Hosea 10

rows.] The Greek translation gives a plainer and easier sense, according to the reading in the margin, “When I shall bind them,” as it were, hand and foot, to deliver them into the hands of the Assyrians, who “shall be gathered against them,” “for their two transgressions;” namely, the calves of Dan and Beth-el. Dr. Wells, W. Lowth.

quity;] In the former verse he shewed what God commanded them to do: here, in the like figurative expressions, he shews what they had done. Dr. Pocock. But alas, contrary to my commandments, ye have ploughed up deep furrows of wickedness, and have reaped a large crop of iniquity. Bp. Hall. As your thoughts and designs have been evil, such has been the fruit and reward of your labours: compare chap. vii. 7. And “ye have eaten the fruit of lies:” ye have received the just reward of your idolatries. See the note on chap. vii. 3. W. Lowth. 14. — as Shalman spoiled Beth-arbel. The allusion is to a military exploit, not elsewhere recorded or mentioned in Scripture, but doubtless well known in Hosea’s time: in which some powerful conqueror prosecuted his victory with extreme cruelty, and spared neither sex nor age. The Israelites are threatened with a like calamity. Dr. Pocock, Bp. Horsley.

Hosea 10:2

2. Their heart is divided: ] Between God and their idols: pretending to worship God, but not cleaving in sincerity to Him, nor giving Him their whole heart: “halting between” Him and Baal, 1 Kings xviii. 21. Dr. Pocock.

Hosea 10:3

3. For now they shall say, We have no king, &c.] It shall shortly come to pass, that the enemy prevailing against them and their king, as despairing men, rather than true penitents, they shall be constrained to say, “We have no king,” or are as if we had none, none that can save us, he being taken and not able to defend himself; see ver. 7, and 2 Kings xvii. 4: and deservedly is this happened unto us, “because we feared not the Lord;” we have forsaken Him, and made Him our enemy, and “what” good “then shall a king do to us?” Dr. Pocock.

Hosea 10:4

4. They have spoken words.] Evil words; (Dr. Pocock;) empty words. Abp. Newcome. What follows may be understood as taxing them generally with “swearing falsely;” such as swearing by false gods; or binding themselves to something needless, impossible, or unlawful; or breaking the promises which they had ratified by oaths. Dr. Pocock. — thus judgment springeth up &c.] In consequence of their carelessness about their covenants, as a punishment of their fraudulent dealings, the “judgment” of God falls upon them as severe and bitter as “hemlock.” Dr. Pocock.

Hosea 10:5

5. The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear &c.] Samaria here signifies the kingdom of Israel, of which Samaria was the capital city. See chap. viii. 5, 6. The inhabitants of that kingdom shall be seized with fear and confusion, when the calf of Beth-el (see Jer. iv. 15.) shall be carried away as a present to Shalmaneser, ver. 6: when he made the king and kingdom tributary, 2 Kings xvii. 3. W. Louth. — because of the calves of Beth-aven: ] There is little doubt, but the same is here meant as “the calf of Samaria,” chap. viii. 5, 6. Dr. Pocock. The plural number is used, because the calf of Beth-el (here called syria for a present to king Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.

Hosea 10:6

6. It shall be also carried unto Assyria &c.] It was the custom of the Eastern people, as also of the Romans, to carry away the gods of conquered countries. Abp. Newcome.

Hosea 10:7

7. As for Samaria, her king is cut off &c.] The king spoken of is with reason generally understood to have been Hoshea, the son of Elah, under whom and with whom Samaria was destroyed; see 2 Kings xvii. Dr. Pocock.

Hosea 10:8

8. The high places also of Aven.] That is, of Bethaven, ver. 5, and chap. iv. 15; or Beth-el; which being by reason of the great wickedness there committed, so unworthy of its first name, “the house of God,” is in contempt first called “the house of iniquity,” and now “iniquity” itself in the abstract: this being the signification of “Aven.” Dr. Pocock. — and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; &c.] The inhabitants shall be so terrified with the sword of the enemy that they shall wish themselves under ground, and speak to the hills and mountains to fall upon them, and shelter them from that fury. Bp. Hall. This sublime description of fear and distress our Lord had in view, Luke xxiii. 30; which may be a reference and not a quotation. Abp. Newcome.

Hosea 10:9

9. O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah: ] See chap. ix. 9. Some render it “more than in the days of Gibeah.” W. Louth. The sin of Israel now exceeds the sins of those sinful times, when “every man did what was right in his own eyes,” and it seemed right in the eyes of the whole tribe of Benjamin to protect the outrage of the Sodomites of Gibeah. See Judges xix. Bp. Horsley. — there they stood: ] “There,” that is, upon that occasion; namely, the quarrel with the tribe of Benjamin, on account of the outrage of the men of Gibeah. “They stood,” that is, the Israelites set themselves in array for the attack. Bp. Horsley. — the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them.] Notwithstanding some losses, small in comparison with that of the tribe of Benjamin, which was all but cut off, God gave the Israelites success in that righteous war. Bp. Horsley.

Hosea 10:10

10. It is in my desire that I should chastise them: ] Though God had hitherto spared them, and they thereon their impiety and idolatry. Israel’s ingratitude. Before CHRIST about 740. [ Or when I shall bind them for their two transgressions, or, in their two habitations, I Heb. the benity of her neck. c Jcr. 4. 3. be gathered against them, || when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows.

Hosea 10:11

11. And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, &c.] The sense would run easier if we read it, Ephraim is as an heifer that is teachable. So I passed over her fair neck: I caused Ephraim to ride; Judah did plow, and Jacob did break the clods. God here sets forth the gentle and easy methods He used to bring both Israel and Judah to a sense of their duty; treating them with gentleness, as a husbandman does young bullocks or horses, stroking them, and encouraging them, till they are accustomed to the yoke: then He gave them his laws, and prescribed them rules for the several duties and offices of life, and expected they should bring forth fruit answerable to the several helps and advantages which He had given them. W. Lowth. — I will make Ephraim to ride;] He proceeds upon Ephraim, after the manner of husbandmen, who are used to ride upon their bullocks. Grotius.

Hosea 10:12

12. Sow to yourselves in righteousness.] Rather I rode, in the same figure of language, expressing in terms belonging to common husbandry such duties as were required of them in their spiritual husbandry, or service of God. The people, who were before compared to an heifer, are here spoken to, as the husbandman, the sower, and reaper. We may understand, as introductory to this verse, some such words as, And I said, Sow, &c. Dr. Pocock. — reap in mercy;] This is a promise, that if they did “sow in righteousness,” they should “reap in mercy;” that is, they should experience that measure of mercy, whereby God above their desert rewards those who sincerely endeavour to do his commandments. Dr. Pocock. The whole verse may be thus paraphrased: Give yourselves to all holy and conscientious endeavours: sow to yourselves in holiness and righteousness, and reap mercy and loving-kindness from the Lord; break up the fallow grounds of your hearts by a true and serious repentance; for it is time for you to turn to the Lord,

Hosea 10:15

15. So shall Beth-el do unto you] God sent the evils: the Assyrian, his instrument, inflicted them: but Bethel is said to do to the people what they suffered, because their idolatry and great wickedness there moved God to bring the destroyer against them. Dr. Pocock. — in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.] Suddenly shall Hoshea be deprived of his kingdom, and an end put to the whole state and government of Israel. See Ps. xlii. 5; xc. 14; cxliii. 8; Jer. vii. 13; xxxv. 15. W. Lowth. Chap. XI. ver. 1. When Israel was a child, then I loved him.] When the people were in the state of childhood; that is, in the patriarchal times, and during their continuance under the Egyptian bondage. W. Lowth. — and called my son out of Egypt.] Israel is called God’s “son,” and his “firstborn,” Exod. iv. 22, 23; and therein was an eminent figure of the Messias, in whom all God’s promises are fulfilled. This prophecy is applied by St. Matthew, chap. ii. 15, to our Lord’s return out of Egypt, after his flight thither in his infancy: and the literal sense of the words does more properly belong to Hiro, than to Israel; which is observable in many other prophecies which can but improperly be applied to those, of whom they were spoken; and, taking them in their true sense, are only fulfilled in Christ. See particularly Ps. xxii. 16. 18. W. Lowth. Israel’s ingratitude. God’s mercy toward them. Before CHRIST about 740.