Hosea 5

iniquity; &c.] The ten tribes, as distinguished from Judah, “shall fall” into the punishment due to them, minories and calamities, “in their iniquity;” that is, for, or by reason of, their iniquity. And “Judah also shall fall with them;” Judah also, being partakers with them in their idolatry and other wickedness, shall partake with them in the like punishment. Sin shall have the like effect in both. Dr. Pocock. 6. They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord.] They shall at length offer sacrifices to Him in vain. Abp. Newcome. The prophecy looks forward to the times of Hezekiah and Josiah; declaring, that the attempts of those pious kings to restore the true worship will fail of any durable effect, and will not avail to reverse the doom pronounced upon the guilty people. Bp. Horsley. They stopped their ears obstinately against Him, when He called on them, and proffered mercy in the day of mercy; He will now stop his ear against them, when they cry for it in the day of judgment. Dr. Pocock.

— yet could he not heal you, &c.] We have here the usual scriptural change of persons from “them” to “you.” For an illustration of the facts alluded to, see the history, 2 Chron. xxviii. 16-20. Dr. Pocock.

— and he shall come unto us as the rain, &c.] See Deut. xi. 14. The periodical rains being looked upon as necessary causes of great blessings, other things also, which produced blessings in other kinds, whether temporal or spiritual, are often compared to such rains. See Deut. xxvii. 2; Ps. lxxii. 6; Prov. xvi. 15; Isa. lv. 10, &c. Dr. Pocock.

4. O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? Here Jehovah takes up the discourse again in his own person. Bp. Horsley. God declares that the true cause of the impending evils was not any defect of mercy or providence in Him, who had used all probable means for bringing the people home to Himself, but was to be found in their own inveterate wickedness. If at any time, desiring to be relieved from some affliction, they made a shew of reformation, their goodness was not real, sincere, and permanent, but it soon failed: they were quickly weary of it, and returned to their evil ways, Dr. Pocock.

Hosea 5:2

2. And the revolters are profound to make slaughter.] The ringleaders in idolatry, the chief “revolters” from my holy religion, lay deep designs to ensnare men’s lives; though I by my Prophets and judgments have not forborne to utter vehement rebukes against them all. W. Lowth, Bp. Hall.

Hosea 5:3

3. I know Ephraim.] I know him and his doings. W. Lowth. It is not very material to determine, whether Ephraim is here taken more strictly for the one tribe; or in greater latitude for the whole ten tribes, thus denoting the same as Israel: in which case the naming of both is only a repetition of the same thing in different words for the sake of emphasis. Dr. Pocock.

Hosea 5:5

5. And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face.] Their proud carriage, boldness, and insolence against God, and in their idolatrous courses, witnesseth “to their face” against them; that is, makes their wickedness and

Hosea 5:7

7. They have dealt treacherously against the Lord.] The Hebrew word properly signifies the infidelity of a wife to her husband. W. Lowth. — they have begotten strange children.] That is, children trained from their earliest infancy in the habits and principles of idolatry, and growing up aliens with respect to God, (“for all are not Israel which are of Israel,”) alienated from Jehovah in their affections; and in their way of thinking, in their sentiments, and practices, mere heathen. Bp. Horsley. — now shall a month devour them with their portions.] A very short time shall complete their destruction. “With their portions;” that is, their allotments. They shall be totally dispossessed of their country; and the boundaries of the separate allotments of the several tribes shall be confounded. Bp. Horsley.

Hosea 5:8

8. Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, &c.] Some suppose Gibeah and Ramah to have been two cities, not far distant from each other, situated in the lot of Benjamin, on the confines of both kingdoms: others suppose Gibeah to have been the bound of the kingdom of Judah, and Ramah that of the kingdom of Israel. According to the latter supposition the alarm was to be sounded, that it might be taken by the people of both kingdoms: according to the former, that it might give notice to the places in the lot of Benjamin, and so to the kingdom of Judah, that the enemy were already come upon Israel, and were now so near, that the people of Judah also had reason to look to themselves. Dr. Pocock. — after thee, O Benjamin.] The sense must be supplied by the enemy, or some such thing: the enemy is just behind thee. The conciseness and abruptness of the speech more effectually calls for attention in the person to whom it is addressed: Behind thee, O Benjamin; look to thyself without more delay, beware, danger is at thy back, the enemy at thy heels. Dr. Pocock. 10. The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound.] Literally, “the landmark;” concerning which crime, see Deut. xix. 14; and for the curse annexed to it, and its heinousness in God’s sight, Deut. xxvii. 17. By the phrase in this place, “like them that remove the bound,” we may understand that the princes of Judah put away, and passed over, all bounds prescribed to them both by the law of God, and by the laws of men. Dr. Pocock.

Hosea 5:11

11. Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment.] He is “oppressed” with a heavy weight of calamity: he is crushed in his judicial contest with me. Abp. Newcome. — because he willingly walked after the commandment.] This is commonly explained of Jeroboam’s command to his subjects, of forsaking the worship of the true God; which command they readily complied with. Of the same kind “were the statutes of Omri,” mentioned by Micah, chap. vi. 16. W. Lowth. God permitted or ordered those evils which they suffered to befall them, because they willingly and obstinately forsuck his commandment, to follow commandments contrary to his. Dr. Pocock.

Hosea 5:12

12. — as a moth - as rottenness.] The Hebrew word, rendered “a moth,” means a worm, that breeds in clothes and eats them: that rendered “rottenness,” or “a worm,” in the margin, means a worm that breeds in wood, when it is old and rotten; or, as some think, rottenness itself. Dr. Pocock. The sense is, that God would, from small and unperceived beginnings, work a slow but certain and complete destruction. Bp. Horsley.

Hosea 5:13

13. — and sent to king Jareb.] It is probable, as commentators in general agree, that Judah is understood here before the verb “sent:” the sense seems to require it, as Judah is expressed before, in mentioning the evils that they felt, and after, ver. 14, in mentioning what should befall them. The person, to whom he sent, is uncertain: our translators shew that they thought the original capable of different interpretations, by renderuntil they repent. An exhortation to repentance. Before CHRIST about 750.

Hosea 5:15

15. I will go and return to my place.] The sense is, that Jehovah will withdraw the tokens of his presence from the Jewish temple. Bp. Horsley.

— till they acknowledge their offence.] This is a proof of what God elsewhere declares, “that he hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live.” God withdraws Himself from his people, not that He would finally reject them, but that they might know their wickedness and folly in rejecting and forsaking Him, and so “acknowledge their offence, and seek his face.” Dr. Pocock.

Chap. VI. The three first verses of this chapter should be joined to the preceding. The Prophet speaks in his own person to the end of the third verse. He takes occasion, from the intimation of final pardon to the penitent, given in the conclusion of God’s awful denunciation of judgment, to address his countrymen in words of mild pathetic persuasion. Bp. Horsley.

Ver. 2. After two days—use shall live in his sight.] There appears in this place a very plain allusion to Christ lying dead in the grave for two days, and on the third rising again to life. The reference in the margin shews this to have been the opinion of our translators. Dr. Pocock.

Jehovah, who had departed, will return, and again exhibit the signs of his presence among his chosen people. So the Jews, converted and restored, will “live