", Rivet. , because they sinned so
greatly against him in a place where they had formerly worshipped him; their
sacrifices there, instead of being acceptable, were the more abominable to him,
as they were offered there where his tabernacle once was, and sacrifices were
offered to him according to his will:
for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine
house; not out of the house of my sanctuary, or the temple, as the
Targum; unless this is to be understood of losing the opportunity of going to
the temple at Jerusalem, which those of the ten tribes had while they were in
their own land, which the few godly persons among them then took, and made use
of; but now their idolatry increasing in Gilgal, and other places, they should
be carried captive; and, if they would, could not go up to the house of the
Lord, and worship him there: or rather this may design, either the visible
church of God, out of which they would be now ejected; or their native country,
where they had been, as the family and household of God; but now should be so
no more, but, as afterwards said, wanderers among the nations, and no more
reckoned as belonging to the Lord, and under his paternal care and protection:
I will love them no more; which is not to be
understood of the special love and favour the Lord bears to his own people in
Christ, which is everlasting and unchangeable; but of his general and
providential favour and regard unto these people, which he had manifested in
bestowing many great and good things upon them; but now would do so no more; he
would do nothing to them, or for them, that looked like love, or be interpreted
of it, but all the reverse; and, by his behaviour to them, show that they were
the objects of his aversion and hatred; and this was to continue, and has
continued, and will continue unto the time of their conversion in the latter
day, when "all Israel shall be saved", Romans 11:26;
all their princes are revolters; from God and
his worship, who should have set a good example to the people; and since these
were perverse and rebellious against God, it is no wonder that the people in
general apostatized. This is to be understood of their king as supreme, and all
subordinate rulers; of their judges and magistrates of every order; of all
their governors, both civil and ecclesiastic; and not at Gilgal only, but in
all the land. There is an elegant play on wordsF14שריהם סררים "Sharehem
Sorerim". in the original, the beauty of which cannot be expressed in the
translation.
Hosea 9:16 16 Ephraim
is stricken, Their root is dried up; They shall bear no fruit. Yes, were they
to bear children, I would kill the darlings of their womb.”
YLT 16Ephraim hath been smitten,
Their root hath dried up, fruit they yield not, Yea, though they bring forth, I
have put to death the desired of their womb.
Ephraim is smitten,.... The people of the ten tribes, the
kingdom of Israel, who had been like a tree planted in a pleasant place, Hosea 9:13; and
were in very flourishing circumstances in the times of Jeroboam the second; but
now were like a tree smitten with thunder and lightning, or hail stones, and
beat to pieces; or with the heat of the sun, or with blasting winds, or by
worms; as in the succeeding reigns, by the judgments of God upon them; by civil
wars, conspiracies, and murders among themselves; and by the exactions of Pul and
depredations of Tiglathpileser kings of Assyria; and quickly would be smitten
again; the present being put for the future, because of the certainty of it, as
usual in prophetic writings; or be utterly destroyed by Shalmaneser, and be no
more a kingdom:
their root is dried up; like the root of a tree
that has no sap and moisture in it, and can communicate none to the body and
branches of the tree, which in course must die. This may be understood of their
king, princes, nobles, and chief men, the support and strength of the nations;
and of parents and heads of families, cut off by one judgment or another:
they shall bear no fruit; as a tree thus smitten,
and its root dried up, cannot; so neither, this being their case, there would
be none to beget, nor any to bear children, and bring them forth; called the
fruit of the womb, in allusion to the fruit of trees:
yea, though they bring forth; though some of them
should be spared, women with their husbands, and should procreate children:
yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb; their
children they should bring forth, on whom their affections were strongly set;
and the rather, as they were but few, and from whom they had raised
expectations of building up their families; even these the Lord would stay, or
suffer to be slain, either by the sword of the enemy, or by famine, or by
pestilence, or by some disease or another; so that there should be no hope of a
future posterity, at least of no great number of them.
Hosea 9:17 17 My
God will cast them away, Because they did not obey Him; And they shall be wanderers
among the nations.
YLT 17Reject them doth my God,
Because they have not hearkened to Him, And they are wanderers among nations!
My God will cast them away,.... With loathsomeness
and contempt, having sinned against him, and done such abominable things; cast
them out of their own land, as men not fit to live in it; cast them out of his
sight, as not able to endure them; cast them away, as unprofitable and good for
nothing; reject them from being his people; no more own them in the relation
they had stood in to him; nor show them any more favour, at least until the
conversion of them in the times of the Messiah. These are the words of the
prophet, who calls the Lord his God, whom he worshipped, by whom he was sent,
and in whose name he prophesied; and this in opposition to, and distinction
from Israel, who worshipped other gods, and who had cast off the true God, and
were now, or would be, cast away by him, and so no longer their God:
because they did not hearken unto him; to his word,
as the Targum; to him speaking by his prophets; to the instructions,
admonitions, threatenings, and predictions delivered to them from him; they did
not obey his law, regard his will, or attend his worship; which was the cause
of the rejection of them, and a just one:
and they shall be wanderers among the nations; being
dispersed by the Assyrians in the several nations of the world, where they were
fugitives and vagabonds; as their posterity are to this day.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》
New King James
Version (NKJV)