Hosea 4

Hosea 4:3

3. — with the beasts of the field, &c.] The cattle and the fowls shall be affected by the scarcity with which God shall visit the land; and He will so dispose second causes, that even the fishes of the sea shall not supply the wants of his rebellious people. Abp. Newcome.

Hosea 4:4

4. — let no man strive, nor reprove another;] Because the case of the people was desperate, and it would be lost labour to reprove them. W. Lowth.

— strive with the priest,] To “strive,” or contend, with the priest, the authorized interpreter of the law, and the typical intercessor between God and the people, was the highest species of contumacy and disobedience, and by the law was a capital offence: see Deut. xvii. 12. God tells the Prophet, that contumacy and perverseness, even in this degree, were become the general character of the people. That the national obstinacy and contempt of the remonstrances and reproofs of the Prophets were such as might be compared with the stubbornness of an individual: who at the peril of his life would arraign and disobey the judicial decisions of God’s priests. Bp. Horsley.

It was in the prophetic times an expression signifying height of impiety, “Thy people are as they that strive with the priest.” Seeing then God hath no less regard to his peculiar servants now than He had then; seeing they no less represent Him, and act by his authority now, than any did then; seeing their service is as precious to Him, and as much tendeth to his honour

Before CHRIST about 780. a Mic. 6. 2. God’s judgments against the sins and idolatry of the people. Before CHRIST about 750. their soul to their iniquity. b Isa. 24. 2. upon. to return.

now, as the Levitical service then did; seeing He no less loveth order and peace in the Church, than He did in the Synagogue; we may well suppose it is no less heinous sin, and odious to God, to despise the ministers of Christ’s Gospel, than it was before to despise the ministers of Moses’s law. Dr. Isaac Barrow.

Hosea 4:5

5. Therefore shalt thou fall] The last sentence was addressed to the Prophet: “thy people,” O prophet. This is to the people themselves: “Thou,” O stubborn people. Bp. Horsley. See the note on Deut. xxxii. 5.

— in the day,—in the night.] Neither the light shall afford thee a way of escaping the evil; nor the darkness cover thee from it. Dr. Pocock.

— and I will destroy thy mother.] That is, thy mother city, the metropolis: namely, Jerusalem, the metropolis of the whole nation, or of the children of Israel. Bp. Horsley.

Hosea 4:6

6.— for lack of knowledge.] The “knowledge” here spoken of, is not a speculative, but a practical, knowledge: not only a knowledge of the letter or sense of the law, but the framing of their lives according to it. The end of his giving them his laws and commandments was, that they might so know them, as to keep and do them: that was reckoned their “wisdom and understanding,” Deut. iv. 6; and the doing according to his commandments He declares to be the knowledge of Him, Jer. xxii. 16. Dr. Pocock.

— because thou hast rejected &c.] These denunciations are addressed to the high priest for the time being, as the representative of the whole order. The priests are taxed with negligence of their duty, in not teaching the people, and in suffering a general ignorance to prevail; and for this crime they are threatened with the abolition of their order. Bp. Horsley.

It is very observable, how the sin and the punishment run parallel, and are proportioned one to the other. The crimes objected are, that they “rejected knowledge,” and that they “forgot the law of their God.” The punishment proportioned to the first, that He also would “reject” them, that they should be “no priests to Him;” to the second, that He would also “forget their children.” Dr. Pocock.

Hosea 4:7

7. As they were increased, so they sinned against me.] The priesthood among the Jews was, by God’s appointment, a situation of the highest rank and authority. The complaint is, that, in proportion as they were raised in dignity and power above the rest of the people, they surpassed the rest in impiety. Bp. Horsley.

Hosea 4:8

8. They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity.] The meaning is, that it was their ordinary custom, under pretence of the right of their office, to receive from the people their sin offerings, and to feed upon them. At the same time, “they set their heart on their iniquity;” that is, they were desirous that the people should commit sin, that so the sin offerings might come in to them. Dr. Pocock.

Hosea 4:9

9. And there shall be, like people, like priest.] As they are alike in sinning, so shall they be in punishment. W. Lowth.

Hosea 4:11

11.— take away the heart.] These words are expressed as a general sentiment of acknowledged truth: they are however to be particularly applied to the Israelites, and shew the reason of their having so wickedly forsaken God, and “left off to take heed” to Him and his ways. They have devoted themselves to these sinful indulgences, the bad effects of which are, to “take away the heart” of men, to make them brutish in their understanding; and which accordingly had taken away their hearts, and wholly corrupted their minds and judgments, and deprived them of their reason. Dr. Pocock.

Hosea 4:12

12.— their stocks,—their staff] Both these terms probably mean their wooden idols. Dr. Pocock.

Hosea 4:13

13.— because the shadow thereof is good.] This suggests a natural cause, why groves and trees were scenes of idolatry in hot countries.

— therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom.] God delivers men up to “vile affections,” as a punishment for their idolatry. See Rom. i. 26. W. Lowth.

Hosea 4:14

14. I will not punish your daughters &c.] I will not chastise that in your children and wives, which ye, that are the parents and husbands, are willingly guilty of. Bp. Hall.

— for themselves are separated] There is a change Judah is exhorted. God’s judgments against Israel. Before CHRIST about 780. Or, be punished. c 1 Kings 12. 20. gone. shields. with harlots: therefore the people that doth not understand shall || fall.

Hosea 4:15

15. Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, &c.] Here a transition is made, with great elegance and animation, from the general subject of the whole people, in both its branches, to the kingdom of the ten tribes in particular. Whatever the obstinacy of the house of Israel may be in her corruptions, at least let Judah keep herself pure. Let her not join in the idolatrous worship at Gilgal or Beth-aven, or mix idolatry with the profession of the true religion. As for Israel, I give her up to a reprobate mind. Then the discourse passes naturally to the detail and amplification of Israel’s guilt. Bp. Horsley. — and come not ye unto Gilgal.] Come not ye, O men of Judah. Bp. Horsley. Gilgal was a remarkable place for the renewing of the rite of circumcision, Josh. v. 9. There the people afterwards used to offer sacrifices, 1 Sam. xv. 21. After Jeroboam’s establishment of idolatry, it was noted for the worship of false gods, as appears by comparing this text with chap. ix. 15; xii. 11; Amos iv. 4; v. 5. In those places of Amos, as well as in this verse, it is joined with Beth-el, noted for the worship of one of Jeroboam’s calves; called Beth-aven here, and in chap. x. 5. Beth-el originally signifies “the house of God;” that name was given it by Jacob, because of God’s appearing to him there, Gen. xxviii. 17. But when it became the seat of idolatry, it was called “Beth-aven,” the house of vanity. W. Lowth. — nor swear, The Lord liveth.] Swear not the solemn oath of the living God in an idolatrous temple. Bp. Horsley.

Hosea 4:16

16. — as a backsliding heifer.] See the note on Jer. vii. 24. — in a large place.] That is, in an uninclosed VOL. II. people, and the princes of Israel, for their manifold sins, 15 until they repent. Before CHRIST about 780. HEAR ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment is toward you, because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.

Hosea 4:17

17. Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.] It is to no purpose to take pains to reclaim them: see ver. 4. W. Lowth.

Hosea 4:18

18. Their drink is sour.] The verse taxes them with three great vices; drunkenness, whoredom, and bribery. W. Lowth. Their intemperance is odious; they have committed whoredom continually; her rulers are all for bribes, and are not ashamed to say, “Give.” Bp. Hall.

Hosea 4:19

19. The wind hath bound her up in her wings, &c.] The wind of God’s judgments hath bound them up. Dr. Pocock. Chap. V. ver. 1. — for judgment is toward you, because ye have been a snare &c.] That is, as dangerous and destructive as “snares” and “nets” spread by hunters and fowlers on the mountains, particularly those of Mizpah and Tabor. Dr. Pocock.