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Hosea Chapter
Ten
New King James Version (NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 10
This
chapter is of the same argument with the former, and others before that;
setting forth the sins of the ten tribes, and threatening them with the
judgments of God for them; and exhorting them to repentance, and works of
righteousness. They are charged with unfruitfulness and ingratitude; increasing
in idolatry, as they increased in temporal good things, Hosea 10:1; with a
divided heart, and with irreverence of God, and their king; and with false
swearing, covenant breaking, and injustice, Hosea 10:2; and are
threatened with a removal of their king, and with the destruction of their
idols, and places of idolatry, which should cause fear in the common people,
and mourning among the priests, Hosea 10:1. It is
observed, that their sin had been of long continuance, though the Lord had been
kind and good unto them, in chastising them in love, giving them good laws,
sending his prophets to exhort them to repentance and reformation, but all in
vain, Hosea 10:9;
wherefore they are threatened with the spoiling of their fortresses, the
destruction of the people, and the cutting off of their king, Hosea 10:14.
Hosea 10:1 Israel empties his
vine; He brings forth fruit for himself. According to the multitude of his
fruit He has increased the altars; According to the bounty of his land They
have embellished his sacred pillars.
YLT 1`An empty vine [is] Israel,
Fruit he maketh like to himself, According to the abundance of his fruit, He
hath multiplied for the altars, According to the goodness of his land, They
have made goodly standing-pillars.
Israel is an empty vine,.... The people of Israel
are often compared to a vine, and such an one from whence fruit might be
expected, being planted in a good soil, and well taken care of; see Psalm 80:8; but
proved an "empty vine", empty of fruit; not of temporal good things,
for a multitude of such fruit it is afterwards said to have; but of spiritual
fruit, of the fruit of grace, and of good works, being destitute of the Spirit
of God, and his grace; and, having no spiritual moisture, was incapable of
bringing forth good fruit: or, "an emptying vine"F15גפן בוקק "vitis
evacuans", Drusius, Rivetus, Schmidt; so Stockius, p. 149. ; that casts
its fruit before it is ripe; these people, what fruit they had, they made an
ill use of it; even of their temporal good things; they emptied themselves of
their wealth and riches, by sending presents, or paying tribute, to foreign
princes for their alliance, friendship, and help; or by consuming it on their
idols, and in their idolatrous worship. The Targum renders it,
"a
spoiled vineF16So Calvin. ;'
spoiled
by their enemies, who robbed them of their wealth and riches, and trampled them
under foot. The Septuagint version, and those that follow that, understand it
in a sense quite the reverse, rendering it, "a flourishing vine";
putting forth branches, leaves, and fruit; and which the learned Pocock
confirms from the use of the word in the Arabic language: but then it follows,
he bringeth forth fruit unto himself; all the good
works done by them were not to the praise and glory of God, as fruits of
righteousness are, which come by Jesus Christ; but were done to be seen of men,
and to gain their applause and esteem, and so were for themselves; and all
their temporal good things they abounded with were not made use of in the
service of God, and for the promoting of his glory, and of true religion among
them; but either consumed on their own lusts, or in the service of idols: or,
"the fruit is like unto himself"F17פרי
ישוה לו "fructum
aequat sibi", Mercerus; "fracture facit similem sibi", Schmidt.
; as was the vine, so was its fruit: the vine was empty, and devoid of
goodness, and so the fruit it produced. The Targum is,
"the
fruit of their works was the cause of their being carried captive:'
according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the
altars: as the Israelites increased in riches and wealth, their land
bringing forth in great abundance, they erected the greater number of altars to
their idols, and multiplied their sacrifices to them; this was the ill use they
made of what fruit they did produce:
according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images; of richer
metal, and more ornamented, and more of them, according to the plenty of good
things, corn, and wine, and oil, their land produced; thus abusing the
providential goodness of God to such vile purposes!
Hosea 10:2 2 Their
heart is divided; Now they are held guilty. He will break down their altars; He
will ruin their sacred pillars.
YLT 2Their heart hath been
divided, now they are guilty, He doth break down their altars, He doth destroy their
standing-pillars.
Their heart is divided,.... Some say from Hoshea
their king, who would have reformed them from their idolatry, and returned them
to the true worship of God; but of that there is no proof; better from one
another, their affections being alienated from each other, by their discords
and animosities, their conspiracies against their kings, and the murders of
them, and the civil wars among themselves; they also not being of one mind, but
disagreeing in their sentiments about their idols; some being for one, and some
for another: or rather from God himself, from the fear of him, from his worship
and service; or from the law, as the Targum; or their hearts were divided
between God and their idols, as in Ahab's time between God and Baal; they
pretended to worship God when they worshipped the calves, and so shared the
service between them; or it may be rendered, "their heart flatters"F18חלק לבם "adblanditur cor
eorum", Schmidt. them; as if they had done that which was right and good,
and were guilty of no evil, nor would any punishment be inflicted on them:
now shall they be found faulty; be convicted of their
sin and folly, and appear guilty; when they shall be punished for their
idolatry, and their idols not able to save them, as the destruction of them
next mentioned will fully evince: or, "now shall they become
desolate"F19עתה יאשמו
"nunc desolabuntur", Pagninus, Montanus, Munster, Drusius; so Kimchi
and Ben Melech. their land shall be desolate, and they carried captive:
he shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images: that is, the
king of Assyria shall do all this, or God by him: or, "behead their
altars"F20יערף "decollabit",
Drusius, Piscator, Tarnovius, De Dieu; "decervicabit", Cocceius. ;
take off the top of them, as the Targum; the horns of them, which might be made
of gold, or other ornaments which were of value; and therefore became the
plunder of the enemy; and who also would break in pieces their images, for the
sake of the metal, gold or silver, of which they were made; as was usually done
by conquerors, and to show their entire power over the conquered, that even
their gods could not deliver them out of their hands.
Hosea 10:3 3 For
now they say, “We have no king, Because we did not fear the Lord. And as for a
king, what would he do for us?”
YLT 3For now they say: We have
no king, Because we have not feared Jehovah, And the king -- what doth he for
us?
For now they shall say, we have no king,.... This they
would say, either when they had one; but by their conduct and behaviour said
they had none; because they had no regard unto him, no affection for him, and
reverence of him; but everyone did what was right in his own eyes: or during
the interregnum, between the murder of Pekah, which was in the twentieth year
of Jotham, and the settlement of Hoshea, which was in the twelfth of Ahaz; see 2 Kings 15:30; or
when the land of Israel was invaded, and their king was shut up in prison, and
Samaria besieged, so that it was as if they had no king; they had none to
protect and defend them, to sally out at the head of them against the enemy,
and fight their battles for them; or rather when the city was taken, the altars
broke down, their images spoiled, and they and their king carried captive:
because we feared not the Lord: did not serve and
worship him, but idols; and this sin, casting off the fear of the Lord, was the
source and cause of all their troubles and sorrows; of the invasion of their
land; of the besieging and taking their city, and having no king to rule over
them, and protect them:
what then should a king do to us? if they had one, he
could be of no service to them; for since they had offended God, the King of
kings, and made him their enemy, what could an earthly king, a weak mortal man,
do for them, or against him? it was now all over with them, and they could have
no expectation of help and deliverance.
Hosea 10:4 4 They
have spoken words, Swearing falsely in making a covenant. Thus judgment springs
up like hemlock in the furrows of the field.
YLT 4They have spoken words, To
swear falsehood in making a covenant, And flourished as a poisonous herb hath
judgment, on the furrows of a field.
They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant,.... Those are
other crimes they were guilty of, for which the wrath of God could not be
awarded from them by a king, if they had one, or by any other. They had used
vain and idle words in their common talk and conversation; and lying and
deceitful ones to one another in trade and commerce, in contracts and promises;
and so had deceived and overreached one another: they had belched out many
"oaths of vanity"F21אלות שוא "execrationes vanitatis", Schmidt. : or vain
oaths and curses; their mouths had been full of cursing and bitterness; and
they made covenants with God, and their king, and with other kings and princes,
and with one another, and had not kept them; and now for these things God had a
controversy with them:
thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field; either the
judgment of God, his wrath and vengeance for the above sins, rose up and spread
itself in all their cities, towns, and villages; or rather the judgment and
justice they pretended to execute, instead of being what it should have been,
useful and beneficial to the people, like a wholesome herb, sprung up like
hemlock, bitter and poisonous, and spread itself in all parts of the kingdom.
Injustice is meant; see Amos 6:12.
Hosea 10:5 5 The
inhabitants of Samaria fear Because of the calf[a] of Beth
Aven. For its people mourn for it, And its priests shriek for it— Because its
glory has departed from it.
YLT 5For the calves of Beth-Aven
fear do inhabitants of Samaria, Surely mourned on account of it hath its
people, And its priests on account of it leap about, Because of its honour, for
it hath removed from it,
The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of
Bethaven,.... Or, "the cow calves"F23לעגלות "vaccas, V. L. "ad. vitulas",
Pagninus, Montanus; "propter vitulas", Junius & Tremellius,
Piscator; "ob vitulas, Cocceius. , as in the original; so called by way of
derision, and to denote their weakness and inability to help their worshippers;
and so Bethel, where one of these calves was, is here, as elsewhere, called
Bethaven; that is, the house of iniquity, or of an idol, by way of contempt;
and may take in Dan also, where was the other calf, since both are mentioned;
unless the plural is put for the singular: now the land of Israel being invaded
by the enemy, the inhabitants of Samaria, which was the metropolis of the
nation, the king, nobles, and common people that dwelt there, and were
worshippers of the calves, were in pain lest they should be taken by the enemy;
or because they were, these places falling into his hands before Samaria was
besieged, or at least taken; and these calves being broken to pieces, which
they had worshipped, and put their trust in, they were afraid the ruin of
themselves and children would be next, and was not very far off:
for the people thereof shall mourn over it; either the
people of Samaria, the same with the inhabitants of it; or rather the people of
Bethaven, where the idol was; but now was broke to pieces, or carried away;
though it is generally interpreted of the people of the calf, the worshippers
of it, who would mourn over it, or for the loss of it, being taken away from
them, and disposed of as in Hosea 10:6. The
JewsF24Seder Olam Rabba, c. 22. p. 60, 61. have a tradition, that,
in the twentieth year of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglathpileser king of Assyria
came and took away the golden calf in Dan; and, in the twelfth year of Ahaz,
another king of Assyria (Shalmaneser) came and took away the golden calf at
Bethel:
and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it; the
Chemarims, as in Zephaniah 1:4; or
"black"F25כמריו "atrati
ejus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. ones, because of their meagre
and sordid countenances, or black clothing: the same word the Jews use for
Popish monks: here it designs the priests of Bethaven, or the calf, who before
this time rejoiced on account of it, because of the sacrifices and presents of
the people to it, and the good living they got in the service of it; but now
would mourn, as well as the people, and more, because of being deprived of
their livelihood. Some read the words without the supplement "that, the
priests thereof rejoiced on it"; which some interpret according to a
tradition of the Jews mentioned by Jerom, though by no other, as I can find;
that the priests stole away the golden calves, and put brasen and glided ones
in the place of them; so that when they were carried away the people mourned,
taking them to be the true golden calves; but the priests made themselves merry
with their subtle device, and rejoiced that their fraud was not detected; but
rather the word here used, as Pocock and others have observed, is of that kind
which has contrary senses, and signifies both to mourn and to rejoice; and here
to mourn, as perhaps also in Job 3:22; and so
Ben Melech observes, that there are some of their interpreters who understand
it here in the sense of mourning:
for the glory of it, because it is departed from it; either
because of the glory of the calf, which was gone from it, the veneration it was
had in, the worship which was given to it, and the gems and ornaments that were
about it; or rather the glory of Bethaven, and also of Samaria, and indeed of
all Israel, which was carried captive from them; that is, the calf, which was
their god, in which they gloried, and put their trust and confidence in.
Hosea 10:6 6 The idol also shall be carried to
Assyria As a present for King Jareb. Ephraim shall receive shame, And
Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.
YLT 6Also it to Asshur is
carried, a present to a warlike king, Shame doth Ephraim receive, And ashamed
is Israel of its own counsel.
It shall also be carried unto Assyria for a present to King
Jareb,.... Or, "he himself"F26גם
אותו "etiam ipsemet", Pagninus, Montanus;
"etiam ipse", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "etiam
ille", Cocceius; "etiam ille ipse", Schmidt. ; not the people of
Samaria, or of Bethaven, or of the calf, but the calf itself; which, being all
of gold, was sent a present to the king of Assyria, here called Jareb; either
Assyria, or the king of it; See Gill on Hosea 5:13; this
was done either by the people of Israel themselves, to appease the king of
Assyria; or rather by the Assyrian army, who reserved the plunder of this as a
proper present to their king and conqueror, to whom not only nations, but the
gods of nations, were subject:
Ephraim shall receive shame; for worshipping such an
idol, when they shall see it broke to pieces, and the gold of it made a present
to the Assyrian king, and that it could not save them, nor itself:
and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel; of giving in
to such idolatry, contrary to the counsel, mind, and will of God; or of the
counsel which they and Jeroboam took to set up the calves at Dan and Bethel,
and thereby to keep the people from going up to Jerusalem, 1 Kings 12:28; as
well as of their counsel and covenant with the king of Egypt against the king
of Assyria, 2 Kings 17:4.
Hosea 10:7 7 As for Samaria, her king is cut
off Like a twig on the water.
YLT 7Cut off is Samaria! Its
king [is] as a chip on the face of the waters.
As for Samaria,.... The
metropolis of the ten tribes of Israel, and here put for the whole kingdom:
her king is cut off; which some understand of
Pekah, who was killed by Hoshea; others of several of their kings cut off one
after another, very suddenly and quickly, as the metaphor after used shows; or
rather Hoshea the last king is meant, who was cut off by the king of Assyria;
the present tense is used for the future, to denote the certainty of it. Aben
Ezra thinks the verb "cut off" is to be repeated, Samaria is
"cut off, her king is cut off"; both king and kingdom
destroyed. So the Targum,
"Samaria
is cut off with her king:'
as the foam upon the water; as any light thing
flowing upon it; as the bark of a tree, as Kimchi and Abarbinel; or as the scum
upon a boiling pot of water, as Jarchi, and the Targum; or as foam, which is an
assemblage of bubbles upon the water; such are kings and kingdoms, swell, look
big and high for a while; but are mere bubbles, empty things; and are often
suddenly, quickly, and easily destroyed; so Samaria and her king were by the
Assyrian army; the Lord of hosts, the King of kings, being against them.
Hosea 10:8 8 Also
the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, Shall be destroyed. The thorn and
thistle shall grow on their altars; They shall say to the mountains, “Cover
us!” And to the hills, “Fall on us!”
YLT 8And destroyed have been
high places of Aven, the sin of Israel. Thorn and bramble go up on their
altars, And they have said to hills, Cover us, And to heights, Fall upon us.
The high places also of Aven,.... Bethel, which is not
only as before called Bethaven, the house of iniquity; but Aven, iniquity
itself; the high places of it were the temple and altars built there for
idolatrous service, which were usually set on hills and mountains:
the sin of Israel shall be destroyed; that is,
which high places are the sin of Israel, the occasion of sin unto them; and
where they committed sin, the sin of idolatry, in worshipping the calves; these
should be thrown down, demolished, and no longer used:
the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; lying in
ruins, these shall grow upon them, the people and priests being carried captive
that used to sacrifice upon them; but now they shall lie deserted by them,
being destroyed by the enemy:
and they shall say to the mountains, cover us; and to the hills,
fall on us; not that the high places and altars shall say so in a figurative
sense, according to R. Moses in Aben Ezra; but, as Japhet, they that worshipped
there, the priests and people of Samaria, Bethaven, and even of all Israel,
because of their great distress; and, as persons in the utmost consternation,
and in despair, and confounded, and ashamed, shall call to the mountains and
hills where they have been guilty of idolatry to hide and cover them from the
wrath of God; see Luke 23:30 Revelation 6:16.
Hosea 10:9 9 “O
Israel, you have sinned from the days of Gibeah; There they stood. The battle
in Gibeah against the children of iniquity[b] Did not
overtake them.
YLT 9From the days of Gibeah
thou hast sinned, O Israel, There they have stood, Not overtake them in Gibeah
doth battle, Because of sons of perverseness.
O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah,.... This has
no respect, as the Targum, and others, to Gibeah of Saul, of which place he
was, and the choosing him to be king; but to the affair of the Levite and his
concubine at Gibeah in the days of the judges, and what followed upon it, Judges 19:1;
suggesting, that the sins of Israel were not new ones; they were the same with
what were committed formerly, as early as the history referred to, and had been
continued ever since; the measure of which were now filling up: or, as Aben
Ezra and Abarbinel interpret it, "thou hast sinned more than the days of
Gibeah"; were guilty of more idolatry, inhumanity, and impurity, than in
those times; and yet the grossest of sins, particularly unnatural lusts, were
then committed:
there they stood; either the men of Gibeah continued in their
sins, and did not repent of them; and stood in their own defence against the
tribes of Israel, and the Benjamites stood also with them, and by them; and
stood two battles, and were conquerors in them; and, though beaten in the
third, were not wholly destroyed, as now the Israelites would be: or the tribes
of Israel stood, and continued in, and connived at, the idolatry of the Levite;
or rather stood sluggish and slothful, and were not eagar to fight with the
Benjamites, who took part with the men of Gibeah; which were their sins, for
which they were worsted in the two first battles, and in which the present
Israelites imitated them:
the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not
overtake them; the two first battles against the men of Gibeah and the
Benjamites, who are the children of iniquity, the one the actors, and the other
the abettors and patrons of it, did not succeed against them, but the
Israelites were overcome; and the third battle, in which they got the day, did
not overtake them so as utterly to cut them off; for six hundred persons made
their escape; but, in the present case prophesied of, it is suggested, that as
their sins were as great or greater than theirs, their ruin should be entire
and complete: or the sense is, that they were backward to go to battle; they
were not eager upon it; they did not at once espouse the cause of the Levite;
they did not stir in it till he had done that unheard of thing, cutting his
concubine into twelve pieces, and sending them to the twelve tribes of Israel;
and then they were not overly anxious, but sought the Lord, as if it was a
doubtful case; which backwardness was resented in their ill success at first;
and the same slow disposition to punish vice had continued with them ever since;
so Schmidt.
Hosea 10:10 10 When
it is My desire, I will chasten them. Peoples shall be gathered against
them When I bind them for their two transgressions.[c]
YLT 10When I desire, then I do
bind them, And gathered against them have peoples, When they bind themselves to
their two iniquities.
It is in my desire
that I should chastise them,.... Or, "bind them"F1ואסרם "et, vel ut vinciam eos", Junius
& Tremellius, Drusius, Grotius; "colligabo eos", Cocceius. , and
carry them captive; and by so doing correct them for their sins they have so
long continued in: this the Lord had in his heart to do, and was determined
upon it, and would do it with pleasure, for the glorifying of his justice,
since they had so long and so much abused his clemency and goodness:
and the people shall be gathered against them; the
Assyrians, who, at the command of the Lord, would come and invade their land,
besiege their city, and take it, and bind them, and carry them captive:
when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows; when, like
heifers untamed, and bound in a yoke to plough, do not make and keep in one
furrow, but turn out to the right or left, and make cross furrows; so it is
intimated that this was the reason why the Lord would correct Israel, and
suffer the nations to gather together against them, and carry them captive,
because they did not plough in one furrow, or keep in the true and pure worship
of God; but made two furrows, worshipping partly God, and partly idols: or,
"when they", their enemies, "shall bind them", being
gathered against them, and carry them captive, they shall make them plough in "two
furrows", the one up, and the other down; and to this hard service they
shall keep them continually. There is a double reading of this clause; the
"Cetib", or textual writing or reading, is, "to their two
eyes", or "fountains": alluding, as Jarchi observes, to the
binding of the yoke on oxen on each side of their eyes: or to the fountains in
the land of Israel, the abundance of wine, milk, and honey; for the sake of
which the people got together, broke in upon them, and bound them, in order to
drink of. So GussetiusF2Comment. Ebr. p. 591, 892. renders the
words, "and they shall bind them to drink of their fountains". The
"Keri" or marginal reading is, "their two iniquities";
which the Septuagint follows, rendering it,
"in
chastising them, or when they are chastised for their two iniquities;'
so
the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions; meaning either their
worshipping the two calves at Dan and Bethel; or their corporeal and spiritual
adultery; or their forsaking the true God, and worshipping idols; see Jeremiah 2:13.
Schmidt understands all this, not as a punishment threatened, but as an
instance of the love of God to them, in chastising them in a loving and
fatherly way; which had a good effect upon them, and brought them to
repentance; partly in the times of the judges, but more especially in the days
of Samuel, when they behaved well; and particularly in the reigns of David and
Solomon; and when the people were gathered, not "against", but
"to" them; either became proselytes to them, or tributaries, or
coveted their friendship; and when they themselves lived in great concord, in
one kingdom, under one king, like oxen ploughing in two contiguous furrows.
Hosea 10:11 11 Ephraim
is a trained heifer That loves to thresh grain; But I harnessed
her fair neck, I will make Ephraim pull a plow. Judah shall plow; Jacob
shall break his clods.”
YLT 11And Ephraim [is] a trained
heifer -- loving to thresh, And I -- I have passed over on the goodness of its
neck, I cause [one] to ride Ephraim, Plough doth Judah, harrow for him doth
Jacob.
And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and
loveth to tread out the corn,.... Like a heifer taught
to bear the yoke, and to plough; but learned it not, as the Targum; does not
like it; chooses to tread out the corn where it can feed upon it, its mouth not
being then muzzled, according to the law; oxen or heifers were used both in
ploughing and treading out corn, to which the allusion is. The sense is, that
Ephraim or the ten tribes were taught to bear the yoke of the law, and yield
obedience to it, and perform good works; but did not like such a course of
life; had no further regard for religion than as they found their own worldly
profit and advantage in it: or they did not care to labour much in it; they
liked the fruit and advantage arising from working, rather than the work
itself; and thus, like a heifer, doing little, and living well, they grew fat,
increased in power, wealth, and riches; and so became proud and haughty, and
kicked against the house of David, and rent themselves from it; and set up a
kingdom of their own, and lived and reigned according to their own will and
pleasure, like a heifer without yoke and muzzle:
but I passed over upon her fair neck; or, "the
goodness of her neck"F3על טוב צוארה "super bonitatem
cervicis ejus", Montanus; "super bonitatem colli ipsius",
Schmidt; "super praestantiam", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. ;
which is expressive of the flourishing and opulent state and condition of the
ten tribes, especially in the times of Jeroboam the second, which made them
proud and haughty: but the Lord was determined to humble them, and first in a
more light and gentle manner; or caused the rod of correction to pass over them
more lightly; or put upon them a more easy yoke of affliction, by causing Pul
king of Assyria to come against them; and to get rid of whom a present was
given him, exacted of the people; and afterwards Tiglathpileser, another king
of Assyria, who carried captive part of their land; and this not having its
proper effect, the Lord was determined to proceed against them in a heavier
manner:
I will make Ephraim to ride; some, taking the future
for the past, render it, "I have made Ephraim to ride"F4ארכיב "equitare feci", Munster, Rivet. ; that is,
to rule and govern, having royal dignity and power given them, and that greater
than that of Judah; and ride over the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, who were
sometimes very much afflicted by them; and this is thought to be the sense of
the following phrases,
Judah shall plough, and Jacob shall break his clods; or,
"break the clods for him"F5ישדד לו "occabit ei", De Dieu; "occabit
illi?" Schmidt. ; for Ephraim while he rides, and uses them very hard; as
in the days of Joash and Pekah, kings of Israel, when many of the tribes of
Judah were slain by them, 2 Kings 14:12; but
rather the meaning is, "I will cause to ride on Ephraim"F6"Equitare
faciam in Ephraim", Lyra, Tarnovius; "equitare faciam super
Ephraim", so some in Calvin. ; that is, the Assyrians shall ride upon
them, get the dominion over them, carry them captive, and use them to hard
service and bondage, as a heifer rid upon by a severe rider while ploughing;
and the other tribes shall not escape, though they shall not be so hardly dealt
with: "Judah shall plough, and Jacob shall break his clods"; these
shall be carried captive into Babylon, and employed in hard and servile work,
but more tolerable; as ploughing and breaking clods are easier than to ride
upon; and as they had hope of deliverance at the end of seventy years; whereas
no promise of return was made to the ten tribes, which is the sense some give;
but Pocock and others think that these words regard the tender and gentle
methods God took with these people to bring them to obedience to his law.
Ephraim being teachable like a heifer, he took hold of her fair neck, and
stroked it to encourage her, and accustom her to the hand, and to the yoke; and
then put the yoke of his law upon them, add trained them up in his
institutions, and used also gentle methods to keep them in obedience; and also
set Judah to "plough", and Jacob to "break the clods",
prescribed for them; and employed them in good works, in the duties of
religion, from whence answerable fruit might have been expected; saying to them,
by his prophets, as follows:
Hosea 10:12 12 Sow
for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it
is time to seek the Lord,
Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.
YLT 12Sow for yourselves in
righteousness, Reap according to loving-kindness, Till for yourselves tillage
of knowledge, To seek Jehovah, Till he come and shew righteousness to you.
Saw to yourselves in righteousness,.... Not the seed of
grace, which bad men have not, and cannot saw it; and which good men need not,
it being sown in them already, and remaining; rather the seed of the word,
which should be laid up in their hearts, dwell richly in them, and be kept and
retained by them; though it is best of all to understand it of works of
righteousness; as sowing to the flesh is doing the works of the flesh, or
carnal and sinful acts; so sowing "unto righteousness"F7לצדקה "ad justitiam", Pagninus, Montanus,
Munster, Calvin, Junius & Tremellius, Drusius, Tarnovius, Cocceius. , as it
may be rendered, is doing works of righteousness; living soberly and
righteously; doing works according to the word of righteousness, from good
principles, and with good views, with a view to the glory of God: and which
will be "sowing to themselves", turn to their own account; for though
such works are not profitable to God, as to merit anything at his hands; yet
they are not only profitable to others, but to those that do them; for though
not "for", yet "in keeping" the commands of God there is
"great reward", Psalm 19:11. Reap
in mercy; or "according to mercy"F8לפי
חסד "ad os miserecordiae", Montanus;
"secundum misericordiam", Pagninus; "secundum pietatem",
Cocceius, Schmidt. not according to the merit of works, for there is none in
them; but according to the mercy of God, to which all blessings, temporal,
spiritual, and eternaL, are owing; and such who sow to the Spirit, or spiritual
things, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting; not as the reward of debt,
but of grace; not as of merit, but as owing to the mercy of Christ, Galatians 6:9 Judges 1:21;
break up your fallow ground; that is, of their
hearts; which were like ground unopened, unbroken, not filled and manured, nor
sown with seed, but overrun with weeds and thistles; and so were they, hard and
impenitent, destitute of grace, and full of sin and wickedness, and stood in
need of being renewed in the spirit of their minds; which this exhortation is
designed to convince them of, and to stir them up to make use of proper methods
of obtaining it, through the efficacious grace of God; see Jeremiah 4:5;
for it is time to seek the Lord: for his
grace; as the husbandman seeks, prays, and waits for rain, when he has tilled
his ground, and sowed his seed, to water it, and make it fruitful, that he may
have a good reaping time, a plentiful harvest; and as there is a time to seek
for the one, so for the other:
till he come and rain righteousness upon you; that is,
Christ, whose coming is as the rain, Hosea 6:3; and who,
when he should come, whether personally by his incarnation, or spiritually by
his gracious presence, would rain a plentiful rain of the doctrines of grace,
and the blessings of it, such as peace pardon, righteousness, and eternal life
by him; particularly the justifying righteousness wrought out by him, which is
fully manifested in the Gospel, the ministration of that righteousness, and is
applied unto, and put upon, all them that believe: or "till he come and teach
you righteousness"F9ויורה צדק לכם "et doceat justitiam
vos", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius, Cocceius, Schmidt. ; as Christ did when
come; he taught the word of righteousness in general, and the righteousness of
God in particular, and directed men to seek it; declared he came to fulfil all
righteousness, and taught men to believe in him for it, and that he is their
righteousness, and the end of the law for it; as well as he taught them to live
righteously and godly; see Joel 2:23. The
Targum is,
"O
house of Israel, do for yourselves good works; walk in the way of truth;
establish for yourselves the doctrine of the law; behold, at all times the
prophets say to you, return to the fear of the Lord; now shall he be revealed,
and bring righteousness to you.'
But
these exhortations were vain and fruitless, as appears by what follows:
Hosea 10:13 13 You
have plowed wickedness; You have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of
lies, Because you trusted in your own way, In the multitude of your mighty men.
YLT 13Ye have ploughed
wickedness, Perversity ye have reaped, Ye have eaten the fruit of lying, For
thou hast trusted in thy way, In the abundance of thy might.
Ye have ploughed wickedness,.... Contrived it, and
took a great deal of pains to commit it; by ploughing sowed it, and which
sprung up in a plentiful crop: it may denote their first sins, from whence all
others arose; as their irreligion and infidelity; their apostasy from God;
their idolatry and contempt of his word and prophets:
ye have reaped iniquity; abundance of other sins
have sprung up from thence; a large harvest of them have been reaped and got
in; or great numbers of other sins have been committed; one sin leads on to
another, and these proceed "ad infinitum"; wickedness is of an
increasing nature, and grows worse and worse, and proceeds to more ungodliness:
many understand this of the punishment or reward of sin:
ye have eaten the fruit of lies; as a sweet morsel though
bread of deceit; which could not profit them, nor yield them in the issue the
pleasure it promised them, and they hoped for from it:
because thou didst trust in thy way; in the worship of their
idols, and in their alliances with neighbouring nations, and promised
themselves great prosperity and happiness from hence:
and in the multitude of thy mighty men; their valiant
soldiers, their numerous armies, and the generals of them, well skilled in war,
and courageous; and also in their auxiliaries, which they had from the
Egyptians and others; these they put their confidences in, to protect them; and
so in their garrisons and fortresses, as the following words show:
Hosea 10:14 14 Therefore
tumult shall arise among your people, And all your fortresses shall be
plundered As Shalman plundered Beth Arbel in the day of battle— A mother dashed
in pieces upon her children.
YLT 14And rise doth a tumult
among thy people, And all thy fortresses are spoiled, As the spoiling of
Shalman of Beth-Arbel, In a day of battle, Mother against sons dashed in
pieces.
Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people,.... Because
of their wickedness and vain confidence, the Assyrian army should invade them;
which would cause a tumultuous noise to be made throughout the tribes in all
cities and towns, a cry, a howling, and lamentation; especially among fearful
and timorous ones as women and children; who would be thrown into a panic at
hearing the news of a powerful foreign enemy entering their country, and laying
waste all before them; a voice of clamour, as Jarchi observes, crying, flee,
flee:
and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled; the strong
holds, in which they put their confidence for safety; everyone of these should
be taken and demolished by the enemy, in all parts of the kingdom; so that
there should be none left to flee unto no place of retreat:
as Shalman spoiled Betharbel in the day of battle; that is,
Shalmaneser king of Assyria, his name being abbreviated, as Bethaven is called
Aven, Hosea 10:8; who had
lately, though there in no account of it elsewhere, spoiled this place,
demolished its fortresses, and destroyed the inhabitants of it; which is
thought to be either the city of Arbel beyond Jordan, in the Apocrypha:
"Who
went forth by the way that leadeth to Galgala, and pitched their tents before
Masaloth, which is in Arbela, and after they had won it, they slew much
people.' (1 Maccabees 9:2)
which
JosephusF11Antiqu. l. 12. c. 11. sect. 1. & l. 14. c. 15. sect.
4. In Vita sua, sect. 69. p. 922, 934. calls a city of Galilee, and sometimes a
village; and which, according to him, was not far from Sipphore, and in lower
Galilee near to which thieves and robbers dwelt in caves and dens, difficult to
come at; and so a Jewish writerF12Juchasin, fol. 65. 1. places Arbel
between Sipphore and Tiberias; and elsewhereF13T. Hieros. Beracot,
fol. 2, 3. & Taaniot, fol. 69. 2. Shirhashirim Rabba, fol. 34. 3. mention
is made of the valley of Arbel, near to these places: and JeromF14De
locis Heb. fol. 87. L. says, there was the village Arbel beyond Jordan, on the
borders of Pella, a city of Palestine; and another of this name in the large
plain, nine miles from the town of Legio: and he also speaks of an Arbela, the
border of the tribe of Judah to the east; perhaps the same with Harbaalah,
whence Arbela, or the mount of Baalah, Joshua 15:11; now
one or other of these places might be laid waste by this king of Assyria, in
the first year of Hoshea, when he came up against him, and made him tributary:
though some think Arbela in Assyria or Armenia is meant, famous for the utter
defeat of Darius by Alexander, four hundred years after this, when it might
have been rebuilt, and become considerable again: some of the Jewish writersF15Juchasin,
ut supra. (fol. 65. 1.) say there was a place near Nineveh so called; Benjamin
of Tudela saysF16Itinerar. p. 62. , from Nineveh to Arbel is one
"parsa", or four miles: and othersF17Juchasin, ib. (fol.
65. 1.) R. Joseph Kimchi in David Kimchi in loc. think Samaria itself is meant;
but that cannot be, since the destruction of that city is here prophesied of,
which should be as this: some conjecture it was the temple of a deity called Arbel,
as Schmidt: but, be it what or where it will, here was a great devastation and
slaughter made; which at this time was well known, and to which the desolation
that would be made in the land of Israel is compared. The Vulgate Latin version
is, "as Salmana was wasted by the house of him who judged Baal in the day
of battle"; which patrons and defenders of interpret of the slaughter of
Zalmunna by Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon; but the names of the one and the other
are very different; nor does the text speak of the slaughter of a prince, but
of the destruction of a city, and not of Shalman, but of Arbel; and refers not
to an ancient, but recent history. Mr. WhistonF18Chronological
Tables, cent. 8. places the spoil of Arbela in the year 3272 A.M. or before
Christ 732;
the mother was dashed in pieces with her children: women big
with child, or having their children in their arms, had no mercy shown them,
but were destroyed together; so it had been at Arbel, and would be again in
Israel, which was dreadful to think of: according to Kimchi and Ben Melech,
Arbel was the name of a great man in those days, whose family, meant by beth or
a house, was thus cruelly destroyed.
Hosea 10:15 15 Thus
it shall be done to you, O Bethel, Because of your great wickedness. At dawn
the king of Israel Shall be cut off utterly.
YLT 15Thus hath Beth-El done to
you, Because of the evil of your wickedness, In the dawn cut off utterly is a
king of Israel!
So shall Bethel do unto you, because of your great wickedness,.... Or,
"because of the evil of your evil"F19מפני
רעת רעתכם "propter
malitiam malitiae vestrae", Pagninus, Cocceius, Schmidt. ; their extreme
wickedness, and exceeding sinfulness; the evil of evils they were guilty of was
their idolatry, their worshipping the calf at Bethel; and this was the cause of
all their ruin: God was the cause of it; the king of Assyria the instrument;
but the procuring or meritorious cause was their abominable wickedness at
Bethel; which therefore should be as Betharbel; yea, the whole land should be,
on the account of that, like unto it, or be spoiled as that was. Or the words
may be rendered, "so will he do unto you, O Bethel"F20ככה עשה לכם
בית־אל "sic faciet vobis, Deus, O
Bethel", Drusius; "sic faciet vobis Salman, O Bethel",
Schmidt. ; that is, either God, or Shalman or Shalmaneser, shall do the same to
Bethel as he did to Betharbel; utterly destroy it and its inhabitants, showing
no mercy to age or sex;
in a morning shall the king of Israel be utterly cut off; meaning
Hoshea the last king of Israel, and the kingdom entirely destroyed; so that
afterwards there was no more king in Israel, nor has been to this day; there
was not only an utter destruction of that king, but of all kingly power and
government, and ever since the children of Israel have been without a king, Hosea 3:4; and this
was to be done, and was done, in a "morning": in the beginning of his
reign, as Joseph Kimchi; but this seems not so well to agree with the history,
since it was in the ninth year of his reign that Samaria was taken: but the
sense is, either that it would be certainly done, as sure as the morning came;
or suddenly and quickly, as the morning light breaks forth; or in the morning
of prosperity, when they were expecting light and good days, from their
alliance with the king of Egypt, against the king of Assyria.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》
New King James
Version (NKJV)