Hosea 10:11

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;

And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn; but I passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods.

As an heifer; a young and wanton heifer, unaccustomed to the yoke, not used to hard labour. Taught; used to, and so skilled in or acquainted with. Loveth to tread out the corn: what we do by thrashing, the Jews did by these heifers or oxen, tread out the corn, and in doing this the law provided that the ox should not be muzzled, but should eat what it would: so it was with Ephraim, he loved that work that was so pleasant, which so well fed him. And God doth let Ephraim know that he had been very much indulged herein: God had given them all abundance and prosperity, and with little labour or care; and he expected thankfulness for it; but no such thing was done by Ephraim, he grew more insolent, untractable, and perfidious. When I found it so, I passed over upon her fair neck, laid some lighter yoke upon her, brought some gentler afflictions upon that people, to tame them, and make them serviceable; but this hath not prevailed. I will make Ephraim to ride; I will now deal more rigorously, I will try another course, and as horses are brought to work by one that can bring them to bear and carry the rider, so I will deal with Ephraim; I will ride on Ephraim, and tame him, i.e. by the Assyrians, who should subdue and enslave them. Judah shall plough; Judah, though less sinful, hath been used to harder labour, and more rugged treatment, hath ploughed when Ephraim hath reaped, yet I have spared Ephraim more. Jacob shall break his clods; the same in other proverbial speech repeated; their work is at present harder, but there is a harvest follows; though Judah plough, and Jacob break his clods, labour hard, and for their sins suffer, yet they sow in tears when harassed by Ephraim or going into Babylon, and shall reap in joy at the return. But Ephraim, who abused all my bounty and kindness, who worked only for his own profit, shall be more severely punished, and when he goeth forth shall return no more.

Hosea 10:11 And Ephraim [is as] an heifer [that is] taught, [and] loveth to tread out [the corn]; but I passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow, [and] Jacob shall break his clods.Ver. 11. And Ephraim is as a heifer that is taught] sc. With the ox goad, which hath its name from teaching (Malmad), Judges 3:31, because therewith oxen are taught to plough, saith R. David. Ephraim was a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke, Jeremiah 31:18, but God brought her to it and taught her, though at first a backsliding heifer, Hosea 4:16, taught her, as Gideon taught the men of Succoth, with briers and thorns of the wilderness, so that they paid dear for their learning, Judges 8:16. But Ephraim, though taught it, loveth not ploughing work, because hard and hungry. She loveth rather to tread out the corn] where she may dance and frisk in the soft straw without either yoke or muzzle, Deuteronomy 25:4. As we thresh, so it was their manner to tread out their hard grain with the feet of beasts, or by them to draw wagons over it and so get it out of the husk. Now this was fair and free work, and Ephraim delighted in it; the rather, because she might feed all the while at pleasure; whereas those heifers that ploughed wrought hard all day, and in all weathers, without any refreshment. It is an ill sign, when men must pick and choose their work; this they will do for God, but not that. A dispensatory conscience is a naughty conscience; neither doth he God’ s will, but his own, that doth no more, or no other, than himself will. Such holy day servants, such retainers, God careth not for. Every one can swim in a warm bath; and every bird will sing in a summer’ s day. Judas will bear the cross, so he may bear the bag. And those carnal Capernaites follow Christ while he feeds them; as children will say their prayers so they may have their breakfast. But Abraham will forsake all to follow God, though he knew not whither; yea, though God seemed to go cross ways; as when he promised him a land flowing with milk and honey, and yet as soon as he came there he found famine. Genesis 12:1; Genesis 12:10; so when he promised him seed as the stars, yet kept him without child for twenty years after; and after that he must kill him too, Genesis 22:2. So Job will trust in a killing God; Jonah calls upon him out of the deep; David keeps his statutes, when God had in some degree forsaken him, Psalms 119:8, and "behaved himself wisely in a perfect way," though God was not yet come unto him, Psalms 101:2. This is the trial of a Christian, to do difficult duties upon little or no encouragement; to wrestle, as Jacob did, in the night, and alone, and when God was leaving him, and upon one leg.

(11) Heifer.—Translate, Ephraim is a trained heifer, which loves to thresh. Here the idea may be that Ephraim loves the easy and free work of treading out the corn, and so becomes fat and sleek; or the act of treading and threshing may point to the rough treatment which Ephraim has in her pride dealt out to her neighbours and enemies. But the former interpretation is more probable. The verse should continue to read thus:—And I passed by the fairness of her neck (to arrest her self-indulgence). I will harness Ephraim for riding—i.e., I will cause a rider, Assyria, to take possession of her, and she shall be bound in unwelcome toil to do the bidding of another.

Verse 11. Ephraim is as a heifer that is taught] One thoroughly broken in to the yoke. And loveth to tread out] Goes peaceably in the yoke; and is pleased because, not being nuzzled, she eats of the corn. I passed over upon her fair neck] I brought the yoke upon it, that she should not tread out the corn merely, but draw the plough and drag the harrow. These operations of husbandry are all referred to here, with some others. Ephraim shall tread out the corn, that there may be seed for the fields. Judah shall plough] That the furrows may receive it. Jacob shall break his clods.] Harrow - that the seed may be covered with the mould. Israel very frequently made great depredations on Judah; and as this heifer loved to tread out the corn, and not plough, it is therefore added that he should be made to plough, be put under the yoke, namely, that of the Assyrians. What is added, "Judah and Jacob shall plough for themselves," means, that Judah should not now plough for Israel, but for himself; as Israel shall no more make depredations upon him.-Dodd.

11. And Ephraim, &c.] Rather, Ephraim indeed is a heifer broken in and loving to thresh, and I have spared the beauty of her neck; (but now) will I make Ephraim to draw. Israel’s punishment is enhanced by contrast with her former prosperity, which, as a mark of the Divine goodness, is compared to the consideration with which a young heifer is treated by its master. The work of treading out the corn was pleasant and easy; the heifer could eat freely as it walked without a muzzle round and round the threshing-floor (Deuteronomy 25:4). But this heifer, that is, Israel, has abused the kindness of its Lord (comp. Deuteronomy 32:15), and henceforth shall be put to the heavy labour of the field—a figure for the depressing conditions of life under a foreign master. The rendering ‘spared’ (literally, ‘passed by’) is justified by Micah 7:18; Proverbs 19:11; it adds a beautiful distinctness to the figure, for the heavy yokes used in the East not only gall the necks of the animals, but often produce deep wounds. The meaning is that Jehovah has hitherto preserved his people from the yoke of captivity; compare the different applications of the same figure in Hosea 11:4. ‘Make to draw’; lit. ‘make to ride’, but râkab, as the usage of the cognate word in Arabic shows, can have various secondary meanings. [Space forbids a record of all the explanations of this passage; none is so simple as that of Buhl given above. The objection that to ‘pass by’ is elsewhere used with reference to transgression is not conclusive; the idiom is just as applicable in the present case. There is good authority, however, for the rendering or paraphrase, ‘I mounted upon her fair neck’, though why the ‘beauty’ of the neck should be mentioned, is not clear.] Judah shall plow] Judah, then, is also a ‘stubborn heifer’, and cannot be exempted from her sister’s punishment.

Ephraim is an heifer that is taught and that loveth to tread out the corn - The object of the metaphor in these three verses seems to be, to picture, under operations of husbandry, what God willed

ISRAEL’S HISTORY — ONE CRIME; ISRAEL’S DESTINY — DEATH AND , Hosea 10:9-15.With Hosea 10:9 the prophet begins a new presentation of Israel’s guilt.