Hosea 12
DOYLYHosea 12:3
- He took his brother by the heel &c.] From the mention of Jacob in the foregoing verse, the Prophet takes occasion to put his posterity in mind of the particular favours God had bestowed upon his posterity for his sake. His taking his brother by the heel in the womb, denoted, that he obtained the right of the firstborn, and deprived his brother of it. W. Lowth. The taking of his brother by the heel, is not mentioned in disparagement of the Patriarch. On the contrary, the whole of these two verses is a commemoration of God’s kindness for the ancestor of the Israelites, on which the Prophet founds an animated exhortation to them, to turn to that God, from whom they might expect so much favour. This favour of God for Jacob displayed itself when he was less than an infant: for before he was born he took his brother by the heel; and in his adult vigour, he was endued with such strength, as to prevail against an angel. Bp. Horsley.
Hosea 12:4
- — there he spake with us;] That is, God spake with us in the loins of Jacob. The things spoken certainly concerned Jacob’s posterity, as much as, or more than, himself. Bp. Horsley.
Hosea 12:5
- — the Lord is his memorial.] That is, God’s memorial: his appropriate, perpetual, incommunicable name, expressing his essence. Bp. Horsley. See Exod. iii 15.
Hosea 12:6
- Therefore turn thou to thy God: &c.] Thou therefore, O Israel, encouraged by the memory of God’s love for thy progenitor, and by the example which thou hadst in him, of the efficacy of weeping and supplica- Ephraim’s sins provoke God. Before CHRIST about 725. Or, Canaan. Or, deceive. Or, all my labouress, we not be shall have punishment of iniquity in whom is sin. Heh. which. Heh. by the hand. Chap. 4. 15. & 9. 15. keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually.
Hosea 12:7
- He is a merchant.] Or, as it is in the margin, according to all the ancient versions, except the Chaldee. “He is Canaan.” God says to the Prophet, instead of turning to me, and keeping to works of mercy and justice, he is a mere heathen huckster. Thou hast miscalled him “Jacob.” He is “Canaan.” Not Jacob, the godly, the heir of the promise. But Canaan, the cheat, the son of the curse. There is an ambiguity in the original, where the word is both a proper name, and an appellative signifying a merchant. Bp. Horsley, Dr. Pocock.
Hosea 12:8
- And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, &c.] These words declare the strange pride and insolence of Ephraim, refusing to forsake their evil ways, but pleasing and applauding themselves in them, as having been found by experience good and profitable. Dr. Pocock.
— iniquity—that were sin.] According to a Jewish commentator, the Hebrew word for “iniquity” denotes something more grievous than that for “sin;” so that the sense may be. They shall find in me neither great iniquity, nor so much as any light ordinary sin. Or the word for “that” may be rendered by and or or. Dr. Pocock.
Hosea 12:9
- And I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt &c.] I, who brought thee out from Egypt, and have still continued my favours towards thee, will in aftertimes return thy captivity. W. Lowth.
The words may be understood, not of a temporal deliverance, commemorated by feasts and times of rejoicing, particularly that of tabernacles; but of deliverance from spiritual bondage by Christ, and of admission into the Church of Christ. Dr. Pocock. Concerning the feast of tabernacles, see the notes on Lev. xxiii. 40; Nehem. viii. 17, 18.
Hosea 12:10
- — and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.] Commanding the Prophets to perform symbolical actions; as, in the case of Isaiah, going naked;
Hosea 12:11
- Is there iniquity in Gilead? &c.] The tribes settled about Gilead, beyond Jordan, were already captivated by Tighath-pileser. God by the Prophet declares, that idolatry, still practised in Gilgal, was equally abominable, and would bring down similar judgments upon the remaining tribes, on the west of Jordan. Bp. Horsley.
— as heaps in the furrows of the fields.] As frequent every where as clods in the furrows of the fields. Bp. Hall. Their altars stand so thick that they are as discernible as stones gathered up and laid in heaps in the fields. W. Lowth.
Hosea 12:12
12, 13. And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, &c.] So opposite to thine was the conduct of thy father Jacob, that he fled into Syria to avoid an alliance with any of the idolatrous families of Canaan; and, in firm reliance on God’s promises, submitted to the greatest hardships. And, in reward of his faith, God did such great things for his posterity, bringing them out of the land of Egypt, and leading them through the wilderness like sheep, by the hand of his servant Moses. Bp. Horsley.
Hosea 12:14
- Ephraim provoked him to anger &c.] Notwithstanding all my favours, shewn to these people and their ancestors, they have highly provoked me by their idolatries and other sins. Therefore shall their wickedness be the cause of their destruction: and as they have reproached and dishonoured God by word and deed, God shall, as a just recompense, make them a reproach and byword among the heathen. See chap. vii. 6; Deut. xxviii. 37; compare Dan. xi. 18. W. Lowth.
Chap. XIII. ver. 1. When Ephraim spake trembling, &c. While Ephraim behaved himself humbly towards God, as his father Jacob, with weeping and supplication, chap. xii. 4, he was in great power, authority, and dignity in Israel: but when he offended, by proudly forsaking God, and worshipping that shameful idol Baal, he lost his former pre-eminence, and grew contemptible: his strength immediately declined, and gave manifest