6 And she conceived again, H2029 and bare H3205 a daughter. H1323 And God said H559 unto him, Call H7121 her name H8034 Loruhamah: H3819 for I will no more H3254 have mercy H7355 upon the house H1004 of Israel; H3478 but I will utterly H5375 take them away. H5375
Until the LORD H3068 removed H5493 Israel H3478 out of his sight, H6440 as he had said H1696 by H3027 all his servants H5650 the prophets. H5030 So was Israel H3478 carried away H1540 out of their own land H127 to Assyria H804 unto this day. H3117 And the king H4428 of Assyria H804 brought H935 men from Babylon, H894 and from Cuthah, H3575 and from Ava, H5755 and from Hamath, H2574 and from Sepharvaim, H5617 and placed H3427 them in the cities H5892 of Samaria H8111 instead of the children H1121 of Israel: H3478 and they possessed H3423 Samaria, H8111 and dwelt H3427 in the cities H5892 thereof. And so it was at the beginning H8462 of their dwelling H3427 there, that they feared H3372 not the LORD: H3068 therefore the LORD H3068 sent H7971 lions H738 among them, which slew H2026 some of them. Wherefore they spake H559 to the king H4428 of Assyria, H804 saying, H559 The nations H1471 which thou hast removed, H1540 and placed H3427 in the cities H5892 of Samaria, H8111 know H3045 not the manner H4941 of the God H430 of the land: H776 therefore he hath sent H7971 lions H738 among them, and, behold, they slay H4191 them, because they know H3045 not the manner H4941 of the God H430 of the land. H776 Then the king H4428 of Assyria H804 commanded, H6680 saying, H559 Carry H3212 thither one H259 of the priests H3548 whom ye brought H1540 from thence; and let them go H3212 and dwell H3427 there, and let him teach H3384 them the manner H4941 of the God H430 of the land. H776 Then one H259 of the priests H3548 whom they had carried away H1540 from Samaria H8111 came H935 and dwelt H3427 in Bethel, H1008 and taught H3384 them how they should fear H3372 the LORD. H3068 Howbeit every nation H1471 made H6213 gods H430 of their own, and put H3240 them in the houses H1004 of the high places H1116 which the Samaritans H8118 had made, H6213 every nation H1471 in their cities H5892 wherein they dwelt. H3427 And the men H582 of Babylon H894 made H6213 Succothbenoth, H5524 and the men H582 of Cuth H3575 made H6213 Nergal, H5370 and the men H582 of Hamath H2574 made H6213 Ashima, H807 And the Avites H5757 made H6213 Nibhaz H5026 and Tartak, H8662 and the Sepharvites H5616 burnt H8313 their children H1121 in fire H784 to Adrammelech H152 and Anammelech, H6048 the gods H430 of Sepharvaim. H5617 So they feared H3373 the LORD, H3068 and made H6213 unto themselves of the lowest H7098 of them priests H3548 of the high places, H1116 which sacrificed H6213 for them in the houses H1004 of the high places. H1116 They feared H3373 the LORD, H3068 and served H5647 their own gods, H430 after the manner H4941 of the nations H1471 whom they carried away H1540 from thence. Unto this day H3117 they do H6213 after the former H7223 manners: H4941 they fear H3373 not the LORD, H3068 neither do H6213 they after their statutes, H2708 or after their ordinances, H4941 or after the law H8451 and commandment H4687 which the LORD H3068 commanded H6680 the children H1121 of Jacob, H3290 whom he named H7760 H8034 Israel; H3478 With whom the LORD H3068 had made H3772 a covenant, H1285 and charged H6680 them, saying, H559 Ye shall not fear H3372 other H312 gods, H430 nor bow H7812 yourselves to them, nor serve H5647 them, nor sacrifice H2076 to them: But the LORD, H3068 who brought you up H5927 out of the land H776 of Egypt H4714 with great H1419 power H3581 and a stretched out H5186 arm, H2220 him shall ye fear, H3372 and him shall ye worship, H7812 and to him shall ye do sacrifice. H2076 And the statutes, H2706 and the ordinances, H4941 and the law, H8451 and the commandment, H4687 which he wrote H3789 for you, ye shall observe H8104 to do H6213 for evermore; H3117 and ye shall not fear H3372 other H312 gods. H430 And the covenant H1285 that I have made H3772 with you ye shall not forget; H7911 neither shall ye fear H3372 other H312 gods. H430 But the LORD H3068 your God H430 ye shall fear; H3372 and he shall deliver H5337 you out of the hand H3027 of all your enemies. H341 Howbeit they did not hearken, H8085 but they did H6213 after their former H7223 manner. H4941 So these nations H1471 feared H3373 the LORD, H3068 and served H5647 their graven images, H6456 both their children, H1121 and their children's H1121 children: H1121 as did H6213 their fathers, H1 so do H6213 they unto this day. H3117
All their wickedness H7451 is in Gilgal: H1537 for there I hated H8130 them: for the wickedness H7455 of their doings H4611 I will drive them out H1644 of mine house, H1004 I will love H160 them no more: H3254 all their princes H8269 are revolters. H5637 Ephraim H669 is smitten, H5221 their root H8328 is dried up, H3001 they shall bear H6213 no fruit: H6529 yea, though they bring forth, H3205 yet will I slay H4191 even the beloved H4261 fruit of their womb. H990 My God H430 will cast them away, H3988 because they did not hearken H8085 unto him: and they shall be wanderers H5074 among the nations. H1471
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Hosea 1
Commentary on Hosea 1 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 1
Ho 1:1-11. Inscription.
Spiritual whoredom of Israel set forth by symbolical acts; Gomer taken to wife at God's command: Jezreel, Lo-ruhamah, and Lo-Ammi, the children. Yet a promise of Judah and Israel's restoration.
1. The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea—See Introduction.
Jeroboam—the second; who died in the fifteenth year of Uzziah's forty-one years' reign. From his time forth all Israel's kings worshipped false gods: Zachariah (2Ki 15:9), Menahem (2Ki 15:18), Pekahiah (2Ki 15:24), Pekah (2Ki 15:28), Hoshea (2Ki 17:2). As Israel was most flourishing externally under Jeroboam II, who recovered the possessions seized on by Syria, Hosea's prophecy of its downfall at that time was the more striking as it could not have been foreseen by mere human sagacity. Jonah the prophet had promised success to Jeroboam II from God, not for the king's merit, but from God's mercy to Israel; so the coast of Israel was restored by Jeroboam II from the entering of Hamath to the sea of the plain (2Ki 14:23-27).
2. beginning—not of the prophet's predictions generally, but of those spoken by Hosea.
take … wife of whoredoms—not externally acted, but internally and in vision, as a pictorial illustration of Israel's unfaithfulness [Hengstenberg]. Compare Eze 16:8, 15, &c. Besides the loathsomeness of such a marriage, if an external act, it would require years for the birth of three children, which would weaken the symbol (compare Eze 4:4). Henderson objects that there is no hint of the transaction being fictitious: Gomer fell into lewdness after her union with Hosea, not before; for thus only she was a fit symbol of Israel, who lapsed into spiritual whoredom after the marriage contract with God on Sinai, and made even before at the call of the patriarchs of Israel. Gomer is called "a wife of whoredoms," anticipatively.
children of whoredoms—The kingdom collectively is viewed as a mother; the individual subjects of it are spoken of as her children. "Take" being applied to both implies that they refer to the same thing viewed under different aspects. The "children" were not the prophet's own, but born of adultery, and presented to him as his [Kitto, Biblical Cyclopædia]. Rather, "children of whoredoms" means that the children, like their mother, fell into spiritual fornication. Compare "bare him a son" (see Ho 2:4, 5). Being children of a spiritual whore, they naturally fell into her whorish ways.
3. Gomer … daughter of Diblaim—symbolical names; literally, "completion, daughter of grape cakes"; the dual expressing the double layers in which these dainties were baked. So, one completely given up to sensuality. Maurer explains "Gomer" as literally, "a burning coal." Compare Pr 6:27, 29, as to an adulteress; Job 31:9, 12.
4. Jezreel—that is, "God will scatter" (compare Zec 10:9). It was the royal city of Ahab and his successors, in the tribe of Issachar. Here Jehu exercised his greatest cruelties (2Ki 9:16, 25, 33; 10:11, 14, 17). There is in the name an allusion to "Israel" by a play of letters and sounds.
5. bow—the prowess (Jer 49:35; compare Ge 49:24).
valley of Jezreel—afterwards called Esdraelon, extending ten miles in breadth, and in length from Jordan to the Mediterranean near Mount Carmel, the great battlefield of Palestine (Jud 6:33; 1Sa 29:1).
6. Lo-ruhamah—that is, "not an object of mercy or gracious favor."
take … away—Israel, as a kingdom, was never restored from Assyria, as Judah was from Babylon after seventy years. Maurer translates according to the primary meaning, "No more will I have mercy on the house of Israel, so as to pardon them."
7. Judah is only incidentally mentioned to form a contrast to Israel.
by the Lord their God—more emphatic than "by Myself"; by that Jehovah (Me) whom they worship as their God, whereas ye despise Him.
not … by bow—on which ye Israelites rely (Ho 1:5, "the bow of Israel"); Jeroboam II was famous as a warrior (2Ki 14:25). Yet it was not by their warlike power Jehovah would save Judah (1Sa 17:47; Ps 20:7). The deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib (2Ki 19:35), and the restoration from Babylon, are herein predicted.
8. weaned—said to complete the symbolical picture, not having any special signification as to Israel [Henderson]. Israel was bereft of all the privileges which were as needful to them as milk is to infants (compare Ps 131:2; 1Pe 2:2) [Vatablus]. Israel was not suddenly, but gradually cast off; God bore with them with long-suffering, until they were incurable [Calvin]. But as it is not God, but Gomer who weans Lo-ruhamah, the weaning may imply the lust of Gomer, who was hardly weaned when she is again pregnant [Manger].
9. Lo-Ammi—once "My people," but henceforth not so (Eze 16:8). The intervals between the marriage and the successive births of the three children, imply that three successive generations are intended. Jezreel, the first child, represents the dynasty of Jeroboam I and his successors, ending with Jehu's shedding the blood of Jeroboam's line in Jezreel; it was there that Jezebel was slain, in vengeance for Naboth's blood shed in the same Jezreel (1Ki 16:1; 2Ki 9:21, 30). The scenes of Jezreel were to be enacted over again on Jehu's degenerate race. At Jezreel Assyria routed Israel [Jerome]. The child's name associates past sins, intermediate punishments, and final overthrow. Lo-ruhamah ("not pitied"), the second child, is a daughter, representing the effeminate period which followed the overthrow of the first dynasty, when Israel was at once abject and impious. Lo-Ammi ("not my people"), the third child, a son, represents the vigorous dynasty (2Ki 14:25) of Jeroboam II; but, as prosperity did not bring with it revived piety, they were still not God's people.
10. Literally fulfilled in part at the return from Babylon, in which many Israelites joined with Judah. Spiritually, the believing seed of Jacob or Israel, Gentiles as well as Jews, numerous "as the sand" (Ge 32:12); the Gentiles, once not God's people, becoming His "sons" (Joh 1:12; Ro 9:25, 26; 1Pe 2:10; 1Jo 3:1). To be fulfilled in its literal fulness hereafter in Israel's restoration (Ro 11:26).
the living God—opposed to their dead idols.
11. Judah … Israel … together—(Isa 11:12, 13; Jer 3:18; Eze 34:23; 37:16-24).
one head—Zerubbabel typically; Christ antitypically, under whom alone Israel and Judah are joined, the "Head" of the Church (Eph 1:22; 5:23), and of the hereafter united kingdom of Judah and Israel (Jer 34:5, 6; Eze 34:23). Though "appointed" by the Father (Ps 2:6), Christ is in another sense "appointed" as their Head by His people, when they accept and embrace Him as such.
out of the land—of the Gentiles among whom they sojourn.
the day of Jezreel—"The day of one" is the time of God's special visitation of him, either in wrath or in mercy. Here "Jezreel" is in a different sense from that in Ho 1:4, "God will sow," not "God will scatter"; they shall be the seed of God, planted by God again in their own land (Jer 24:6; 31:28; 32:41; Am 9:15).