1 And Jehovah saith unto me: `Again, go, love a woman, loved of a friend, and an adulteress, like the loved of Jehovah, the sons of Israel, and they are turning unto other gods, and are lovers of grape-cakes.'
The commencement of Jehovah's speaking by Hosea. And Jehovah saith unto Hosea, `Go, take to thee a woman of whoredoms, and children of whoredoms, for utterly go a-whoring doth the land from after Jehovah.' And he goeth and taketh Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceiveth and beareth to him a son;
But -- a woman hath deceived her friend, So ye have dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel, an affirmation of Jehovah.
Go, and thou hast proclaimed these words toward the north, and hast said, Turn back, O backsliding Israel, An affirmation of Jehovah! I cause not Mine anger to fall upon you, For I `am' kind, an affirmation of Jehovah, I watch not to the age. Only, know thine iniquity, For against Jehovah thy God thou hast transgressed, And thou dost scatter thy ways to strangers, Under every green tree, And to My voice thou hast not hearkened, An affirmation of Jehovah. Turn back, O backsliding sons, An affirmation of Jehovah. For I have ruled over you, And taken you one of a city, and two of a family, And have brought you to Zion,
Saying, `Lo, one sendeth away his wife, And she hath gone from him, And she hath been to another man, Doth he turn back unto her again? Greatly defiled is not that land? And thou hast committed whoredom with many lovers, And turn again to Me, an affirmation of Jehovah. Lift thine eyes to the high places, and see, Where hast thou not been lain with? On the ways thou hast sat for them, As an Arab in a wilderness, And thou defilest the land, By thy fornications, and by thy wickedness. And withheld are showers, and gathered rain hath not been. The forehead of a whorish woman thou hast, Thou hast refused to be ashamed. Hast thou not henceforth called to Me, `My father, Thou `art' the leader of my youth?
`Rejoice not, O Israel, be not joyful like the peoples, For thou hast gone a-whoring from thy God, Thou hast loved a gift near all floors of corn. Floor and wine-press do not delight them, And new wine doth fail in her,
Ye are not able the cup of the Lord to drink, and the cup of demons; ye are not able of the table of the Lord to partake, and of the table of demons;
Neither become ye idolaters, as certain of them, as it hath been written, `The people sat down to eat and to drink, and stood up to play;'
and Jesus said to him, `Comrade, for what art thou present?' Then having come near, they laid hands on Jesus, and took hold on him.
Therefore, thus said Jehovah: I have turned to Jerusalem with mercies, My house is built in it, An affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts, And a line is stretched over Jerusalem.
Who `is' a God like Thee? taking away iniquity, And passing by the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance, He hath not retained for ever His anger, Because He -- He delighteth `in' kindness. He doth turn back, He pitieth us, He doth subdue our iniquities, And Thou castest into the depths of the sea all their sins. Thou givest truth to Jacob, kindness to Abraham, That thou hast sworn to our fathers, from the days of antiquity!
And I -- in Jehovah I do watch, I do wait for the God of my salvation, Hear me doth my God.
Who are drinking with bowls of wine, And `with' chief perfumes anoint `themselves', And have not been pained for the breach of Joseph.
How do I give thee up, O Ephraim? Do I deliver thee up, O Israel? How do I make thee as Admah? Do I set thee as Zeboim? Turned in Me is My heart, kindled together have been My repentings.
and they rise early on the morrow, and cause burnt-offerings to ascend, and bring nigh peace-offerings; and the people sit down to eat and to drink, and rise up to play.
A precious son is Ephraim to Me? A child of delights? For since My speaking against him, I do thoroughly remember him still, Therefore have My bowels been moved for him, I do greatly love him, An affirmation of Jehovah.
In that day doth man look to His Maker, Yea, his eyes to the Holy One of Israel look, And he looketh not unto the altars. The work of his own hands, And that which his own fingers made He seeth not -- the shrines and the images.
Lo, as eyes of men-servants `Are' unto the hand of their masters, As eyes of a maid-servant `Are' unto the hand of her mistress, So `are' our eyes unto Jehovah our God, Till that He doth favour us.
Many times He doth deliver them, And they rebel in their counsel, And they are brought low in their iniquity. And He looketh on their distress When He heareth their cry, And remembereth for them His covenant, And is comforted, According to the abundance of His kindness. And He appointeth them for mercies Before all their captors.
and in Thine abundant mercies Thou hast not made them a consumption, nor hast forsaken them; for a God, gracious and merciful, `art' Thou.
`Also, when they have made to themselves a molten calf, and say, this `is' thy god that brought thee up out of Egypt, and do great despisings, and Thou, in Thine abundant mercies, hast not forsaken them in the wilderness -- the pillar of the cloud hath not turned aside from off them by day, to lead them in the way, and the pillar of the fire by night, to give light to them and the way in which they go.
and he apportioneth to all the people, to all the multitude of Israel, from man even unto woman, to each, one cake of bread, and one eshpar, and one ashisha, and all the people go, each to his house.
And they turn aside the gods of the stranger out of their midst, and serve Jehovah, and His soul is grieved with the misery of Israel.
for a holy people `art' thou to Jehovah thy God; on thee hath Jehovah thy God fixed, to be to Him for a peculiar people, out of all the peoples who `are' on the face of the ground. `Not because of your being more numerous than any of the peoples hath Jehovah delighted in you, and fixeth on you, for ye `are' the least of all the peoples,
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Hosea 3
Commentary on Hosea 3 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 3
God is still by the prophet inculcating the same thing upon this careless people, and much in the same manner as before, by a type or sign, that of the dealings of a husband with an adulterous wife. In this chapter we have,
Hsa 3:1-5
Some think that this chapter refers to Judah, the two tribes, as the adulteress the prophet married (ch. 1:3) represented the ten tribes; for this was not to be divorced, as the ten tribes were, but to be left desolate for a long time, and then to return, as the two tribes did. But these are called the children of Israel, which was the ten tribes, and therefore it is more probable that of them this parable, as well as that before, is to be understood. Go, and repeat it, says God to the prophet; Go yet again. Note, For the conviction and reduction of sinners it is necessary that precept be upon precept, and line upon line. If they will not believe one sign, try another, Ex. 4:8, 9. Now,