woe ... to them when I depart--Yet the ungodly in their madness desire God to depart from them ([Job 21:14]; ; [Mt 8:34]). At last they know to their cost how awful it is when God has departed ([De 31:17]; [1Sa 28:15], ; compare [Ho 9:11]; [1Sa 4:21]).
13. Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus ... in a pleasant place--that is, in looking towards Tyrus (on whose borders Ephraim lay) I saw Ephraim beautiful in situation like her (Eze 26:1-28:26).
is planted--as a fruitful tree; image suggested by the meaning of "Ephraim" ([Ho 9:11]).
bring forth his children to the murderer--([Ho 9:16]; [Ho 13:16]). With all his fruitfulness, his children shall only be brought up to be slain.
14. what wilt thou give?--As if overwhelmed by feeling, he deliberates with God what is most desirable.
give ... a miscarrying womb--Of two evils he chooses the least. So great will be the calamity, that barrenness will be a blessing, though usually counted a great misfortune ([Job 3:3]; [Jr 20:14]; [Lu 23:29]).
15. All their wickedness--that is, their chief guilt.
Gilgal--(see on [Ho 4:15]). This was the scene of their first contumacy in rejecting God and choosing a king ([1Sa 11:14], ; compare [1Sa 8:7]), and of their subsequent idolatry.
there I hated them--not with the human passion, but holy hatred of their sin, which required punishment to be inflicted on themselves (compare Mal 1:3).
out of mine house--as in [Ho 8:1]: out of the land holy unto Me. Or, as "love" is mentioned immediately after, the reference may be to the Hebrew mode of divorce, the husband (God) putting the wife (Israel) out of the house.
princes ... revolters--"Sarim ... Sorerim" (Hebrew), a play on similar sounds.
16. The figures "root," "fruit," are suggested by the word "Ephraim," that is, fruitful (see on [Ho 9:11], ). "Smitten," namely, with a blight ([Psa 102:4]).
17. My God--"My," in contrast to "them," that is, the people, whose God Jehovah no longer is. Also Hosea appeals to God as supporting his authority against the whole people.
wanderers among ... nations--([2Ki 15:29]; [1Ch 5:26]).
Chapter 10
Ho 10:1-15. Israel's Idolatry, the Source of Perjuries and Unlawful Leagues, Soon Destined to Be the Ruin of the State, Their King and Their Images Being About to Be Carried Off; a Just Chastisement, the Reaping Corresponding to the Sowing
The prophecy was uttered between Shalmaneser's first and second invasions of Israel. Compare [Ho 10:14]; also [Ho 10:6], referring to Hoshea's calling So of Egypt to his aid; also [Ho 10:4], .
1. empty--stripped of its fruits [Calvin], ([Na 2:2]); compelled to pay tribute to Pul ([2Ki 15:20]). Maurer translates, "A widespreading vine"; so the Septuagint. Compare [Ge 49:22]; [Psa 80:9-11]; [Eze 17:6].
bringeth forth fruit unto himself--not unto Me.
according to ... multitude of ... fruit ... increased ... altars--In proportion to the abundance of their prosperity, which called for fruit unto God (compare [Ro 6:22]), was the abundance of their idolatry ([Ho 8:4], ).
2. heart ... divided--([1Ki 18:21]; [Mt 6:24]; [Jas 4:8]).
now--that is, soon.
he--Jehovah.
break down--"cut off," namely the heads of the victims. Those altars, which were the scene of cutting off the victims' heads, shall be themselves cut off.
3. now, &c.--Soon they, deprived of their king, shall be reduced to say, We have no king ([Ho 10:7], ), for Jehovah deprived us of him, because of our not fearing God. What then (seeing God is against us) should a king be able to do for us, if we had one? As they rejected the heavenly King, they were deprived of their earthly king.
4. words--mere empty words.
swearing falsely in making a covenant--breaking their engagement to Shalmaneser ([2Ki 17:4]), and making a covenant with So, though covenants with foreigners were forbidden.
judgment ... as hemlock--that is, divine judgment shall spring up as rank, and as deadly, as hemlock in the furrows ([De 29:18]; [Am 5:7]; ). Gesenius translates, "poppy." Grotius, "darnel."
5. fear because of the calves--that is, shall fear for them.
Beth-aven--substituted for Beth-el in contempt ([Ho 4:15]).
it--singular, the one in Beth-el; after the pattern of which the other "calves" (plural) were made. "Calves" in the Hebrew is feminine, to express contempt.
priests--The Hebrew is only used of idolatrous priests ([2Ki 23:5]; [Zep 1:4]), from a root meaning either "the black garment" in which they were attired; or, "to resound," referring to their howling cries in their sacred rites [Calvin].
that rejoiced on it--because it was a source of gain to them. Maurer translates, "Shall leap in trepidation on account of it"; as Baal's priests did ([1Ki 18:26]).
the glory thereof--the magnificence of its ornaments and its worship.
6. It ... also--The calf, so far from saving its worshippers from deportation, itself shall be carried off; hence "Israel shall be ashamed" of it.
Jareb--(See on [Ho 5:13]). "A present to the king (whom they looked to as) their defender," or else avenger, whose wrath they wished to appease, namely, Shalmaneser. The minor states applied this title to the Great King, as the avenging Protector.
his own counsel--the calves, which Jeroboam set up as a stroke of policy to detach Israel from Judah. Their severance from Judah and Jehovah proved now to be not politic, but fatal to them.
7. ([Ho 10:3], ).
foam--denoting short-lived existence and speedy dissolution. As the foam, though seeming to be eminent raised on the top of the water, yet has no solidity, such is the throne of Samaria. Maurer translates, "a chip" or broken branch that cannot resist the current.
8. Aven--that is, Beth-aven.
the sin--that is, the occasion of sin ([De 9:21]; [1Ki 12:30]).
they shall say to ... mountains, Cover us--So terrible shall be the calamity, that men shall prefer death to life ([Lu 23:30]; [Re 6:16]; ). Those very hills on which were their idolatrous altars (one source of their confidence, as their "king," [Ho 10:7], was the other), so far from helping them, shall be called on by them to overwhelm them.
9. Gibeah--([Ho 9:9]; [Jud 19:1-20:48]). They are singled out as a specimen of the whole nation.
there they stood--The Israelites have, as there and then, so ever since, persisted in their sin [Calvin]. Or, better, "they stood their ground," that is, did not perish then [Maurer].
the battle ... did not overtake them--Though God spared you then, He will not do so now; nay, the battle whereby God punished the Gibeonite "children of iniquity," shall the more heavily visit you for your continued impenitence. Though "they stood" then, it shall not be so now. The change from "thou" to "they" marks God's alienation from them; they are, by the use of the third person, put to a greater distance from God.