Hosea 2

days, &c.] The publick festivals are frequently called days of joy and gladness: the observation of several of these festivals was retained in the worship of the golden calves: see 1 Kings xii. 32; Amos viii. 5. God here threatens them, that under their captivity they should have no opportunity to celebrate these festivals, since they had so much abused those solemn seasons of Divine worship. See chap. ix. 4, 5; Amos viii. 10. W. Lowth.

— and the valley of Achor for a door of hope:] “The valley of Achor,” that is, of tribulation, or consternation; alluding to the vale near Jericho, where the first Israelites, first setting foot within the Holy Land, were thrown into trouble and consternation: but immediately afterwards found it “a door of hope;” for from that time, Joshua having received fresh encouragement from God, drove on his conquests with uninterrupted success. In like manner the tribulations of the Jews, in their present dispersion, shall open to them the door of hope; and “she shall sing there,” that is, in the wilderness, and in the vale of tribulation, under those circumstances of present difficulty mixed with cherring hope. Bp. Horsley. — and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, &c.] These words are a continued allusion to the history of the Israelites of old, and to the great deliverance wrought for them in the time of Moses; “in the days of her youth,” when as Jeremiah limits the term, “she went after God in the wilderness,” Jer. ii. 2. The promise, “she shall sing,” appears opposed to what was threatened in her state of rebellion, “I will also cause all her mirth to cease,” ver. 11. Dr. Pocock.

Hosea 2:2

2. Plead with your mother, &c.] Because by her false dealing with God, and alienating herself from God, she hath alienated his mind from her, and so far provoked Him that He hath declared He will in severity of judgment proceed against her and her children; let her, that she may avert God’s displeasure and reconcile Him again to her, turn to Him by repentance, and put away from her her idolatries, her spiritual fornications, and evil doings; and let her children, that she may do so, and that they may escape God’s judgments, plead

God’s judgments against the people. Before CHRIST about 785. c Ezek. 16. 4.

2. So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, &c.] This was not a payment in the shape of a dowry;

Hosea 2:3

3. — and set her as in the day that she was born.] Bare, helpless, and unprotected. Dr. Pocock.

— and make her as a wilderness, &c.] When a woman is the image of a country, or of a church, that may be said of the woman, which, in unfigured speech, might be said of the country, or the church she represents. The country might literally be made a waste wilderness, by unfruitful seasons, by the devastations of war, or of noxious vermin; a church is made a wilderness and a parched land when the living waters of the Spirit are withheld. Bp. Horsley.

Hosea 2:5

5. — she said, I will go after my lovers.] I will go after others, whom I exterm as my lovers: that is, I love rather to worship idol gods, as thinking them the gods that give me my bread, &c. Dr. Wells.

— my drink. “My liquors:” such as milk, honey, wine, &c. Bp. Horsley.

The base and degraded state of the Israelites is here very remarkable, in that they make no mention of those high spiritual privileges, which distinguished them from all other nations, of their laws and statutes, of God’s grace and favour, and the light of his countenance, but have regard only to those things which concern their inferior part, and are common to them with beasts. Those, whom Israel supposes to give her these things, are “her lovers,” and to them she will surrender her affections. It is a farther proof of her stupidity and aggravated ingratitude, that whereas it was God, who had furnished her with all these favours, as well as those of a more excellent nature, being glutted and intoxicated with abundance, she forgets God, and plainly denies Him to be the Author of them. Dr. Pocock.

Hosea 2:6

6. — I will hedge up thy way &c.] See the like expressions in Lam. iii. 7. 9; Job xix. 8. Whence this appears to be a proverbial kind of speech, taken from what is usually done among men, when they would stop up a way, and hinder others from going in it, to put before it an hedge of thorns, or to cross it with a wall. Dr. Pocock.

— with thorns.] See the note on Mic. vii. 4.

Hosea 2:7

7. — then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband.] She shall be forced to acknowledge, that when she clave unto God, who in loving-kindness had

espoused her to Himself, and entered into covenant with her, and called her to his service, and is therefore called her “first husband,” it was much better with her than it is now. By the good providence of God such evils are often brought upon men, that by their calamities in this world they may be compelled to return to the service of God. Dr. Pocock.

Hosea 2:8

8. — she did not know] That is, she did not gratefully acknowledge or profess, what she could not, except willingly and perversely, be ignorant of: she laid it not to heart, but behaved herself as if she knew it not. Dr. Pocock.

— which they prepared for Baal.] Which they offered or consecrated to Baal. Abp. Newcome.

It was a grievous charge, which God here preferred against the Israelites, that his corn, and wine, and oil, and silver, and gold, which He had given them, they employed in the service of Baal, an abominable idol. If, when God giveth us wit, wealth, power, authority, health, strength, liberty, or any other good things, instead of using these things to his glory, and the relief of his servants, we abuse them to the service of those idols, which we have set up in our hearts, to our pride, our covetousness, or our sensuality, we are as liable to the charge as the Israelites were; as unjust, as profane, as unthankful in every respect as they. Bp. Sanderson.

Hosea 2:9

9. Therefore will I return, and take away my corn &c.] That is, I will again take away my corn, &c. The happy and prosperous condition of the people shall be changed into a general want and penury of all things necessary for their well being. Dr. Pocock. It appears from all the Prophets, and particularly from Amos and Joel, that the beginning of judgment upon the refractory, rebellious people, was in unfruitful seasons, and noxious vermin, producing a failure of the crops, dearth, murrain of the cattle, famine, and pestilential diseases. Bp. Horsley.

Hosea 2:10

10. And now will I discover her lewdness] Or, as in the margin, “her folly,” or “villany.” By hiding my face from them, and depriving them of my blessings, I will make it appear how foolish, how shameful, how lewd, how vile and base they were in forsaking God and following idols. And this God threatens to do “in the sight,” or presence, “of her lovers,” that is, of her idols. Dr. Pocock.

11. I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast His promises of reconciliation with them. Before CHRIST about 785. desolate. and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.

Hosea 2:13

13. And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim.] I will punish her for all the idolatries she has committed from the days of Jeroboam, who first set up the worship of false gods. W. Lowth.

Hosea 2:14

14. Therefore, behold, &c.] Here is a plain alteration of style from threatenings to promises; so that the first word should be rendered Nevertheless. See the note on Isa. xxx. 18. W. Lowth. — I will allure her.] Or, persuade her. Though the word commonly signifies to inveigle, to deceive, it may be used by an easy metaphor in a good sense. Abp. Newcome. — and bring her into the wilderness.] These words, joined with the preceding, should be understood in this manner: “I will allure her,” by means of the persuasive doctrine of the Gospel; “and” for that end, or in order to produce that effect, “I will bring her into the wilderness;” meaning that this was the way or method by which He would prepare them to receive his persuasions. As the method, which God had used with the Israelites of old, for withdrawing them from the corruptions of Egypt, and making them his peculiar people, was by disciplining them in the wilderness; so He now says that He will employ the like method for weaning them from their idolatries, and inclining their hearts to Him; namely, by bringing them into a condition, as painful as that of their forefathers in the wilderness; a condition of captivity among the heathen, in which they should be disciplined in the knowledge of God and their dependence upon Him. Dr. Pocock. — and speak comfortably unto her.] Speak what shall touch her heart, in her outcast state in the wilderness of the Gentile world, by the proffers of mercy in the Gospel. Bp. Horsley.

Hosea 2:15

15. And I will give her her vineyards from thence.] I will not only speak kindly and comfortably to her, but by deeds also and benefits, actually bestowed upon her, will testify my favour towards her. These words of promise seem opposed to the former threat, “I will take away my wine in the season thereof,” ver. 9; and “I will destroy her vines,” ver. 12. “From thence” derness, and speak || † comfortably unto her.

Hosea 2:16

16. — thou shalt call me] Here is a change from the third to the second person, not unusual in Scripture. Dr. Pocock. See the note from Bp. Lowth on Deut. xxxii. 5. — Ishi;—Baali.] Ishi, my husband, is an appellation of love; Baali, my lord, of subjection and fear. “God hath not given us the spirit of fear: but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind,” 2 Tim. i. 7. See Jer. xxiii. 27. Bp. Horsley. The word “Baali” often signifies an husband, and is particularly spoken of God, as He was by his covenantrelation an husband to his people; see Isa. liv. 5; Jer. iii. 14. But the word “Baal” having been so much profaned by being given to idols, He forbade it to be applied any more to Himself. As it follows, according to the sense of the next verse, He would utterly abidish the idols, the “Baalim,” which they had before served, and leave no occasion for farther remembrance of them, such as the very use of the name, by which they were called, might be in danger of causing. W. Lowth, Dr. Pocock.

Hosea 2:17

17. For I will take away &c.] He, from whom is both to will and to do, here promises his help and the assistance of his grace for the conversion of Israel, so that she, who was before wholly addicted and wedded to her Baals, might conceive a detestation of them, God’s promises of reconciliation. Before CHRIST about 7-5. d Job 5. 23.

Hosea 2:18

18. And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, &c.] That is, I will cause that they shall not do any injury, but shall be as harmless, as if they were bound by a covenant or league of peace. These expressions are figurative, and relate to the times of the Gospel. Compare Matt. xvi. 17, 18; Luke x. 19. Dr. Pocock.

— I will break—the battle? The Hebrews often use a verb, which is applicable to some of the substantives placed after it, but not to all. See Mic. vi. 15; Zeph. i. 17; Mal. iii. 5. Abp. Newcome.

Hosea 2:19

19. And I will betroth thee unto me &c.] I will enter into a new covenant with my Church, consisting of the converted Jews, and increased by the coming in of the fulness of the Gentiles, wherein I will eminently display my attributes of righteousness and equity, of lovingkindness, mercy, and faithfulness. W. Lowth.

20. — and thou shalt know the Lord. That is, by thy experience of his goodness and loving-kindness, “thou shalt know him” to be the Lord Jehovah, the powerful God, who always makes good what He hath said, which is the chief meaning of the name Jehovah: or, thou shalt have, not only a bare knowledge of God, but at the same time such a due acknowledgment of Him, as influences the practice, and produces love correspondent to that which He displays. Such knowledge comprehends all the fruits of faith, and sincere obedience to his commandments. “Is not this to know me?” saith the Lord," Jer. xxii. 16. Dr. Pocock.

Hosea 2:21

21. — I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; &c.] All creatures shall answer the desires and wants of my people: the heavens shall answer the wants of the earth, in sending down seasonable showers; and the earth shall answer the wants of mankind, in bringing forth corn, and wine, and other necessaries of life; and the very fruits of the earth shall answer the wishes of my people, now returned into their own land, by giving them due nourishment. The same sense is more plainly expressed in Zechariah, chap. viii. 12, “The seed shall be prosperous,” &c. W. Lowth. In short, all second causes shall, by God’s appointment, duly concur

for the welfare and happiness of his then Christian Church, which may be fifty styled “Jezreel,” according to their prayers, and upon their steady obedience to Him. Dr. Wells.

Hosea 2:23

23. And I will sow her unto me in the earth:] Here is a plain allusion to the word “Jezreel,” mentioned just before, which signifies the seed of God: the Prophet foretells a plentiful increase of true believers, like that of corn sown in the earth. Compare Zech. x. 9. W. Lowth.

The myriads of the natural Israel, converted by the preaching of the Apostles, were the first seed of the universal Church. And there is reason to believe, that the restoration of the converted Jews will be the occasion and means of a prodigious influx of new converts from the Gentiles in the latter ages, Rom. xi. 12. 15. Thus the Jezreel of the natural Israel from the first have been, and to the last will prove, a seed sown of God for Himself in the earth. Bp. Horsley.

Chap. III. ver. 1.— Go yet, love a woman &c.] This was probably the same woman, mentioned chap. i. 3; who upon her infidelity was parted from her husband. Still he had a kindness for her, and was willing to receive her on condition of her reformation. The Hebrew word, rendered “friend,” is used for an husband, Jer. iii. 20; Cant. v. 16. W. Lowth.

— the children of Israel.] “Children of Israel,” and “house of Israel,” are two distinct expressions to be differently understood. “The house of Israel,” and sometimes “Israel” by itself, is a particular appellation of the ten tribes, as a distinct kingdom from Judah. But “the children of Israel” is a general appellation for the whole race of the Israelites, comprehending both kingdoms. Bp. Horsley.

— and love flagons of wine.] By following those bodily delights and pleasures, such as drunkenness, gluttony, and the like, which the service of the heathen idols permitted, or required: or perhaps by partaking in the wine, which was drunk at the heathen sacrifices. Dr. Pocock.