Hosea 8
DOYLYHosea 8:2
- The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, &c.] The prophet here tells them, they might think they had obtained their “reward.” For their crops were indeed abundant; nevertheless they would not be the better for the plenty of their land. Bp Horsley.
Hosea 8:3
- — the Lord’s land;] The land, which the Lord swore to their fathers to give them, Deut. xxx. 20; and which He did accordingly give them, still reserving the ownership of it to Himself. See Lev. xxv. 23. Dr. Pocock.
— Ephraim shall return to Egypt, &c.] This returning of theirs into Egypt seems to be the flight of several of them thither, to avoid the destruction brought by the Assyrians upon their nation, when the rest were either slain, or carried captives from “the Lord’s land” into Assyria and other countries, where they were “wanderers among the nations,” ver. 17. Dr. Pocock.
— and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria.] Their circumstances in captivity shall not permit them to observe the rules of the law relating to unclean meats, and they will be forced to eat of such meats as have been offered to idols. Compare Dan. i. 8; Ezek. iv. 13. W. Lowth.
Hosea 8:4
- They shall not offer wine offerings &c.] A more particular explanation of that threatening denounced, chap. iii. 4, that they should be “without a sacrifice:” they should have no opportunity in their captivity to offer meat offerings or drink offerings to God, as they did upon the high places, or in their idolatrous temples; see Amos iv. 4, 5; and sometimes, perhaps, in the temple at Jerusalem; see ver. 15. They themselves shall be in the condition of mourners for the dead, and by that means be unqualified to offer any thing to God; nor will their offerings be acceptable; see Deut. xxvi. 14. W. Lowth.
— the bread of mourners:] See the note on Jer. xvi. 7.
— for their bread for their soul shall not come into the house of the Lord.] Either they shall not offer in the house of the Lord oblations for making atonement or expiation for their souls: or by “bread for their soul” may be understood such as is necessary for preserving and keeping them alive; and then the meaning is, their bread shall be for their eating, but shall not come into the house of the Lord. Dr. Pocock.
Hosea 8:5
- What will ye do in the solemn day, &c.] Ye shall have no opportunity of observing any of your solemn feasts in your captivity: see chap. ii. 11. W. Lowth.
Hosea 8:6
- For, lo, they are gone &c.] They shall flee into Egypt, hoping there to find refuge and safety from destruction: but they shall die there; “Egypt shall gather them up,” for burial, as the words appear to be explained in the following, “Memphis shall bury them.” Memphis, or Moph in the Hebrew, was a chief city or metropolis of Egypt, called Noph in Isaiah, chap. xix. 13; Jer. ii. 10; Ezek. xxx. 13, &c. Some suppose it to be the place now called Cairo. For the sense here given to “gather,” see Jer. viii. 2; Ezek. xxix. 5. Dr. Pocock. The Arabs call Cairo Menoph at this day. Abp. Newcome.
— the pleasant places for their silver.] The closets or cabinets, where they were wont to hide their treasures and jewels. Bp. Hall. The general sense of this passage is very clear. It describes the extreme devastation of the country by the Assyrian conquest, under the image of weeds growing up in the dwellings, deserted by their owners, and stripped of their costly and elegant furniture of silver. Bp. Horsley.
Hosea 8:7
- — the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad.] The days are at hand which shall make the Israelites sensible that not a word of God shall want its effect, and that his prophets were true prophets, but their false prophets, to whom the Israelites hearkened, were indeed “fools” and “madmen.” And this should come to pass “for the multitude of their iniquity,” whereby they shewed themselves to “hate” God, and made themselves hateful to Him. Dr. Pocock.
Hosea 8:8
- The watchmen of Ephraim was with my God: &c.] The Prophet, whom God sent to them, such as Hosea himself, or any other formerly sent, and by them rejected, was “with God;” a true prophet of his, and faithful in the discharge of his commission. Dr. Pocock. The true Prophet, like a watchman sent by God, gave warning to Israel of their approaching calamities: see Jer. vi. 17; Ezek. iii. 17; xxxiii. 2; Micah vii. 4. But the words of the false prophet are like “a snare” laid on purpose to entrap men into mischief and destruction. See chap. v. 1. And his false prophecies he utters purely out of “hatred” to God and his worship, and to deter those that hearkened to him from attending upon God’s service at the temple. W. Lowth.
Hosea 8:9
- — as in the days of Gibeah:] The men of Gibeah are described in the same characters as those of Sodom