10 I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree at its first season; But they came to Baal Peor, and consecrated themselves to the shameful thing, And became abominable like that which they loved.
I will not punish your daughters when they play the prostitute, Nor your brides when they commit adultery; Because the men consort with prostitutes, And they sacrifice with the shrine prostitutes; And the people that does not understand will come to ruin.
For according to the number of your cities are your gods, Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have you set up altars to the shameful thing, even altars to burn incense to Baal.
I will give her vineyards from there, And the valley of Achor for a door of hope; And she will respond there, As in the days of her youth, And as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
But they rebelled against me, and would not listen to me; they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.
Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says Yahweh, I remember for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your weddings; how you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Israel [was] holiness to Yahweh, the first fruits of his increase: all who devour him shall be held guilty; evil shall come on them, says Yahweh.
They joined themselves also to Baal Peor, And ate the sacrifices of the dead. Thus they provoked him to anger with their deeds. The plague broke in on them.
Israel abode in Shittim; and the people began to play the prostitute with the daughters of Moab: for they called the people to the sacrifices of their gods; and the people ate, and bowed down to their gods. Israel joined himself to Baal Peor: and the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel. Yahweh said to Moses, Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them up to Yahweh before the sun, that the fierce anger of Yahweh may turn away from Israel. Moses said to the judges of Israel, Kill you everyone his men who have joined themselves to Baal Peor. Behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought to his brothers a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, while they were weeping at the door of the tent of meeting. When Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from the midst of the congregation, and took a spear in his hand; and he went after the man of Israel into the pavilion, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. Those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand. Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I didn't consume the children of Israel in my jealousy. Therefore say, Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace: and it shall be to him, and to his seed after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel. Now the name of the man of Israel that was slain, who was slain with the Midianite woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a fathers' house among the Simeonites. The name of the Midianite woman who was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was head of the people of a fathers' house in Midian. Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, Vex the Midianites, and strike them; for they vex you with their wiles, with which they have deceived you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of the prince of Midian, their sister, who was slain on the day of the plague in the matter of Peor.
What fruit then did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, And proclaim free will offerings and brag about them: For this pleases you, you children of Israel," says the Lord Yahweh.
'You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.' These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel."
the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will you do in the end of it?
So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts, That they might walk in their own counsels.
It happened, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshiped him.
They sacrificed to demons, [which were] no God, To gods that they didn't know, To new [gods] that came up of late, Which your fathers didn't dread.
He found him in a desert land, In the waste howling wilderness; He compassed him about, he cared for him, He kept him as the apple of his eye.
and it shall be to you for a fringe, that you may look on it, and remember all the commandments of Yahweh, and do them; and that you not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you use to play the prostitute;
They came to the valley of Eshcol, and cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bore it on a staff between two; [they brought] also of the pomegranates, and of the figs. That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the children of Israel cut down from there.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Hosea 9
Commentary on Hosea 9 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 9
Ho 9:1-17. Warning against Israel's Joy at Partial Relief from Their Troubles: Their Crops Shall Fail, and the People Leave the Lord's Land for Egypt and Assyria, Where They Cannot, If So Inclined, Serve God According to the Ancient Ritual: Folly of Their False Prophets.
1. Rejoice not … for joy—literally, "to exultation." Thy exultation at the league with Pul, by which peace seems secured, is out of place: since thy idolatry will bring ruin on thee.
as other people—the Assyrians for instance, who, unlike thee, are in the height of prosperity.
loved a reward upon every corn floor—Thou hast desired, in reward for thy homage to idols, abundance of corn on every threshing-floor (Ho 2:12).
2. (Ho 2:9, 12).
fail—disappoint her expectation.
3. return to Egypt—(See on Ho 8:13). As in Ho 11:5 it is said, "He shall not return into … Egypt." Fairbairn thinks it is not the exact country that is meant, but the bondage state with which, from past experience, Egypt was identified in their minds. Assyria was to be a second Egypt to them. De 28:68, though threatening a return to Egypt, speaks (De 28:36) of their being brought to a nation which neither they nor their fathers had known, showing that it is not the literal Egypt, but a second Egypt-like bondage that is threatened.
eat unclean things in Assyria—reduced by necessity to eat meats pronounced unclean by the Mosaic law (Eze 4:13). See 2Ki 17:6.
4. offer wine offerings—literally, "pour as a libation (Ex 30:9; Le 23:13).
neither shall they be pleasing unto him—as being offered on a profane soil.
sacrifices … as the bread of mourners—which was unclean (De 26:14; Jer 16:7; Eze 24:17).
their bread for their soul—their offering for the expiation of their soul [Calvin], (Le 17:11). Rather, "their bread for their sustenance ('soul' being often used for the animal life, Ge 14:21, Margin) shall not come into the Lord's house"; it shall only subserve their own uses, not My worship.
5. (Ho 2:11).
6. because of destruction—to escape from the devastation of their country.
Egypt shall gather them up—that is, into its sepulchres (Jer 8:2; Eze 29:5). Instead of returning to Palestine, they should die in Egypt.
Memphis—famed as a necropolis.
the pleasant places for their silver—that is, their desired treasuries for their money. Or, "whatever precious thing they have of silver" [Maurer].
nettles—the sign of desolation (Isa 34:13).
7. visitation—vengeance: punishment (Isa 10:3).
Israel shall know it—to her cost experimentally (Isa 9:9).
the prophet is a fool—The false prophet who foretold prosperity to the nation shall be convicted of folly by the event.
the spiritual man—the man pretending to inspiration (La 2:14; Eze 13:3; Mic 3:11; Zep 3:4).
for the multitude of thine iniquity, &c.—Connect these words with, "the days of visitation … are come"; "the prophet … is mad," being parenthetical.
the great hatred—or, "the great provocation" [Henderson]; or, "(thy) great apostasy" [Maurer]. English Version means Israel's "hatred" of God's prophets and the law.
8. The watchman … was with my God—The spiritual watchmen, the true prophets, formerly consulted my God (Jer 31:6; Hab 2:1); but their so-called prophet is a snare, entrapping Israel into idolatry.
hatred—rather, "(a cause of) apostasy" (see Ho 9:7) [Maurer].
house of his God—that is, the state of Ephraim, as in Ho 8:1 [Maurer]. Or, "the house of his (false) god," the calves [Calvin]. Jehovah, "my God," seems contrasted with "his God." Calvin's view is therefore preferable.
9. as in the days of Gibeah—as in the day of the perpetration of the atrocity of Gibeah, narrated in Jud 19:16-22, &c.
10. As the traveller in a wilderness is delighted at finding grapes to quench his thirst, or the early fig (esteemed a great delicacy in the East, Isa 28:4; Jer 24:2; Mic 7:1); so it was My delight to choose your fathers as My peculiar people in Egypt (Ho 2:15).
at her first time—when the first-fruits of the tree become ripe.
went to Baal-peor—(Nu 25:3): the Moabite idol, in whose worship young women prostituted themselves; the very sin Israel latterly was guilty of.
separated themselves—consecrated themselves.
unto that shame—to that shameful or foul idol (Jer 11:13).
their abominations were according as they loved—rather, as Vulgate, "they became abominable like the object of their love" (De 7:26; Ps 115:8). English Version gives good sense, "their abominable idols they followed after, according as their lusts prompted them" (Am 4:5, Margin).
11. their glory shall fly away—fit retribution to those who "separated themselves unto that shame" (Ho 9:10). Children were accounted the glory of parents; sterility, a reproach. "Ephraim" means "fruitfulness" (Ge 41:52); this its name shall cease to be its characteristic.
from the birth … womb … conception—Ephraim's children shall perish in a threefold gradation; (1) From the time of birth. (2) From the time of pregnancy. (3) From the time of their first conception.
12. Even though they should rear their children, yet will I bereave them (the Ephraimites) of them (Job 27:14).
woe … to them when I depart—Yet the ungodly in their madness desire God to depart from them (Job 21:14; 22:17; Mt 8:34). At last they know to their cost how awful it is when God has departed (De 31:17; 1Sa 28:15, 16; compare Ho 9:11; 1Sa 4:21).
13. Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus … in a pleasant place—that is, in looking towards Tyrus (on whose borders Ephraim lay) I saw Ephraim beautiful in situation like her (Eze 26:1-28:26).
is planted—as a fruitful tree; image suggested by the meaning of "Ephraim" (Ho 9:11).
bring forth his children to the murderer—(Ho 9:16; Ho 13:16). With all his fruitfulness, his children shall only be brought up to be slain.
14. what wilt thou give?—As if overwhelmed by feeling, he deliberates with God what is most desirable.
give … a miscarrying womb—Of two evils he chooses the least. So great will be the calamity, that barrenness will be a blessing, though usually counted a great misfortune (Job 3:3; Jer 20:14; Lu 23:29).
15. All their wickedness—that is, their chief guilt.
Gilgal—(see on Ho 4:15). This was the scene of their first contumacy in rejecting God and choosing a king (1Sa 11:14, 15; compare 1Sa 8:7), and of their subsequent idolatry.
there I hated them—not with the human passion, but holy hatred of their sin, which required punishment to be inflicted on themselves (compare Mal 1:3).
out of mine house—as in Ho 8:1: out of the land holy unto Me. Or, as "love" is mentioned immediately after, the reference may be to the Hebrew mode of divorce, the husband (God) putting the wife (Israel) out of the house.
princes … revolters—"Sarim … Sorerim" (Hebrew), a play on similar sounds.
16. The figures "root," "fruit," are suggested by the word "Ephraim," that is, fruitful (see on Ho 9:11, 12). "Smitten," namely, with a blight (Ps 102:4).
17. My God—"My," in contrast to "them," that is, the people, whose God Jehovah no longer is. Also Hosea appeals to God as supporting his authority against the whole people.
wanderers among … nations—(2Ki 15:29; 1Ch 5:26).