Hosea 4:16

For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(16) Slideth back.—More correctly, is stubborn as a stubborn cow.

Will feed them as a lamb in a large place.—An expression of tender commiseration (so Ewald). But most commentators understand it in an unfavourable sense, i.e., will lead them forth into the desolate wilderness, a prey to wild beasts, or into the loneliness that a lamb would feel in a boundless pasture.

Benson Commentary

Hosea 4:16. For Israel slideth back, &c. — As if the Lord had said, As for Israel, I give him up to a reprobate mind. And now the discourse passes naturally into the detail and amplification of Israel’s guilt. Bishop Horsley renders this clause, Truly Israel is rebellious like an unruly heifer; observing, “I restore the rendering of the Bishops’ Bible, and the English Geneva.” Certainly the word סררה, here used, properly means headstrong, untractable, or refractory, and describes a heifer, “indocili jugum collo ferens,” untamed to the yoke, which she will neither bear, nor be confined in her allowed pasture. Now the Lord will feed them as a lamb — Or sheep, solitary, timid, defenceless, and exposed to various beasts of prey; in a large place — That is, “In an unenclosed place, a wide common. They shall no longer be fed with care in the rich enclosures of God’s cultivated farm, but be turned to browse the scanty herbage of the waste. That is, they shall be driven into exile among the heathen, freed from what they thought the restraints, and of consequence deprived of all the blessings and benefits of religion. This dreadful menace is delivered in the form of severe derision; a figure much used by the prophets, especially by Hosea. Sheep love to feed at large. The sheep of Ephraim shall presently have room enough. They shall be scattered over the whole surface of the vast Assyrian empire, where they will be at liberty to turn very heathen. It is remarkable, however, that it is said that even in this state, Jehovah will feed them. They are still, in their utmost humiliation, an object of his care.” — Horsley.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:12-19 The people consulted images, and not the Divine word. This would lead to disorder and sin. Thus men prepare scourges for themselves, and vice is spread through a people. Let not Judah come near the idolatrous worship of Israel. For Israel was devoted to idols, and must now be let alone. When sinners cast off the easy yoke of Christ, they go on in sin till the Lord saith, Let them alone. Then they receive no more warnings, feel no more convictions: Satan takes full possession of them, and they ripen for destruction. It is a sad and sore judgment for any man to be let alone in sin. Those who are not disturbed in their sin, will be destroyed for their sin. May we be kept from this awful state; for the wrath of God, like a strong tempest, will soon hurry impenitent sinners into ruin.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For Israel slideth back, as a backsliding heifer - The calves which Israel worshiped were pictures of itself. They represented natural, untamed, strength, which, when put to service, started back and shrank from the yoke. "Untractable, petulant, unruly, wanton, it withdrew from the yoke, when it could; if it could not, it drew aside or backward, instead of forward." So is it rare, exceeding rare, for man to walk straight on in God's ways; he jerks, writhes, twists, darts aside here and there, hating nothing so much as one straight, even, narrow tenor of his ways.

Now the Lord will feed them as a lamb in a large place - The punishment of Israel was close at hand, "now." It would not have the straitness of God's commandments; it should have the wideness of a desert. God would withdraw His protecting providence from them: He would rule them, although unfelt in His mercy. At "large," they wished to be; at large they should be; but it should be the largeness of a "wilderness where is no way." There, like a lamb, they should go astray, wandering up and down, unprotected, a prey to wild beasts. Woe is it to that man, whom, when he withdraws from Christ's easy yoke, God permits to take unhindered the broad road which leadeth to destruction. To Israel, this "wide place" was the wide realms of the Medes, where they were withdrawn from God's worship and deprived of His protection.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

16. backsliding—Translate, "Israel is refractory, as a refractory heifer," namely, one that throws the yoke off her neck. Israel had represented God under the form of "calves" (1Ki 12:28); but it is she herself who is one.

lamb in a large place—not in a good sense, as in Isa 30:23. Here there is irony: lambs like a large pasture; but it is not so safe for them as a small one, duly fenced from wild beasts. God will "feed" them, but it shall be with the "rod" (Mic 7:14). It shall be no longer in the narrow territory of Israel, but "in a large place," namely, they shall be scattered in exile over the wide realm of Assyria, a prey to their foes; as lambs, which are timid, gregarious, and not solitary, are a prey when scattered asunder to wild beasts.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

There is just cause why Judah should not imitate Israel, and this cause is here assigned.

Israel; the ten tribes

As a backsliding heifer, grown lusty, fed and wanton, will neither endure the yoke to work, nor be confined in her allowed. pastures, breaks over all bounds, casts off all service, so as Israel, as Hosea 4:7, which see.

Now; ere long, or suddenly; so Hosea 2:10.

The Lord, offended by their sins, and provoked to displeasure,

will feed them as a lamb in a large place; in their sinning they were like an untamed heifer, boundless, strong, and stood upon their defence, but in their punishments they shall be like a lamb, solitary, full of fears, in a large place or wilderness, where is no rest, safety, or provision: such shall be the condition of the ten captivated tribes. This is a proverbial speech, setting forth the forlorn state which Israel ere long should fall under.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer,.... A heifer or young cow Israel is compared unto; the rather, because of the object of their idolatrous worship, the calves at Dan and Bethel: the Septuagint calls them "heifers": which they are hereby put in mind of, and upbraided with; as also to express their brutish stupidity in worshipping such idols, in which they obstinately persisted: and so were like a "refractory" and "untamed" heifer, as some (w) render it, which will not be kept within bounds, either within doors or without, but breaks through, and passes over, all fences and enclosures; as they did, who transgressed the laws of God, and would not be restrained by them: or like a heifer unaccustomed to the yoke, which will not submit to it, but wriggles its neck from under it: so the Israelites would not be subject to the yoke of the law of God, were sons of Belial, children without a yoke; or like one, though yoked, yet would not draw the plough, but slid back in the furrows, even though goaded; so they, though stimulated by the prophets, whose words were as goads and pricks to push them on, yet would not hearken to them, but pulled away the shoulder, and slid back from the ways and worship of God; hence called backsliding Israel, Jeremiah 3:6, and this is either a reason why Judah should not follow their example, because backsliders, or why they should be punished, as follows:

now, or "therefore" (x),

the Lord will feed them as a lamb in a large place: not that they were like lambs for the good properties of them, innocence, harmlessness, meekness, and patience; nor fed as the Lord feeds his lambs, and gathers them in his arms; but either as a heifer in sheep pasture, in short commons, for that creature cannot live where sheep and lambs can; or rather as a lamb that is alone, separate from the flock, not under the care of any shepherd; but exposed to every beast of prey upon a large common, on a wild desert and uncultivated place; afraid of every thing it hears and sees; bleating after its dam, of whose sustenance and nourishment it is destitute; and so is expressive of the state and condition of Israel in captivity, in the large Assyrian empire; and dispersed among the nations, where they were weak and helpless, destitute of all good things, and exposed to all dangers, and to every enemy. Aben Ezra and Kimchi understand the words in a good sense, that the Lord would have fed them as lambs in a large place, in an affluent manner, but that they rebelled and backslided: and to this sense the Targum seems to incline, which paraphrases the whole verse thus,

"for as an ox which is fattened and kicks, so Israel rebels because of the multitude of good things; now the Lord will lead them as a choice lamb in a valley,''

or plain: and so Noldius, "though Israel is refractory", &c.

notwithstanding the Lord will feed them, &c.; and indeed the phrase is used in a good sense in Isaiah 30:23, but there herds and flocks are spoken of, and not a single lamb, as here; though Kimchi thinks the singular is put for the plural, lamb for lambs.

(w) "refractaria", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Tarnovius, Schmidt; "indomita", Calvin, Drusius. (x) "quare, ideo, nunc itaque", Schmidt; "igitur nunc", Coeceius.

Geneva Study Bible

For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD will feed them as a {u} lamb in a large place.

(u) God will so disperse them, that they will not remain in any certain place.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

16. slideth back as a backsliding heifer] Rather, is stubborn like a stubborn heifer. A favourite figure of the prophets, Hosea 11:4; Jeremiah 31:18; comp. Deuteronomy 32:15.

now the Lord will feed them as a lamb in a large place] Israel in the weakness of captivity is compared to a lamb in a large pasture-ground, which is an object of attack to all the wild beasts prowling about—so most commentators explain. But ‘a large place’ is everywhere else an image for prosperity (see Psalm 18:19; Psalm 31:8; Psalm 118:5), and Isaiah in describing a happy future says, ‘in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures (Isaiah 30:23).’ It is much safer, therefore, following Ewald and Hitzig, to take the passage as an incredulous exclamation or question, this being so, should the Lord feed them as a lamb in a large meadow! In fact, a prophet would hardly have said that Jehovah shepherded His people during the Dispersion (see Ezekiel 34:11-14), and in the very next verse Jehovah exclaims, ‘Let him alone.’ On the other hand, the clause, thus translated, fits most naturally into the context,—‘Israel is a stubborn heifer, how then should it expect to be treated as kindly as a lamb?’

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 16. - For Israel slideth back as a back, sliding heifer: now the Lord will feed them s, a lamb in a large place. This verse conveys the reason of the warning contained in the preceding; and that reason is the punishment which is to overtake Israel as the consequence of their refractoriness. If this view of the connection be correct, it will help to the right understanding of a difficult passage. The "backsliding," according to the Authorized Version, is rather "stubbornness," "intractableness," or "unmanageableness." Keil renders it "refractory." This refractoriness was Israel's sin; the people would have their own way, and became refractory, like an unmanageable heifer, which rebels upon being trained. Aben Ezra explains סֹרֵרָה (which, by the way, has tsere before the tone syllable) as follows: "סי is he who turns aside from the way that is appointed him, so that he does not walk in it. And, behold, he compares Israel to a stubborn cow, with which a man cannot plough." So also Kfinchi: "Like a heifer which goes on a crooked way, and curves itself from under the yoke, that a man cannot plough with it; so Israel are crooked under their God, as they have taken upon them the yoke of the Law and of the command-meats which he commanded them, and curve themselves under the yoke, and break from off them the yoke of the commandments." Israel rebelled against instruction, waxed stubborn and intractable. They would have their own way, and worshipped according to their own will, in indulging all the while with a high hand in vilest lusts. Now the season of punishment is arrived; and as they refused instruction and rebelled against Divine guidance, God, in just judgment and deserved punishment, leaves them to themselves. Carried into captivity, they may worship what they will, and live as they list. In these circumstances they will resemble a lamb taken away into a wilderness, and left there to range the wild and live at large, but without provision and without protection. Untended by the shepherd's watchful care, unguarded from ravening wolves or other beasts of prey, that lamb is in a lost and perishing condition. So shall it be with Israel. Aben Ezra gives as an alternative sense: "Now (Jehovah will feed them like a lamb) alone in a wide place, and it wanders to and fro." Kimchi cites as the opinion of others: "Some say, Now will Jehovah let them feed alone in a wide place, like a lamb which bleats and goes to and fro, and neither rests nor feeds." Another meaning has been attached to the verse, to the effect that Israel, subdued by chastise-meat, will renounce their stubbornness, and, rendered tractable and tame, become like a lamb, which, brought to feel its helplessness amid a wilderness, requires and receives the shepherd's care. We much prefer the former. Hosea 4:16

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The reason for this warning is given in Hosea 4:16., viz., the punishment which will fall upon Israel. Hosea 4:16. "For Israel has become refractory like a refractory cow; now will Jehovah feed them like a lamb in a wide field." סורר, unmanageable, refractory (Deuteronomy 21:18, cf. Zechariah 7:11). As Israel would not submit to the yoke of the divine law, it should have what it desired. God would feed it like a lamb, which being in a wide field becomes the prey of wolves and wild beasts, i.e., He would give it up to the freedom of banishment and dispersion among the nations.