8 The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed. The thorn and the thistle will come up on their altars. They will tell the mountains, "Cover us!" and the hills, "Fall on us!"
They told the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb,
Then they will begin to tell the mountains, 'Fall on us!' and tell the hills, 'Cover us.'
On the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yes, on all the houses of joy in the joyous city.
Men shall go into the caves of the rocks, And into the holes of the earth, From before the terror of Yahweh, And from the glory of his majesty, When he arises to shake the earth mightily.
Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said to them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: see your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt. He set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan. This thing became a sin; for the people went [to worship] before the one, even to Dan.
Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, And say, 'As your god, Dan, lives;' And, 'As the way of Beersheba lives;' They will fall, and never rise up again."
The inhabitants of Samaria will be in terror for the calves of Beth Aven; For its people will mourn over it, Along with its priests who rejoiced over it, For its glory, because it has departed from it.
This thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the surface of the earth.
Harness the chariot to the swift steed, inhabitant of Lachish. She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion; For the transgressions of Israel were found in you.
I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust: and I cast the dust of it into the brook that descended out of the mountain.
"All this is for the disobedience of Jacob, And for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the disobedience of Jacob? Isn't it Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Aren't they Jerusalem?
"Blow the cornet in Gibeah, And the trumpet in Ramah! Sound a battle cry at Beth Aven, behind you, Benjamin!
"Though you, Israel, play the prostitute, Yet don't let Judah offend; And don't come to Gilgal, Neither go up to Beth Aven, Nor swear, 'As Yahweh lives.'
Thorns shall come up in its palaces, nettles and thistles in the fortresses of it; and it shall be a habitation of jackals, a court for ostriches.
He burnt the bones of the priests on their altars, and purged Judah and Jerusalem. [So did he] in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even to Naphtali, in their ruins round about. He broke down the altars, and beat the Asherim and the engraved images into powder, and hewed down all the sun-images throughout all the land of Israel, and returned to Jerusalem.
Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah, and broke in pieces the pillars, and hewed down the Asherim, and broke down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.
He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he has sinned, and with which he has made Israel to sin.
He cried against the altar by the word of Yahweh, and said, altar, altar, thus says Yahweh: Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and on you shall he sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men's bones shall they burn on you.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Hosea 10
Commentary on Hosea 10 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 10
In this chapter,
Hsa 10:1-8
Observe,
Hsa 10:9-15
Here,