Interlacing descriptions of guilt and punishment

1. O priests] Hosea addresses the priests of the high places in N. Israel.

O house of the king] i.e. the king and his courtiers, whether of the royal family or not.

judgment is toward you] Rather, the judgment is for you.

a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor] Tabor is the well-known mountain of the name in Galilee (see Jdg 4:6), and may be taken as the representative of the region on the west of the Jordan (as Psalm 89:12); Mizpah (a common name = place of watch) is most probably Mizpah in Gilead (Jdg 10:17; Jdg 11:11; Jdg 11:29), also called Ramoth-Gilead (Joshua 20:8; Joshua 21:36; 2 Kings 9:1; 2 Kings 9:4; 2 Kings 9:14), and consecrated by Jacob (Genesis 31:45-54). Probably these places (comp. next note) are mentioned because the idolatrous worship was most dangerously seductive there. The worshippers were like the deluded birds who sought shelter in the woods and ravines (comp. Genesis 26:20; Psalm 11:1).

1–7. A personal arraignment of the priesthood (accused less directly in chap. 4) and of the court, who, instead of warning the people, have led them into the snare of sin. So entangled are they in it that they cannot repent, and Judah too has fallen. They may seek to propitiate Jehovah by sacrifices, but in vain: the judgment is close at hand.

2. And the revolters are profound to make slaughter] The expressions used have a most un-Hebraic cast, and what can the ‘slaughter’ refer to? There is nothing at all in the context to suggest that the slaying of sacrifices is meant (as many after St Jerome have supposed), and it is very harsh to understand it as a fresh image for the priests’ abuse of their position. It is better to render (changing a Teth into a Tâv), The apostates are gone deep in corrupting (comp. Hosea 9:9). The ancient versions already found the passage obscure. The Septuagint (and similarly the Peshito) renders δ (sc. τὸ δίκτυον) οἱ ἀγρεύοντες τὴν θήραν κατέπηξαν. Possibly they had had a somewhat different text. Certainty is unattainable, and another plausible and easy emendation deserves at least a mention, from its suitableness to the context, And the pit of Shittim they have made deep. Having been a station of the camp under Moses and Joshua (Numbers 25:1; Joshua 3:1; Joshua 5:1), it is probable, though unproved, that Shittim contained one of the popular shrines or holy places.

though I have been a rebuker of them all] Lit., ‘and I am chastisement for them all’; comp. Psalm 109:4 A.V., ‘I give myself unto prayer’ (lit., ‘I am prayer’). This however is very harsh, and it is simpler to transpose two letters and render, and there is no correction for any of them.

3. I know Israel] The pronoun is expressed for emphasis, I who punish Israel am well acquainted with its open and secret sins.

4. They will not frame …] Rather, as in the margin, Their doings will not suffer them to turn unto their God. The same idea that from the meshes of an inveterate vicious habit there is hardly an escape is expressed in Hosea 7:2, comp. John 8:34; Romans 6:16.

the spirit of whoredoms] See on Hosea 4:12.

is in the midst of them] Rather, is within them, i.e. in their inmost being.

have not known] Rather, know not (see on Hosea 2:20).

5. And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face] Rather, But … shall testify to his face. ‘The pride of Israel’ is capable of two interpretations. It may mean Israel’s vainglorious self-confidence, which is so hateful to Jehovah, and as it were testifies against Israel on the day of Jehovah’s assize (Isaiah 2:12). But it is more natural to take the phrase as a title of Jehovah (see on Hosea 4:18 ‘her rulers’, &c.), borrowed probably from Amos 8:7. How does Jehovah ‘testify against’ any one? The answer is furnished by Ruth 1:21, ‘Jehovah hath testified against me, and Shaddai hath afflicted me.’ An objection of small weight has been raised, viz. that Jehovah, in the prophetic figure, is the complainant and the judge, but not the witness. The answer is that the Hebrew ‘ânâh is not exactly ‘to witness’ but ‘to meet with words or a declaration’; hence it can be used of a judicial sentence. Hosea means that Jehovah has spoken one of those words which kill (comp. Hosea 6:5)—has delivered a judgment by which Israel shall ‘fall.’ The rendering ‘Israel’s pride shall be humbled’ adopted in the ‘Speaker’s Commentary’ from the Sept., the Targum, and the Peshito, scarcely suits the following words ‘to (lit. in) his face.’ Still less suitable is it in Hosea 7:10, where the phrase is repeated.

Israel and Ephraim] i.e., Israel and especially Ephraim; like ‘Judah and Jerusalem’ (Isaiah 2:1).

shall fall] Rather, shall stumble. A figure for calamity (as Isaiah 8:15; Isaiah 31:3, and often). In Hosea 4:15 the prophet uses less distinct language with regard to Judah’s punishment; she is warned not to offend rather than threatened with punishment. Perhaps this chapter represents the utterances of a later period than the preceding chapter.

6. with their flocks and with their herds] i.e., with their sacrificial offerings. This passage affords decisive proof (if indeed the converging evidence from other quarters can be held incomplete) that the Israelites of the north simply and in good faith professed to be worshippers of Jehovah. It will be too late, says the prophet, to use the ordinary means of appeasing Jehovah’s wrath, which have only a value as the outward signs of penitence and faith (see on Hosea 6:6). Micah uses similar expressions respecting prayers which are offered too late (Micah 3:4).

7. Why Jehovah has withdrawn himself, dealt treacherously] i.e. faithlessly. The word is used of an adulteress, Jeremiah 3:20.

they have begotten strange children] The subject of the verb are the Israelites individually, of whom the same statement is made which we have already met with respecting the nation in Hosea 2:4-5.

now shall a month devour them] The time for punishment has arrived. Instead of watching gladly for the new moon to fix the various hallowed festivals (comp. Hosea 2:11), they should have a ‘fearful looking for of judgment’ increasing as each new moon arose. If not this, then perhaps the next would bring with it a slaughtering, plundering horde of invaders. ‘Month’ should rather be new moon (as nothing is added to qualify the sense).

with their portions] i.e. the lands assigned to the several tribes and families (comp. ‘the portion of Jezreel,’ 2 Kings 9:10).

8. Blow ye the cornet … the trumpet] A usual direction on the approach of an invading army; see Hosea 8:1; Jeremiah 4:5; Jeremiah 6:1. Previously to the captivity the cornet and the trumpet were probably different names for the same instrument, as the Law (Numbers 10:1-10; Numbers 31:6) prescribes the use of the silver trumpet (khaçôçerah) in cases when, according to the prophetic and historical books, the cornet or shôfâr was used. In writings of post-Captivity origin (Psalm 98:6; 1 Chronicles 15:28; 2 Chronicles 15:14) they appear to represent different instruments, or rather slightly different varieties of the same instrument. The Mishna tells us that the shôfâr was sometimes straight, sometimes curved, and this difference would of course involve a difference of note. We may help ourselves to form an idea of the Hebrew trumpets by representations of the Egyptian (see Wilkinson, Manners and Customs, 11. 260, &c.).

Gibeah … Ramah] Both towns were situated on eminences, and therefore well adapted for signals of alarm; both apparently belonged to Judah. Gibeah (lit. ‘a hill’) is ‘Gibeah of Benjamin’ (1 Samuel 13:2; 1 Samuel 14:16), or ‘Gibeah of Saul’ (1 Samuel 11:4); the Ramah (lit. ‘height’) is the same where Samuel dwelt (1 Samuel 15:34). Both probably belonged at this time to Judah (see 1 Kings 15:21; Isaiah 10:29). Taking in Bethel, the cities are those from which the signal of alarm could be heard in both kingdoms.

after thee, O Benjamin] Rather, behind thee, O Benjamin; this is the cry of warning which the men of Beth-aven or Bethel (a border-town between Benjamin and Ephraim) are to send on to the Benjamites. Understand either ‘the sword rages’, or more simply ‘be on thy guard.’ Sept. however renders (from a different text?), ἐξέστη Βενιαμίν, ‘Benjamin is distraught.’

It is worth noticing that Hosea (the prophet of the tribes which proudly claimed the name of Israel) does not mention Jerusalem. To have mentioned the capital of Judah would perhaps have led him to widen his range of thought too much. But under the name ‘Benjamin’ he has been thought to hint obscurely at Jerusalem, for ‘the boundary between Judah and Benjamin ran at the foot of the hill on which the city stands, so that the city itself was actually in Benjamin’ (Fergusson, in Smith’s Bible-Dictionary, 1. 983).

8–15. The prophet ‘in the spirit’ sees the threatened trouble bursting upon both the separated kingdoms. In vain will Ephraim seek help from Assyria; there is no deliverance from Jehovah’s hand until Ephraim repents.

9. rebuke] Rather, punishment, as the same word is rendered Psalm 149:7 A.V. ‘punishments upon the people(s).’ The root meaning of the word is ‘judicial decision.’

among the tribes of Israel] i.e. Israel in its widest sense is the object of Hosea’s denunciations. The phrase ‘the tribes of Israel’, standing by itself, never means the Ten Tribes only.

have I made known …] Or, do I make known that which is sure (lit. trustworthy).

10. were like them that remove the bound] Rather, are become like them that remove the landmark. The landmarks were under the protection of religion (Proverbs 22:28; Proverbs 23:10; Deuteronomy 19:14), and to remove them laid the offender under a curse, according to Deuteronomy 27:17. Hosea cites the offence as the greatest conceivable example of revolutionary caprice. Judah, it would seem, was not more fortunate now in its upper classes than Israel (comp. Hosea 6:10-11 Sept., and Isaiah’s ‘these also’, viz. the chief men of Jerusalem, Isaiah 28:7).

like water] Jehovah’s wrath is like fire in its destructiveness, and like a swollen stream in its abundant volume.

11. Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment] The same two participles are again combined in Deuteronomy 28:33, and, as here, in connexion with invasion, ‘thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway’ (so Auth. Vers.). The judgment meant is God’s. The idea was so familiar that a more distinct form of expression was unnecessary. The Hebrews and the other Semitic peoples regarded war as a kind of pleading before a judge; comp. for the latter, the Syriac khayeb ‘damnavit, vicit’, and for the former Isaiah 54:17, where ‘weapon’ is parallel to ‘tongue that riseth against thee’). Compare Schiller’s Die Weltgeschichte ist das Weltgericht. Somewhat less probable is the rendering ‘crushed as to (his) right’, i.e. his right of national independence.

he willingly walked after the commandment] ‘The commandment’ (or, ‘ordinance’) is generally explained of the arbitrary calf-worship (rather bull-worship) set up by Jeroboam I., but as the word only occurs once again in the stammering speech of the drunkards (Isaiah 28:10), it seems more than probable that we should adopt the reading of Septuagint and Peshito, and render the whole clause, he would go after vanity (i.e. after idols, as Jeremiah 18:15; Psalm 31:6). With this reading, too, we can account for the fact that the noun has no article. Archbishop Seeker well points out that the two initial letters of the next word in the Hebrew are such as help to account for the scribe’s supposed error.

12. Therefore will I be …] Rather, And as for me, I am, &c. The same two figures are of frequent occurrence; they are combined again in Job 13:28. A gradual inward corruption was destroying the two Israelitish states quite as effectually as a foreign conquest. Anarchy and civil war combined with a retrograde religion and a lax morality to bring northern Israel in particular to the verge of ruin. Elsewhere Hosea describes its condition as a living death (Hosea 13:1).

13. Both states are conscious of the destroying cancer, but neither of them adopts the only possible means of arresting its progress.

his sickness … his wound] The ordinary figure for corruption of the body politic; comp. Isaiah 1:5-6; Jeremiah 30:12-13.

and sent to king Jareb] Some have thought that as Ephraim and Judah are both mentioned in the first line, the subject of the second verb in this second line must be Judah. As the text stands, however, this is impossible, and if ‘Judah’ once stood in the text as the subject of ‘sent’, it is not easy to conjecture how it dropped out. None of the ancient versions contains the word. But who is ‘king Jareb’, or rather the fighting king (a nickname for the king of Assyria), to whom Ephraim sent? Sennacherib has been thought of, as if there were a playful interpretation of a shortened form of this name, but the short for Sennacherib (on the analogy of Baladan for Merodach-Baladan, Sharezer for Nergal-Sharezer) would be akhirib, not irib. Schrader thinks that the king meant is Asurdan, who in 755 and 754 made expeditions against Khatarik (the Hadrach of Zechariah 9:1) and Arpadda (Arpad); Nowack prefers Tiglath-Pileser II., to whom the epithet ‘fighter’ would accurately apply. In the uncertainty of the Israelitish chronology of this period, a decision is difficult. Indeed, it is becoming more and more evident that the intercourse between Assyria and Israel was more frequent than the fragmentary Bible notices had led us to suppose.

yet could he not …] Rather, though be will not he able to heal you, nor shall ye be relieved (or, with other points, shall he relieve you) of your wound. Delitzsch fully explains the passage in his note on Proverbs 17:22. The word rendered ‘wound’ means both bandage and ulcer, and the verb is used in Syriac for ‘to be delivered, or, removed.’ How completely the politicians of Israel miscalculated, appears from Hosea 10:6.

14. If a stronger figure is necessary to warn Israel of the destructiveness of his present course, Jehovah will compare himself to a lion (comp. Isaiah 31:4).

as a lion, and as a young lion] Hebrew has at least five words for ‘lion’; of the two selected here, the first describes this terror of ancient Palestine as a roarer (so Hosea 13:7), the second as covered with a mane.

I, even I] For the axe may be human, but the hand which wields it is divine (Isaiah 10:15).

I will take away …] i.e. I will carry off the prey. The passage reminds us of the comparison of the Assyrians to a lion in Isaiah 5:29.

15. return to my place] See Micah 1:3, from which it is clear that Jehovah’s ‘place’ is the heavenly temple (Isaiah 6:1). Now that Jehovah has for a time deserted his guilty people, he will return to his seat on high, and watch (Isaiah 18:4) the doings of men. He has full confidence that Israel on his side will return and repent.

acknowledge their offence] Rather, feel their guilt (as the word means in Leviticus 4:4-5; Zechariah 11:5).