Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints. Jump to: Barnes • Benson • BI • Calvin • Cambridge • Clarke • Darby • Ellicott • Expositor's • Exp Dct • Gaebelein • GSB • Gill • Gray • Guzik • Haydock • Hastings • Homiletics • JFB • KD • King • Lange • MacLaren • MHC • MHCW • Parker • Poole • Pulpit • Sermon • SCO • TTB • WES • TSK EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE) (12) Should stand as the first verse of Hosea 12, just as in the Hebrew text. The rest of the prophecy appears as a distinct composition, a new commencemen, of judgment and incrimination, followed at last by one more utterance of Divine promise.The rendering of the latter part of the verse in the English version was that of the Jewish scholars who saw here a reference to the reign of Hezekiah, but it is opposed to the mention of the “controversy with Judah” in Hosea 12:3. Accordingly, the rendering adopted by Ewald, Wünsche, Nowack, and others, is more probable:—“And Judah still roves unbridled towards God, and towards the faithful Holy One,” Judah’s inconstancy being contrasted with the faithfulness of God. The plural form, the Holy Ones, may, like the plural forms, Elohîm, Adonîm, suggest personalities within the substance of deity. The LXX. seem to indicate that we have not the right Hebrew text here. Hosea 11:12. Ephraim compasseth me about with lies — Ephraim and Israel are hypocrites; they promise much and perform nothing; they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. But Judah yet ruleth with God — Judah kept close to that kingly government which God had settled in David’s family, and faithfully observed those ordinances which God had given to his people, here termed saints, as they are also Deuteronomy 33:3; and else where a holy nation, and peculiar people. This seems to relate to the times of Hezekiah, who restored the pure worship of God in Judah; at which time the ten tribes were flagrantly wicked, and wholly addicted to an idolatrous worship. Instead of saints, Bishop Horsley reads, holy ones, and interprets the expression of the persons of the Trinity. His translation of the verse is, “Ephraim hath compassed me about with treachery, and the house of Israel with deceit. But Judah shall yet obtain dominion with God, and shall be established with the holy ones.” He considers the expression, shall obtain dominion, &c., as “a promissory allusion to a final restoration of the Jewish monarchy;” and the remaining clause, shall be established, &c., as signifying “either the constancy of Judah’s fidelity to the Holy Ones, or the firmness of the support which he shall receive from them.” And he thinks that “by the use of this plural word, Holy Ones, the prophecy clearly points to the conversion of the Jewish people to the Christian faith.” But Judah yet ruleth with God - Ephraim had cast off the rule of God, the kings and priests whom He had appointed, so that his whole kingdom and polity was without God and against Him. In contrast with this, Judah, amid all His sins, was outwardly faithful. He adhered to the line of kings, from whom was to spring the Christ, David's Son but David's Lord. He worshiped with the priests whom God had appointed to offer the typical sacrifices, until "He" should come, "the high priest forever, after the order of Melchisedek," who should end those sacrifices by the Sacrifice of Himself. Thus far Judah "ruled with God;" he was on the side of God, maintained the worship of God, was upheld by God. So Abijah said to Jeroboam, "The Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken Him, and the priests which minister unto the Lord are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites wait upon their business. For we keep the charge of the Lord our God, but ye have forsaken Him, and behold God is with us for our Captain, ..." 2 Chronicles 13:10-12. And is faithful with the saints - Or (better perhaps, with the E. M) "with the All-Holy." The same plural is used of God elsewhere (Joshua 24:19; and in Proverbs 30:3); and its use, like that of the ordinary name of God, is founded on the mystery of the Trinity. It does not teach it, but neither can it be accounted for in any other way. This faithfulness of Judah was outward only, (as the upbraiding of the prophet to Judah testifies,) yet did it much favor inward holiness. "The body without the soul is dead;" yet the life, even when seeming to be dying out, might be brought back, when the body was there; not, when it too was dissolved. Hence, Judah had many good kings, Israel none. Yet, in that he says, "yet ruleth with God," he shows that a time was coming when Judah too would be, not "with God" but against Him, and also would be cast off. ruleth with God—to serve God is to reign. Ephraim wished to rule without God (compare 1Co 4:8); nay, even, in order to rule, cast off God's worship [Rivetus]. In Judah was the legitimate succession of kings and priests. with the saints—the holy priests and Levites [Rivetus]. With the fathers and prophets who handed down the pure worship of God. Israel's apostasy is the more culpable, as he had before him the good example of Judah, which he set at naught. The parallelism ("with God") favors Margin, "With THE Most Holy One." but Judah yet ruleth with God; a theocracy was as yet acknowledged and supported among them; God ruled in the midst of them, and; they ruled with him; their kings ruled in the fear of God, and according to his laws, statutes, and appointment, and not their own; particularly in the days of Hezekiah, which may be here respected, the people retained and practised the true worship and service of God: which, as it is the truest liberty, so is the highest honour and dignity: such are rulers with God, as all the Lord's people, all that believe in Christ, are; they are made by his grace kings and princes; and they appear to be so by their new birth; they are clothed, fed, and guarded as princes, as the sons of a king, as kings themselves; they have the riches and power of kings; they are possessed of a kingdom of grace now, which is within them, and where grace reigns, through righteousness, over their lusts and corruptions; and great power, like princes, have they in prayer with God, and are heirs of the kingdom of glory, as well as shall reign with Christ on earth. Gussetius renders it, "Judah yet weeps with God": as his father Jacob did, imitating him, as in Hosea 12:4; and is faithful with the saints; which Kimchi's father interprets of God himself; and so Lyra, and according to him Jarchi: and then the sense is, "and he", that is, God, "is faithful with the saints"; in fulfilling all his counsels, purposes, and designs of grace concerning them; in making good his covenant with them, and his promises unto them; and by bringing them to the enjoyment of all that grace and glory he calls them to: but this is rather an epithet of Judah, who kept to the word and worship of the true God, as the saints of old, their ancestors, had done; walked in the good old way, in the way of good men, and kept the paths of the righteous; abode by the true priests of the Lord, who were set apart and sanctified for that office; and hearkened to the prophets, the holy men of God, who spake to them, being moved by the Holy Spirit: and adhered firmly "to the holy things" (p), as it may be rendered; to the holy temple, and the worship in it; to the holy sacrifices, altars, &c. when the ten tribes departed from them: and so this may be applied to the faithful in Christ Jesus, that believe in him truly, and continue in the faith of him in all ages; and who are "faithful with the Holy Ones" (q); the same with God in the former clause; so Kimchi interprets it, and so the word is used in Proverbs 9:10; see Joshua 24:19; that is, with Father, Son, and Spirit; with the Father, when they worship him in spirit and truth; with the Son, when they cleave to him with full purpose of heart; with the Spirit, when they walk after him, and give to each the glory due unto them: or rather, "faithful with holy men" (r); sanctified by the Spirit and grace of God; as they are, when they hold fast the faith delivered to the saints without mixture or wavering, with courage and manliness; though the greater number is against them, and they are reproached and persecuted for so doing; when they abide by the ordinances of Christ, as they were delivered, and keep them in faith and love, without sinister views; when they continue steadfastly in the communion of the saints, attending with them on the word and ordinances, and do not forsake their assembling together; and when they constantly exhort and stir up one another to the duties of religion, and faithfully admonish and reprove each other as there is occasion for it. (p) "rebus sanctis", Rivetus. (q) "Cum diis sanctis", Munster, Vatablus. So Ben Melech. (r) "Cum sanctis", i.e. "hominibus", Drusius. (l) Governs their state according to God's word, and does not degenerate. EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES) 12. The Septuagint, and after it the English Version, mistook the blame of the second half of this verse for praise, and hence attached the verse to chap. 11. Properly, however, it belongs to chap. 12, of which it is the first verse in the Hebrew Bible. Jehovah is the speaker. Israel’s sins of treason and deceit are so numerous that his God is as it were surrounded by them, and can see nothing else; nor has Judah shown any more deference to the repeated warnings of the prophet.but Judah yet ruleth, &c.] Rather, and Judah is yet wayward towards God, and towards the faithful Holy One. ‘Yet’, because Hosea’s earlier prophecies record the long continuance of Judah’s backsliding (Hosea 5:10, Hosea 6:4; Hosea 6:11, Hosea 8:14). The word rendered ‘wayward’ has the root-meaning of roving unrestrained, as when an animal has broken loose. Hence Jeremiah 2:31, ‘Wherefore say my people, We rove at large; we will come no more unto thee.’ ‘The Holy One’ has in the Hebrew the plural termination, as in Proverbs 9:10; it seems formed on the model of Elohim, ‘(the) divinity’, lit. ‘(the) divinities.’ We might express the force of the plural by rendering ‘the All-Holy One’, or (as margin) ‘the Most Holy.’ The Septuagint (partly followed by the Peshito) renders, νῦν ἔγνω αὐτοὺς ὁ θεὸς, καὶ ὁ λαὸς ἅγιος κεκλήσεται θεοῦ. But dubious as our Hebrew text may be, it gives a more suitable sense than that of the Septuagint. Verse 12. - Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints. The first clause sets forth the faithlessness and insincerity of Israel, and that in contrast with Judah. Thus understood, the verse properly belongs to the present chapter. But others understand the last clause differently, and deny the contrast, viz. "Judah is yet defiant towards God and towards the All-Holy One, who is faithful." Hosea 11:12"They will go after Jehovah; like a lion will He roar; for He will roar: and sons will tremble from the sea. Hosea 11:11. Tremble like birds out of Egypt, and like doves out of the land of Asshur: and I cause them to dwell in their houses, is the saying of Jehovah." When the Lord turns His pity towards the people once more, they will follow Him, and hasten, with trembling at His voice, from the lands of their banishment, and be reinstated by Him in their inheritance. The way for this promise was opened indeed by Hosea 11:9, but here it is introduced quite abruptly, and without any logical particle of connection, like the same promise in Hosea 3:5. הלך אחרי יי, to walk after the Lord, denotes not only "obedience to the gathering voice of the Lord, as manifested by their drawing near" (Simson), but that walking in true obedience to the Lord which follows from conversion (Deuteronomy 13:5; 1 Kings 14:8), so that the Chaldee has very properly rendered it, "They will follow the worship of Jehovah." This faithfulness they will exhibit first of all in practical obedience to the call of the Lord. This call is described as the roaring of a lion, the point of comparison lying simply in the fact that a lion announces its coming by roaring, so that the roaring merely indicates a loud, far-reaching call, like the blowing of the trumpet in Isaiah 27:13. The reason for what is affirmed is then given: "for He (Jehovah) will really utter His call," in consequence of which the Israelites, as His children, will come trembling (chârēd synonymous with pâchad, Hosea 3:5). מיּם, from the sea, i.e., from the distant islands and lands of the west (Isaiah 11:11), as well as from Egypt and Assyria, the lands of the south and east. These three regions are simply a special form of the idea, "out of all quarters of the globe;" compare the more complete enumeration of the several remote countries in Isaiah 11:11. The comparison to birds and doves expresses the swiftness with which they draw near, as doves fly to their dovecots (Isaiah 60:8). Then will the Lord cause them to dwell in their houses, i.e., settle them once more in their inheritance, in His own land (cf. Jeremiah 32:37, where לבטח is added). On the construing of הושׁיב with על, cf. 1 Kings 20:43, and the German auf der Stube sein. The expression נאם יי affixes the seal of confirmation to this promise. The fulfilment takes place in the last says, when Israel as a nation shall enter the kingdom of God. Compare the remarks on this point at Hosea 2:1-3. Links Hosea 11:12 InterlinearHosea 11:12 Parallel Texts Hosea 11:12 NIV Hosea 11:12 NLT Hosea 11:12 ESV Hosea 11:12 NASB Hosea 11:12 KJV Hosea 11:12 Bible Apps Hosea 11:12 Parallel Hosea 11:12 Biblia Paralela Hosea 11:12 Chinese Bible Hosea 11:12 French Bible Hosea 11:12 German Bible Bible Hub |